Week 13

Spirit of the Lakes thudding through Hest Bank

So, another busy week for me: I had a cake go out on Tuesday and many Champion Dad gingerbread medals to make.  Tom had a good week: he was on fractions with Maths - which he breezed through and his main English task was to rewrite a picture book story that Mrs Clements read to them on video.  He was very inspired and did a great job. In fact I will put copy and paste it below - think you should be impressed - I certainly was.  I think the standard of literacy work Tom has to do is way above anything I had to do at Primary school.

Fish and chips in the car

On Friday we drove to Hest  Bank to see some 37s go past (Tom's favourite engines).  I'm not a train spotter but needed a change of scenery and we decided to go for some fish and chips on the prom afterwards.  We couldn't find any - oh no!  However, the 37s had headed to Morecambe Station, so we headed there, they went on the platform to look, I stayed in the car and looked online for fish and chips - found one where you could order on line with a 15 min wait (Atkinsons for future reference).  Perfect, we did so, drove over and I was impressed to find face masks and a very efficient system.  (Way more professional than the chippy in Ingleton).  We drove back to the prom, found a bench, and it started to rain, so we had fish and chips in the car - how much more British can you get?!  Was very good fish and chips though - we would happily go back.

Lovely clean Nansen

Saturday - a lovely day.  We washed the Polar Bear (he was beginning to smell and look a little grey).  Then Tom and I headed over to Meadow Falls for a socially distanced birthday party for Annabel (running round the empty campsite) whilst Matt went for a bike ride. The kids had a great time in the campsite - 4 of them playing hide and seek, lots of energy used up.  We then went for a walk up to Edith's wood, OMG what a mistake the meadow fields killed me, Tom and Liz.  We all felt pants, walked straight back and then back home.  We spent the rest of the day inside recovering.

Air ambulance leaving the car park

Sunday wasn't a very nice day weather wise, neither me nor Tom wanted to go outside, so we stayed in.  Morning excitement was an Air Ambulance flying just above the house as a cyclist came off his bike just outside - was in a bad way.  The afternoon was spent watching Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince and not much else.  We felt much better by the end of the day, ready for another week - Tom's last week at IPS.

As promised, Tom's story (100% his own work - no input from me at all):

The Promise

I was alone in the city. It was the worst place you can imagine to live in and tower blocks scarred the sky. I lived with hardly anything. My parents were mean to me, I had hardly known what money was. My bed was a crumpled mattress with a thin sheet, that was the type that was used for a cot, and 1 tiny pillow, that I had since I was a baby. I was living in the tallest tower block in the city and lived next to lift shaft so I heard the clatter of the lift as it shuddered to the stop opposite my room. It needed fixing, it had screeching brakes, and sometimes woke me up I the middle of the night. All the people in the city were mean and cruel like the city itself. Nothing was to be seen. I have never known what happiness is and probably won’t. Nothing was out there. Nothing was right. Nobody would make a change. Whenever I went out I got elbowed and shoved and came back with nothing but myself. Something needed to be done. And fast.

One night when I was being pushed and shoved, I escaped down an alley next to my tower and saw an old lady. She was trudging along and was carrying and bag, that seemed to be bulging. I thought of food and money. I sneaked up behind her and grabbed a hold of the bag, but the little old lady hung on with unsurprised force. She said “As long as you plant them I’ll let go,” what did she mean?

“Alright, I promise” I grunted. She relased her grip immediately and I dashed off back up the alley to my block. 

When got to my room I ripped open the bag and saw nothing but………. Acorns. I forgot about money and food and held them tight. I made a promise to myself about them. It was not to let go out of my sight. That night I slept on them and woke early ready for the exciting day ahead. I got up went down the lift to the ground floor. Jumping out of the lift, I rushed outside to the stinking air. I rushed around the city, like a cheetah spotting an antelope and chasing after it. 

I went down to the railway tracks, tram lines and roads. And planted. Just planted. I pushed everything out of the way. The bag never seemed to empty it was as full as it was when I stole it from that little old lady. The leather it was made from looked old and frail. That night I went to bed late. It was around midnight when I finally pulled the old sheet up over me and went to sleep dreaming about what would happen. 

The next day, I got up and looked out the grimy window and saw no change about the city I rushed down the stairs two at a time. Frantically, I rushed out to the city and……. Nothing. I was ashamed at myself. The old lady had tricked me. I said to myself,” calm down, wait till tomorrow.” And wait till tomorrow I did. I stayed at the window all day and watched and waited. It was about 5 pm when I started to get sleepy and I slumped on the floor, because I had stood up all day.  I went to my bed a fell asleep and didn’t wake up till the morning.

In the morning, I woke up to sunlight. Sunlight? There was never sunlight in the city. My grimy window wasn’t grimy anymore. Looking out, there was green shoots raising out of the ground. TREES! I couldn’t belive that my whole plan worked. Thank goodness for the old lady. Rushing down the stairs, I saw people smiling and laughing with each other. The people were touching the leaves. It was like looking at one huge banana shaped smile. I pushed my way through the crowd, on my way to another sorry looking city. I left behind the green and the beautiful and moved into the hard and ugly. I left behind the happiness and joyful. I enjoyed the green. 

I pushed on through the next city and planted. Just planted. The people there were as mean and as ugly as my city before the trees. People were staring at me in disgust, and were muttering under their breath. It looked like I wasn’t welcome there. It didn’t matter because I only stayed for a couple of hours, and then moved on.

One night when I was in a city a young thief fought me for my sack of acorns. I said the same words the old lady had said to me, knowing what the answer was going to be. The answer was of course yes, I let my grip loosen on the bag and I knew that my planting was to go on.  

I looked at the thief. It was basically me but a lot younger when the plants weren’t in my city. He was a sad looking boy, with dark grey hair and walnut coloured eyes. He sprinted off into the dark night.

Week 12

St. Patrick's Chapel, Heysham

It has been quite a miserable week weather wise.  It has been at best grey and dull and at worse, rain, rain, rain and cold - so much so that the bobble hats came out again.  We couldn't go for our daily exercise one day and other days all we managed was a quick walk round the village between showers.

Things are slowly becoming 'normal' again - meaning that things that seemed strange (staying 2 meters away from people) now seem normal as well as the fact we are allowed to meet up with friends now and drive to go to visit places.  Next week the shops will open again - so things really will seem normal again.  We are hoping that this will mean that the morons visiting Ingleton at weekends to trespass and litter will instead go to shopping malls and leave us alone to the nicer type of tourist we like and welcome.

Splashing

This week home schooling was fractions in maths which Tom enjoys and Black poetry to appraise - in response to the Black Lives Matter protests.  The poem was very thought provoking - you can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cHIWtl8PNk&feature=youtu.be.  At first Tom didn't 'get' it.  But after a potted history of slavery and racism by me (I hope I did an OK job - difficult to know where to pitch it to an 11 year old!) we watched it again.  He was in tears.  I was in tears.  He got it.  Apparently a number of his classmates had the same reaction.  Certainly something to think about.

Pendolino at Hest Bank

Afternoon mindfulness was taken up catching up with work he didn't finish at school, seems they play more than they work at school - which is fine, but all the children attending school are falling behind those who are wholly home schooling - funny how things turn around isn't it?!

Thursday and Friday, Tom went back to school and I was busy making chocolate and decorations for a cake for a week away.  In fact I had my head down the whole time he was away - Gingerbugs is opening next Monday and they don't have much stock left!  I was hoping to have some 'me' time once he went back to school - but it isn't looking likely.  By the time I get myself back on track with choccies for Gingerbugs, Tom will be back with me full-time.  Oh hum.

"Wild Boar" Fell

We did manage one bike ride and a couple of shorter walks, but nothing really of note, with things going back to normal, we are going back to normal - and not getting as much exercise as before.  We all think proper lockdown was more enjoyable than this half:half lockdown we are in now. 

Saturday dawned grey, but it quickly cheered up.  We decided to spend the afternoon in Heysham - so after an early lunch we headed over.  We've been to Heysham before to get the ferry to the Isle of Man and at the end of a bike ride along the Morecambe prom, but we haven't explored the town itself.

Cairns on Wild Boar Fell

The Flying Banana passing Ais Gill

The outskirts are what you would expect of a port - not particularly lovely to look at, industrial areas, cheap housing etc etc.  However, we discovered the centre of the town is really lovely...chocolate box lovely.   Also there was a lovely church overlooking the bay.  Some nice looking restaurants and cafes too.  We wondered around, got on to the beach, took our boots off and squelched in the mud/sand.  Tom and I had a water fight in a puddle - he ended up sat in it.  I was wearing completely the wrong clothes - it was cool when we left Ingleton, but it was very warm on the beach.  Ended up looking very 'special' with my leggings rolled up under my skirt.  We didn't take enough water with us and of course no shops were open, luckily I had thrown 3 satsumas in my bag before leaving so we ate those greedily, hoping we would find a shop to buy some drinks.  We didn't!  

Oh hum, we headed to Hest Bank where the boys went train spotting and I had a bout of hay fever, so stayed in the car.  Funnily enough the Bickerstaffs walked past, so we stopped for a chat.  The plan for tea this evening was a Chinese from the Water Lily in KL.  We phoned on the way over, placed an order and it was ready for us on arrival - perfect timing.  We all had a main dish and rice dish each and we ALL ate up every morsel - wowzers - I don't know where he puts it!

Local resident

Sunday was another beautiful, sunny day.  To get away from the crowds that were inevitable, we headed to Wild Boar Fell which was the fell we tried to climb the weekend before lockdown - we had to abandon it due to extreme winds.  Think we went up in thick coats and woolly hats.  Today we were in shorts, T-shirts, caps and lots of suncream.  There was hardly anyone about (great stuff) so we walked up.  Well Tom and I walked up - Matt raced up as he wanted to see the flying banana go past from the top (he got there in time, we didn't!).  It was a stiff climb, but we all made it and it was worth it for the view from the top.  It is another flat topped mountain so we had an explore - there were some interesting very tall cairns perched on the edge, not sure what the history of those was?

Week 11

Completed jigsaw

After a week off, Tom and I were back up for home schooling again.  This week it was fractions in maths and semi colons, spelling and a reading comprehension in English.  Tom stormed it this week - we didn't have any conflicts - phew!

Mindfulness was doing another 1,000 piece jigsaw and more work on his railway article.  I said no to baking this week as I'm putting on weight and wanted a week off sweet treats in the house.

Monday we drove up to Ribblehead and met up with the Raddas for a walk (Rebecca is an only child too - so with the new regulations, we are 6 and allowed out together as long as we keep to 2 metres apart - very easy in the Dales!).  It was a glorious evening, blue sky, sunshine, the countryside was shining in the sunlight.  We found a wonderful packhorse bridge and river, and then Jon took us to a derelict settlement called Thorns.  Think there were about 5 houses, and a collection of barns etc.  There was even a cobble road that ran through it.  I love places like this - wish I could go back in time to see it when it was alive, but was happy to wonder through and imagine how it must have once been.  I was really enjoying myself, until a mad woman with three very loud barking dogs shouted at me across a field for disturbing an owl?!  I could barely hear her because her two dogs were making such a din!!!!

16th century packhorse bridge

Apparently, she is up there for a couple of hours every day (including every day during lockdown), she lives in Ingleton.  She has put up handwritten notices all over the place telling people to respect the place, keep to the footpath and keep dogs on a lead - her dogs weren't on a lead?!  I didn't disturb an owl, I was quietly looking around the buildings - an angry woman - apparently she drives the taxi that takes children to school from Ribblehead every day - not sure I would want my child in her company - she used 'flowery' language with Tom and Rebecca present.  Anyway, although she ruined the moment for me, she quickly became an annecdote and it was such a lovely evening and so nice to spend time with friends at last.  Rebecca was hoarse by the end of the evening as she talked so much!

Social distancing - Dales style

Tuesday evening saw us in Settle visiting Pat and Bob in their garden for an hour or so - as we are 'clean' and now allowed to meet up in groups of up to 6 in gardens.  Once Tom goes back to school we become a risk again.

Thursday was an exciting day...he went back to school.  Ingleton Primary School opened its doors to Year 6 only.  They have split Year 6 into 2 bubbles of 10: one bubble goes in Monday and Tuesday, the school then gets a deep clean on the Wednesday and then the other goes in Thursday and Friday.  They don't wear school uniform, they are only allowed to take themselves and a coat in with them.  Everyone has to have a school packed lunch.  Each child has a desk allocated to them and on that is a tray with all their equipment including a laptop (didn't even know the school had laptops?!), a pack of tissues, a zipper bag to put dirty tissues in, books, pens, pencils and a beaker for water.

A schoolboy again!

They aren't allowed to walk around the classroom at all, otherwise the two meter rule goes out of the window.  There are footprints all over the place to keep the kids 2 metres away from each other.  They have put in extra washing facilities, and have special parts of the school grounds which only they are allowed to play in.  Tom was very excited to return - he was literally bouncing off the walls on Wednesday with the prospect.  Funny isn't it - he can't meet up with 10 of his friends and how ever many adults in the 'outside world' but it is fine in a small classroom?!  The poor boy hasn't had any childish interaction for 11 weeks and is in need of it.   

The school sent through a video, detailing all the routines so the kids knew what to expect.  Only one adult is allowed to accompany their children at a time, we aren't allowed in the school grounds at all.  Basically they want as few adults as possible anywhere near them.  Tom is going to take himself to and fro school from now on - we don't need to be there.  Of the 10 in his bubble - 7 turned up.  His bubble is all but one of the boys and 5 girls.  Only 2 of the girls turned up - they were both all smiles. The boys were nonchalant.  They were all very compliant, standing on their footprints and filed into school quietly and calmly.  Year 6 are a good bunch, so I don't think there will be any problems with them.  Mrs Colledge and Mrs Clements were obviously very excited to see the kids again.

Storrs Common

I spent the day catching up with Lily Pad Bakery.  I wrote out a cake order for later this month and then started thinking about chocolate as Gingerbugs will be opening its doors again on the 16th June as long as there aren't too many morons in the village (if there are, they will close as it isn't safe for them to have them in their shop - from both health and financial points of view!).  So it was a day of lists, spreadsheets and getting the rusty gears of my creative brain oiled again ready for use.  It filled the day though and before I knew it, Tom was back home (he finishes at 3pm now).  He had a great day - came home caked in mud so went up and had a shower straight away.  They only had one lesson: maths, and the rest of the time was spent outside catching up with each other.  Mrs Clements said that she did have lots of activities planned, but she couldn't bring herself to do them and just let them have a catch up.  He was very energised, and was happily bouncing about the place for the rest of the day.

Yamaha MT-09 - brilliant hooligan bike

Friday - Tom went happily back to school and I spent the day making chocolate.  It was a strange day, as Matt took the bike out to get its service, meaning that I was home alone for the first time in 12 weeks.  It was weird!  

I put my head down and got on making some chocolate, took a while to get going and in the routine of it, but got a fair amount done.  Matt came back just in time for lunch, Tom got back at 3 and it was the weekend.  Hurray.  We got an email from the school today which was disappointing.  They have decided to have all years return to school, as they can only have a maximum of 10 per classroom (their classrooms are too small for 15 - to think they had 36 in their class last year!!!!) this means that Year 6 are only back for 4 weeks - 8 sessions in total.  We, along with everyone else had assumed that when they went back they would go back until the end of the school term as nothing in the communications had suggested otherwise.  I understand that they need to be fair to all children, and Year 6 is getting an extra week to everyone else, but it was disappointing.  I'm hoping they aren't expecting us to homeschool them after they've left - that would be a step too far I think!

HIGH tide at Arnside

Kestrel diving

Saturday we had a slow morning, had lunch at home (when are we ever going to eat out again) and then headed over to Arnside in search for a walk without morons.  We headed to the village centre and easily found a parking space (good sign) we then thought we would walk around the coast and then up the Knott.  Oh no, bad idea...we started the beach walk to find no beach - just water!  It was high tide and by high tide, I mean HIGH tide.  We had to dance in and out of the waves, hummm, probably not a great idea, so we decided to turn off the coast walk and head up the Knott first.

This we did, enjoyed the views and then headed down to find the path that hugged the coast back to Arnside.  We hadn't done that before.  It was incredibly narrow, but luckily we didn't meet anyone else.  Was a nice mixture of woodland, bushes, sea, cliffs and sand.  We got back to Arnside and headed home - takeaway pizza was on the menu for tea.

On Sunday we had another easy morning and after lunch headed to Hutton Roof to walk around the Crags.  This is a walk we've been meaning to do for years (not far from Lupton) but for one reason or another kept forgetting about.  It was a good walk: it had everything: limestone pavement, woodland, dozens of paths to get lost in, open farmland, good views etc etc.  At one point it felt like we were in mangrove swamps, with lots of knarled tree roots, humidity, moss etc.  How we didn't get lost is beyond me (lucky Matt has his tech!).  Anyway a good walk, certainly worth doing again and taking in Farleton Knott if we had all day.

Lenticular clouds above Ingleton

And that was it - another week ticked off the list.

Week 10

Looking for the sea at Hest Bank

So, half term came and what a glorious, glorious week it was weather wise.  It was sunny, it was hot, the countryside was gorgeous.  Unfortunately this meant that lots of morons came to the area to drop their litter, trespass and vandalise the village!  Where do all these people come from - and just why do they think it is ok to trash the village and surrounding countryside?!  It isn't just us who are suffering - this is happening all around the country.  Businesses are now thinking twice about opening up when they are allowed as they don't want these people to enter their premises - they show no regard for anything or anyone.  Also the huge numbers of bikers, using the area as a race track meant that the peace and quiet was completely gone.  The police were around, one car located itself in the car park opposite us.  We saw them escort a family out of the village and their presence meant the bikers slowed down which was good.

So, on Monday, I stayed at home the whole day and (shock, horror) did a deep clean of the house.  It sorely needed it - we had piles of dust all over the place.  It took me the whole day, but by the end I was quite pleased.  Matt and Tom went out for a bike ride in the afternoon to give me some space.  I was shattered by the end and sent Matt to the co-op to get some ready meals as I couldn't face cooking.  Get this I even scrubbed the oven and now have lovely shiny metal racks in it rather than encrusted ones.  We are all feeling better for it.

Serious business

Tuesday, we put the bike rack on the car and drove to Bull Beck (felt very naughty being in the car together and driving so far (about 15 miles).  We then cycled along the canal to Hest Bank where we had a picnic lunch over looking the beach, watching the tide come in.  It was lovely to see some different scenery and watching the sea is always relaxing.  We were expecting there to be lots more people around, being we were in a built up area - but actually there were fewer people there than in Ingleton, so it was a good choice!  We cycled back.  Matt almost lost his brand new go-pro which fell off his bike and very very nearly ended up in the canal!  Cycling along the canal felt very weird after many bike rides around here where obviously there are lots of hills.  Felt almost as if we were cheating!

Wednesday Tom wanted to do some more baking and requested my recipe for chocolate cake - I gave it to him, but told him I would kill him if he memorised it or told anyone what my secret ingredients are!  He did a great job - decorated it with melted chocolate and was a very happy bunny licking his fingers after it all.

I went to see the Drs in the afternoon.  They looked at my charts and were able to tell me that I don't have asthma - phew.  They think I might have exercise induced asthma and suggested that I use the inhaler before strenuous exercise to see if it helps.  Must say that I am on the whole feeling much better than I have for months, the combination of nasal spray and inhaler has worked.  I think my lungs were inflamed but with the nasal drip sorted, they are now healing as well.  I'm hoping I won't need any medical intervention at all in a month or two.  Would be nice to be able to exercise again without getting so out of breath.  Whilst I was at the Drs, Tom stayed at home and started his article about the Settle and Carlisle railway he is writing for a child-led railway publication put together by a friend of Matt's.  They are based in London and approached Matt to see if Tom would be their Northern correspondent.  Tom's not an enthusiastic writer but agreed to give it a go.  Will be good practise for him.

On the Stocks Reservoir walk

Thursday we did the walk from Ingleton to Burton to Bentham and back to Ingleton which we did at the beginning of lock down but the other way round.  It was very very hot, so we took it slowly.  We knocked on the doors of a couple of friends in Burton for socially distanced chats across fences.  We had a really nice time - took us 4.5 hours because of all the stops - everyone is so desperate to chat that you don't have a short one these days.  It really is a great walk, can't wait for pubs to be open again and it will become an outstanding walk.

Our Mountain Goat

Friday we didn't do loads as it was so hot.  Matt and Tom played cricket in the morning before it got too hot, then I was on smoker duty with some belly pork and ribs (came out really well).  We then went for a stroll around Storrs afterwards to try to get the digestion going.

Saturday we fled the village as once again it was really hot and the morons came in their droves and once again trespasses, vandalised, littered and (tried) to steal from one of the business here!  Matt had a brainwave and suggested we went to Stocks Reservoir in Bowland.  We've been meaning to go there for ages.  It was a good choice, we did a 8 mile walk around it in the heat, think we saw about 5 other people until we got back to the car park where there were more.  It was a really lovely walk with streams, hills, meadows, forests etc.  The reservoir itself was very very low though - won't be long until there is a hose pipe ban I'm sure.  Apparently May 2020 was the sunniest on record.  The next nearest being 1957.  The kids should remember this year for endless sunshine more than anything else!  Not a difficult walk, but very pleasant.

Resting at The Spout

Sunday, wanting to escape the crowds again we decided to head over to Sedburgh and the Howgills to Carlingill Beck, which Tom and Matt had visited before - a very unknown and remote valley accessed via a very narrow road.  We got there to find only about 5 other cars, fab.

We set off up the valley.  We only walked 4 miles in total, but it took longer and took more out of us than yesterday's walk as we had to scrabble up the banks on very narrow tracks - holding on to rocks, trees, anything we could.  Tom loved it - he was off in the distance for the whole walk - like a mountain goat scrabbling with no bother.  I, of course am a clumblebum, so it took me longer - I wasn't going to trip and fall - that would not be good.  We ended the walk at the head of the stream, by a waterfall where we had our picnic.  It was very lovely.  We walked back down afterwards, via a little hillock so we got a view.  We then went for a lovely paddle in the river at the bottom.  Even I put my feet in it - it was so lovely and Tom got to do some damming etc.  It was a lovely day and a lovely walk.

Week 9

Wow, we are clocking up the weeks aren't we?

This week is the week before half term and boy do we know it - Tom and I seem to have short fuses.  If he doesn't understand something he gets really annoyed with me when I try to show him where he has gone wrong and how to get it right.  We certainly need a week off!

The week after next, schools are supposed to be opening to Year 6, Year 1 and Reception.  We got some emails from the headteacher and Yr 6 teacher explaining what they are up to.  Basically they are going to open up for Year 6 only.  They will split them into 2 groups of 10.  One group go in Monday and Tuesday, they then do a deep clean and the other group go in Thursday and Friday.  They will only use the Year 6 classroom - no front doors etc etc.  I have faith in Mrs Colledge - she won't open unless she is sure.  I belong to a FB group chat: prior to the letter most were no way am I sending my child in, after the letter more were willing to send them in.  Most children want to go, it is the parents putting up barriers.  Tom can't wait to go, Matt is keen to send him, I was more on the fence, but I think I trust the school and the other families in Tom's class.  Tom does need social interaction with other children, he is turning into an old man, and if he doesn't have any social interaction with other children between now and September, he will be overwhelmed by QES!  If the infection rate goes up nationally or locally they won't open.  Who knows what the right answer is?  Only hindsight will tell us.

Think our locale is pretty much free of Covid now (there have been 5 deaths here), but the Drs said that there have been no new cases of Covid for a while.  Our problem now is the infection being brought in from outside but I am pretty sure the other families in Tom's class, just like us will keep as far away from the big groups of people visiting the the area as they can.  I think there is more risk for high school, because the big groups of people meeting up here tend to be older teenagers and 20 somethings upwards.  I've not seen big groups of people with small children.  Oh hum we will see.  I saw something today on the BBC website saying that there will be a national decision on 28th May.  Then I'm figuring North Yorkshire will make a decision and if both of those are positive, it is then down to the head teachers.  I don't think it is right putting responsibility on the head teachers - you just know that if it goes wrong they will be hung out to dry as the government will blame them, although we don't have to send them if we don't want to.  You do wonder how on earth it will work in September - how are Year 7 going to be inducted into high school if high school isn't functioning properly?  They certainly can't start on-line, they at least need to meet their teachers, and get an idea of what high school is about.

Education surely has to change now?  Lots of people are saying that although our kids aren't getting the academics they would normally, they are learning lots of other very valuable skills to put them in good stead for the future.  I think they are (on the whole) right.  Tom certainly has lots of new skills now, luckily he isn'

Making shortbread

t interested in computer games, or the telly that much, so pretty much everything we do is off-line, analogue and engaging.  Sometimes I get cranky as I spend so much time with him: I teach him, I do playtime with him, I do mindfulness with him, I barely have a minute away from him during the school day which is a bit intense, sometimes, I sneak upstairs after the 'school day' just to have a half hour of quiet to myself - invaluable some days.  I know now I couldn't be a teacher (think I knew that anyway!)

So this week Tom was on fractions in maths (great - he could do most of it by himself) and in English his challenge was to research a person who inspires him with the view to writing a biography.  He chose Ben Stokes (of course) and was very happy on the computer looking him up.  We found the email address for his agent so he has sent him an email too.

Making a roux for cheese sauce

In mindfulness he has done a lot of cooking: flapjacks, shortbread and macaroni cheese.  He has been making his way through my 1970s 'Learn to Cook' Ladybird book - very nostalgic for me!  He is great in the kitchen now with cakes and biscuits etc - he does it all by himself, just needs help with hot things and holding heavy bowls etc.

Beautiful British Dinner

I'm trying to move him on to meals now as it would be very handy to have him make tea every once in a while.  It was his idea to make macaroni cheese.  He assumed it was just pasta with melted cheese on it, think he was quite shocked at the process of making a roux etc.  He wasn't happy putting mustard in it, but he was pleased with the end result - not sure he'll want to make it again for a while though!  Think I'll get him to make spag bol next.

The weather has been quite up and down this week - we had a really hot sunny day on Wednesday, Monday and Tuesday it rained, Thursday it was ok and Friday it was very windy.  We have done some walks and bike rides.  We got in the car and headed to Feizor to see the bluebells now we are allowed to drive for exercise.  However, it was overcast so although the bluebells were out, it wasn't as picturesque as it could have been.  I have taken a puff on the inhaler before exercise and it has helped big time.  I'm hoping my lungs maybe a little inflamed and will calm down now rather than long term asthma.  Matt went up Ingleborough with John and Sierra on Wednesday (very hot) keeping a good 2 meters distance between him and them.  He came back very happy - think the company did him good - he did say that there were big groups of people doing it together with no social distancing though!

Top of Ingleborough

Saturday it was still windy so we had a quiet morning.  Tom and Matt worked on the model railway - they are putting in a second level (very exciting) whilst I filled in a huge questionnaire from the NHS about my mental health during the pandemic (linked to being on a trial for something via blood donation).  I really like listening to them working together on these projects, as you know none of us are natural DIYers, so these things don't come naturally, but they work together nicely trying to work out how to put things together - Tom has always enjoyed being helpful.  I then went downstairs and started the daunting task of sorting out the bookshelves in the lounge.  When we moved in, we stuffed books and albums on them.  They haven't changed much in the 7 years we have been there (except there was plenty of dust on them), so I took everything off, dusted it all, got rid of half of the stuff and put the rest back in rough order.  I only did one, and it looked so so so much better.  This of course means I have to do the other one now!

Weir at Austwick

Sunday - it was still horrible, so we had another slow morning.  I cut Tom's hair again - I wanted to tidy up my first attempt, which I managed for the sides and back, but I'm still not happy with his fringe, I can't work out how to get it to look vaguely ok?!  I think it is too top heavy now, but I don't want to mess it up any further.  Oh hum.  I attacked the second book case and got rid of loads more books, found a whole load of class photos from IPS, such a shame Tom won't have a Year 6 one, pretty impossible to do one when everyone has to be 2 meters away from everyone else!

We spent the afternoon watching Hugo - a lovely film set in 1920s Paris - loosely based around Georges Méliès and his fantastical early films, it is a wonderful film - watch it if you haven't seen it.  After that finished we headed round to see Lauren - it was her birthday, so we had a socially distanced chat and exchange of presents.  We then headed back home, I did pork chops for tea (hummmm - love pork chop teas) and afterwards, Tom and Matt headed out for a bike ride whilst I waited in for Sainsburys.  They arrived 4 minutes after Tom and Matt left, and I finished putting things away about a minute before they got back - a good use of time I guess!