This house is falling down

My daughter lost her temper on Tuesday. Needless to say, she is very sorry and has to pay for the damage.  An incident with her brother resulted in her throwing a book at the toilet door, but to the surprise of both it went through it.

That is something she is going to pay for.  What I cannot work out is which one of them broke my ironing board.

It is going to be a long six weeks...

The end of an era

That is it.  My kids no longer attend primary school.

My daughter broke up yesterday which meant it was the end of her phone ban.  We had not banned her from her phone, but instead we had placed a ban on her using social media.  Needless to say, she deserved it, though I suspect she disagrees! She got her time back in time for a trip to a friends, near where I used to work in fact!

It was strange being in the playground for the last time, mind you, it must have been even stranger for him.  Most of his friends are going to two other schools, some going to the local Grammar and others going to the main local comprehensive. He has a place in a new school though I am going to have to make sure that he can cycle there and back safely.

But many of us spent a few hours in Abbey Fields, having an after school picnic. The kids relaxed and wound down and soon some will be leaving on holiday. But that is not quite now for us.

Bluewater again

Today involved a trip to Bluewater for shopping. Clothes and books.  My wife has a dissertation to complete, but the children need some more clothes. And we owed them some books.  Yes, we could have shopped in the town centre, but the range of shops is what drew us there.

One of the best bits of the day were the kids.  They got on well most of the time, and were a lot or kind and loving to me than they have been recently!

But the best part of the day involved my son.  He was queuing to pay for something today and found that he did not have enough money when it came to paying. A kind lady payed the difference! My wife gave him the money to pay her back and she refused to take it, saying that it was was more important to share that act of kindness to others.

Summer splash

Today we had a lovely day at the summer splash and barbecue at some friends of ours.  We got to know them because of my son and most of the children who went were boys of his age, and it was fun seeing them after the school play.

My daughter came as well, reluctantly but she met an old school friend and caught up face to face with her.  I did have to go back as there was an inflatable pool and my daughter wanted to get something for it (she decided not to wear her bikini).  Also, at least one of the younger girls liked the fact that my daughter was there with her friend.

My son had loads of fun, and while he did spend time outside and in the water, he loved the screen time that they had.  My wife enjoyed talking to the other mothers enjoying a glass or two of Prosecco.  I was roped into helping the kids toast some marshmallows which was fun as a few of them were set on fire (not the children). It was nice to speak to the other Dads, they get to meet up a lot more often playing sports after work, not something I get to do much because of the hours that I work.

At least Arsenal have signed one player

I am getting depressed about the season to come.  We have signed one first team player who looks exciting, but our issues appear to be in defence while he is a forward.  The loss of Aaron Ramsey is going to be a major issue for us.  He was instrumental in much of our season and Juventus are lucky to have him.  I do have faith in a lot of players in our academy but while Unai Emery is hopeful that he will sign more players, it may be that we end up dependent on the academy to cover our defence.

Here is hoping he can get the right players for the right positions.

The School Play

Just a quick post since my last family update.  We played cricket on Sunday.  The club the kids belong to had an event to celebrate the World Cup final and I was dragged into it.  It was fun playing with the children though they now know never to let me bowl.  I managed to get four wides in a row in the over that I bowled!  We were at home to watch the super over, and that was fantastic! What a match!

And today I got to see my son in his school play.  It is his last one as he is soon to leave and enter secondary school.  He has come a long way since he played Joseph in the Christmas Play when he was four.  His part was not a major one (mind you, it is hard to top being the husband of the Virgin Mary) but the play overall was amazing.  To see how his class has developed over the last seven years is touching.

He will get to keep in contact with many of his friends thanks to social media once he goes to school as he is to go to a different school to most of his year. But he still has a week of school and then it is the holiday for him and his big sister.

How Trump is making racism acceptable again

First of all, I agree with the racist tweet of Trump.  But please take the time to read this blog post to see why.

There has been allegations that Trump is a racist.  Many of these allegations can either not be proven, or are considered by lots not to show actual racism.

But then Trump decided to make a tweet himself.  It is one that will appeal to his base, and one that will appeal to many who think that we live in a world where we cannot say thoughts unless they meet the standards of ‘liberals’ and these thoughts may include racism.  

Many have pointed out that he first and current (third) wife of Trump are from abroad.  Many have pointed out that those they think that Trump is referring to are almost all born in the USA.  And many have noted that while his first wife and First Lady of Donald Trump May be from abroad, they qualify as white.  

And thanks to Trump, and here in the UK, Brexit, racism is becoming more acceptable.  And the comments for people to go back to where they came from are becoming far to common.

But going back to the tweet, I agree with Trump on three of the Congresswomen.  They are from a nation that is felt by many across the globe to have a government that is a "complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all)" and I think that they should do something about it.

So, Rashida Tlaib needs to go back to her country (she was born in Detroit), Ayanna Pressley needs to go back to her country (she was born in Chicago) and the same applies to  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born in New York, like Trump).  And when it comes to Ilhan Omar, she is just as American as Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Irving Berlin and many others.  All born outside the USA but are American.  Just like the grandparents of Trump and the mothers of all but one of his children.

School uniforms and school funding

Watching the news today, I see that school uniforms are in the news.  This is an issue that could have affected me when younger, but I was lucky in that my mother was able to buy the school blazers from any shop. My daughter goes to a school where there is one shop that supplies the uniform.

I understand the outrage that people have at the prices involved, and the view that this may be a scheme by schools to make money.  But let us look at a big issue here.  Schools do not have enough money.  A teacher from the school of my daughter met with the schools minister to discuss this.  My MP was kind enough to write to me when I had forwarded a letter from the school of my kids (they go to different schools) on this and has raised the issue in parliament (I will ignore how his party is the cause of the funding issue).  

So in summary, school uniforms have annoyed parents for a while.  Action can be taken to change the cost to parents, an issue that hits the poorest hardest, but to take action without addressing the funding issues schools have is silly and short sighted.    

Cycling to school

Just chilled today.

My son and I went out cycling today, riding the bike to his new school to be.  We had cycled there before, but not for a while.  And I realised that I had not exercised with the children in a while.  My son has been keen on riding his bike, and has done so at school and also for scouts, but we have not done this in a while.  Earlier in the week, I had a chat with my wife and we agreed that I needed to take the kids out more often.  My aim was to take them out on alternate weekends.  However after this trip, I think that I need to ensure that he is road safe.

We have been told to take him along different route to what I had taken him before.  The issue that he faces on this new route, is that it will involve turning right from Walnut Tree Way onto a busy B-road.  I will have to check that the school is okay with this as it will result in a few more places becoming available during the academic year!

Anyway, he did well, but will need more practice.

Cricket Saturday

The kids have been amazing today.  And yesterday.

After school they both played cricket and despite playing late, they still played in the morning.  My son played despite being hit in the face with a cricket ball yesterday and my daughter was hit by one this morning.

He accompanied my wife to a baby shower in Halstead and while I waited for them, I got some exercise and walked around the town.  I had a late lunch at a cafe that served great chocolate milkshakes and we got back home to a rested daughter to have a discussion about her school report.

Following that, we watched Mean Girls.  Well my son watched a bit before going to bed.  Hopefully he will be refreshed as I hope to take him out on his bike in the morning!  While the film was great in bits, it was a bit corny in places, but overall, I do think that it is a film that he will need to watch before secondary school.

Anyway I have just finished watching Kin, a much better film in my view, but not one for the children to watch!

A hot June

A quick update since my last post.  The children, while still bickering are better than before.

On the weekend, I got to watch the children play cricket, and then it was Pride in Colchester.  My daughter did not like the advice I gave her about the heat as she went into town with her friends.  I took my son in later, this being after he tidied his room, though we left my wife in town to relax after a hard morning working.  My son appeared to love visiting Pride.  We found his sister eventually, though I was a bit suspicious when we did not see her with her friends.  He did spend my money buying a very cool, but overpriced sparkling Pride hat.

The following day we spent the afternoon in the garden of a friend.  They had a family from New Zealand over who had spent a day with us many years ago just before they left the country.  The kids appeared to love it, my daughter getting to mix with girls older and younger than her, and my son loved playing with the other boys.  Fortunately he has much better hand-eye coordination which helped when playing table tennis outside.

And the graphic is about how hot it has been recently, this month being the hottest on record!

Anyway, time for bed.  Goodnight all.