Bust Lip, Split Head

Gaston is the pretty boy of the family. People will literally stop Sandie in the street to comment on how beautiful he is with his blue eyes and Swedish blonde hair (a distinct rarity in the Basque country you understand). I am increasingly convinced that our financial future rests not so much on his shoulders, but on the attractive head that is perched on those shoulders. As a consequence, after the events of the last 10 days I am thinking about changing a few house rules; firstly I am going to ban myself from ever trying to cut his hair (last week’s first attempts to shave his head with some shears had to be aborted half way through the operation leaving a rather odd looking “end” result), secondly by buying him a rugby scrum cap to prevent him from walking into tables and splitting his head open (this has the added advantage of hiding any efforts I have made to cut his hair), and thirdly, and most importantly, banning him from going within 10 meters of Maxime….On Saturday Maxime decided to use a mattress to create a little slide for Gaston. This worked wonderfully well until Maxime decided that the slide could move midway through any particular ascent or descent, even when in use by his little brother. The disappearing squidgy mattress was unfortunately replaced by a rather more solid wooden bed. Gaston’s lower lip didn’t appreciate the change. Whilst they tell us we won’t see anything in a week’s time, it’s not looking too good at the minute. Maybe I should start investigating appropriate insurance policies…