My cousins are staying with us at the moment, and as family is, there is the odd practical joke or two amongst the cousins. My dad found himself the target tonight, under attack from multiple sources.

Firstly, he made the mistake of coercing my younger sisters and cousin to make him a cup of tea while he was watching the football... what they brought him was a combination of tea, instant coffee, hot chocolate and decaf coffee... My dad doesn't have the sharpest of cullinary senses, so he drank it knowing they did something, but not really caring enough about the taste to ask for a different cup.

Secondly, he made the mistake of asking for a second cup... so on my advice, my mother and cousins put brown vinegar in his tea... which made the milk curdle and go lumpy. Which really didn't matter too much because dad was sitting in a dark room watching the football.

My cousing presents the vinegar tea, and dad nearly drinks it, but sniffs it at the last minute, and nearly throws up. The kids burst into hysterics, my aunty laughs and my dad scowls...

After it all dies down, I stick my head into the loungeroom...

"Hey Dad"

"It was mums idea. You will just have to work quickly tomorrow... work in 15 minute segments... work on the runs - I mean run."

Then I left... to hear them all laughing, and seeing my dads worried expression was awesome. Knowing that he thought he was going to spend the day at work tomorrow trying not to soil his own pants in his bosses office... priceless.

There are some things money can't buy... for everything else, there is Epsom salts.