Skip to main content

Feeling grateful

Arggh - what a busy weekend, I need a break before I go back to work! Friday was my somewhat dreaded Byte Night sleep out, something I have not been looking forward to. I'd done OK on the sponsorship but it was the thought of sleeping outside in a park in Reading that was filling me with cold shivers, not helped by the knowledge that I'd be bedding down with 11 of my work colleagues! The evening started with food and entertainment in the nearby church. Action for Children were hosting as the sponsoring charity and we hear lots of harrowing stories about why we were fundraising. It certainly brought home just how grim a situation some of these kids find themselves in - forced onto the streets through desperation and home lives that are a million miles away from ours. At 10pm the fun ended and we headed outside, armed with a groundsheet, a hat and a hoody. Reality kicked in as we went into the park to find a spot to bed down on - our only real decision being how far from the street lights could you get without being next to the portaloo. In all honesty it was not a compete replica, after all we had just had a hot meal, had access to a toilet and (the girls anyway) managed to clean our teeth before bed. Regardless of that it felt pretty miserable as the dew came down, our sleeping bags got wetter and wetter and the noise from the streets and traffic encroached on any thoughts of a reasonable night. The ground was hard and I heard every hour being marked off by the church bells. i was bitten on the face a couple of times by some bug and despite trying very hard I could not get to sleep. As I said though, only one night and reinforces how grateful I am for what we have.

The upside was getting home to my warm house, smiling family and a long bath before the next item on the agenda. I'd suggested to Izzy I take her to the St Gabriels open day to get her re-acquainted as she has been the more reluctant of the two of them about the idea of going back there for senior school. I had a bath and some breakfast and she and I set off to be in the first few, with (my) intention of being in and out relatively quickly. We arrived at 9:30 and after a quick hello to the new head set off on the tour. As we went around Izzy was hugged and surrounded at every turn by people she knew, all asking the same thing "Are you coming back?" and "When??"" By the time we settled in for the Head's speech there was a line of class 6ers standing at the door waving at her and blowing kisses. I finally dragged her away just after midday to questions of "Can I start in year 7, why do I need to wait"! I guess that was a success then!

From here it was home for a bit of quiet time (well, half an hour or so) before  doing a round of drop offs for sleep overs, a  frantic dash into town for a 1940-esque red lipstick and then dressing up for our friend's 40s themed 50th birthday party. I had worried that I wouldn't have any energy and I had a banging headache but a couple of day nurse put paid the the pain and gave me the boost I needed. I had already said I would drive so once dinner and the 14 piece big band were through, Glenn made the most of the fact that Simon and his Cure bandmate were teaming up with Simon's son to do 90 mins of amazing cover versions of all manner of hits - it was brilliant. Used to playing stadiums they were loving being on the dance floor and in the crowd as they played, just fantastic.

Needless to say this morning Glenn started well but almost immediately nose dived into hangover hell on the sofa. The weather was a beautiful clear sunny autumn day so I left him there and headed outside to rake leaves and make the most of it - this really is my favourite time of year on a day like today. After various pick ups to collect children we finally managed to all be in the house at the same time by 4pm Sunday afternoon (obviously not in the same room - we are way beyond that it seems!) - just in time for last minute prep, tea and bed. As I said whatever happened to the weekend?!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas...

I was sure I write the blog last week.... but, it seems another 2 weeks have flown by and now we are staring down the barrel of the Christmas holidays and the end of the year! Currently it's all about Doug and what a star he has proved to be so far. He has now been with us for 3 weeks and he is (so far, I keep thinking at some point it will change) a pretty chilled out puppy. As a second dog he has been thrown in at the deep end and has been to Sunday lunch with Alan & Sarah (which he loved), socialised at home with friends and their dogs, met babies (he loved Elsie) and started to go for walks. The walking has been a bit different to our previous approaches with new dogs. In the past we have ventured out carefully, making sure that our new baby only walks a short distance so they can experience all the new sights and sounds. Doug's first walk was after Sunday lunch last week, just him and 8 other dogs for bout 45 mins - he loved it! In our defence we didn't let him wal...
Post a Comment
Read more

Welcome Albert James!

So this week has been full of new things - Jess and Chris have welcomed Albert James Wilkinson Rayner to the family, a tad early but all doing well apparently (and so cute!!), I started my new job, Abi has her new shed and Dad got sorted on a phone that wasn't invented before the kids were born!! I always knew this week was going to be full on and it certainly has been. The first thing I had to do was try and sort out my diary which had been filled from dawn to dusk by my predecessor with meetings. I decided to set out as I mean to go on and immediately took out those that started before 9am. While I can get into  the office for 8am , it's a pain and requires me to be on the 6:30am train which is just a bit much every day (stating the obvious). I then made it clear that we don't need to be joined at the hip for the next 4 weeks which is a sensitive process - even though he is retiring it's hard to let go and he is understandably keen that the team are looked after. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Diary management!

This part of the summer is definitely typified by me trying to remember who is supposed to be where and when. Abi likes to be off doing something with someone while Izzy is happier to know she's close to home and so for the last week they've gone their separate ways. Abi has been down in Somerset making the most of Ben and Laurie being about. From what I can tell she's having a lovely time. Apart from the covert phone call one evening to tell me she was 'starving'  (Mum was cooking for the hordes and so it had been delayed), I've barely heard from her. The few calls I have had have very quickly ended in "can I go now" like I'm making her speak to me! Today she switches from Mum and Dads to a night or two with Kerrie - not sure who is more excited! Izzy didn't want to be away for that long so she opted not to go. She's very conscious that Abi and Laurie are joined at the hip when together and Ben has his own things he wants to do so she ...
Post a Comment
Read more