So, I have got horribly behind again - it is the fault of Lily Pad. I just seem to be so busy at the moment, it has become a full time job, which means I really don't have time for anything else during the week. By the time I finish, clean the kitchen, make tea etc etc I'm pretty much done in and find it very difficult to do much other than collapse in front of the telly!
Anyway, highlights of the past half term:
23rd February was Jungleskog's birthday. His first birthday. He has become such an important member of the family, it is hard to remember life before he came to stay with us. He is Tom's constant companion, and (of course) has a full character, which we all feed into. Even Granma and Pop Pop joined in last time they were here! Anyway, he got a proper cake to celebrate a year in our residence!
Weekend of 26th February - Tom Whitehead came to stay. Sleep overs have started again, Tom has been invited to a couple so we have returned them. First up was his friend Tom who lives near Kendal and who also supports West Brom?! Who would have thought it - he is known as West From Tom in our house, turns out our Tom is known as the same in his household too! It is so nice to see that Tom has started to make connections and his own friends.
We knew he wouldn't keep his Ingleton friends as it was quite clear that they just weren't his 'tribe'. Anyway Tom came for the night. He was very lovely, so nice to hear laughter in the house. 27th February, we had to take Tom home by 10am for a football match, so we dropped him off and then carried on to Buttermere in the Lake District. I didn't know it at all, but it is one of Matt's favourites. We had lunch in Keswick and then carried on to Buttermere. It isn't a huge lake, we walked a circuit of it and very pleasant it was too - especially as the weather was so good - lovely and bright and blue.
of 5th / 6th March. Tom spent Saturday with Annabel so Matt and I got out and did the Slatenber walk. On the Sunday we headed over to Morecambe to do a walk with the Raddas. As we headed over, I got a message from Liz saying that Annabel had just tested positive for Covid! Tom said he was fine, I let the Raddas know, they were still up for a meet up so we went ahead. We had lunch outside at the Beach cafe and then found the Raddas having their sandwiches in the car park behind us. We then walked towards Heysham with them.
It was a beautiful day - bright sunshine and so a lovely afternoon was had. It always works well, a meet up with them: Rebecca and Tom pair off immediately, then Katie and Matt pair off as they are both in to their photography and always on the look out for the perfect photo. Jon and I then pair off - he is so funny, born in the wrong decade, he is the most analogue person I know, he loves old technology and actively collects it. He has a twin tub washing machine which he adores, drives very old cars (Austin Allegro is the best/ most embarrassing depending on your point of view!) and he tells his stories so well. The afternoon went by very quickly!
8th March we had Tom's school speed dating event. We call it Parent's Evening, although officially it is called Parent and Child Review or something like that - I forget! Anyway it all went well. Tom seems to please his teachers - he works hard, takes part in class well and seems to work hard. Some teachers were brilliant - loved his History teacher who had a brilliantly dry sense of humour, his Geography teacher was impressed with our map in the background (we did it in the lounge) so we got brownie points for that (he was your typical geography teacher - I'm sure he had elbow pads on his jacket!) I thought his Physics teacher was going to burst into tears - she was so gushing about him. His Theatre Studies teacher was also very complimentary telling us what a comedian he is (sense of timing etc rather than class clown). Only 2 weak teachers: his English teacher (who is also his head of year) who didn't seem to know him at all and certainly couldn't tell us how he was doing in English - luckily he only has her for 1 out of 3 lessons a week, so I got in touch with his other English teacher later to get a handle on how he is doing - sort of an important subject! The other teacher we wanted to see was Music as Tom is quite anxious about his Music lessons, the behaviour in them is so bad that very little gets done and the teacher just 'screams' all the time! He didn't turn up, so we never got to ask him about it. We have written to him about it and just got non committal teacher speak back. Tom is in the same class of people for his Art lessons, but the Art teacher has acted on the bad behaviour, one member of the class being made to sit outside someone's office instead of attending the lesson for 3 weeks and then a senior member of staff spot checking on them once he returned to the lesson to check everything was under control. The music teacher, it seems, hasn't tried to tackle the bad behaviour at all. No wonder he didn't turn up for his appointment! Oh hum. Just as well music isn't important to Tom.
11th March we headed to Harrogate straight after school, found ourselves a Japanese restaurant to eat in before heading to the Convention Centre to see Tim Peake. This was Tom's birthday present from us. He was really good, spoke very eloquently about the training he did and then about being in the ISS. He didn't get too technical and kept it fun and interesting. Interesting facts: the rocket they travelled on, travelled at 10x the speed of a bullet at 9 million horse power! It was a really good evening, very inspirational, left you thinking that anyone could become an astronaut. He didn't do particularly well at school, but was driven by the opportunity of adventure instead.
19th March, another friend, Ben came to stay the night. So another night for me and Matt in the kitchen, whilst they had the lounge for snooker and a film. They had fun though and that's what counts. On the Sunday, they went off for a mess about in the village. Tom took Ben to the river and both of them ended up IN the river! Great! Both Tom and Ben had colds. They came back absolutely freezing. I had to chuck them both in the shower to warm up! Ben was ok with it but that evening Tom turned grey and his cold took a turn for the worse. Took him 2 weeks to get rid of it! I'm glad that he had a great time with his friend, just wish he had thought that maybe it wasn't a great idea if he had a cold already!
25th March Tom had his Scout Night Hike. He had been wanting to do it, but with his cold, it was looking dodgy. A week of enforced 8pm sleeps and no after school actives and he finally turned a corner so he could do it. I stupidly offered to help and was put to work in the kitchen. Actually I wasn't put to work in the kitchen, everything had been done when I turned up, even though I turned up when I was told, and really there was nothing for me to do - think I served about 8 mugs of tea. Just as well that Liz was helping out as well. We ended up doing a jigsaw to pass the time. They were out for 3.5 hours, following a map, working on tasks at check points etc. It was very well organised, a bit too over organised if you ask me. The kids all had to do kit checks, go through health and safety briefings etc. It was only 5 miles, it was great weather, they were all in teams with adults who knew the route. They even had a whole Mountain Rescue team out just in case? A case of too many helpers, but Tom enjoyed it and that's what matters.
26th March it was Mother's Day, the clocks went forward and it was also Bob's birthday. After a bit of a lie in, we headed to Settle to meet up with Jude and Craig to take Pat and Bob to the Talbot Arms. It was a good afternoon, everyone was on good form, so conversation flowed freely. Food was good, it wasn't too crowded and the sun shined. What else do you need?
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