Need to blog or I’ll get all behind (and I’d rather be all in front ;)) but I really have to get to bed because I need to be up at ridiculous o’clock in the morning.
Arranged to meet Caz, Bid and co at the park this morning but thanks to an awful nights’ sleep (Davies got into bed with Ady when he went to bed at 11ish and stayed there watching telly with him and then stayed in our bed all night) I struggled to wake up this morning. I then discovered Ady had left the washing up from last night so had to deal with that, plus chickens, plus getting a beef stew in the slow cooker for dinner later involving mucho peeling and chopping which meant that to be at the park on time I had to pour my first cup of tea of the day into a travel mug and bring it with me!
Fortunately there is no more relaxing company than Caz and Bid so while the kids went off exploring and adventuring with Archie and Elliot the three of us sat and chatted and made friendship bracelets. Oh how very lovely and peaceful it was :). The sun shone, we talked about all sorts of stuff and itwas just lovely. We did have far too many dogs coming and sniffing around our table for my personal comfort levels and I was aware we looked, to the casual observer, like nutters all sat with our flasks braiding threads in the park with no visible children 😆 There were two different sets of carers with special needs children who came and used the park at different times which was interesting to observe.
I’d assumed we’d be there til lunchtime and then come home but infact we ended up there til nearly 3pm and the kids very gratefully shared some sandwiches Caz and Bid had brought along and some biscuits.
We got home and they had a speedy sandwich, I had some crumpets and then we were off out again to swimming lessons. I managed 40 lengths. Now I didn’t learn to swim early, I must have been at least 8 or 9 and I never really liked it and haven’t done it regularly at all. I am morbidly obese, drink far too much and rarely exercise without feeling I am going to die but swimming does seem to be something I am managing. It’s a shame that doing it more often is outside of my reach both time and money-wise as I feel I could manage an hour a day fairly easily and I can actually feel both the toning effects (particularly in my upper arms when I do back stroke), the aerobic exercise of it (not at all sure if swimming is supposed to provide aerobic exercise but I know by my breathlessness and colour of my face I am certainly getting it) and the general fitness improvement. I still hate getting my face wet, loathe the smell of the place, the skankiness of the changing rooms, the being practically naked in public and would never do recreational swimming but it does seem to be something I am getting better at just on a once a week basis. I know I am pushing myself a bit more each time and this week for the first time I got a stitch. I slowed up a little but carried on swimming and 40 lengths was well within my comfort zone. I do think 50 in the hour by Christmas is achieveable :). So that could probably all be summarised with ‘Nic is proud of herself and her swimming’ I guess :).
Davies practised his jumping in while Scarlett had her lesson. I think he is ready for some diving instruction really which is something I know *nothing* about but I don’t think that’s available til he’s moved up the swimming classes a bit. Scarlett spent the time while Davies had his lesson on the slide and then playing a 1, 2 3 JUMP IN! game with another little girl she befriended there. At one point she ran slightly and slipped over the edge and fell in where I was doing lane swimming which caused a gasp from all around her. She bobbed back up laughing and said ‘did you see Mummy I fell in!’ which sort of captures the spirit of the water confidence they both have which I still lack now.
The diving boards had been shut while Davies was in the water but reopened so he begged for a couple of goes on them and went straight to the top board for 3 jumps off. Scarlett, not to be outdone had 3 jumps off the lower board (for the first time!) and did go to the top one for a look off the top before deciding it was just too high and coming back down again.
We had a race to get dried and dressed including singing the music from some car racing show to each other and giving progress updates from our seperate changing rooms which had me yelling ‘but I’ve got a bra, that’s a handicap!’ and then realising that might not be considered appropriate by everyone! 😆 Davies won, I was hampered by Scarlett having my shoes in her changing room and not giving them to me but I then got disqualified anyway by my own rule about ensuring your hair was dry enough not to make wet patches on your t shirt! 😆
Home for beef stew for the kids while I dried my hair and put some makeup on. Scarlett loved it so much she had thirds! Ady arrived home with news that 3 people had been made redundant today including his direct boss. Two more are due to go tomorrow apparently although he thinks he is safe for now. I am rather ambivalent about the whole thing, feeling privately that losing a job would push him into the position of actually thinking about what would make him happy rather than what he feels he should do. But maybe I’ve been spending too much time inthe sunshine with Caz and Bid, off next week to NZ to start a new life living in a converted bus and building their own sustainable roundhouse! 😆
I dashed back out again and really struggled to find somewhere to park (which won’t be an issue next week as the venue does have a carpark, it’s just that it was full tonight as they had an AGM there) at the venue of a 9 week evening course I’ve started. It’s to become a qualified Waste Prevention Adviser and is all to do with reduce, reuse, recycle, compost etc. Over the 30hour course we’ll learn all about how waste is managed locally and nationally, recycling and how it all works, local initiatives in home composting, real nappies, green cones, recycling and more. We’ll get to visit both a landfill site and a recycling plant (and I’ve asked if D and S can come along and it looks possible for those visits :)) before undergoing some tests and an assignment and an interview to become a volunteer for West Sussex County Council (who already employ me at the library) and Better Tomorrows. At that point I can attend various events including roadshows, fayres and fetes, shows, community group talks and more. I can suggest my own projects and initiatives to spread the word, and two of the previous attendees of the course have gone on to be employed in their capacity. Personally I think it will be interesting, informative and educational.I’ll learn new stuff and meet new people, the kids, particularly Davies are really interested in the subject so I can bring it all home and share it with them, it may open up opportunities in the future, it’s taking responsiblity for some of the environmental issues around us and if nothing else will look good on my CV.
A very interesting mix of people there, about which I am sure I will write more another time. It was a good first session; I learnt new things and it looks like the course content is going to be really interesting.
I got home slightly earlier (by about 15 minutes) than I’d expected to find Davies and Scarlett up and eating toast and Ady in the bath. I was fairly pissed off about this as it meant that despite me cooking dinner and having it ready at 5pm for the kids to eat we still didn’t end up eating til nearly 11pm as Ady hadn’t done the dumplings, I’d asked for the kids to be in bed if not asleep as we’re up early for a long day in London tomorrow and they have gotten into a bad habit of deciding they are hungry at bedtime for which I don’t believe toast is the answer. I don’t think I could have done much more to have everything prepared and ready but I made my point and I suspect it won’t be the same story next week…
Davies enjoyed Sea Scout Cubs again although he said there was a lot of the session dedicated to camp this weekend. I said he would have been able to go but would have missed Wildlife Explorers and Archie’s swimming party and he agreed he’d rather do those things so cheered up a bit. He’s gone camp crazy! 😆
My wireless connection is going all mad so hopefully it will stay connected long enough to post this and I really *must* go to bed!
I would think his mind was more on work worries. Even if he tells you he thinks he’s alright, it’s still horrible and unsettling. He’s probably worrying about the people being made redundant too.
But perhaps dumplings would have been a better diversion than a bath where you end up in contemplation. Hugs to him.
A bra is a handicap in the changing rooms, especially if, like me, you still have to do it up in front and twizzle it round. My mum swears by talc in this situation but I can’t buy talc without feeling like my grandmother.
Good to read about one of your busy days. I keep forgetting to pop in and see how you all are. 🙂
yep, I’m at at the front and twizzle too. D had talc for Badger camp for the sole purpose of helping get dressed after swimming and he thought it was fab, maybe we should get over the old lady-ness of it and try it.
And Michelle, you don’t need to defend him here, he doesn’t read it 😉
I wasn’t trying to defend him. I know he doesn’t read any of the blogs. Just trying to get you to see another pov so maybe you would feel less pissed off and possibly take it less personally.
Work is particularly shite around here atm so I perhaps a tad more sensititive myself on such matters.