Well, what a miserable week! Rain, rain and more rain!!!!! The river flowing by the house has been up and down all week, but thankfully the River Authority seems to have sorted out the flooding problems in the town and this has the added benefit of keeping the river lower near us.

The lawn needs mowing, the pool is going green and the Guinea pigs don’t smile anymore when we put them outside in the morning.

I took the school athletics team to the Area AtAthleticseet in Leicester on Monday. Our Year 6 children are an amazing bunch, they are not into anything physical and wouldn’t dream of joining any sports club. I had to pull the school soccer team out of the league this season because I only had 3, Year 6 boys that would train (We only play 7 aside). Only two years ago I had between 60-80 children attending training regularly. It’s not just just our school though, 2 weeks ago the local Schools soccer tournament (5 aside) had to be cancelled because only 1 team had been entered. Well, back to the Athletics, you won’t be surprised to learn that we got one certificate, a d place in the long jump. The hool has never been less than 3rd place in the whole Meeting against 20+ other Primary Schools. It seems the more initiatives there are to get children more active, the less they are inclined to be.

Charlotte has` informed us that Luca has started to crawl. Now the trouble starts and things get constantly moved away from prying little fingers. I remember going through this phase 3 times, I lost more and more hair each time. It certainly improves your planning of where to place things and affects radically how you move around your own home. Just opening that door now has hidden dangers, you never know when there is a hidden booby trap in the guise of a bumped head or squashed finger. Terrorism didn’t start with 9/11.

Sue and I have had a busy week-end. It started with a local Summer Ball on Friday night. It was a chance to wear DJs and ball gowns. For once I think we enjoyed it, the food was surprisingly good and the entertainment very acceptable (Mostly 70’s music etc.). It was held in a huge Marquee on the grounds of Marston Trussell Hall. Sue believes there were about 350 guests, though the grounds were very nice, it rained constantly, and the gardens soon turned into a quagmire, we saw at least one taxi buried up to its axel in the mud in a field used for parking.

After very few hours of sleep, at 9.30 am  I had to go to school to help set up for the Summer Fete. Sarah (Little angel) helped me. I got back at 12.30 for something to eat, then back to school at 1.15 pm. Surprisingly, the rain held off until 3.57 pm. I know the exact time because Sarah and I were doing the bouncy castle and timing the children for how long they were bouncing about (5 mins for £1). Without warning, one second we were dry, and the next we were soaked and that was the end of the Fete. Amazingly we had everything packed up for5.30 pm. I don’t know how much we made, but when you’re that wet, you don’t care!

At 6.45  Sue and I were off to a BBQ at a friend’s. We thought was just an informal do, but when we got there it turned out to be an 18th birthday party with a garden and house full of guests and lots of silly games. Leicester Tigers (Rugby Club) were having their Summer Ball that evening in the same Marquee that we had been to the previous evening. Except they had an amazing fireworks display, which because the BBQ was held at a house on a hill, we had a brilliant view of it also. We got home late again.

Today (Sunday),  is report writing day for me, lesson planning day for Sue, laying on the sofa and watching TV all day for Sarah and off to Foxton for Jamie to earn some holiday money in the kitchens. The Guinea pigs are still not happy, the grass is 5cm longer and the pool has now definitely gone green!