Sudden panic set in when I realised that we were definitely more than half way through the holiday and I had had all these good plans and what had happened! Take a breath! After months of not really doing very much in terms of booking things or going on trips requiring booking, I did a flurry of bookings this week. Also managed to get solo (or almost solo time) with all four kids. Phew.
This week resulted in 3 cinema trips. Sylvia and I went to see Summerland as our Mummy time trip and felt so sorry for the deserted cinema that we then booked a whole family trip for Friday to see Onward and then Mariela and Isaac requested a joint Mummy time trip to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on Saturday. Summerland was great and really beautifully shot. Felt like it should be a book but apparently it isn’t. Wasn’t too bad to wear a mask for the whole thing either. We had planned to eat out too but due to the “eat out to help out” scheme everywhere was rammed so we had a Sainbury’s meal deal. Glamourous not but Sylvia was happy.
Onward was fun and better than I had thought it would be. The kids were even happier that they got ice cream which NEVER happened pre-Covid.
I also managed my solo summer day trip with the kids on Wednesday. Of course after weeks of beautiful weather it was raining and thinking of somewhere to go inside which wasn’t miles away, could accommodate the 5 of us without breaking the booking system, which was couched as “boring” and didn’t involve complicated public transport AND Was actually open was er a challenge. Anyway, I found this great website “Welcome back to the City” which listed everything in the City which was open and the times etc. Very handy so we decided to go to Tower Bridge. It was mostly fun (!) other than the soggy walk there and the fact that the kids have forgotten how to walk very far. There is a cool bit at the top where you can look right down to the river and bridge below, and a nerdy engineering exhibition about the steam room which I liked. Amazing how beautiful all the steam engines are and how well kept. Plus we found out that the divers got paid £10 a minute to build the foundations. Then we had a Pret lunch – “I can’t believe you said we could have whatever we want Mummy” (probably the highlight of the trip ha ha) and then made our way through East London to collect a box of mini crodoughs from the Rinkoff Bakery. Kids got an education about various bits of East London and after we made it home I had a glorious hour reading on the sofa, eating a crodough and drinking tea (it was punctuated by fighting children which I have erased from my memory… nearly). Phew I had forgotten how intense solo days are and how kids touch EVERYTHING. Lol. More hand sanitizer please…
In our booking zeal we also booked tickets to the Cycle Cinema for Mike and the big 3 although Mike had decided it was a bit late to cycle as it finished at 10.30 … and then it rained. And rained. And rained. They went anyway, only to find it cancelled when they got there and fortunately KukooLala was open and they ended up drying off in there. Antonia and I snuggled on the sofa watching a movie. Such a shame after all that beautiful hot weather.
Work was mostly taken up with progressing guidance on socially distanced teaching which is now live and when specific guidance on will be available. Also connecting with Schools on readiness and what else needs to be done for September given that teaching starts VERY soon. Interesting article from WonkHE on whether universities should be teaching on campus…. Not sure we are finished with this yet. And even more exciting, sorting out plans for my podcast with a colleague and friend. Very excited about this … watch this space.
Oh! And I nearly forgot that I also finally got around to making scones and having an afternoon tea with the family on Sunday to celebrate 1 year of doing yoga every day. Namaste.