Category: Family

Posted on

Half-term

Pic of the week 24/5/20

And so half term has arrived. But Groundhog day continues.

We remain under lock-down, I’ve concluded that this is how medieval man must have lived – never going further than his feet could take him, and his human contact limited to those in his immediate family.

It could be worse – I have a wonderful family and we live in a beautiful place – but I’ve come to realise that it is the consistency of life that is so crushing. No ups following downs, nothing different to look forward to, just one day seamlessly segueing into the next. Normally one would arrive at summer half term with a sigh of relief, catch your breath, enjoy a rest before the short final sprint to the glittering prize of the long summer hols. This year, I just seemed to have stumbled from working at home on Friday to not working at home on Saturday and Sunday.

(And, unlike medieval man, we can now hop in a car to go somewhere for exercise, which is why we’ve been up the Poldens a few times. The pic above was taken on Saturday when the weather was a bit breezy and cloudy.)

One beneficiary of lock-down has been my running: with all other forms of exercise (swimming, spinning and refereeing) denied to me, I’ve been doing a lot of running. And (at least when lock down began) we were told you could only go out once a day, for up to an hour, for exercise I decided I’d make the most of that time and run either my 9K or 10K routes (taking circa 45-50 mins). As a consequence, I’ve been racking up the miles, and yesterday passed the 400km mark. After today’s run, I’ve notched up 414Km.  Don’t think it will happen, but a though crossed my mind today – could I end up doing 1,000Km in the year? (I hope not, because I hope to have returned to spinning, swimming & refereeing, as well as running.)

Other news – and I mention this just so I have a point of reference when I look back in the future – the news this weekend has been dominated by Dominic Cummings and his refusal to resign, despite having been caught breaking lock down rules.

Posted on

Skills!

Pic(s) of the week 17/5/20

Skills!

The lock-down continues, and Becky could take it no longer.

She had to have her hair cut.

(I sympathise)

Fearing for their safety should they do a bad job, the children both refused the task. So it was left to me to step up to the plate.

And I’m rather pleased and proud of my handiwork. It can’t be too bad as I have lived to tell the tale. In fact, I would say as much that Becky’s hair looks much, much better.

In other news, not a lot has changed. Becky & Sam went on a long walk across the Poldens which was good, and today – at last – I went to the tip to dispose of most of my garden waste. Tomorrow night I put out the brown garden waste bin for the first time since mid-March: its the little things that I look forward too!

Toady, I ran my 10K in a new PB for the year in 47 min 22 secs, which also pleased me.

One more week of online teaching before a welcome break of half term.

Posted on

Nettles!

Pic of the week 26/4/20

One of the (few) bonuses of lock down has been Boris walks – we are permited to exercise daily – may be a run, a cycle of a walk – and I have begun to join Becky and Sam on their evening perambulations (Sophie rarely leaves the house).

We’ve become more adventurous, ranging further and further from the house and yesterday evening we broke new ground.  We headed down to Pomparles bridge, but crossed the road and followed the Brue to the north.  We’d not been going long before we realised the error of our ways – the path was flanked – swamped – by nettles and I was wearing shorts and, although Becky had leggings on, they didn’t cover her ankles.

We were getting stung. Mercilessly.

Fortunately Sam had had the sense to wear long trousers and so we commanded him to take the lead, and like a land based ice breaker, stomp down all the nettles in our path, to cut a narrow furrow for us to pass through.

We still got stung lots, but we made it through. It turned out to be a beautiful walk, we saw swans and herons and, as we headed home, the sun was setting, a most magnificent ball of red in the sky.  A view worth the pain of a few nettle stings.

During the day on Saturday and Sunday, I spent much time in the garden, swapping the spring bulbs for summer bedding. Much earlier than I normally would – a combination of beautiful weather and a lock-down regime of no Saturday school, and no distractions from beyond our for walls.

The garden is looking much neater, and ready for its summer show. The only downside is that, in lock down, our “green” is not being collected and the tip is shut, so I have an ever increasing pile of clippings and weeds mounting in a corner by the shed.

And two running milestones were met today:

  1. A passed 300 Km for the year
  2. My first sun 48 min 10K – didn’t just creep under, but smashed it. Missed out 47 mins altogether and posted a time of 46 min 48 secs.
Posted on

Promotion!

Pic of the week 12/4/20

This week it was official – I’ve been promoted by Somerset FA, to a level 6 referee. Due to weather, and then lockdown, I never received my third observation, but given that my first two were above standard expected, and that I’d met all the other criteria – including doing well in excess of my 20 qualifying games – I never really doubted the outcome, but I was pleased to get the letter nonetheless – an achievement!  I know need to decide whether to push on to become a level 5; I must admit at the moment I’m tempted, but not sure when football will start again, so will have to put that decision on hold for a while.

In other news, the weather has been glorious for the last few days and I’ve really enjoyed our family meals – lunch and tea – outside. Lockdown ain’t so bad – we live in a big enough house, have a lovely garden and all (ie the children) are old enough to do their own thing and everyone respects each other’s personal space, but we come together at mealtimes for some lovely family time – its possible that lockdown my be our last pro-longed family time. Perhaps in the years to come we’ll look back, through rose tinted specs, at the “happy times of lockdown”!  The wonderful weather has helped, and Becky having the last three days off has also been a big part in making this a wonderful Easter weekend to remember.

Posted on

Feliz cumpleanos

Pic of the week 29/3/20

Yesterday was my birthday, I turned 51. I had a lovely day – a 9K run in the morning and the presents and toast for breakfast. I got a lot of chocolate and soap (ideal for surviving lockdown), a Spanish book & map, yoga mat, compression socks (and “normal” socks), just what I wanted.  A lovely day at home with Becky, Sophie & Sam (and I even snuck in a delicious snooze in the afternoon.)  The pic shows my chocolate brownie cake which was (is – there’s still some left) yummy.

So a fairly normal birthday in abnormal times.

We are now in lock-down.

Having begun the week teaching remotely, but from my classroom, on Monday, from Tuesday we’ve been in lock-down with only essential travel allowed, and one outdoor exercise slot a day allowed. So I continued teaching from home for the rest of the week – it went well, but I was glad to reach the holiday that begun at the end of the week. I don’t think we’ll be back at school before September, so for next term, at least, this will be the new normal.

Its all very strange, but I’m beginning to come to terms with it. As a key-worker, Becky is still working (like a trojan) at Sainsbury’s. I think that society is finally coming to realise the importance and impact of Covid 19, but there are still those that are not following the rules and guidance. This is frustrating as so many are having their lives massively impacted and the rules are so draconian because not everyone follows them (and will become more draconian if people continue to flaunt them.)

Anyway, some things remain the same – after a week or so of lovely weather, the holiday’s arrive and its gone blummin’ cold, with a particularly biting wind. There is a lot I want to do outside (yet within the curtilage of our house, so within “the rules”, but I will wait for the weather to warm a little.)

Posted on

Not all heroes wear capes

Pic of the week 22/3/20

The Corona virus has been declared a pandemic, and things are different now from where we were a week ago.

Schools have shut (I will be teaching remotely next week) and summer exams (GCSEs and A levels) have been cancelled. This has created considerable turmoil and confusion. Sam won’t now be sitting summer exams, but what grades will he get? Who knows. His mocks and predicated grades from earlier in the year were not good, but of late he had upped his game and was beginning to look on course for some half decent results. Effectively his gap year has now started, but he can’t travel anywhere and there are no jobs around as companies start laying off their workforce as the economy grinds to halt.

There is one sector, though, that is booming and that is the supermarkets. They have been mad, with panic buying and empty shells. Being the true hero that she is, Becky has more than stepped up to the plate, doing extra shifts as necessary, and having to put up with some pretty crappy customers. Without her, and her colleagues, the country would be on its knees. Too often derided as “shelf-stackers” , the nation owes them a debt of gratitude and she should sport her purple and orange Sainsbury’s fleece as a badge of honour. Not all heroes wear capes.

I am proud of her.

Posted on

Corvid 19 – I

Pic of the week 15/3/20

The end of days!

At least, that’s what it feels like at the moment.

We are in the first phases of an epidemic, and there is very strange feel to life at the moment.

Thursday saw a “Cobra” meeting and the PM, flanked by two grown ups (Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Officer) announced plans for the nation. For now, schools are not closing. In fact, the government hasn’t introduced many mandatory measures, taking the line that these will need to come, but keep them in the pocket for when we really need them – i.e. at the peak of the crisis, rather than now – as people will only tolerate draconian restrictions for so long.

I think it is a sensible approach, but we are the outlier amongst western European nations, most of whom have gone into lock down already.

Anyway, we are where we are. School remains open, but pupils are leaving for foreign shores at an alarming rate. By yesterday, I think circa 160 had already left; I suspect that number will increase over coming days. I understand the desire of parents to get children home, and of students to go home, but I do think it a big risk for Year 11 & 13 students who have GCSE and A level exams this summer (assuming they are still on.)

It will lead to challenges as to how we (I) teach – but whilst I’ve still got students in my classroom I reckon I’ll teach pretty much as normal, but provide electronic access to worksheets etc.

Strange times indeed – it is starting to dominate our lives, certainly our newsfeed. On a personal level, I’m not too worried about contracting the virus – I think we should all pretty much expect to at some point, and it’ll “just” be a cold for a few days. Who knows, we may have it now, or have had it. What worries me is the extended disruption to our lives and the impact on the economy. I do worry for Sam and his exams – I hope they are still on this summer.

I think the best analogy is waiting for a big dumping of snow – you know its going to happen and cause disruption, but there is that element of uncertainty of when, and how much, but with snow at least you know you can have some fun with it, and it a couple of days it’ll all be over. Alas, we can’t say that for the virus.

Anyway, on Saturday, Becky & Sam went to Bristol (apparently the shops were deserted – unlike Becky’s reports of Sainsbury’s today), hence the snap of Sam in the snazzy shirt (he didn’t buy it!)

Posted on

Lawn, swimming and Corvid-19

Pic of the week 8/3/20

We live in unsettling times.

But the weather is trying to improve and we’ve had a couple of spring like days this week, days to lift the soul and lighten one’s load, although they have been the juicy filling between the limp, stale white bread that is the sandwich of the current weather. Still too much rain, still to chilly (not crisp cold, just a cold dampness that permeates to ones bones.)  But today, there where bright spells and I even managed to give the lawn a mow, the first of the season.

It was needed. The lawn is not currently in a healthy state, it seems to be as much moss as grass. And (I think) nesting blackbirds are busy plucking the moss to make their nests, leaving, well, just mud. Anyway, having mowed and raked, hopefully the grass can begin to out-compete the moss and we’ll be rewarded with a beautiful sward come those long summer days …

This morning was a first for me, my first swim in the school pool. I was taking part in a sponsored swim organised by the Lions and my team of 4 had 25 minutes in the pool to swim as much as possible. I must confess I was a little disappointed to find that the pool was split in half – we would be swimming 25m lengths rather than the full 50m, but I’m pleased with the 50 lengths (= 1.25 Km) I managed in the allotted 25 mins.

Becky went to see Sophie in Reading yesterday (hence the pic), Sam continues with his new found work ethic. I head off to Milton Keynes tomorrow to watch the 1st XI in the ISFA Final.

But we live under the question mark of Corvid 19, or the Corona virus. At the moment, nothing tangible has happened – these are teh figures as I write (8 March 20) from the Government’s website:

As of 9am on 8 March 2020, 23,513 people have been tested in the UK, of which 23,240 were confirmed negative and 273 were confirmed as positive. Two patients who tested positive for COVID-19 have died.

So, not sure where and how this is going to end. Will we end up in lock down – or even just more “minor” restrictions such as school closures, or will this all just be yesterday’s news in a few weeks time? I don’t know. I suspect we (the UK) will ride it out for a few weeks and then life will continue as normal.

But I’ve been known to be wrong before …

 

Posted on

… and its over

Pic of the week 23/2/20

I’m not sure whether to say the half term break has been blown away by the gales, or washed away in the rain and floods, but either way, the week draws to a close.

Its been a wet and windy week with very little “usable weather” so most of the time has been spent indoors. My Spanish has, therefore, improved enormously and I have taken the brave step to begin spoken lessons, via iTalki. My first lesson with Luisely was OK, but not what I’d hoped it would be. So then I tried another tutor, Daniel, and he’s great. Its difficult, trying to speak and listen to Spanish for 30 minutes, but so worth it – I feel I am making real strides in my studies.

And speaking of studies, it seems the penny might have finally dropped with Sam and he does seemed to have upped his application in preparation for his A levels. I think it is a combination of many things – having a tutor (John) to help him with his physics has given him a real boost, as, I think, has passing his driving test, and I think he finally begins to see a future beyond school. Let’s just hope he maintains his efforts, and they are enough to open the doors he wants opening.

Its been lovely having Sophie back for the week, she returned to Reading on Saturday. Its hard to think that she is a significant way through her second year of university.

On Tuesday, Becky & I went to see 1917 at Strode Studio cinema – an excellent, if not easy to watch, film. Glad I’ve seen it, but feel its to be watched more out of duty than for entertainment.

On Thursday we had a tracker fitted in the car, which is generating a lot of interest and competition to see who can get the best score; and on Friday we took delivery of our new fridge freezer.

So, a busy week. Wet and windy, but enjoyed. Five weeks ’till the next hols!

Manana, voy a volver a trabajo a mi escuela.

Posted on

Passed!

Pic of the week 9/2/20

He passed!

On Friday, Sam successfully passed his driving test. Today he has proudly pootled off to work, behind the wheel on his own for the first time, ever.

Very proud of him and, unsurprisingly, he’s as pleased as punch.

Not the best day today for driving though: we’ve been battered by Storm Ciara and the wind and rain has – at times – been pretty immense although (touch wood) we’ve escaped anything more damaging than our garden furniture being blown about a bit on the deck. My game today was a victim of the weather, so, after receiving the cancellation text at 8.05 am, I headed down to the pool and swam 50 lengths. I’m enjoying swimming again, and will do more of it this year, but this week I have signed up for the Glastonbury 10K in May, so can’t abandon the running entirely!  But with half term now just five short days away, I’m looking forward to being able to do a bit of both.

The original flower from my cactus (blog-post of a couple of weeks ago) didn’t last, but has now been replaced by three new flowers, with more on the way. Outside, too, there is plant life beginning to emerge from the winter slumber. In the front corner of the drive, a number of daffodils, buffeted in the gale force winds, bravely sport their yellow flowers and in the back garden, the peony roots I planted last autumn are now poking through, suggesting the promising of a summer yet to come, and a self-seeded sweet-pea plant has hung on over the cold, wet winter and is now beginning to put on a growth spurt.