The Non-Holiday

This is not a happy post.

The trip to Italy, it appears, was doomed. First we had to suddenly cancel the second week we had planned. Then - the day before we left - I injured my back, so the 3 and a half hours on a coach down to Edinburgh were not too much fun. Then, just as we'd checked in at the Travel Lodge for a good nights rest before the early morning flight to Pisa, Nonno received a text telling us our flight had been cancelled and we should look at the website. A general strike had been announced in Italy, and this included baggage handlers at Pisa airport.
After much confusion and a trip to the airport to try and speak to someone from Ryanair (HA!) we discovered (from the website) that all flights to Pisa for the next few days were fully booked, so the option we were given to 're-book on the next available flight' was pretty useless.
So the next day, feeling a bit shell-shocked, we got back on the Inverness bus and came home :-(

A was keen to get straight back to school, so she ended up only missing 2 days. She's been kept busy with school-life and friends, which is good. I, however, have been alternately moping about feeling sorry for myself, and trying to force myself to do 'fun things' to take my mind off the fact that I SHOULD BE IN ITALY!!! I wont even go into the stress I've experienced dealing with airlines and insurance companies - trying to claim a little back of the huge amount of money I've lost on this non-holiday. And breathe...

I did receive this through the post though:


a wonderfully thoughtful gift of commiseration from a lovely friend. It certainly made me smile :-)

Postwoman K

This will be me in a few weeks time:

Minus the cat, I hope (I'm allergic).

Yes - I got the job!!!! Just got to wait for all the police checks etc to go through, then I will get my starting date :D
I'm so happy and relieved about this, I cant believe I've managed to get a job (and one that I want!) so quickly. I'm also really pleased I didn't get the supermarket job now - the postie one is much better money, and a definite shift pattern (I've heard that the supermarket are pressuring people to take on lots of extra hours). And with A settling in to school life so well, the pessimist that I am keeps questioning - surely it cant be this easy?? 3 months ago we were quite happily plodding along with our HE life, I had an awareness that I needed to get more money coming in and was struggling to work out how to do that with A at home all the time, but things were ok. Now things are soooooo different. Its all a bit mad really.

There are some strange and puzzling things about school. Like the coat thing. Apparently "nobody wears a coat to school". Apparently, this would be the height of uncoolness. Even when its pissing with rain. I've had to bite my tongue a bit on this, after all - if she wants to sit in damp clothes all day I suppose thats her business. My, those classrooms must smell nice on rainy days!
I'm just picturing her in the depths of winter, trudging through the snow, shivering and turning blue, because: WEARING A COAT IS JUST NOT COOL MUM!!!!!!
She's off to a writing workshop today - part of our town's book and arts festival, she won her place by writing a cinquain. Only one pupil from each class got a place, so she did really well. She gets the morning off school and will spend the time with professional writer Kenneth Steven. Cant wait to hear how she got on.
And then tonight, in another part of the festival, she will be reading out some of her own pieces, along with others from her writing group. The group she's in is only small, but it grew out of a much larger adults writing group, so they are all giving an evening of readings for the festival.

This weekend will be spent packing and organising for our holiday, then on Monday we are off to Italy!! I'm so excited :-) I will bore you to death with photos when we get back ;-)

Car boot finds, Spooky Men, interviews....

Hey, look what I found at a car boot sale last Sunday:

yes - this is the type of find that excites me :D

And I know they are only piddly little ones, but they are enough for me, for now. A much better way to incorporate weights into my circuits than tins of beans/bottles of water. Although it has to be said this week has been a bit lax in terms of exercise, for various reasons. Such is life - I will be back on it next week!

Monday night was a very good night - we went to see The Spooky Men's Chorale, haven't laughed so much in ages. Lots of big men, some with big beards, singing Georgian choral inspired songs with titles such as "Don't stand between a man and his tool". Fantastic voices, and so, so funny. If you ever get the chance - GO AND SEE THEM!!!

Laughter was just what I needed as I had the interview looming on Tuesday morning. I get very nervous about interviews, and had been carrying around this feeling of dread all week before it. It actually went very well, as far as I could tell. I'm hopeful, but trying not to bank on getting it - there were 3 other candidates. I've learnt from my experience with the supermarket, where they were taking on loads of staff and I was sure I would get something...nope.

It would suit me quite well though, its afternoons so I would be at home in the mornings for A (although not when she gets home from school), and it would mostly be driving around in a little red van delivering parcels. Its just a matter of waiting to hear now, the interviewer did say it can take a while for the decision to be made.

After the interview I had some news about our holiday - unfortunately we will have to cut it short :-( Due to circumstances beyond my control we cant have our second week over near Venice. I'm gutted, and considerably out of pocket with having to change flights etc, but its not something any of us could have foreseen, so I'm just trying to focus on us having a brilliant time with A's Nonno and Nonna in La Spezia and Pisa for the first week.

As for school, all is well :-) A is managing the early mornings remarkably well, and seems to be enjoying all aspects of school life. She did have to have a maths test, which she was quite worried about. Maths is the only subject that is streamed straight away, and A had been put into the bottom group to start with as they had no primary school record to judge her on - hence the test. She came home after the test saying that she didn't think she had answered anything right, and was resigned (and actually fairly content) to staying in the bottom group. I wasn't sure what to think, I know she has far more ability than she realises, but I also know how panicky she gets about tests, and thought she might have done really badly through sheer terror! The following day she announced she'd been moved up to the middle group. I hope this gives her a bit of a boost and makes her realise that she's not "rubbish" (her words, not mine!) at maths.

Fitness Freak

I feel the need to do a post about my fitness regime and how its been progressing. This is not related to HE, but its what is going on just now for me, and after Lucy over at Skedaddle! linked to me I feel I should write something about my new obsession with becoming a super-toned, zombie-fighting action babe.

This is all Lucy's fault. Well, actually I came across her blog just after I'd started going to the gym and eating healthily again, and she inspired me to take things a step further and really go for it, which is when I added running, circuits and resistance training to the plan.

I was really enjoying the running (surprisingly!) and had got up to alternate 4 mins running/1 min walking on my 2 mile river route (probably sounds a bit pathetic, but I was slowly increasing my running time) then I was hit with shin splints so had to slow things right down :-(
However, I am determined to get back to running, and am planning on joining a local runners group once I feel a bit more confident.

I'm also enjoying the regular (2-3 times a week) gym visits, especially as A now comes with me sometimes. And on Friday I discovered something truly wonderful - a body pump class. An hour of lifting weights to very loud music, while a lovely (and slightly camp) instructor shouts at us, and occasionally bursts into song along with whatever track is playing. I don't know how he manages it, but he rolls the barbell up and down his body so suggestively its almost obscene. I love this class soooo much.
I paid for this the following day though - I was ill all last week (nasty cold) and an hour in the gym and then the class was a bit too much, as on Saturday I was wrecked. I got so miserable and grumpy that A sent me back to bed.

I'm really glad I have this to focus on as other aspects of my life seem to be imploding. Had an extremely stressful day yesterday (cant go into detail, but nothing to do with A) and got about 3 hours sleep last night. My confidence has taken a real knock recently, the self employment is feeling overwhelming and impossible. Basically I have just lost my bottle where that is concerned, so am now seriously looking for a crappy job to keep us going, one with hours that wont affect HE too much. I guess that means early morning cleaning then - oh joy!

On a brighter note - I have booked our flights for our holiday to Italy in September - cant wait! If I keep with Lucy's project (which I WILL - of course!) I may even pack a bikini ;-)

hello! hello! hello!

Its good to be back! Not that we didn't enjoy our holiday - we had a great time - but we arrived home yesterday morning to glorious sunshine, and it felt like the right place to be :o)

Bit of a quick photo catch up then:

Our lodge and all our bikes at Centre Parcs (Whinfell Forest)

First time at CP - loved it! Loads for us all to do, and although it was the busiest time of the year it didn't feel too crowded. Not cheap though!!

The kids did loads of activities, some together and some not, here are a few that A enjoyed:

Pony trekking

Archery

CSI (!)

We also did roller blading, badminton and pottery painting, and the boys got up to some more daring stuff like laser quest and quad biking. I enjoyed a bit of nordic walking, and a spa evening with my Mum - loved those steam rooms. And of course, there was plenty of swimming, unfortunately this resulted in A's blue streaks turning a weird kind of purpley-grey colour, but she wasn't too bothered. All in all, a fantastic week, AND we were all still talking to each other by the end of it!

>After that it was on down to my brother's for a bit of chill out time, and visiting a few relatives. I did a lot of reading, got through Robert Harris's Rome books - Imperium and Lustrum, and also finally got round to reading The_Wasp_Factory by Iain Banks. It was recommended to me years ago by a friend who said "its definitely your kind of book", not sure how to take that now I've read it, but I suppose she was right, as I did enjoy it.

>Next up was the big family wedding that A had been preparing for for about the last six months, very exciting! It was a fab day, and I felt surprisingly moved seeing my little cousin get hitched.

False nails were required for the occasion - very grown up

A having a boogie with the bride

Then after a few more days with my brother and his family, we boarded the Caledonian Sleeper and came home. First thing we did was head down to the beach and have a paddle :o))

And we're off again

Another holiday, how spoilt are we this year!?! This time we're off to Centre Parcs with Granny, my brother, his partner and my nephews. A proper family holiday. Then down to my brothers and all off to a family wedding. We're very excited!

I feel I have been neglecting Educational Escapades lately. To be honest I've been having a bit of a blog-wobble (that really is a fantastic term - say it out loud, you'll see what I mean!). I've been wondering whether this is really a good thing for me to be doing, asking myself questions such as: am I repeating myself? Is it getting boring? Is it taking up too much of my time? All of which has made me assess why it is I write this blog.

Partly I write to try and keep a bit of a record of what we do. Partly its to offer one example of what home ed can be like. Partly its to connect with other bloggers. But what I've realised is its also become a representation of me as a writer, because I've linked to it through so much work related stuff, and that is a very different thing . Somehow, because of the way I approached it from the start - as a loose, chatty journal - it doesn't feel 'good enough'.

Another issue, which pops up from time to time when I'm feeling insecure, is the tendency I have to look at other HE blogs and feel that everyone else is doing it so much better than me. There are some amazing HEors out there, and in positive moments I can find their blog posts inspiring and motivating. But when I'm feeling low I become very self-critical and just see how inadequate I am as a HEor.

I'm trying to be very objective here, to really look at whats going on and why I'm feeling so troubled about it all. Being rational about it I know that none of the negative stuff is true, and if it is, it doesn't actually matter. This is just one tiny little blog in an inconceivably massive blogosphere. If I can just concentrate on being honest, and writing for me and A, then none of the other stuff matters.

I'm going to take some time while we're away to really try and get my head around this, and find a bit of clarity in my thinking. Hopefully I'll come back refreshed and renewed, with a more positive approach to blogging.

We are back

Hello!!
Feels like we've been away for months. Had a busy time, mostly fun, visiting and staying with various people down south. Struggles with certain elements, for both of us (yes, I'm being deliberately vague here) but hopefully we'll learn from it. All in all a good holiday with lots of happy times and good people.

Started off in London with my oldest friend - M, (she's not old - I've just known her a long time!), a lovely, lovely person, who put us up for a weekend. Its always easy with M, we don't actually keep in touch very much, occasionally email, but whenever we meet up we seem to slot back into that old friendship as if we'd just seen each other last week. Very much on the same wavelength.
On the Sunday the three of us went into town, firstly to the V&A, then to see 'Stomp' in the West end. Really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure how they would make a show out of what is basically a load of grubby looking men banging stuff (which incidentally is one of my favourite fantasies) but it was very slick and clever, and also very funny.

I haven't got too many photos this time, but here are a few from the V&A :

Some squashed trumpets etc hanging from the ceiling

A strange glass sculpture

This is my favourite - its title is "Guts"

Glass lollipops

Some vases

Last photos of York (I promise)

Barley_Hall is a restored medieval town house.

A feasting in the Great Hall

Where the fire place was in the middle of the Great Hall

A plague doctor, nightmarish figure, part of the 'Plague, Poverty and Prayer' exhibition.

The Roman_Baths_Museum was tiny, but full of fascinating stuff, like this Roman equivalent of toilet paper.



This was a great little place - we had a wander round, looked at some of the art work and chatted with the very friendly proprietor. Would have been nice for A to do a bit of painting there, but she felt a bit conspicuous as no one else was painting when we went in.

Rowntree Park

This lovely park was just a couple of minutes walk from our guest house.

More York

We went on a guided walk one morning, which I had been really keen to do (A less so) but it was very much aimed at adults and A found it quite boring. Don't get me wrong - I hate it when children are acommodated by being patronised and treated like idiots - but I have to admit that this guy was very dry. He was factual and informative, clearly from an academic background and definitely knew his stuff, but it was a bit like a lecture really, and quite hard work. The worst bit was that he charged for A as a student rather than a child which would have been a lot cheaper, I didn't realise this until later on. I know she's getting tall, but surely he didn't think she was over 16?!

We also visited Yorkshire_Museum , which was pretty good, but lacked the more interactive elements A had enjoyed at some of the other places. I think its really difficult to get it right, because if there is too much of the hands on stuff, particularly computer based, then it actually detracts from the whole experience as that becomes the focus, but A certainly seems to engage more when there are relevant activities to get involved in. There's only so much 'looking' and 'reading' she can do before she wanders off to find something to draw!

A enjoyed making a mosaic

The gardens outside the museum were beautiful, and there were plenty of these fellows about to keep us entertained!

We did get to the theatre one evening, and saw a wonderful production by Puppet State: The_Man_Who_Planted_Trees . It was a brilliant show - really funny in a very gentle way. We both enjoyed it a lot, despite A's concerns beforehand that it would be for little kids.

After our theatre excursion we went in search of a vegan restaurant I had heard about - El_Piano - and we had the most delicious tapas meal. Their onion bhajis are the best I've ever tasted (and I've tasted many!). Best of all was the selection of desserts - a rare treat for me :0)

Needless to say, we went back several times during our holiday.

Pea and potato curry; Albondigas (soya mince 'meat' balls); onion bhajis; rice.

Sticky toffee pudding and chocolate brownie

York

Decided to get up early(ish) today and get blogging while A is still asleep. There is so much going on just now I've found it difficult to get round to doing this, and we have some nice photos to share.

One of the first places we visited was DIG , the archaeological museum. It seemed very geared towards groups (particluarly school groups), and we got our own guide who took us around. It felt a bit intense at times as all the questions were directed at A, whereas normally I suppose there would be a whole class to discuss and answer questions, but A said that overall she enjoyed it, despite visibly squirming when she didn't know the answers (I did help her out, but I didn't always know the answers either!) Our guide was very nice though, and we got to 'dig' for artefacts from 4 different time periods: Roman; Viking; Medieval; Victorian. There was lots of interesting information, definitely worth a visit.

A was very keen to visit this place...

and we spent a good couple of hours here. We loved it - they had some really good hands-on stuff available, such as objects and space to set up a still life composition, and a seated area with mirrors, paper and pencils for self portraits. A was in her element - she's happy to wander round art galleries anyway, but these activities complemented the experience perfectly for her.

We came back to the fountain outside the art gallery several times as it was a great place to sit and relax. A also did a lot of sketching here.

We had a couple of really warm days, and after trudging around York it was lovely to soak our feet.

We're off!

I had intended to do a proper posting before we headed off on holiday to York tomorrow morning, but it will have to wait til we get back as I have no time!
We'll be back by the end of the month, hopefully with lots of pics and news. X

Been away again

This time to Pitlochry - we stayed here , just for a couple of nights.

Me, A and Granny went down to meet up with some friends from Norwich - an old family friend and her two daughters aged 10 and 12 (they came up and stayed with us last summer, for anyone who was reading this back then and remembers!).

It is a wonderful part of the country, we went out hiking in the beautiful surrounding countryside, and generally had a really nice time catching up with our friends. It was perfect timing for A, who enjoyed socialising at the hostel - playing pool, learning chess (which we're going to continue with at home) and hanging out in the TV room.

So - here are some pics!

More from Rogart break

A couple more from Carn Liath:

The bone collectors: we found some very

interesting specimens along the beach

Spotted this gorgeous family of seals, there were loads more

following and watching us from the sea

the beach at Dornoch

Been busy!!

Went here a couple of weeks ago with our lovely friends. Here are some pics:

our carriage, and a child counting for hide and seek

a walk in the woods on our first night - a beautiful evening!

Dunrobin_Castle - couldn't find a way to sneak in so admired from afar

Coastal walk from Golspie to Brora

A chocolate break at Carn_Liath - interesting iron age site

more to come....

Midsummer in Orkney

We had a lovely trip over to Orkney this weekend, with my Mum and my Aunt (up visiting from Shepperton). As you can see from the photos - the weather was amazing, we were so lucky!
We did the guided coach tour, which was great as a taster, but I'd love to go back and stay on one of the islands for a few days.

We had a little time on this gorgeous beach - just enough

for a paddle and a wander (and a dance if you are A!).

Visited the Ring_of_Brodgar - an ancient stone circle.

Better (prof) pics here if you're interested

It felt very appropriate to be here on the summer solstice

More to come....