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Olympic Flame starts summer holidays.

School’s out for Summer! This year I have to admit I felt a little sad, no more nursery trips for me now that pixie has left to enter the world of full time school. Hpops has finished Year 3, how is that possible and soon Imp will enter his last year of infant education to be swallowed up into the juniors! It seemed to hit Pixie that she was leaving her beloved teacher the day before term finished and we had a fair few tears, although she is growing up very quickly it is easy to understand how she feels.

It occurred to me that in eight weeks all three of the children will be at school all day and what will I be doing? Well I have now sorted myself out a provisional timetable, on a Tuesday and Thursday I will be reviving my love of teaching as I will be helping out in school. I am quite excited by this, although I won’t be paid I will be doing what I went to university for and helping kids learn, without any of the planning, marking and reporting responsibilities. I am hoping that this may then enable me to get a paid job at some point in the future as I will revive my knowledge and get to grips with the new technology routinely used in the classroom today. On Monday and Wednesday I will be run and then write and Friday will be relaxing and then helping out in the library or with swimming, this is as well as chaperoning various clubs and instrument lessons with the children.

Study resumes in October as well so I will have plenty to keep me out of trouble as well as several Dexter, Criminal Minds and CSI DVD box sets to watch, seeing as how they are not really suitable for children to view! Before that I have to survive the summer, our holiday isn’t until the end of the holiday but I have tried to book some activities in for the children to keep them occupied and they are already excited about the Olympics.

We were all excited to go and see the Olympic Flame on Friday, I was busy watching the tennis until it was time to go. We aimed to arrive an hour before it was due to get to us but even so there was already a lot of people gathering and a buzz of excitement in the air. As people lined both sides of the street of Brentwood we sat the kids on the kerb, they had met some of their friends from school and so chatted along happily, using their ipods to take photos. Luckily Mr T made it as well.

As the crowds thickened the police had their hands full keeping the road open, several cars beeped their way past cheerfully, flags were sold so we could wave the flame through and eventually some police outriders came through high-fiving the kids which added to the excitement for the children. An ice-cream van fought its way though the crowd and then re-appeared opposite us, clearly sensing an opportunity. Further down there was a buzz and we knew something was happening, several vans with dancers from the sponsors and Olympic buses with the mascots came past smiling and waving, we had to mind our toes and the police gave up and closed the road completely!

Eventually after a pause the torch itself came through, held aloft by a white tracksuited torch bearer! Everyone was clapping and cheering, waving flags and smiling, even the few drops of rain that fell couldn’t dampen the spirits. We walked back to the car with many of the crowd and everyone was happy and cheerful, having seen a bit of history and shared it with the community. I even got back into the car for to hear Murray win his Wimbledon Semi-final!

We are looking forward to our visit to the Olympics in a few weeks time and I am glad that we are getting towards the start date now and we can actually enjoy the sport rather than the advertising leading up to it! I am counting down to the Wimbledon Final – I hope Murray can do it otherwise despite all he has accomplished people will continue to write him off as an also ran rather than appreciating what he has achieved already! I suspect however that Federer with his majestic shot making, desire to get back to number 1 and win an historic title could edge him out, but the wonder of sport is you never know, if you want me I’ll be in front of the TV!

End of term events

It’s that time of year, the diary is full of various school events which could be affected by the weather but we hope won’t be. So far so good, sort of.

At the beginning of last week it started, Pixie had a trip and we had a lovely day at Audley end. We found our way to the middle of, and back out of the hedge maze, we spotted teddies on the miniature railway and we ate ice cream on the field. At the same time Hpops was off at a music festival playing piano, of course parent guilt kicks in but you can’t be in two places at one time. Thankfully a very proud Grumps accompanied her and was delighted when she lifted a cup, I was able to go with her for the final performance and she played very well.

Thursday was an event for Imp, the school were raising money for an African music school, in the process the children sang some songs they had learned and played instruments. Friday was the big test, the weather had been teasing us all weeks, at times sunny, at others absolutely throwing it down with rain. For sports day it decided to do a little bit of everything, luckily the event went ahead and as we arrived and trekked over the the athletics track there was a huge cloudburst, this was followed by some rather fierce wind buffeting us. Unfortunately this put paid to mine, and several other large umbrellas which had opened just at the wrong time and been caught out by the wind! I was able to watch Hpops and cheer her on suitably but poor little Pixie was a bit wet and cold so after her races we took refuge in the car for a few minutes before heading back having collected my little imp along the way.

Friday was reports day! I didn’t know what to expect from Pixie’s, most people find her strangely endearing whereas at home she has a tantrum over the word no, the removal of her ipod and not allowing her to basically do what she wants. I was pleasantly surprised her report was good and it seems as if her brains do work for good as well as bad. Imp also produced a great report – again a good surprise as he has had his issues but it seems as if it is all coming together. Hpops gets her report later this week but I have to say I’m sure she’ll be ok.

Saturday was another early start, we had to go to prize giving and open morning and had to be seated for a 930 start, this may not seem early but we had to get all three kids looking fairly smart as well as ourselves, this can be a challenge at weekends as Pixie does her level best to stay in her night clothes for as long as possible and Imp spends as much of his time running around playing football, climbing and racing around in tracksuit bottoms but we did it and we were delighted that Hpops was rewarded for her efforts with a book about horses.

This week is usually the start of my summer diet going haywire due to a severe case of tennisitis, this year however the first few days are fairly disrupted. Monday afternoon was spent watching the smaller two dancing in their show, tomorrow will be spent cheering Hpops on during her swimming gala and finally on Thursday I will get to visit the hallowed turf of Wimbledon. To say I’m excited is an understatement, sure I’m on court one right at the back and the weather is looking a bit iffy but there is always the practice courts to explore and strawberries and pimms to consume! This week the two little children also get to meet their new teachers. They all seem very excited and Pixie is indeed looking forward to going to school all day and I think she will thrive there. Before that she gets to stay to lunch, participate in her summer event along with Imp and go to her teddy bear picnic, something she has been looking forward to since she first started in nursery. Imp is off to his end of year trip and finally the final furlong, the lunchtime finish!

The children are growing in confidence and the way they look at the world is becoming ever more complex, except for Pixie who seems to have things a little confused. I complimented her on her reading skills after her bedtime story and she said ‘Soon I will be able to read to you like Hpops!’

‘Yes,’ I agreed, ‘that will be nice.’

‘Yes,’ she added, ‘because you can’t see the teeny tiny words that’s why we have to read to you!’

I gave up at that point! However despite her belief that I am incapable of reading things other than Peppa Pig, Charlie and Lola and Mr Men I am reading that book, I have to say I’m not convinced at the moment but I will persevere, apparently there is a film on the way…

Fictional Childhood Memory

Off on an adventure, as usual in the Summer, across the meadow we trekked with the daisies and dandelions brightening the scene, over the stile and into the forbidden forest. Shady and quiet but full of bramble and unseen creatures rustling in the undergrowth, in the Autumn the most amazing blackberries could be found, today was special, today we were going to the swing.

Battling through the bushes, twigs with wicked, ripping thorns attached waiting to tear into the unwary. Stumbling over aged roots a canopy of green above us shadows cast by the sun dancing through seemingly spotlighting our path. The occasional squawk of a disgruntled bird, an oomph as someone tripped followed by tinkling laughter until stunned silence, we were there, tumbling out into a sun filled valley, the ground sweeping away beneath us in a steep and threatening curve, the carpet of nettles beneath us nodded in the breeze, knowingly waiting for their next victim. In front of us was the ancient fabled rope, made famous by older siblings- the secret passed on through Chinese Whispers. It was blue and knotted, scuff marks from ages surrounding the magnificent spreading oak towering above, a monolith to our bravery. Initials carved into the rough bark of those who had dared and survived and the rope that had become part of the branch overhead and childhood legend.

To feel the wind, exhilaration and wonder a swing could bring, who would dare go first?

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

An amazing read. As I went about my business today having read this book I couldn’t help but think how much I take for granted. Narrated by a young girl this novel has an honest matter of fact tone, the emotions the girl feels at the strange events as well as the trials of approaching adolescence are well constructed and come through perfectly.
We assume the world is going to keep turning, the sun is going to rise and set and no matter what other trials we are experiencing the natural world will, in the main, look after itself, except what if it doesn’t. What if something shifts and it affects all of us, this is the concept the novel explores. The way the different people react and how new allegiances and rivalries are formed as a result, can the human race simply continue, ignore the will of the planet that hosts us?
As well as depicting a screenshot of growing up this book is thought provoking, it is a good read for the individual and would work really well in book groups. It is accessible and sweetly told whilst unfolding mind bending events. Thoroughly recommended. 5/5

One Perfect Summer by Paige Toon

A lovely summer read with the right amount of suspense, angst and romance. From the very beginning of the book I was hooked. As eighteen year old Alice journeys to Dorset for a summer holiday with her parents she is expecting a quiet time. Her best friend Lizzy has had to pull out and so she is on her own with her preparation reading! Upon visiting the local pub she receives a warm welcome from the bar tender Joe. The sparks between them fly until they are interrupted by his less than welcoming parents. The rest of the summer passes in a blur for Alice and Joe whose relationship intensifies quickly much to the distress of both sets of parents.
Things grind to a halt when Joe’s older brother Ryan re-appears and his prison past is revealed as well as his propensity for violence. It isn’t long before Ryan ruins the momentum building up between Joe and Alice and the family return to London without Joe, who promises to come and find her.
As Alice journeys to Cambridge to begin her university career she meets Jessie and Emily, becomes a punter and the spirit of Cambridge is captured in the wonderful descriptions of the city. Then the rich and slightly awkward arrives on the scene intent on capturing the still broken-hearted Alice. Lukas is German and rich but he too has a family with issues – he has an arranged marriage waiting for him in Germany, still he romances Alice, but is always intent on having his own way and his desire to control Alice can be slightly unsettling. Meanwhile everyone it seems is keeping secrets as Joe comes back into their lives in an unexpected way. Finally, nine years after the perfect summer they shared together Alice and Joe are re-united and there are some difficult decisions to be made.
Paige Toon has captured the teenage angst of first love perfectly as well as the spirit of Cambridge and friendship, a thoroughly recommended read. 5/5

For more information about Paige Toon check out her website;

http://www.paigetoon.com/

All change at school

The news today is full of the new curriculum due to hit our schools in 2014, my children will be entering years 5,3 and 1 at this point so of course I am interested, especially as they will probably end up being delivered the new senior curriculum currently in the process of being written. It seems as if there is going to be a more victorian flavour to learning as times tables, correct use of apostrophe and phonics take centre stage, in some places this already happens, as do foreign languages. In fact, it has long since been said that children find learning a new language or musical instrument easier than adults and with an increasingly global workplace awaiting them learning a language at an early age can only be a good thing.

I have no real problems with children learning number facts of phonics either but as one of the people interviewed by the news pointed out creativity has to be encouraged as well, it is one thing to teach children their time tables as a set of facts they can manipulate but they also need to be able to apply these facts, understand the learning behind them so they can use them in practical situations. We know that learning has been targeted to levelled tests and these levels and the way schools are tabled is also going to change, it is not clear yet what is going to replace them. One thing I am not clear on is how this is going to help teachers faced with a crowd of children of varied abilities, learning tables by heart may appear to help them but if they can’t apply the learning it is blnak learning, my kids found one of the ‘exercise’ books we used to have to school. It was full of times tables tests, grammar tests and a variety of simple exercises such as putting an apostrophe in the right place, adding full stops and capital letters, as well as leaning how to add and subtract. It had no pictures and few appealing child friendly colours and they immediately labelled it boring and still say things like; ‘What was school like in the olden days?’

Still half term has come and gone in a blur with the jubilee weekend dominating and a variety of family days before the big return. I am now back to writing every day so that I can hopefully get the second novel written by the end of the year. The rain seems to be never ending at the moment and I think we are all hoping that this means we will have a summer in July and August this year. We have been busy celebrating imps 6th birthday and it is now only a couple of months before Hpops turns eight, and it all seems to have gone in the blink of an eye.

Finally a fun thing we manged to complete over the last ten days was Herman the German Friendship cake. Our neighbour gave us a quarter of her to get us started. The idea is you get given the pre-mixed starter dough and then you look after, feed and finally bale the sour dough cake when the time is up. The children loved having their stir every day and adding the various ingredients. The kitchen did smell a little like a brewery for the duration thanks to the process and at time Herman was a little too enthusiastic and tried to escape from his bowl, perhaps he was offended because it was pink.

Eventually the time came to cook Herman, the kids decided what they wanted to add as the ‘sweeteners,’ we had apple, raisin and brown sugar sprinkled over the top. It took a little longer to cook than we expected but the wait was worth it, I had been warned that due to the sour dough some children didn’t like the taste but mine lapped it up and even wanted more! Herman lasted two days before he was all consumed and the things they learned about cooking and mixing in a fun way, as well as eating the proceeds meant everyone was happy at the end of it. We have passed on the three quarters we didn’t cook and I hope that Pixie’s class have a great time with the stirring!

Our next project is hatching our own butterflies, they should be ready to leave their chysalis just before the summer holidays begin! Meanwhile we are having fun watching the caterpillars and working out how much they have grown and guessing when they are going to start the next stage of their life cycle!

Joyful Jubilee

Sometimes amongst all the bad news about recessions, no-one voting for us in Eurovision and the national football teams not doing as well as expected it can be hard to feel proud to be British! This weekend however I was proud. The warmth and strength of feeling for the queen and all the jubilee celebrations despite the cold wind, pouring rain and crowded conditions were overflowing!

On Saturday we all spent the day in Hyde Park for the jubilee family festival, the place was busy and although we did have to wait an absolute age for toasted sandwiches the day was lovely. The children were delighted to see Mike the Knight, Fireman Sam and Thomas the Tank Engine on stage. I must admit we gave the Disney tent a miss as the queue was snaking around half the children’s area! One of the highlights came at 3pm for Hpops as Strictly hit the main stage. Robbie Savage, Chelsee Healey and her favourite Kara Tointon appeared, we had managed to keep the personnel a secret and it took her a few minutes to realise it was Kara on stage, but once she did there was a lot of bouncing, silly giggling and when she came out in a floor length peach dress for a waltz with Artem an OMG escaped!

By that time the sun had come out so after a few minute queue we all had an ice-cream and the kids enjoyed racing around the park and burning off some of the huge amounts of energy they seem to have the whole time! The finale hit the stage and it was a fabulous Disney concert, Pixies squeals when Belle appeared on stage left my ears ringing for ages! As the pirates and princesses took to the stage accompanied by the west end singers the kids jiggled and sang along. Imp was particularly impressed by the appearance of Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Jessie! The Lion King part at the end was great as well and even the tube journey home was pretty much hassle free. Three happy tired kids that day!

Sunday brought us a mini lie in as even our earliest rising child slept until 730am! We made our silly hats for the party we were attending that afternoon! The kids weren’t as interested in the flotilla as I’d hoped and spent most of their time running in and out of the garden even when it was pouring with rain! One of the hits of the day for them was the candy floss maker – they could each have the colour they desired and flavour! The idea of being able to make it for themselves was also appealing to them and as they were tired even the sugar hit didn’t completely hype them up!

Monday brought Imp’s 6th birthday and he was delighted to receive a mini stereo system and some audio books and he declared that now he was 6 he was able to stay up later and listen to them, just like his big sister! He was visited by two sets of grandparents and started his karting career. For a long time Imp has wanted to go racing but due to his age and height he has had to wait until he reached six. He had his very first lesson on his birthday, he was very excited to put on racing overalls but after his initial briefing realisation set in that this could be dangerous so gave him a bit of healthy respect. Helmet and gloves on he tried getting in the kart which can be awkward but he manged very well and then they were off. The lesson involved getting to grips with the accelerator, brake and steering wheel. He was able to navigate around cones and by the end of the lesson he could even weave in and out of them. At the end of the session the three boys were allowed a free drive as it were, even though it was on a limited part of the track it gave them the opportunity to whizz around the smaller part. My only moment of anxiety came when the boy behind Imp managed to clonk him quite hard sending him into the kart in front as well as making his head shoot forward, he didn’t seem to be hurt and carried on, and ever the pro when the instructor asked him if he was OK, nodded he was and asked what he needed to do to make his driving smoother. He is now eagerly awaiting his next lesson tomorrow and as long as he does well there he will then be qualified to drive the Bambino kart!

Tuesday brought another party, more BBQ food and a bouncy castle which we got three hours use from before the rain came down again, once more tired, happy children and we shouldn’t forget of course that this is all because the queen has reached her golden jubilee – congratulations Your Majesty!

In other news Tumbling Through Life has been released on Kindle and I was delighted to discover that it has been downloaded in the UK, USA, France and Spain amongst others! I am now busily working on the follow up although as we are in half term and the month of June and beginning of July are filled with school trips, sports days and various other child related appointments it could take some time!

Room by Emma Donoghue

Room is an original and thought provoking book. Told from the point of view of just turning five Jack the language and view of the world is spot on. Jack uses childish names for things and I was curious as to why Room was capitalised and it took a long to find out. I tried to guess why Jack and his mum were confined in such a small space but I wasn’t close to the real reason.
As the story unfolds and we discover just how evil Old Nick is it is both horrifying and startling. As he describes some of the events in graphic detail it is stated so simply and innocently that the impact is more terrifying. Watching his emergence into the world is akin to a baby beginning it’s journey into the world but with the ability to eat, speak and count and so on. The wonder of everything and the confusion is touching and well described. This is particularly apparent when Jack panics when he sees car on the other side of the road and thinks they are all going to hit him until it is explained that cars use both sides of the road but don’t cross into each others paths.
Some of the events whilst totally believable, (Jacks mum’s suicide attempt) come out of nowhere and the characters are all seen through Jacks eyes. Getting used to the way other people such as Grandma and Steppa do things after so long with just his Mum show how big an adjustment he is having to make. The social adjustments from TV to real show how well his Mother has managed to shield Jack from the awful reality of his predicament but the toll on her is made apparent by both the physical ailments such as her teeth and her inability to interact with the world around her.
This is not a book that you ‘enjoy’, but it is a book that is worth reading, it is thought provoking and in the light of some recent news stories completely plausible. I would have loved to find out more about Jack and his adventures in the world which is always a sign of a good read, you leave your reader wanting more.

What’s the point?

This is a question one of the kids asked me the other day in response to a request to tidy their room! Of course that was far too time consuming them so instead we ended up having quite a detailed discussion.

‘What’s the point – it only gets dirty again’ she said.

I pointed out that by that logic I needn’t bother doing the washing, ironing, cooking or any of the other cleaning jobs as due to the nature of the house it gets dirty again or they get hungry again. I also pointed out that if that were the case maybe Mr T shouldn’t go to work, after all I am sure there are things he’d rather be doing and so we could live on beans on toast, wear dirty clothes and live in a box – needless to say she did go and tidy her room, but it seemed to get us both thinking about things that are important in life.

Later that day all the kids were sat in the living room glued to i-pods with various degrees of noise coming from them, I confiscated them and said that as the sun was actually shining we were going out to get a few bits and then we were going to make hanging baskets, after lots of moaning we made it to the DIY shop, got the stuff and in the end we did make the hanging baskets. To some extent they must have enjoyed it as Pixie delightedly told her teacher all about the yellow snapdragons this morning. It made me realise how different their growing up will be to mine.

For us we were out and about on our bikes with every opportunity or playing with friends, we’d walk to school and back on our own by the time we were about Hpop’s age without needing a mobile phone to track our whereabouts and we could survive until the next day without have to use facetime or the internet as they weren’t there for us to worry about. Don’t get me wrong I am Facebook, twitter affiliated and fully i-pod, i-phone etc functional and I won’t deny that on rainy days when they can’t agree what to do they can be a boon but we would have played board games, used our imaginations to play games or built lego. My children still do that but to a lesser degree, everyone is much more safety conscious and theses days children are much more protected. We are lucky in that we leave in a quiet bit of a cul-de-sac, so in some ways the kids do get a taste of how I grew up, able to play outside with the warning to stay in sight but usually pushing our luck and staying where we could hear ourselves being called, of course we didn’t think about any possible dangers but we had fun.

This week we had a crisis when the very old X-box finally creaked to a halt, cue lots of hysteria and how imp and Hpops couldn’t possibly cope without it. I must admit I was peeved, Mr T was away and despite my efforts to find a cure it was after a variety of tests pronounced no longer working. In the end to preserve both my sanity and Matthew’s a new one was procured and again it reminded me how much things have changed, I still remember the good old spectrums! Then it occurred to me that the time I spent playing on that, and the time I was thrilled when my Dad taught me to get an old dragon computer to type my name 10 times isn’t so different from the pleasure they get from finishing a game on the X-box or i-pod! Technology may have moved on but the feelings are the same.

What I most want for my kids is for them to be happy, I haven’t got it worked out what I want them to do as I don’t think it is up to me to tell them. I hope that we can give them all the opportunities they need to find out what they are good at, what they enjoy and that somewhere between the two they can work out something that will make them happy. At the moment Hpops wants to be a teacher, a writer, a famous (that word again) and a dancer, imp wants to be a racing car driver, a fireman and a policeman and Pixie wants to be a fairy princess and a mummy! I’m sure they’ll change their minds several times but for the moment we’ll keep letting Hpops go riding and Imp will be karting for his birthday, as for Pixie, she has a dressing up box full of fairy wings and princess wings to keep her happy – the mummy bit can wait for a long time! As we drove to school and they decided to play cloud spotting I came full circle, I remember playing that game and loving making up stories about the shapes in the sky whilst trying to work out while they were there.

So in the end I guess I hope they come to realise that while tidying and cleaning may be boring they are necessary so we can enjoy the pleasures of play and family time and cloud spotting!

The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd

I enjoyed this book as it was quite different from most of the other books out there at the moment! Combining the grimy dockyards of Wapping and the exotic Jamaica.
The story combines a shipping expedition to collect slaves and the descriptions of the capture of the slaves and the treatment of them is detailed and disturbing making the title The English Monster very apt. What happens to Billy Ablass on one of these expeditions is startling and links the two parts of the story together.
Two centuries later someone is committing grisly murders, again the detail of these scenes is not for the faint hearted! Suspects come and a go but the lack of authority and the disarray of the magistrates make catching the one responsible more difficult. As slavery becomes outlawed it is driven underground, slave ships refitted or quietly sold on.
The Royal Society is holding secrets as well, and has been for some time, it is only when the unofficial investigation of Horton takes decisive action that the true horror from both sides is put to rest. The detail in the book is credible and informative and the characters vivid. The sense of the different environments in which the characters find themselves in are vibrant and captivating, this may not be an ‘easy’ read in the sense of the subject matter but it will make you think and is definitely worth a look.(less)