The rest of Easter

The second week of the Easter holidays passed in a bit of a blur.  The weather was pretty terrible, very grey, very wet!  Bullet points of the week:

Saturday 9th April - Tom and Matt went to Leeds on a train day out.  I still couldn't move that far as my legs were still very tender from the chill blains I got last week.  They indulged themselves with a Thai lunch and did no shopping at all - got bored and came home early armed with sushi from Wasabi so they were very welcome.  Janine came over for a chat which was nice as I couldn't move far - and was having to wear very light summer trousers which weren't great in the cold! 

Sunday 10th April - my chill blains were better, so we decided to head to Dent to Matt's new favourite cafe - Tom wanted to experience it.  Matt had a chicken parmo which he was very happy with (if you don't know them - they are the culinary delight of Teeside - look them up!)  I had a falafel wrap and Tom had a pie.  We then went for a walk along the river at Dent which was lovely - just what my legs could cope with!

The early part of the week was taken up by cricket training.  Tom had a last training session with South Lakes.  I took him, in the rain.  It hammered down for the whole time.  The kids were drowned, the trainers were drowned.  I sat in the car in the warmth doing paperwork.  As usual the kids didn't seem to mind.  The next day he had an Ingleton training session which was drier.

On Thursday 14th April Tom managed his first trip by himself to Lancaster.  We've been trying to sort this for a while.  The best way for him to get to Lancaster is by train, but of course there aren't that many services.  Being a boy he isn't interested in shopping so the only reason to go is to see a film and trying to match train times with film times is pretty difficult, however, eventually the timings all worked.  The plan was for him and Annabel to go together first, but she was on holiday in Egypt so instead he asked Sierra and she said yes.  I was so pleased for him.  Just as well I had walked Tom through where everything was in Lancaster as he said that Sierra didn't have a clue and also I heard her say to him 'I don't like trains they are freaky' as they walked over the bridge to the right platform (this after Sierra asked why they were walking over the bridge?!)  Tom took it in his stride but was obviously surprised that someone would call a train freaky!  They went to see the latest HP Fantastic Beasts film.  For Tom it was all about the trip but for Sierra it was all about the film.  They had a good time and Tom wasn't as cocky as I expected when he got back.  Finally he's got proper independence although of course we have to drive him to / from Bentham to catch the train.

On Friday Sheafstock started in Ingleton.  Wendy and Ryu Uchimura came over for the night.  Wendy is one of Matt's translator friends who is originally from Bradley (just outside of Skipton) but has lived in Japan for the last 25 years.  She decided to come back with her family.  She has two boys: Ryu who is 15 and Ruyoki who is 11.  Ryu came with her and Ruyoki and her hubby are coming over next year once Ruyoki has finished Elementary school.  Although she speaks in English to her boys they are very reluctant to speak English, but of course are now entering the English school system.  

So so difficult for Ryu who has entered in Year 10 - so he gets to do 1.5 terms this school year and then it is his GCSE year.  I was wondering if he would be more willing to speak English - but no - he still refuses to speak it - you do wonder how he will do in his GCSEs - I'm sure academically he is there, but his English language needs to get better or he will fail.   Wendy was hoping he would get into the Grammar school in Skipton but they wouldn't take him because his English wasn't good enough, so he's at Skipton Academy instead which doesn't have a great reputation and of course Wendy has no idea how everything works.  They were supposed to come over earlier but of course the pandemic ruined everything!  Apparently after his first day at Skipton Academy he asked Wendy what he had to do to transfer to the Grammar school - apparently the first time he has shown any wish to work hard.  I'll be interested to see how long it takes for Ryu to start speaking English confidently...  Anyway they came over for the night.  I took them to Sheafstock, it was quite obvious that Tom and Ryu weren't going to hang out as they are quite different - Ryu being that bit older and a bit of a geek whilst of course Tom is sporty.  They both like trains, but because Ryu can't speak English there really isn't much chance of interaction.

On the Saturday we took Wendy and Ryu to Morecambe for the day.  We had a really nice day out there with them.  We showed them Eric, took a long walk along the prom, lunch outside at the Stone Jetty and then a walk back along the shop fronts.  Wowzers I discovered then that Wendy is a proper shopper - she bought so many things.  They went back home on the train, and we returned home.  We spent the evening at Sheafstock.  Tom disappeared with his friends almost immediately and that was it - he ended up sleeping over at Annabel's house.  We stayed for the whole night, the whole village seemed to be out, so plenty of people to talk to and catch up with, was a good night.  

Sunday we were invited to the Ellershaws for pizza before heading to Sheafstock for the last night.  Was lovely at the Ellershaws, saw more people that we hadn't seen for 2 years, so more catching up.  We enjoyed Sheafstock again, but were a little tired and ragged around the edges so left early to go to bed early.  We clearly can't hack 3 nights in a row, was nice to have Sheafstock back though!

Tom then went back to school.  On the Wednesday Matt went for a trip around the Dales on his motorbike and called in at home to see his Mum and Dad.  He came back concernedsaying his Mum was yellow.  He spoke to his Dad about it on his return, he had also noticed it but apparently Pat was in denial about it.  He said he was going to keep an eye on her and maybe book her an appointment at the Drs if she didn't look any better in a couple of days.