One very stressful day!

I don't know what was up with the girls this morning but they got ready for school in plenty of time and Alice even made her bed!!!!!! I yelled at her as she walked down the drive not to forget that Daddy would collect her from school for riding so wait by the gate as usual. Eric said they had had enough of us after 3 days off and were glad to get back to school!! My work day started with with me trying to do a quick hours office work before going out. We got new (well they told us they were new but they are 2nd hand!!) laptops last week and being so busy on Friday this was the first time I had really tried to use it. I could not get into Outlook at all, found out that they had removed Outlook Express (I have never used Outlook), my address book was empty and I have absolutely no battery. Needless to say I was not impressed! I got nothing constructive done and dashed to Te Awamutu for the parenting group talk. That went well and I then drove down to Kawhia to do some practical teaching with a doctor. Kawhai is very isolated and very beautiful, situated on the west coast below Raglan. The harbout is huge and the scenery very dramatic. I'm sure I've raved about this place before. The population is predominantly Maori and John is the only GP there. Had an interesting afternoon. As I left I got a text from Eric asking if he should take H with him or leave her at home, he was just off to get her from school. If I was going to be home shortly he would have left her at home but I was still in Kawhia, a 1.5 hour drive away, so replied to take her with him. 10 mins later the Intermediate phoned me saying that they had Harriette there, she had missed the bus. I said not to worry her father was on his way in to collect her but should have been there by then. They took his number and said they'd phone him. 2 minutes later Alice phoned to say Daddy had not picked her up (by now it was 3.30pm so he was 30 min late). My immediate thought was panic, and that he had had an accident. I increased my speed considerably and tried his mobile - voicemail!! 10 minutes later he phoned me. His version of events.... Mistral had no diesel so he had to go into Matamata to fill up. Decided that as H needed to come with him he'd collect her from school. (She is in Matamata and finishes as 3.10pm). It was raining and all the kids dashed for the bus. He thought he had missed her so when her bus left he left to collect Alice (who is 10km out of Matamata and finishes at 3pm). In the interim Alice had left the front gate as she had waited 30 min and no Daddy and went to the office to phone me. Eric gets to Hinuera and no Alice, so he asumes she got the bus. Gets a call from Intermediate saying H needs picking up and goes back into Matamata to collect her. Meanwhile he phones me and I let rip because a) I was so relieved he was alive and b) he cocked up so badly and caused complete confusion (this is the second time Eric has botched up arrangements around horseriding evenings) and huge worry. He had 10 minutes to collect Alice and get her the 30 minute drive into Cambridge so gave up and phoned to say Alice would not get in. He was still livid when I got home but finally agreed that if he had collect A at 3pm then gone in and got H at 3.10pm he could have then got petrol and gone to the riding stable. I know, that's female logic! Why do men have such difficulty arranging things?!