Today we walked to the tennis club through the woods in the rain. We had to leave at 8.40am, so it was a bit of a school day atmosphere, but girls thrilled by the journey and I was not entirely sure I was on the right path for a few moments to add to the excitement. It was still raining when we left after tennis, fun club and swimming ( no need to use our central heating or shower at home!) and despite travelling as light as we could, tennis bats, umbrellas and wet towels mixed in with winds and horizontal rain did not make the girls mad keen on walking back the same way. So we walked to Sainsburys instead, which was full of people with nothing to do on a rainy Saturday. Like us then. We had a tasty lunch served by our next door neighbour (she works in the cafe, she didn't just nip out with a tray) and a mooch round the cake and card aisles as it is A's birthday IN 4 DAYS... Then a play on the hippos and elephants out the back before getting a very punctual and fast double decker home. We sat on the top at the front, and we don't go on buses since we are at school now, and I miss our trips to the Quays, our Amy days, and longer ago than that - the challenge of a baby and a toddler on a bus was always one I was up for!

The fireworks were on special at Sainsburys, which was a good thing as it needed 3 rockets in a dark place to get Amanda fired up enough to get out of bed when we got back at 4pm. Oh dear God how could you have sent someone so unlike me it could not be possible that we inhabit the same planet or universe, let alone house??? What a lot God teaches us! I had done a walk, an hour in the gym and swum 30 lengths before she had thought about breakfast! Really enjoyed the gym and may sign up for a challenge in December to give me a training goal as the end of March is a long way off.

R is away sailing this weekend, great windy weather so no complaints from him there! He came mid field out of 38 boats ( all the same type) today and has two more races tomorrow. He is camping. I am not.

It is half term, in case you are not in the world of people who care about such things, and we are glad. I had parents evening this week and it finished me off! I was feeling weak and exhausted anyway after the last 7 weeks but the children have done some great work lately and I was able to say encouraging things with integrity. One of R's staff ( in fact his only 100% ICT teacher) has got a new job as Head of ICT at a neighbouring school, which is clearly great for him and reflects well on R, but is a headache as they now have a vacancy and the deadline to hand in notice was yesterday, so only the out of work will be looking for a job for January. Let's hope some of them are out of work for good reasons and they find someone who is a positive gem.