Amber’s first sports day

Certificate!

OK, so Amber didn’t win any events at her first school sports day – but nobody won anything, because the school’s youngest are just running, jumping, throwing and diving for the goddamn hell of it.

And I rather liked that.

The weather was glorious, too, which was especially welcome because the weather forecast had been all over the place, and morning rain had been forecast just the night before.  Instead, it was baking hot and we basked in unfamiliar sunshine.

There were a couple of parents stood near me taking things a little bit too seriously: is it really worth yelling at four-year-olds to concentrate more?  Or at five-year-olds to go faster?  I rather suspect not; but can’t pretend to be an expert.

Amber certainly enjoyed it, which was the main thing; and I enjoyed watching her enjoy it.

Hurdling!

She was a little ball of enthusiasm, just as I noted a couple of weeks ago at her swimming lessons.  Her classmates were smiling and laughing, too, but Amber couldn’t help jumping up and down with delight when she finished a race – literally jumping up and down, sometimes followed by a little dance.

None of the other kids seemed to be doing that, just ours.

Everyone got a certificate at the end, congratulating them for taking part, even the few with a broken arm or injured leg – they got certificates for helping out.

Well done, Hurst Primary – I officially rate you as “Excellent” as a school.

And apologies to Millie that I haven’t got pictures of your sports day, but it wasn’t your first sports day and the Lovely Melanie didn’t take the official family camera there, so we’ve only got some dodgy pictures taken on her phone.

Sports Day!

It’s a whole week of sports days at Hurst Primary this week!  The Lovely Melanie is off work today to see Millie’s, I’m at home tomorrow to catch Amber’s.

Unsurprisingly, Millie’s completely underwhelmed by the whole thing – as you’d expect from the offspring of two nerdy bookworms.

But it’s Amber’s first sports day so she’s a little more enthused.  She tells me her class have been practicing, although I’m not sure what for exactly…

“And there’s two hoops and you’ve got to go to the first one and pick it up and then come back and then go back but you mustn’t stop or else you will be too late and then the second hoop is not by the first one but you have to run as fast as you can and then throw the thing and if you do not then you have to do it again and go back…”

“Blimey,” I said, when she stopped to draw breath, “That sounds complicated.  Will you remember all that?”

“Yes, we’ve been practicing.”

“Thank goodness. Well, I’ll look out for you in the hoop, er, race, then.”

There’s a…! There’s a…?

Squawk!  Flap!  Cluck!  Cluck!  Cluck!  Squawk!

Damn it, there’s a fox in the garden!  There’s a f…

Where’s the fox?

Oh.  Right.  There’s no fox.  It’s just Queen-Cool the chicken leaping the fence and making a fuss…for no reason.

Well, that was unexpected!

She’s getting a lot more opinionated, is that chicken – pecking people’s feet, refusing to go where she’s told and, er, refusing to be caged by a mere fence.  Today we ended up using the hosepipe to get her back down the garden.

Yeah, that’s right, we had to water cannon a rioting chicken!

Queen-Cool, by the way, is the new amalgamated name for the chicken-formerly-known-as-Queen; since Cool the chicken died Millie and Amber have agreed to share a chicken and share names.

My apologies, I’ve just realised, there’s no mention here of Cool’s death the week before last.  She went very quiet, sat down and never got up again, sadly.

So we’re down a chicken for now.

Oh, and Sergeant Rock (the other remaining chicken) is currently recuperating following a fox attack last week, which left her with a poorly leg.  But I think she’ll be fine.

Amber Carter – unstabilisered!

It is faintly ridiculous just how proud I am of this.

Life without smartphones

As a self-confessed technology nerd you might think I’d be freaking out without my beloved smartphone.

Hell, I thought I’d be freaking out without my smartphone!

It’s got my calendar, my music, my ebooks, email, Facebook, games, films, pictures, maps, contacts – I even use it to text and phone people sometimes.

But I’ve been phone-less since Monday, when the battery died and wouldn’t recharge, and you know what?  I’ve been absolutely fine – relaxed, even.

Without wishing to go all hippy Luddite or agree with those bloody awful newspaper articles that beging “Is technology making our lives a misery?” I’d like to say that the last few days have been absolutely fine.

Even without my smartphone.

It turns out I can manage just fine without my calendar, my music, my ebooks, email, Facebook, games, films, pictures, maps, contacts – even texting and phoning people sometimes.

And my walk to work, to and from the station, offers a surprising tranquility: filled with smells and sounds and sights that were previously replaced by the sounds and images from my ‘phone.

I’ve been reading paper books – catching up on those collected Akira editions I bought years ago and somehow never got around to actually reading – Akira on paper is amazing!

Even – and this might be a step too weird – eavesdropping on commuter conversations and smiling to myself about how not-so-very-different their lives are from mine.

Ahh, listen to me – I’ll be telling you to go and pick some flowers and live in a yurt soon.  Don’t get me wrong – I want my ‘phone back – and soon; but life without it hasn’t been the grey wasteland of tedium and disconnection I’d initially feared.

So perhaps – just perhaps – we should all leave our ‘phones at home occasionally.

Maybe one or two Phone Alone days are in order – just a couple of times a year – to see what’s been happening while we’ve been absorbed online…

Blood sample

Millie and Amber watched, fascinated, in the doctor’s this morning as the nurse took a blood sample from my arm (related to my hyperthyroidism).

I expected Amber, at least, to look away or say something like “Yuck!” but no.

“Why is it so dark?” asked Millie matter-of-factly. “When my friend cut her finger it was much lighter than than that.“

The nurse explained it was “Because that blood was from near the surface; this is from one of the arteries and has a lot more oxygen, which makes it darker.“

“Like my coat,” observed Amber.

Neither of them seemed the slightest bit perturbed by a lady sticking a needle in their Dad’s arm.  Which quite impressed me.

Weekend checklist

FRIDAY

1. Clean out chickens – check
2. Meet Dr Mike and Local Businessman Shash Khan at Stone Roses – check
3. See amazing Stone Roses gig at Finsbury Park – check
4. Don’t get too drunk at Stone Roses – er, mostly check
5. Get home from Stone Roses before dawn – check (although it was a long way home)

SATURDAY

1. Don’t be too hungover – doh!
2. Get Millie to birthday party in afternoon – check
3. Get Millie back from birthday party in afternoon – double check!
4. Meet friends in evening for a quiet drink – doh!

SUNDAY

1. Get into London before 10.30am despite engineering works – check!
2. Meet your parents at Charing Cross at 10.30 – check!
3. Print out tickets for the London Eye before departing for Charing Cross – doh!
4. Find out you don’t need to print out tickets to go on London Eye, even though email says you need to – check!
5. Go on London Eye with your dad and your two children – check!
6. Stay warm on the chilly South Bank – check (barely)
7. Get Amber to her swimming lessons over an hour early – check
8. Get home, cook dinner – check
9. Discover your mobile won’t charge – check (wait – what???  No!)
10. Have no working mobile because you can’t get stupid battery to charge up, even after swapping batteries, trying different cables and checking the internet – bloody buggering check