All up early today as Davies and Scarlett had a workshop at Making Space this morning. They’ve done several there and we’ve been really impressed with them but the most recent one done in August was billed as ‘Maori Pendant Making’ and I booked that alongside today’s ‘Cuttlefish Carving Keyrings’ and a four day animated film making workshop for Davies which got cancelled. When I collected them from the August one it turned out they had done cuttlefish carving then and if I’d realised the craft was being repeated I probably wouldn’t have booked this one.
Rain was forecast and had indeed been falling all night so we’d arranged to go in with Ady and for him to drop us off before going into work, them collecting us again in his lunchbreak. This meant being up way earlier than any of us enjoy and then arriving 45 minutes early for the session. The studio is near to a pedestrianised shopping area which is very run down with plenty of closed shops and a large selection of cafes, pound shops, cheap clothes store chains and several cash converter type shops. We killed time by looking in the charity shops and picked up a Portsmouth reversible fleece / raincoat for Davies which he liked and was only £3.99 and will be great for next year. We looked in the pound shops and then walked really slowly to the studio, making the very last few yards last ages by doing pigeon steps in a who can walk the slowest competition. I suspect we got some strange looks as we must have looked very odd all walking in slow motion along a pretty busy street 😆
Davies and Scarlett settled in and I went back to wander round the shops again. I managed nearly an hour before choosing the least unappetising looking cafe which was a Greggs the bakers to get a cup of tea and a cake in and sit for half an hour or so with my book. Another 20 minutes or so of roaming around the same shops before walking very slowly back to the studio.
I thought the kids results this time were slightly disappointing, Davies had done a pumpkin and his carving was really good but he’d not appreciated the recessed bits on the carving would be sticking out on the pewter. He said he’d planned it that way but I suspect if the tutor had been more attentive it would have been picked up on and maybe changed. All that said they really enjoyed it again which is all that really counts. They don’t have anything interesting looking for the Christmas holidays though so that will be the last workshop there before we go.
Ady collected us and dropped us off at Julie’s which we’d arranged last minute last night. We’d not seen each other properly for *weeks* so it was just fab to have a few hours together catching up and chatting. The kids had a great time playing together and when Chris arrived home and everyone started to get just a little too rowdy we walked across the fields to their allotment so they could let off some steam. We walked back and Ady arrived shortly after we did to take us home.
Back at home I put the chickens away and chopped some firewood, Davies lit the fire and Ady cooked the kids some tea, then I had a bath and cooked our dinner in time for The Apprentice.