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!
No comments:
Post a Comment