As you know, I write here for the benefit of my non cycling public, although almost anyone can do it and i recommend it heartily. However, life is more than 2 wheels and I am delighted to announce the end of term. Yes, it happened today, and right now at after 11pm I am finally sat down and about to have a rare glass of wine. Rare cos it doesn't mix with training, but the last two weeks haven't involved much of that, as I have either felt not right or been at work or dreaming about work. But, here we are, on the eve of a hugely long holiday, with my first ever experience of doing the same classroom twice so no moving stuff and I managed to get books and folders ready for next year. When I say I, really I mean we, as my great LSAs were seriously on the case and did lots of the dirty work. The children were great too, we had a jobs wheel ( ie a rotation of 5 activities and 5 groups), and one of the jobs was sharpening pencils and another was helping me. We even got the maths resources tidied up. I had a bumper wine harvest, 5 bottles, from lovely families to say thank you for taking their kiddies off their hands for hours at a time, day in day out. Oh, and helping them learn something. Chocolates too, and a couple of mugs, some flowers and some shower gel. I gave the girls smellies for their teachers, and they also made cakes to take in for the helpers. I competely respect the mum who told her child 'we don't give presents to teachers as they are just doing their job' - absolutely, I agree! I think it is one of the few public sector jobs where you are allowed to accept gifts - probably you aren't and they are tax deductible, in which case you didn't read any of this.

I accidentally mislead my class yesterday by telling them the reason we had no fruit for them at breaktime was because the new prime minister had decided that the government was not going to pay for it anymore. That was the message I had received. It turns out we had run out and the greengrocer wasn't delivering, and DC has not made a decision yet. Thatcher Thatcher Milk Snatcher, I can hardly see any outcome other than fruit being abolished, so 4-7 year olds won't get their one a day anymore. LSAs are in for the chop as well, we hear, so soon I will have no LSA, no fruit and probably no pens and paper in the next budget. Hey ho. The free swimming for children is being stopped too, in another short sighted move which will increase spending long term as more obese people have obese children and the health problems related to that, and they will not even be eating a piece of fruit to help alleviate the stodgey diet they exist on. Free swimming for children is so cheap compared to the benefits for the whole family. But then, who asked me?

The Claygate flower show provided the usual exciting entertainment you can expect from Morris Men, the scout band and a few pods of peas. The peas were thrilling, as my brother entered for the first time and got second for his peas, with my dad trailing in third place. Overall my dad got his usual haul of cups, 8 this time, including best exhibit in the show for an amazing Lily stem with tens of open blooms. H got a second prize, worth £2 for her poster design, and A managed a highly commended for getting 36 different objects in a match box. My mum got a third for her victoria sandwich I believe. There was a lot of competition in the baking classes, and the cake made by a gentleman class had to be seen to be believed. Our friend Jo came along for her first ever Claygate experience and found it a bit of a culture shock after Bangladesh, where the fruit and veg are of different varieties and there is a prize for the juciest mango. Jo managed to do the whole English summer in one go, with great weather and two sports days to go and watch, plus 2 clarinet concerts and a choir concert, she certainly got her money's worth from her visit. She also came to H's birthday party, which involved me setting a trail in Telegraph woods and H and various friends, family and haggard parents following it to find me and the picnic at the end. The sun shone and it all went without a hitch, and H seemed happy with the outcome. Her birthday present from R and GMary is a new bike, and A has moved up to H's second last one, with gears for the first time, so we are now able to ride further than just a few metres without A crashing or giving up, and R took the two of them by bike to the swimming pool yesterday, and back, and all I had to do was cook tea. My present to H is having her ears pierced, so we are planning a trip to town to do the deed. She had them done a few years back but was too young to deal with them independently and we gave up, so this is a second chance. I won't take her to the place I had mine done, which was a serious piercing parlour with ears a minor part of the body hardly mentioned in the price list and the price list giving options for piercings I didn't know existed. Ouch.