It was a warm and pleasant start to the week. Lunch was outside, with the chance to use my new coffee table...
The rain that afternoon was torrential. It was Woo's last day of school for the year and she had a half day. She had gone for bubble tea with her friends, but was then heading back to the bus when the heavens opened.
Bunnykins is still at school for a couple more weeks, but these are the last weeks of primary school. This memory had come up on my Facebook on Wednesday.
They were great times with Bunnykins. I so enjoyed her company. I'd had time where it was just me and Woo before Bunnykins was born. Having this time at home with Bunnykins where it was just the two of us was a great privilege. We shared a lot of enjoyment for similar things: Lego, craft, maths puzzles (yes it's true ð), chatting, sharing stories.
I missed her when she finally had to go to school, and then of course that was the beginning of a new chapter for me when I started the phD. Anyway, I digress.
So, I've been chair of this years yr6 leavers committee. It was a mistake to volunteer, but I did it before starting this new job. I'm the chair, but also I took on responsibility for the yearbook.
When it was Woo's leavers year, there was another mum who is a graphic designer (and does paper cut art and sets up lots of cool craft things like Bespoke16). Anyway, she made the yearbook for their year and I helped with the photos, getting pictures from other parents, cropping, organising, and making sure we only used pictures we had permission for etc.
While her other child is still at the school, she said she'd continue to put the book together. So I volunteered to support given I knew the process, and after having done it for Woo, I had been mindful all along to collect photos of Bunnykins and her year at various things...
Nativities:
We had loads of photos in the end. It had been quite a bit of work to sort. We were really fortunate to have 2 mums from the Committee working in the school as TAs, so they were able to get pictures of camps and get written sections from the kids and take pictures.
This week was really the last week for getting the yearbook finished and to the printers. Wednesday evening there was a lot of too-ing and fro-ing and checking of final drafts. But Thursday morning it finally went off.
Thursday I was in training all day. It was negotiation training. I've done some before. I do find it really useful though, as much of it is useful well outside of a business context.
There was this whole thing about Verbal Jujitsu, or "Pacing & Leading"... both odd names, but really good concept. It's something I've come across before both in parenting and conflict avoidance. Anyway, it was fun to try out this stuff and spend a bit more time getting to know colleagues.
Ben was over in the afternoon.
I had asked him to bring a ukulele arrangement for the Beatles song(s) Golden slumbers/ carry that weight as a medaly. Its such a beautiful song. I can't really sing it, one because it's not really in my range, but two... it makes me cry. I didn't cry when we practiced it, but I thought Ben sang it beautifully.
Still nostalgic on Friday as I walked Bunnykins to school.
We don't often talk much as we walk. I might ask her something and if she's interested, then we talk, but usually she says "I'm thinking" and prefers to be quiet. I don't mind. I'm comfortable with the silence and company.
She walks the last short section on her own. We say goodbye and I watch her go a little while. She has grown so much, but she's still my little girl.
Friday was OK, but I was looking forward to the weekend. Woo brought me in a snack mid morning which was super welcome.
In the evening we all watched the Hulk together, then it was time for a cocktail with gardener's world... Rock and roll...
Saturday morning I was up early. I drove off to B&q which was still very quiet. I picked up some sand and a few other bits then went to Ben's. He'd made us bacon sarnies for breakfast which we ate in the light drizzle.
Then it was time to get started. The first job was laying some pavers into the "grass". Eventually, this area will be wildflowers, a bit wild, as the grass here already is pants. He had got some circular pavers locally from gumtree which are great for stepping stones through to the washing line, but they needed to be set properly into the ground rather than wobbling on top.
We cut holes, and placed the pavers in - levelling them up with sand.
Quick tea break....
The lawn was so lumpy anyway though, so it wasn't an entirely straightforward job, but we got them all in and level.
Then we built a raised bed.
But the hardest work was moving the topsoil left from when the builders had laid the patio. It was still containing the sods from the lawn so you couldn't just shovel it freely. It was hot, hard and frustrating work. But we got it moved and were then able to put the raised bed in place and fill it up. Filling it was easier as we'd cleared out the sods and weeds, so it was quicker to shovel back in... but not that quick!
We planted it up with strawberries, runner beans, tomatoes, and marigolds.
Then it was time for a tidy up and for me to get on my way.
There's still a lot of jobs to do, but he's making great progress and enjoying it along the way.
Meanwhile, Mark had picked all the gooseberries and made 8kg of Jam! Pretty epic!!
I was tired and dirty, but I was glad I hadn't had to pick gooseberries!
I went and had a shower, then joined the rest of TeamChallis for some trivial pursuit under the pergola.
I went to get dressed just before 5pm in a new dress I'd recently got.
The rain came on very gently. Its such a calming sound. The air was still scented with honeysuckle and jasmine. It was just lovely, I feel very lucky.
This evening is the final of the Euros. I have no interest in football, nor do the rest of TeamChallis really but Bunnykins was keen to join in, particular as the rest of her class would be watching and the school had said that children could come in late (up to 10am).
We got settled down with plenty of snacks. Italy v England at Wembly. The kick off was at 8pm.
There was an England goal a few minutes in which was a cause of great excitement. After that it did settle into what I recognise of football...bit snoozey ððĪŠðī.
Bunnykins was having fun though...
And we lost.
It's such a shame as clearly they've done so well to come this far, done so many brilliant things. But the victory is all that seems to count. I felt so sad for the young men who would carry the weight of things that went wrong or mistakes made. It's not a nuanced sport, though I'm not sure of much sport that is. Anyway, it's happened. There's a big part of me that also thinks it's possibly better because the whole thing was causing people to lose sight of of the need to still be cautious over covid-19. I couldn't see much restraint in the celebrations to this point, so I'm glad in some ways that we didn't get to peak celebration. I know that's really curmudgeonly, but people's lives and health are more important. I hope people are proud of how well the team did. I didn't embrace it at all, but it does seem to have been something that lifted the summer for a lot of people and I hope there are loads of positives that can be taken from the journey.
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