Miss Havisham

Long story short, we ended up in Faversham today.  Due to the recent rain, there was no cricket today, which was just as well as I needed to nip into work today.  

Anyway, we ended up for one reason or another in Faversham, Kent.  I napped on the drive there and when there we visited a church and had a great lunch.  We had a bit of a tiff when it came to where to eat, but we ended up in a place that has served the best burgers that I have had in a long time, possibly ever.  We had planned to walk about the town more, and for me, to visit the brewery, but as we arrived late and due to the rain and it being cold, the visit did not take in as much of the town as I wanted.

And it was only on getting back and preparing this blog post that I realised that the character from Great Expectations is not Miss Faversham.  Which explains why the family considered me to be insane when talking about the book...

Monopoly

Today’s has been a quiet day.  My wife was not that well, so I took the kids out for breakfast.  We have been to the Bungalow Diner before, and we know and like the food there.  After a relaxing meal we returned home and later, while my wife rested, the children and I had a game of Monopoly.  We have played this before and the children are aware of just how competitive I can be with it.  My daughter has beaten me once before but the children failed to do so today.  After the first game, my wife came down to watch the second.  After being beaten in the first, they decided to work together to take me down in this one.  And they almost succeeded.  I managed to drive a wedge between the two and while my son did very well at the beginning, the tide of the game turned against him.  After his sister almost bankrupted him, he gave what remaining assets he had to me. But his sister still had the advantage.  It was a much more close game than before and with a bit of luck, I managed to gain the upper hand.  But this was exhausting, and while we all enjoyed bonding together, what I have learned is not to play two games in one day!

Remember not to celebrate May the 4th

Today was fun.  The kids had to play cricket, but my son, who does not practice enough did not want to go as he felt that he would be useless.  We keep mentioning that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy if he does not practice, but he does not want to be proven wrong most of the time.  However he and his sister did well and enjoyed the morning.  

Later we all pulled together to do some housework, though my son wanted to annoy me (we have since worked his out).  While my son watched television later, my daughter and I went out for a bike ride in the summer showers.  I had to get a new seat for my bike as my old one broke, so we cycled to the shop to get it replaced.

Later in the day, we all watched a film.  I wanted to watch one of the Star Wars films, but I was overruled and we watched Crazy Rich Asians instead which we loved.

Will Quince and education funding

Earlier this year, I got an e-mail from my children’s schools about the issues with funding that they faced.  I forwarded the one from my daughters school to my MP, and he actually answered.

Dear Will Quince MP

I write to you as a constituent to ask what is to happen with school funding?  I specifically ask about funding per pupil taking inflation and cost increases into account.

I have been sent the following letter from the school of my daughter which details the funding ‘challenges’ that they have to face.  The primary school that my son attends also is facing similar issues (he attends Hamilton Primary school).  I know from listening to PMQ’s that this issue has been raised on numerous occasions, and I understand from Twitter, before you blocked me (a decision that I accept is your right), that this is something that you stated that you were interested in.

I do hope that you take the time to answer me (I did not get an answer from you when I contacted you last time) and I look forward to reading your letter/e-mail if you decide to respond this time.

Yours truly

He has worked to raise this matter in parliament and locally reflecting the concerns of his constituents, me included.  It is just a shame that the cuts that schools have faced are taking place.  The Conservatives are right when they mention that funding per pupil has increased, and that funding to education has increased, but in PMQ’s, they do not admit that funding per pupil in real terms (taking inflation and cost increases into account) has not increased.  And it would be nice if my MP admitted that we was wrong to continue with the restrictions to school funding which has been an issue since Labour were voted out of office in 2010.

In God We Trust

This month has not been a good one for those who, like me, believe in God.  Religious violence is something that the world has faced for a long time,  But it seems worse now.

But while I thought that I could not be shocked in today’s world, after the barbarity of Unislamic State, I was.  The rape and genocide towards Muslims by Buddhists in Burma (or Myanmar) did.  Then came the livestream murders in Christchurch.  And then, apparently, in ‘revenge’ the mass murder of hundreds of innocent Christians in Sri Lanka by scum who have ignored the violence towards Muslims of the island by other groups.  And yet more Jews have been murdered just for the faith that they follow in the USA, again.  I wish it could end, but there will always be people who wish to kill based on a twisted interpretation of a religion.

There was the Crusades (specifically the massacre after the 'liberation' of Jerusalem), the Armenian Genocide, and of course The Holocaust.  All I can do is to offer thoughts and prayers for those who have died, and will continue to do so.  And pray that the horrors that occur now will reduce the chance of the levels of religious violence in the past.  

I am Thor

This week, my wife has been away for part of it.  She was away on a course in sunny Brighton and her mother kindly came up to look after the children.  Ideally it would have been great if I could have taken time off work to look after them myself, but I was not able to due to holiday being taken already at work by someone else.  Which as a shame as I do love the time I get to spend with them, no matter how tired I get! 

Today was a day of enjoyment.  I went for a walk into town with my son to look at getting a new iPhone. I had agreed to buy him a milkshake from Shakeaway in town but on the way back, I found out that he had not eaten his breakfast! His excuse was that there was no food to eat, even though his grandmother was at home who would have made him anything that he had wanted.  And he got cold drinking his milkshake which did go well with the cold weather this morning. He was frozen and we had to abandon drinking his milkshake on the way home, but to walk home as quickly as possible.  This warmed him up a bit but his mother had made some porridge for him when he got home and that helped him.  Sadly he did not get to drink the milkshake despite putting it in the fridge for later. 

Later we went to watch The Avengers, but I had got the time wrong and we missed the beginning of the film.  Overall it was a great film, but I am left wondering if the gaping holes that any sci-fi nerd like me are to be addressed in another film, or are to be left. (This link contains spoilers.)  But the best bit of the film was Thor.  I can now say I have the body of an Asgardian god!

The only downside to the day is that my wife has crashed.  We were meant to have gone to the birthday of a good friend of ours.  It was to involve drink and dancing, but sadly she has been too tired to go.  She was worried about me as well, as I did not sleep well when she was gone, but I power napped and was ready to go.  Sadly she was not ready to do the same.
  

Chasing an ice cream van

The end of the bank holiday has come, and despite doing nothing I am knackered.

Yesterday we went to see Isobel and Tony for lunch.  They make a great roast dinner, and my wife brings dessert, this time, as usual, bread and butter pudding and a lemon tart.  It was great to catch up, and with Tony, that involved a discussion about Arsenal as well as a chat about politics.  Sadly, he has changed party, and is now helping a rival party who he shares many views with.  However there is no taint of antisemitism within it (I tried to reassure him that there it is not acceptable in Labour) and the party he has joined, and the membership of his new party is a welcoming one.  He appears to still be more left wing than me but his new party aligns itself on some important views with him, such as Brexit.

Anyway we shared our disappointment over the Arsenal result. While it was a home game, due to it being a London derby, I knew it was a tough ask to expect three points. But after ManUre lost after a four goal thrashing we were hoping for much needed points in the fight to finish in the top four.  I may have to get used to Arsenal playing in the Europa league again, or even not playing in Europe at all.  But I was looking forwards to St Totteringham’s Day this year.

Today we went back to Brightlingsea to spend time looking over water, using a pedal boat with my daughter and playing throw and catch with my son. He was great and the practice has shown since last week.  We did have an incident yesterday where he had refused to try, but he did show what he was capable of later.  And when on our way home, we passed an ice cream van.  The kids wanted ice cream, so we turned round to follow it.  The only downside was that it appeared that we had lost it.  but I took an educated guess as to where it might be, and we found it!  The kids were very pleased at that.  Obviously, the ice cream I ate was just to make sure that they did not feel that we were not sharing in the experience!

Anyway, I am tired.  My wife and I have watched The Widow and am now laughing to Sara Pascoe.  Good night all!