Skip to main content

And... stop!

So that's it - the work year has finished, as has the school year,and we are officially all on holiday.... poor Glenn, we'll be in his space for 3 whole weeks!!

This week was supposed to be an easy glide path for me but it was nothing like that, I ended up working right up to the wire - something that is to be expected I guess given the circumstances. I did carve out one day to catch up with a few people but even this was a whirlwind of activity, with meetings in Reading in the morning, followed  by London at lunchtime with the plan of being back in Newbury by 4:30 to meet Glenn and the kids for dentist appointments and then on to a quick pizza and the senior school carol concert.  All was going well until there was a fatality on the line and so all trains were halted and I got home 2 hours later than planned. Oh well, kids were pleased not to have to go to the church and sing, and given half the girls then immediately went down with a sickness bug we may have dodged a  bullet there.

Friday dawned and I was back in London while Izzy  went to school and Abi had special dispensation to stay back so she could go straight to Angie's. School was only scheduled for half a day and I couldn't see the point really when the best of the weather was on Friday and they certainly weren't going to do any lessons! 

The whole riding thing is a tricky one. Abi loves being there, but only really when at least one of her friends is also there. There are a gang of them that have become close and so it's not the same if they're not together. They also seem to do far less riding than they do stable slave and so I've lost the plot on whether we pay or not now, not least I'm pretty sure we paid a small fortune for a monthly riding weekend and, between the weather and the weekends she's ended up working rather than riding, I'm pretty sure we've not had our money's worth. Add to that the fact that Abi tends to come home full of talk about leaving school at 16 to do an apprenticeship there (fuelled  by Angie I'm sure, she goes through stable apprentices more quickly than we do cars), I'd be happy of we could find a happy alternative. In the meantime I keep repeating the mantra "I must not worry about things that are 3+ years in the future and may never happen!"

So this week we are off to Somerset and a few days away in a cottage by the railway. I'm looking forward to walking on the beach, seeing family and generally relaxing. We are taking Bertie (first time ever!) who has picked up a timely tummy bug so I'm paranoid he's going to disgrace himself  - nothing is ever easy!!!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

All about Izzy

This weekend has mainly been about Izzy, mostly because Abi has been off riding again and so we've hardly seen her. This has its pros and cons - on the one hand Izzy gets lots of attention and the choice of what to do. On the other she misses Abi and when big sister arrives home we have the inevitable few hours of resettling which seems to involve tears as a matter of course. I did have a moment of despair this evening when I looked across to the table just before Sunday dinner - normally a happy time - to see both of them, heads on arms, holding back tears. Luckily a bit of food and a game of 20 questions to share what everybody had enjoyed about their weekend and we kind of managed to get back on track by dessert. When asked what she wanted to do, Izzy immediately shouted "Jo Jo" so my task was to sort out a visit with Jo, the boys and Ellie. No matter how much time passes they still love to see each other and the first task is always the same. Edward and Izzy have t...
Post a Comment
Read more