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.
