Reflections and resolutions

Highlights of 2009

Trips to London in February, especially taking the bikes and cycling around Westminster and along the Thames Path.

Swimming with Alexander, especially when the whole family swam together.

Okehampton. Despite the cost, which was quite high for a little over two days, there was so much to do. Everyone enjoyed it and both children now want to go back. I found it exhausting but would quite happily do it again.

Resolutions for 2010

Not sure about this one. I want to be much more aware of where what I buy comes from and how it gets to me from the original producer. Then I want to be more proactive in trying to make a difference. So my first resolution is to find out more and to do more.

My second resolution is to spend more time in the garden.

December

District cross country

Both Ben and Beccy were selected by their schools to compete. I couldn't get out of work early enough to see Beccy race but according to Ben, who did watch it, she wasn't trying very hard but still managed 4th place. Ben ran a good race and came 6th in a field with some national runners. Both qualified for the Kent Championships in January.

Exhibition

I was asked to attend an exhibition at the University of Sussex, run by JISC who awarded the Hi5 prize that I won earlier in the year. Carol and I were joint winners and we travelled together to Brighton to show the kinds of eLearning ideas we were using. The exhibition went well, there was some interest and we talked to a number of people and demonstrated videos, podcasts, recorded interviews and 'virtual' assignments. There was a student demonstration over funding cuts and at one point the students stormed the building we were in, entering through the fire doors and setting off the alarms. We were locked in our room, 'for safety' until they had managed to disperse the students. All quite exciting and good to know that students can still be militant.

Snowboarding

We got Beccy four snowboarding lessons for her birthday and she progressed so quickly that she was on open practice after two lessons. She can manage the lifts and boards down from nearly the top, turning and stopping quite expertly while still being a little cautious and not going too fast. More importantly, she is really keen. She hasn't enjoyed skiing at all and it has sometimes been a chore for her to come with us on skiing holidays. This year she can not only enjoy it (without needing to go to snowboarding school which she would not agree to) but she will, at least at first, be a similar level to me on the green and blue slopes. For once, I won't be left on my own while the others do red and black slopes! All we need to do now is book a holiday in the mountains. At Christmas she went for open practice with Josh and Izzy and I was impressed at how natural she looked. She had no problems with the lifts and was snowboarding down from the top level, keeping up with her cousins who have been skiing for a few years now.

The Wave

I met up with Dan, Helen and Alexander at the Royal Geographical Society in South Kensington to do some Christmas shopping at the EcoFair they were running. I bought one or two presents but not very much then, after a cup of tea and a snack for Alexander, we got the tube to Hyde Park Corner and made our way to Grovesnor Square to get to the start of the march to highlight the urgent need for positive action at the Copenhagen summits. We were given Unicef T shirts and placards and, after a wait, we started towards the Houses of Parliament to make a blue wave band around them. We travelled through Mayfair, Picadilly, Trafalgar Square and Whitehall. Unfortunately, there were so many people that it took longer than the allocated time to get to Parliament Square and many of us were on the approach to it when Big Ben struck 3pm and the wave began. It went around the square and along the approach so were part of the wave but didn't hear Big Ben start it off. Alexander was well photographed, being one of the youngest participants and he slept through part of it, being carried by Dan, Helen and me in turn as long as we could manage to hold him without our arms becoming tired. I hope that it makes some difference and that the people's voice will be listened to. There were certainly a large number of blue painted and clothed people there making plenty of noise.

The Royal Academy

Once Dan, Helen and Alexander had gone, I walked to Victoria Station to meet Brian from the train. We had tickets to the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy. There was a room full of highly polished stainless steel sculptures which reflected our image, distorting it in many interesting ways. There was a huge block of wax moving back and forth on sliders through five gallery rooms, shaped by the doorways it slid through and leaving piles of red wave at each end. Every piece of work was impressive and the exhibition was well worth the visit. This was the first time that Brian had expressed any interest at all in visiting an art exhibition so I had bought tickets as soon as he had mentioned it. We both enjoyed it and, hopefully, we will be able to visit other exhibitions.

Alexander's first birthday

He had a family party at home. We got him a rocking horse, which he could rock easily and seemed to like. He's growing into a beautiful boy. Lucky I can call him my favourite grandson without showing any favouritism!

Snow

We had a good few inches of snow on the 18th December which brought everything to a halt and closed Beccy's school and my staff development day (Ben had the day off anyway). Both children disappeared into the snow for the day and I got most of my marking done. Ben and his friend, Waqar, built a snow cave in the garden. It took two days to complete but was big enough for Ben to sleep in, if he had wanted t

They put a grill over the entrance to deter animals from going in but, despite this, a local fox decided to use it as a shelter until it melted. Each time one of us went out for wood the fox would poke his head out of the cave to look at us. He would return to the inside when we went in. We see the fox nearly every day now, foraging in the garden. He even sleeps on the roof of the woodshed.

Christmas and New Year

We spent Christmas Eve at Claire's playing a game where we had to make something out of bits of paper, felt, pipe cleaner, etc. We made scarecrows and pigs and all voted for the best creation. Brian's came joint first!

Claire, Nadia, Nathan and Alli came over for Christmas dinner. This was the first time we have had Christmas dinner together in the fourteen years we have known each other and it was lovely to spend that time together. We played the Lips game on the xBox (Beccy got it for Christmas from us). Ben and Nathan composed some music using GarageBand and Ben's new keyboard, which we connected to the drums and the laptop.

In the evening we went over to Natalie's for some tea and some games. All the boys (and Beccy) played poker (Beccy won both games) and the rest of us attempted to play trivia games. As I hadn't had anything to drink, we drove home to bed, which upset Beccy greatly as she had been looking forward to staying over with her cousins - not a brilliant end to the day!

Boxing Day, Alan came over with Duncan, Gina, Tommy and Lucas. We had some early tea (homemade soup and bread with other snacky stuff) and talked. Marion and Nan were both ill on that day.

Sunday- Ben, Beccy and I went for a walk with Sue, Joe, Natalie, Mum, Jodie, Josh and Izzy. We walked a very long route around Shorne Country Park, taking around 2 hours. Beccy went back with Natalie to make up for not staying on Christmas Day. She stayed overnight then Nat took Beccy, Josh and Izzy to the ski slope and I picked them up and took Nat's children home.

Tuesday - we all went for a walk with Dan, Helen, Alexander, Mum and Sue. We met at Purfleet station (in between us and Dan) then walked along the London LOOP path, along the Thames towards Rainham. Brian decided that we would walk all the way to Rainham and get the train back. Along the way we lost the path and ended up walking along roads all the way to Rainham station. By the time we got to the station, Tilly was quite upset as she, apparently, doesn't like crowds or traffic. Sue decided that the train wasn't a good idea and started to walk back. As it would take her nearly two hours to get back I ran to catch her up and Brian and I shouted to each other that he would bring the car and pick us up at the car park we had passed on the road. As Sue and I walked quickly back I realised that I didn't have my phone on me. Sue had a phone but it had no credit and she wasn't sure anyone knew her number! I could only hope that Brian managed to find us on that road! As we walked we realised that we had taken a different path, along the river. This was the path we had missed on the way there but it took us away from the road. It would have been a lovely walk back if I hadn't been worried about where we would meet Brian. We managed to locate where we walked along the other side of the car park and came out onto the road just a Brian arrived - phew! I didn't fancy a further hour of walking and the uncertainty of knowing that they couldn't find us easily and we would be late back for Beccy's hair appointment!

We had arranged to have lunch after the walk and needed to get to Lakeside. Sue and Mum went straight home and we drove over towards Lakeside, Dan, Helen, Alexander and Beccy in their car and Brian, Ben and I in ours. The traffic was horrendous and Brian decided to try driving off in a different direction to find somewhere else for lunch. I rang Dan to suggest that they did the same only to find that they had driven straight there, parked and were in the shopping centre! It took us a further hour to do the ten minute drive they had done and by the time we reached the shopping centre it was time for us to leave for Beccy's hair appointment (we treated her as a Christmas present as she wanted it layered and coloured). It had rained hard all day and we were all soaked and tired but we had enjoyed it, we got back for the appointment and Beccy's hair looked lovely!

New Year's Eve - Dan, Helen and Alexander came over. We had dinner and then played Trivial Pursuit until the early hours of the morning. Mum came for dinner and games and Beccy went, after dinner, to a party with her friends Laura and Amy, whose house she stayed at overnight. Mum brought a bottle of port which we managed to finish off quite quickly. Luckily, there weren't too many nasty hangovers the next morning.

I gave Alexander his breakfast in the morning and played with him while Dan and Helen caught up on some sleep. He walked around the walls and found the kitchen cupboard, which he proceeded to empty out. We'll need to keep an eye on him now he is mobile.

Other notable events

8th Dec - played goal shooter at netball and scored a good number of goals - my eye was in and I was awake enough to play OK. We won 36-29!

9th Dec - Ben had his first prefect duty at the cathedral Carol Service. He brought three other prefects home before the service, feeding them pasta and sauce. The four of them formed a little band with Ben on the piano, Alice playing the flute and Ashley and Rob singing. They sounded quite good.

12th Dec went with Mum and Beccy to the college to a staff, family and friends Christmas event. Played winter sports on the Wii, Beccy went on the snowboard simulator, I bought a lovely wreath for the front door from the floristry shop and we had mulled wine and sausage rolls while we listened to the Salvation Army band play carols. There was a noticeable lack of teaching staff but there were a lot of senior management and support staff there. Apart from Sam, our department secretary, I didn't see anyone I work with at all!

November

November is always a busy month and there is no change this year. Beccy had her 14th birthday and Brian his 45th.

The month started with the aftermath of the Halloween party but, as we had a lunch to go to, we didn't do any clearing up until late in the evening, Jason and Mel did the bulk of it during the day. We went to a restaurant at Brands Hatch with Brian's family. Alison was back from Hong Kong for a week and she wanted to organise a Christmas lunch before she flew back. We had a very nice lunch, seated separately so that we could mix with different people.

On the 7th we went to Jason's firework party at his parents' house. There was a really good bonfire and a very good and very loud firework display. Unfortunately, one of their dogs was frightened by the fireworks and bolted so many of us spent a while wandering around their village looking for the dog. It turned up at a local vets having been brought in by someone who found him in a pub car park a mile or so away.

On the 10th we went to Ben's certification evening where he was presented with his GCSE certificates.

Beccy's birthday

Her birthday celebrations started Saturday morning when she opened her presents. We had got her some snowboarding lessons and I made her a giraffe on a snowboard and wrapped it up with the tickets to the lessons so that she had something to open. The giraffe also carried a book voucher for her to buy the Charley Boorman book, 'Right to the Edge'. She wanted to go to his book signing at Bluewater as a treat for her birthday.

We arrived at Bluewater at around 12noon for the 12.30pm book signing and bought the book. Beccy and I hung around the area where the signing would take place not knowing where to queue but thinking that we would be somewhere near the front as there weren't many other people around. When staff came to set up the barriers we asked them where they wanted us to queue and they told us the queue was outside. By this time the queue was almost the entire length of one side of the shopping centre and we had the 83rd book! Beccy had some things she wanted to do so I held her place in the queue for 1 and a half hours. Ben and Brian also had things to do and shopped until I rang them and asked for some food. Eventually we got to the front and Beccy got her book signed, had a little conversation and posed with Charley for a photo. I think it was worth the queuing, she seemed very pleased and he seemed really nice.

In the evening we had the family over and had a Chinese takeaway. I had made a cake but it was nowhere near as good as previous ones, mostly because it had been made in a great rush. Dan, Helen and Alexander stayed the night and Alexander slept in an inflatable child bed that Katy next door had given us.

On Sunday, Beccy had her party. She invited girls from football and girls from school and they played categories, had party snacks, did a music and film quiz (Ben sorted the music quiz - beat the intro and next lines all done on iTunes, I found the film questions on the internet). They all seemed to have a good time and by the end of Sunday evening I had just about finished clearing up (a very good reason for not working on Mondays).

Brian's birthday

Take away Pizza and shop bought fruit cake (although I did ice it). I always feel like I've let him down when I don't have time to do anything properly. I did invite everyone round and sort out drinks and the pizzas, and cakes for afters, so I wasn't idle. I think he had a good time. I gave him a pound for every year of his life towards his new glasses and promised to help him choose some. Ben and Beccy gave him a new wallet.

On the 19th Brian came home early from work and said that they had been visited by bailiffs who were trying to recover rent from their parent company. There was a very large amount outstanding and they spent the day in negotiation with the bailiff who had said that he was there to remove assets, including Brian's, as long as they were in the office. He said that he could even take the cars parked in the allocated parking spaces even if they weren't company cars (or even belonging to someone from the company). Needless to say there were no cars parked in the allocated spaces by lunchtime and as much equipment as possible had been stored out of the office where it could not be mistaken as an asset belonging to the parent company. The bailiff was there so long that they bought him lunch and he said that it was the first time that had ever happened (he obviously doesn't usually deal with such civilised people)! At the end of the day they had negotiated a deal but no one had done any work at all!

Friday 20th - Beccy sat her first GCSE paper, Physics. She said she felt confident on about half of it, the part about space, but was not so confident with the general physics questions in the other half of the paper.

Gospel Choir

After five rehearsals at the Salvation Army church in Chatham, we had our final rehearsal on the stage of the Central Theatre. We did sound checks and practiced getting on and off the stage during the performance. On Saturday 28th November we performed in two Nativity concerts, one at 3pm and one at 7pm. I love it, singing with the choir, being on the stage and being part of a small community for a short time. In between performances we had tea at the Emmaus church just along the High Street from the theatre. This gave us a chance to talk and to share experiences.

Brian, Ben, Beccy, Mum and Sue came along to see the evening performance, which went well. At the end (and while I was still on stage), Beccy sent me a text message which said "I'm proud of you Mum!". Luckily, I am still not one of these people who has to keep checking my phone whatever I'm doing and so I didn't read the message until afterwards when I went out front to talk to them. Whenever it was read, that message meant a great deal.

The four of us went into Rochester and had a lovely meal at Simply Italian which rounded off a brilliant day.

Prefect

On Monday 30th Ben was made a prefect after a vote throughout the school to elect 35 prefects. He was given sixth form duties which, apparently, are those with the most responsibility.

Other notable events

My netball team, Mid Kent Ladies, won their first match. We managed a 28-24 win!

Ben had a pyjama evening at Explorers and wore his new monster feet slippers. We had to convince him to wear pyjama trousers as he was worried about what he would look like (didn't seem too worried about the feet though)!

Dan applied for a new job within Transport for London and he got it! A promotion and a significant pay rise! He is now involved in the projects for all the underground lines rather than just project managing the Victoria line upgrade. Helen has started her child minder training and Alexander is occasionally standing on his own. Dan is still very involved in the parish council.

When Ben applied to become a prefect at school and needed to wait to know the outcome, after his application had been received his head of year asked to speak to him and recommended that he try for school captain as he thought Ben would have a good chance (he has made a good impression - well done, Ben)!

Best of friends?

One evening this month, after years of fighting and not getting on, I suddenly noticed that Ben and Beccy had become friends. They had both told me about things they had done together, even walking home from school! They had also started to co-operate in game playing and to discuss things. I had come home from work and was at the sink preparing the vegetables for dinner. Ben was playing a Coldplay tune on the piano really well and Beccy was at the computer. He received a text message from one of the girls at Explorers and it was in French. Ben has never studied French so he and Beccy worked together to translate and to reply in French. It was one of those events that makes you really, really appreciate having children. I have experienced many of them over the years but this is the most recent. I hope the trend towards friendship will continue as they have always looked out for each other but found it hard to be in each other's company.

October

October is nearly ended and I am just starting to record what we have done. It has been an even busier than usual month and has gone past so quickly that I almost missed making a posting completely!

Okehampton

We started October with just over a week of celebrations for Mum's 70th birthday. On the 2nd we all travelled to Devon to stay at the Manor House Hotel in Okehampton. There were 19 of us altogether: Mum, her three children with two of their 'other halves' (Colin stayed at home with the dogs), eight grandchildren and two 'other halves', and three great-grandchildren.

The hotel has a large number of sports facilities which meant that we were active the whole weekend. On Friday night we all arrived and had dinner. We were last to arrive having left later than the others due to us all being at school and then due to breaking down three times on the way there. Each time we had to push the car to get it started again. We were unable to drive with headlights as the problem was with the battery but we manage to make it most of the way in the light and then, miraculously, the battery or alternator fixed itself for the last few miles when we needed to drive in the dark. It had taken some of the others a long time to get there as well and Dan and Helen and Sarah and Ian had only just arrived when we got there. After dinner we played games in the bar until late.

On Saturday morning I got up early to have a swim before breakfast. After breakfast, Ben, Brian, Paul, Josh and Joe went out to play a round of golf. Mum, Sue and Dan went to do some air rifle shooting and the rest of us had the only relaxing part of the weekend and hung around with the children, spending some time in the children's room.

Dan and Helen went to play some tennis while we looked after Alexander then gradually, we all joined in until there were quite a few of us playing and we had a mini tournament. After lunch, we played badminton, rounders, then did some archery and went swimming.

Dinner was next and then ten pin bowling, indoor bowls and games in the bar before bed.

Sunday morning we all started to drift off. Dan and Helen went first, they needed to get back by the afternoon. Then Natalie, Paul, Jodie, Josh and Izzy; they needed to drop Paul off in London so that he could go to the Chelsea match. Before the rest of us went we had another game of indoor bowls (the surprise hit of the sporting activities). The hotel catered for everyone of every age (goodness knows we tested that bit)! The babies could swim or play in the creche. Whenever we played a sport there was space for the babies to sit at the edge. The older children could play together or could play with the adults. There were tournaments that any of us could have joined in but we were far too busy. Paul won the highest score in the archery and I'm sure that I had the highest women's score but I don't think the instructor took my score in because my practice shots were so appalling that he probably couldn't believe that I actually scored 42 in the final round!

The car broke down again on the way home, but only once this time and we made it home by 9pm. We spent the whole of the next week recovering. The Okehampton weekend was so busy that it was exhausting. Everyone really enjoyed it. Mum is really keen to go again but I think she may have more energy than the rest of us!

Mum's 70th birthday

The day after we returned from Okehampton was Mum's actual birthday and Sue, Nat, Brian and I went with all the children to take her present - a Dutch style bicycle. We put a big bunch of flowers in the basket and Sue and I parked the bike outside the front door so that everyone else could get Mum to answer the door and see the bike. She was thrilled!

Mum, Sue, Nat and I took turns in riding it up and down the road to try it out. It is reasonably heavy but comfortable and easy to ride. It suits her down to the ground.

In our attempts to get an authentic bike, just like our grandmother's, Sue and I had bought two secondhand bikes very similar to this one. The first one was a 1960s or 70s bike, apparently a post bike, which we got from Clapham. It was a lovely bike and just needed a clean up and a new set of back brake pads but Sue said that it wasn't the right type of bike so we put it in the shed ready to resell. The second bike we got was a genuine 80 or so years old bike very similar to the one we gave her but it couldn't be repaired. That was also confined to the shed to await advertising as a garden ornament or a labour of love project. Having spent a bit on secondhand bikes, plan B was put into operation and a brand new one was bought. I can't now decide whether to keep the first secondhand bike we bought. The only reason I might not is that it is a lot heavier than the bike I have now but otherwise it needs less work and is lovely to ride (and it has a basket)!

I made Mum a cake and we had a small party at Mum's house to celebrate, keeping it as low key as possible as we were all still getting over the weekend.

Mum's final 70th birthday celebration

On the 10th Auntie Edna and Peter came over to see us all at Nat's house. Our cousins Debra and Beverley and their husbands, Andy and Jon came along as well. We managed to get all 19 of us together again and the house was full. Natalie put on some food that she had delivered by some caterers. Only Colin, who was at the wood, Mandy, our other cousin, and Bev's two boys who are both in Australia, were not there. It was nice to spend some time together. We used to see quite a lot of each other when us children still lived at home but since then we rarely meet up and it had been 10 years since we met up just for a family get-together.

Our anniversary

On the 22nd October, Brian and I had been together for 20 years. I had booked us some tickets to see Spandau Ballet at the O2 when I first heard about them months ago. We booked a table at a restaurant called Canteen in Canary Wharf for 6pm and caught the first train we could after work, arriving at 5.50pm at the Canary Wharf underground station. The restaurant was lovely, the service was very good and the food delicious. We started by ordering cocktails for each other, not giving away the names. Brian guessed straight away that his drink was a 'Smuggler' a mixture of apple cider and brandy. I was sure I could taste grapefruit in mine and guessed it was a 'Grapefruit 75' but I was wrong, I had a Rhubarb White Lady which is made with rhubarb infused gin and a fruit liqueur.

While we were drinking our cocktails we had a look at the tickets. I was sure that the show started at 8pm but, to our horror, the tickets said 6.30pm! We decided that we weren't going to miss the meal and so we would miss the support act if we had to but would try to finish our meal as quickly as possible. We asked if the main course could be prepared as soon as we had our starters and they were happy to do this. Brian had potted duck with piccallili and toast followed by skate, salad and chips . I had caramelised onion and sage tart followed by smoked haddock, spinach and mash. All the food was delicious. The puddings looked delicious too but we thought we should get to the O2 so as not to miss too much.

When we arrived at the O2 and found where we needed to go, we realised that nothing had started yet. It was 7.45pm and there was no sign of a support band. As it turned out, there was no support act and Spandau Ballet didn't get started until 8.30pm. We were cross as we could have had a pudding and another drink at the restaurant instead of paying the over-inflated prices charged at the O2!

Spandau Ballet were very good. We were quite a way from the stage but they projected images onto a screen behind them, some of the band on the stage and some of them 20 years ago when on tour. The audience were mainly over 40s like us - if there is one thing that makes you feel really old it is realising that you are one of the 'old crowd' and that the things you are there to enjoy are relics of the past. This is the only thing I've experienced so far that has actually made me feel old. The band were really good, really professional sounding and much better than I remembered them. The venue was the only thing that let the evening down. The drinks were far too expensive, the service at the bar was very slow and when Brian went to get us a second drink they had run out of cider and beer and he had to buy water. He was gone such a long time that he must have missed at least a quarter of the concert! Added to that, the lack of information about the evening meant that we cut our lovely meal short and it was all seated so we were kept in our seats by security guards there to ensure that people didn't rush to the front (surely that's part of what going to concerts is about). Brownie points to Canteen and to Spandau Ballet for making a wonderful evening and black marks to O2 and Ticketmaster for greed, bad organisation, lack of atmosphere and lack of useful information.

Dinner at Dan and Helen's

On the 25th we went to dinner at Dan and Helen's. Helen cooked for a change and we had a lovely meal of stuffed chicken, braised leeks, carrots and new potatoes. For dessert (which she usually makes) we had pumpkin cheesecake, a delicious baked cheesecake which was served with ice cream.

Dan showed us the newly published book Wheel-Rail Interface Handbook, for which he has written Chapter 23. It is a huge book costing around £195 to buy and aimed at company libraries rather than for public sale (http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/book.aspx?bookID=1477). His chapter sits alongside those written by academics from all over the world. I’m so proud of him!

Microspot Halloween Party

Held to celebrate the first year of trading for Microspot Computer Services and Blue House Design, Brian and Jason organised a halloween party to be held in the office next to theirs. They decorated the lift to get up to the office, built a corridor to get into the party office complete with smoke, blood spattered walls and voices, set up a bar area and a sound system. Almost everyone who came dressed up. Brian dressed as Beetlejuice, I was a witch (no change there!), Beccy was a ghost and Ben, who was helping behind the bar, was Moe, the bartender in the Simpsons. Dan came as Zorro, complete with real fencing sword.

more pics at MCS/BHD Halloween 2009

The party went really well. The only hitch was when the fire alarm went off (which it did at least three times). Brian had to phone the fire brigade to stop them coming out and we had to check the building just in case it was a real fire. The alarm was set off by the smoke machine which eventually had to be turned off.

Half Term

On Monday of half term I went out for a walk with Claire. We walked Cosby, Claire’s dog. No children were available to come with us. For the last 13 years we have done things together with the children and now they are too old and too busy to need to come out. It was nice to have some time with just the two of us and completely unusual. Nathan had friends over and was cooking, Ben was out with friends in Rochester, Alli was at dance rehearsals and Beccy was out with Bradley delivering papers and playing in the park. With Nadia now at university things are strangely child free at times. Not particularly nice for either of us but something we both have to learn to live with.

On the Wednesday I travelled up to London on the train (Ben and Beccy were otherwise engaged again) and met Helen and Alexander at Liverpool St Station. We took the tube to meet Dan at Euston, where we had lunch at Albertini's. Dan obviously frequents it quite a lot as the staff even knew Alexander's name! After lunch Helen, Alexander and I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum where we looked at the fashions, jewellery, ironwork and sculptures. Alexander was able to sit and have a feel of some of the sculpture materials and he was fascinated by the sparkly jewellery. I travelled back to Liverpool St with them then took my own train home after theirs had left. It's good to spend at least one day each holiday taking Alexander out, at least for me and I hope he enjoys it too.

Other notable events

Beccy seems to be very keen to help out at school. She did PE demonstrations at the school open evening and has been helping with the coaching of the school girls football team. She does extra English sessions after school and is playing in the school hockey team. She took part in a hockey tournament which her school team won. We have received two postcards home from school. One congratulated her on the excellent start she has made in GCSE PE and the other congratulated her for the excellent start she has made in GCSE French. Let's hope it continues.

Her football is continuing to be one of her favourite activities. She hasn't had a Kent match yet. Both scheduled fixtures have so far been cancelled because the opposition didn't have a team.

Ben continues to enjoy his tennis. On the 17th he attended the team presentation evening. He has been playing for the men's and the mixed doubles teams. He played his first hockey match for the men's team this season but this is having to take second place to tennis now as he is being paid to help at the coaching sessions at the tennis club. On the 29th, he acted as tournament referee for a mini red tournament and then he played and won, quite decisively, two matches.

His other interest is going out with his friends, which he does more and more often. With his friends from Explorers, he spends time in Rochester and has twice been up to London to Camden Market. He does the organising and planning, which he obviously enjoys. With his school friends he has been to a number of parties and has had a number of poker nights (at the house of someone different each time as they go on very late and usually involve a number of boys sleeping over). We have hosted two poker nights but the responsibility hasn't come our way again yet, thankfully! He has also become a Latin mentor at school, helping boys one and two years below him in the Latin revision sessions, an activity he readily volunteered for.

Brian's company is still struggling with cash flow and, sometimes, I don't think he is enjoying it. However, they have now been going for one year and we can at least be fairly confident that it can carry on as it has been for a while yet. A big Halloween 1st anniversary party is planned for the 31st, which we are all looking forward to.

I have been to two further choir practice sessions and still really enjoy it. I always knew I liked to sing and I sang in the church choir when I was a teenager, but I have been surprised at just how much I am enjoying it. I have also joined the staff netball team. This has given me the chance to get to know some of the other people who work at the college. we are all either new to netball or haven't played for a long time and so it is more relaxed than competitive. Our first match was lost 16-43 despite a 2 goal advantage at the start! Our second was rather better, we only lost 24-31, with only six players, a great improvement! I'm also enjoying the films we see at the Maidstone Film Society. This month Mum, Sue and I saw Milk, an autobiographical film about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to gain public office in San Francisco. This was a good film and I would recommend it.

Getting to work is still quite a treat. The bus has been reliable so far, I have worked out how to get my cheap tickets and I have now read three whole books: Danziger's Travels by Nick Danziger, Small Island by Andrea Levy and The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock. All three were thought provoking, interesting and kept me amused during the journeys. taking the bus means that I can completely switch off between the chaos of getting out of the house in the morning, the working day and then the evening tasks of cooking, clearing and ferrying children to activities. I sometimes think that if it wasn't for the bus I would go mad. Having said this, I haven't been late yet and it has only rained once. I'll reassess at the end of the winter. I have noticed how edgy Brian is when he is in the car. On top of a stressful working day, this can't be good for him. The two of us drove into Chatham to get a pasta machine and the whole time we were in the car (me driving) he was shouting at me not to stop at red lights, to drive much faster, to overtake in order to get there quicker and then to park as close as possible to the shop. However, when I had parked the car and got the ticket, he was busy on his iPhone and complained that I was rushing him! It seems that the car is the place to be in a rush, otherwise life is quite laid back!

We bought our pasta machine with some vouchers Brian had been given at work and made our own pasta for the first time, which I used in a lasagne. We will definitely be making some more.

We had a wedding and a funeral in the same week. Brian's Auntie Glad was cremated on the Monday and Duncan and Gina were married on Friday. Brian went to the church service and we all went to the evening reception.

When we saw Auntie Edna she brought a census record for the family of my great grandfather. My great-grandfather had left his parents' home, married and had a home of his own in Hounslow. The rest of his family seemed to have been caught by the poverty trap. Five grown up sons were still living with the parents, the eldest of these being 40! It is likely that extreme poverty (arising from the depression which drove many away from the land at the end of the 19th century) had prevented these children from marrying and getting their own homes. The parents, dad 71 and mum 61, were both listed as still working, another indication of poverty.

I also had contact with lady in New Zealand who has the same ancestors as me and who had some information about one of my great great grandfathers who went to South Africa to mine for gold and, on his return, made a bigamous marriage for which he spent four months in prison. On his release his wife divorced him and most of the family emigrated except my great-grandmother who seems to have supported her father when he was released from prison.

September

Working at the new college

My journey to work now involves a bus ride, replacing the 20 minute walk to the old college with a 15 minute bus ride and 10 minutes walking. I read at the bus stop and on the bus when I'm not talking to someone, which has happened on about half the journeys. The college promised a deal of 10% discount on the buses for all staff as an incentive not to drive (the other incentive is limited parking and the prospect of a long walk once you have found a parking space!) but it hasn't yet been forthcoming. Discount or not, the journey to and from work is rather pleasant and I am quite happy with the arrangement (although it hasn't rained yet). I am reading a book (fiction) about the experiences of two Jamaican immigrants to south London in the late 40s and early 50s. It is quite shocking to consider how they were treated and a shame that there are some parallels now although, I think, that these are less racially motivated and more nationalistic.

Sixth form

Ben has started his A levels. He is still sure of his choices and is looking forward to studying but now realises that he should have taken GCSE Chemistry if he wants a career in some area of biology. He is now looking into how he can get this GCSE and will probably need to go to evening classes. When he chose his GCSEs he couldn't decide between music and chemistry but decided to go for music as he really enjoyed it. Hopefully, he will be able to get the GCSE before he applies for university. He is doing two sciences at A level and so the chemistry should be achievable.

We had a major discussion about the fact that some of his friends are getting EMA, which is only paid to students whose parents earn less than £30k. As the money goes straight to the student, Ben considered this to be unfair. He has always had a small allowance and earns plenty of money helping with the coaching at the tennis club but he seems to be trying to save to fund himself through university (I assume this as he is very reluctant to spend any of his money). In the end we agreed that I would stop his allowance completely and he would have the child benefit money each week on condition that he pays for most things himself. On the basis that if he wasn't at school I wouldn't be getting the child benefit, I thought this was a reasonable arrangement.

Babysitting

Beccy has been looking after the two children next door. It started when she and Antoine played with them out in the garden and has built up from there. She has been out with Katy, Austin and Rory and has kept the boys entertained all day. She has now done a couple of little spells of babysitting for some pocket money and seems both to enjoy it and to do it well.

Kent and Aylesford football

Beccy has started her training for Kent. She travelled on the bus to meet Brian at work and get a lift to the training ground, which was nearby. She is getting more and more independent but is doing it slowly, which is by far the best way.

In her first league match of the season, Beccy was awarded parents' player of the match and scored a hat trick. She has set herself a target of scoring more goals this season than last. As she scored 6 goals last season, she is well on the way to reaching this target. She scored a goal in the second match despite being in defence (she ran forward for a corner) and then in goal.

Tennis

Ben reached the final of the Gravesham Spring Open Tournament but lost in three sets. He is getting better at matches and is showing more consistency between his playing ability and ability to win matches which, before, were totally opposite to each other.

Ben also reached the final of the consolation draw for the Gravesham Autumn Tournament, which he won 6-0, 6-4. He got another trophy to add to his growing collection.

Running

Ben ran in the Demelza House 5k run at Mote Park and came second with a time of 21 mins and 24 second.

His friend Amreek came first with a personal best time of around 18 minutes. Ben got a nice glass trophy and a certificate.

Heavy Horse Show

Brian helped out at the scouts tea tent to raise money for the group. He spent most of the day , as he has done each year, manning the urns for the tea and coffee. I'm sure he really enjoys it! I helped toward the end of the day first selling cakes and then washing up. I took the explorers there (Ben, Ben and Ross) in the morning then went home to collect Beccy from football before returning later in the afternoon. I filled the car with fuel on the way to Shoreham but when I went to leave to pick Beccy up it wouldn't start. Brian managed to start it but we thought it best if I drove his car back. At the end of the show, I drove my car back to the scout hut dropping the explorers at home on the way. We packed everything away at the hut and got ready to go home. My car wouldn't start again. After several tries at bump starting it, with all the leaders and helpers pushing, we couldn't get it to start so we borrowed a tow rope and towed it home. It was now so late that we decided to have fish and chips for dinner. Brian wondered if I had let it run out of fuel and I told him that I had put some in that morning and realised only then that I had filled it with petrol! £250 pounds later it had been recovered to a diesel centre, drained and flushed and, luckily, no damage had been done. I hope I will be more with it in the future!

London Aquarium

On the 7th, Beccy and I took Alexander to the London Aquarium. We thought it would be better than the zoo as there would always be something to see. He loved it. He followed the fish with his hands and chattered away, eventually wearing himself out and falling asleep in his buggy.

We met Dan and Helen at Liverpool St Station to pick him up and drop him off and they had a day at the Westfield Shopping Centre and had lunch. We had a look at the statue commemorating the Kindertransport, the trains which brought Jewish children from Germany and Nazi occupied countries to be look after by families in England and other countries. It made me consider how desperate those parents must be to consider sending their children on those trains to foreign countries, imagine having to make that choice and how awful the situation must have been for them.

Bedgbury Forest Run

Ben, Dan and Joe ran the 10k on the 12th September. Ben and Dan both ran personal best times: Ben 47 minutes, Dan 56 minutes. Helen, Beccy and I ran the 2k fun run. Beccy managed 6 minutes, Helen 9 and me 10 minutes (which was my target). Natalie, Josh, Izzy and Mum also ran completing it well before us as we arrived at the start line 10 minutes late. Even so, Beccy managed to overtake Mum before the end!

After a picnic for Nat's birthday, Brian, Ben, Beccy, Natalie, Paul, Jodie, Josh, Izzy and Joe did the Go Ape course. Most of them were quite keen on leaning out on the harnesses so that they were lying on air. They all completed the course but it took 4 hours.

I took Alexander into the children's play area and put him on the little rocking horses on springs. He soon worked out how to rock himself and I crouched in front just he case he wobbled off. After quite a while he was still going but I was struggling to crouch down. I decided to get on the rocking horse and sit behind him. Unfortunately, as soon as I got on it tipped backwards and Alexander and I fell to the floor. He landed on top of me and cried a little but soon forget about it when I put him back on and crouched at the front again. He chattered away making all sorts of sounds.

Leeds Castle 10k run

On the 27th, Ben, Dan and Joe ran 10k at Leeds Castle in aid of Cancer Research. Joe ran a little faster than at Bedgebury but Ben and Dan both ran a little slower. The course was a little more difficult.

Age of Stupid

We went to a screening of this film at the Hazlitt Theatre. The publicity material said that it would be thought provoking and it did give us quite a bit to talk about. Beccy said that she enjoyed it and asked about getting other people to see it. She might try to persuade her school to show it at their film club and I will try to do the same at the college. The frightening thing about the message in the film was that if we don't tackle the problem of climate change, which is a real possibility, the effects could start early enough that Ben and Beccy will be only around the age that Brian and I are now and their children would feel the full effects. I don't want to leave a world that my children and grandchildren will find it difficult to live in and, like a growing number of people, I want to do something about it. We have been trying to live more sustainably for many years, we have reduced what we buy, we buy locally, only Brian drives to work, we heat our water by solar energy and our house with wood fuel. We do all the things that we are told will help but we need to do more. It's all very well being told to recycle but recycling vast amounts of unnecessary waste is not the answer, we have to not buy the stuff in the first place, that way we are not using precious resources and not generating the tons of carbon emissions associated with the production of all these needless items. We need to fight to get our economy based on a totally different basis. Consumerism really does cost the earth and unless it stops there is little hope. It really makes me cross when I hear people talking proudly about how they got a brilliant bargain in the clothes shops or the supermarket. There is no thought about why that item was so cheap. It will have been produced in a non-sustainable way and is almost certain to have been produced in such a way that it will have caused poverty for someone somewhere, so that someone here can have yet another pair of trousers to add to their crowded wardrobe or another pack of food that will go past its use by date because it wasn't needed. If companies only sold what was actually needed then they wouldn't need to advertise, the market would be knocking on its door.

Other events

I joined the community gospel choir organised by the Salvation Army in Chatham. I really enjoyed the first practice session although I found it very difficult to hit my notes. The sopranos and tenors were quite loud and I couldn't hear or place the alto notes. Hopefully, it will get easier.

Beccy went to a cricket day organised by the army. She really enjoyed it but, hopefully, the careers talk was something she didn't take too much notice of. They did team building games and quite a bit of cricket leaving her wanting to join a cricket club if she has any time.

Ben has been organising days out with his explorer friends and with his friends from school. He has actually started to use his mobile phone and seems to send and receive continuous text messages at times. He is obviously enjoying it.

Brian's company is hanging on. It is a struggle to keep the cash flowing and he seems to get a little bit down every now and then but it is still going. Talks of a takeover by another company haven't yet resulted in a deal and it is difficult to tell whether it will be beneficial or not. Taking one day at a time seems to be the best option for now.

August

Legoland

I took Beccy and Antoine to Legoland. Beccy, especially was very interested in Miniland (lego models of world landmarks). She decided that she wants to work there as a summer job when she is old enough so that she can be involved in making lego models like that. The two children went prepared for lots of water wearing their swimwear under their clothes and taking towels and a change of clothes.

They did just about every water ride there and went on the rapids a number of times in order to get the best photograph. Beccy also went on all the roller coasters. She has never been brave enough to do this before but she tried it and she loved it. She and Antoine rode the Dragon and the Jungle Coaster a number of times.

Explorers Summer Camp

Ben went to camp with the Explorers at Frylands Wood in Croydon from 31st July to 8th August. He had the best of times and really didn't want to come home. His group get on together so well that the whole experience was great for him. They built bivouacs and camped out in the woods, did the usual activities (swimming, orienteering, wide games, etc) and had a day out in London visiting Camden Town, Regents Park and seeing the show Wicked in the West End.

He came back determined to spend more time with friends and by Sunday had arranged a trip to London and, later in the week, to Thorpe Park with schoolfriends. In between he would be playing in the Gravesham Tennis Tournament.

Returning Antoine to France

I flew with Beccy and Antoine to Marseille on Ryanair. The flights with Ryanair were so much cheaper than British Airways, where they could have flown on their own, that it was cheaper for me to fly with them and then back the next day with Ryanair, on which they were not allowed to fly on their own. We called in to see Helen and Alexander on the way to the airport and Beccy and Antoine played with all his toys and then the Playstation. We arrived at the airport with just enough time to check the children's bags, go through security where they thought I had an aerosol can in my bag and made us wait while it was searched and re-scanned to prove that there wasn't, then go straight to the gate to board the plane.

Jean-Francois picked us up from the airport and drove us back to their house where I stayed over, in Marion's room. The following day, Jean-Francois and Marion took Beccy, Antoine and me to Les Baux de Provence, a village and chateaux built into a mountainside in the Alpilles. We had lunch, which we had to eat quite quickly as the Mistral was blowing fairly strongly and our salad flying off the plate.

We watched a demonstration of trebuchet firing, found the stocks, and explored the remains of the chateau while listening to the audio-guides we were given as part of the entrance fee. I bought a big bag of Herbes de Provence to bring home.

During conversations with Marion and Jean-Francois I found out quite a lot about the competitiveness of the university system in France and the taxation and social security payment system. I don't know why there are so many complaints in this country about these issues. Maybe English people can't understand the link between social security payments, taxation and public services (or maybe we all just want everything for nothing). As wage levels are always going to be dictated to a certain extent by the amount of NI and tax we pay, I can't see any reason at all to need to reduce taxation or indeed keep it at a low level. Perhaps we need the popular press to explain this to the general population!

After a dinner at the house with Anne, who had been at work during the day (she's an optician), Jean-Francois drove me back to the airport for my flight home. As I had booked in online and had no baggage to check it took 10 minutes from arriving at the airport to arriving at the gate for departure.

The garden

We have done a little work on the garden this year, widening the flower border and re-arranging the vegetable plots. At the moment we have a good crop of courgettes, potatoes, carrots and garlic. The raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackcurrants fruited less than last year as we had planted new raspberry canes, had moved the strawberries and blueberries, and had cut the blackcurrant bush right back. Nevertheless we had a reasonable crop from all.

We can now look forward to picking the apples (of which there are many), grapes and tomatoes (if they ripen). We have planted some broccoli and what we think is sweetcorn (it appeared in a pot) and wait to see what they do.

At the front, we have cut down the cordyline, which had grown to over 10 feet, and the camphor tree in order to allow us to get to the front of the house to do some much needed maintenance. When the maintenance is done we will widen the flower bed in front of the house and completely replant it.

Beccy's trip to France

We picked Beccy up from Gatwick on Monday 10th August. She was very keen to tell us all about her trip and all the things she had done. She had a great time. The Olivari family took her to Aqualand, a nearby zoo (she thinks it was Marseille Zoo), to a treetops adventure park and to the Alps for a couple of days.

On the day we picked Beccy up I had an operation (laparoscopy) to find out what was causing the pain in my abdomen. The doctors thought it was adhesions as a result of an operation I had around 19 years ago. It was a large adhesion which they couldn't treat then but at least I know that the cause is not anything sinister and it can be dealt with. As I was not very mobile (or with it after the anaesthetic) we went for a meal at a pub near Gatwick airport after meeting Beccy from the plane. The pub, The Olde Six Bells, served very good food and was reasonably priced - a good choice.

Ben's tennis - 14th August 2009 and 24th August 2009

Ben had some fairly difficult first matches in the Gravesham tournament and suffered from not having played for a little while. He was entered in the consolation draws for the Boys Under 16 singles, Under 18 singles and Mixed Doubles. He won the Under 16 singles and, with Megan, won the Mixed Doubles.

His final win also gave him enough wins and a sufficient win ratio to move from 9.2 to 9.1 so it was a great week for him.

Prior to the tournament we did some practice and took some video so that Ben could see what he might improve. Unfortunately he had to rely on my feeding the ball, which wasn't always useful but gave him practice in chasing wild balls!

At the Kent County Closed tournament, Ben lost his first round match against a boy who was a number of ratings higher than him. In the consolation draw he played really well and won all his matches up to the quarter finals where he lost to a boy of similar ability having had 4 set points in the first set. His playing continues to improve but his ability to fight for those final points needs some work.

UK Schools Biathlon - 16th August 2009

Beccy has been training at the swimming pool and at the running track in preparation for this event. She competed well. She ran the 1000m in 3 mins 45 seconds (better than in the qualifier) and swam in 42.7 seconds (also better).

We had a great day accompanied by Dan, Helen, Alexander, Mum, Sue, Joe, Marion and Alan. In between Beccy's run and swim we had a picnic and my birthday cake on the grass just outside the stadium. It was a very long day, we left at 8am and arrived home at 8pm having stopped for some fast food on the way home.

Beccy's points total in the biathlon was enough to gain 16th place and she was awarded a trophy for gaining the highest number of points of any Medway or Bromley athlete.

Camping with Claire

Ben, Beccy and I went away camping with Claire, Nathan, Alli, Nadia and her friend Steph (and the dog, Cosby). Having booked the campsite in Pevensey, near Eastbourne, we decided that we wanted a day on a sandy beach and so started by going to Camber. We set up our stuff in the dunes, out of the wind and all went in the sea, sunbathed or played games. Late afternoon we packed up and drove to Pevensey (about an hour). Having booked into the campsite and found our pitch, we discovered that we had a tent with no pegs (the second time we have done this so far this year)! It was late and most local shops, even the large ones, closed at 8pm so I drove quickly to the nearest Halfords, who up until very recently (apparently) were selling tents and pegs but had nothing now. I then tried B&Q, who also didn't sell tent pegs but had a selection of hardware. After a bit of deliberation I decided on 4 inch nails with large heads and some bent metal pins.

Back at the campsite we found that the heads of the nails were just slightly bigger than the holes in the tent and the nails were long enough to get a hold. Luckily it wasn't windy at all and our tent secured with 4 inch nails did us proud for the two nights we were there. We got the tent set up, inflated the airbeds and loaded everything into the tent. Claire discovered that she hadn't packed Nadia's bedding and the older two girls had to share one sleeping bag.

It was late and we needed to eat so we went to Pevensey Bay, just down the road, bought fish and chips and sat on the pebble beach while we ate them and it got dark. On returning to the campsite we found that our gas light had no gas and so by the light of as many candles as we could fit on the table, we all got ready for bed. Everyone was in bed by just after 10pm! Cosby was so tired after a whole day on the beach that he slept soundly all night. Claire got up very early to take him out for a wee but otherwise we didn't hear a thing from him. He slept just as well the second night.

On Tuesday (the second day) Claire made me a belated birthday cake out of an upturned bowl decorated with chocolate hoops. They all sang 'Happy Birthday' and I opened my card and presents. Nathan cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast and we all got ready for the day out. Ben had a tennis tournament and so I drove him to Tunbridge Wells for his morning match, then took him for lunch and drove back to Pevensey, leaving him there for his afternoon match. Everyone else had walked to the beach, bought lunch in a bakery and were sitting in the same spot when I got there. Beccy and Alli were swimming in the sea and everyone else was sunbathing. We walked from there along the beach and back towards the supermarket where we would get our dinner for the evening. After a while, Beccy and I walked back to the beach to get the car and then I ferried people and the dog and shopping from the supermarket back to the campsite. Poor Cosby seemed to be suffering a bit from walking on pebbles all day, his feet looked sore and he was quite exhausted.

Brian watched Ben's afternoon match and brought him back to the campsite. He stayed for dinner, which was quickly cooked, and then took the two boys back to the beach to do some fishing. They didn't catch anything and returned around 10.15pm so that Brian could get the car off the campsite before they closed the gates. It was lovely to see him and both the children really appreciated him being there. They obviously missed him, even for just one day!

Wednesday morning was our last and we needed to pack everything up. Nathan cooked another breakfast and we packed everything away so leisurely that we only just finished by the 12 noon deadline for vacating the campsite. The boys wanted to go fishing again and so Claire drove them back to the beach and picked them up around an hour and a half later. All packed, we left the campsite and spent the day on the beach nearer to Eastbourne where there were rides and places to eat. We left around 4pm and, after getting lost in Tunbridge Wells, arrived home around 6.30pm (Brian did the same journey in 1 hour the night before).

GCSE Results day - 27th August 2009

Ben went to a pre-results party the night before and walked to school with Rob (who stayed over) when school opened. He got a good set of results - A grades in Maths, Biology, Physics, PE, History and Latin, B grades in English, Art and Statistics and a C grade in Music. He was a little disappointed as he had been predicted higher but he got into sixth form easily and got As in all his chosen A level subjects. We are really proud of him.

Opening of new college

I went into work to open up a classroom and set up some small demonstrations of work. The new building was opened to the public and many, many young people turned up (mostly to see the bands that were playing rather than the educational facilities). I had a small number of people interested in looking around but not too many.

Joe's birthday at Camber

We had a barbecue on the beach at Camber for Joe's birthday. It was quite windy and we hid ourselves in the dunes to shelter from it. The children went in the sea but didn't swim as the red flags were flying. We had burgers, sausages and cakes and after we had eaten we had a game of rounders. Dan had Alexander in the rucksack carrier and wanted to let him join in.

When Dan hit the ball and started running he realised that he could get all the way round. He ran as fast as he could with Alexander bouncing around on his back. As he passed fourth base we all cheered and Alexander burst into tears - he had scored his first rounder!

Explorers' barbecue

Family of the explorers were invited to a barbecue at the scout hut. We all went and sat and talked with the other parents. The leaders cooked the food and the explorers (with a little encouragement) packed away. They used the time together to plan a day at the beach.

Stansted Windmill Fete and Dan's birthday

Bank holiday Monday 31st August, we visited Dan, Helen and Alexander, had a lovely lunch (Dan's homemade bread, salad, meats and cheeses) then walked along to the windmill to have a look around the fete held to raise funds for its restoration. We had a go at bowling balls through holes for points, dipped Alexander in the lucky dip to get a little notebook and some tattoos for Beccy, bought some plants for the garden and a book for me to read on the bus on the way to and from work.

Helen had made a gorgeous chocolate and guiness birthday cake and Dan opened his presents a day early while we were there. Dan seemed pleased with the splitting maul and slegehammer we got him for chopping firewood. Helen's mum, Joy, her brother, Simon, and two of her sisters, Fiona and Julia, were visiting as well. Beccy and the triplets played together with Alexander. Brian had Alexander on his lap at one point and dressed him up in plastic bangles, on his wrists, ankles and ears. While he was being bejewelled, Alexander took advantage of the fact that Brian was distracted and pinched some of his chocolate cake!

While we were at Dan's, Ben went to Westgate with his Explorer friends for a day at the beach. It was a long day, ending in a night swim, and he got home around 11pm having had a really good time.