Nov
08
All week the fireworks have been going off. Oh yes they have! I suspect that from Halloween through Guy Fawkes, into Christmas and New Year the sparks are going to be flying for quite a while yet. Every night we are able to look out of almost any window of the house and see fireworks popping off in the distance. On Saturday night we went to a fireworks display at Jenna’s school. It was absolutely fantastic! 
Fireworks: A symbol of various stages in our life? They start off with a sudden random spark and they fly off at the most incredible speed, glowing and flying through the air to amazing heights, where they reach the potential they were meant to get to, and at that point they are really at their best, then suddenly the brightness is gone and the sparks slowly start to fade away and you know that it is dying out in front of your eyes. Then it’s over and you can remember the loud sound like music in your ears, but ultimately all you have left are the memories.
Last weekend we got notification from the school that Mitchell will be on the trip to France in 2 weeks time and that he would need an EHIC card (European Health Insurance Card). Without this card he would not be allowed to board the bus. They urged anyone without a card to move quickly as these cards can take 3 weeks to arrive. We thought for a moment that we had lost Mitchell the chance to go on the trip as the card could not possibly arrive within the remaining days. It looks just like a plastic credit card, but we needed to send our application to Newcastle (which is almost in Scotland), the card would need to be made, printed with all our details on, and sent back to us… we shuddered to think that this oversight on our part could cost Mitchell the trip to France. We sent off the application last Saturday and started to prepare Mitchell for the fact that he may not make it to France. On Thursday morning (5 days after we posted the application), all 4 of our cards were deposited through our mailbox! Mitchell goes to Lille, in France, on the 20th November.
On Friday evening Philip drove down to spend the whole weekend with us. He accompanied Mike, Mitchell, and James (nephew) into London on Saturday where they visited the Science Museum and the Imperial war museum. I think it was a real “aviation-boys” day out.
On Sunday morning Philip and Mike took Mitchell to play a hockey match in Sevenoaks for the Tunbridge Wells u/14A team. Mitchell is only 12 so he usually plays for the U/14B team as the A team is mostly made up of boys who are actually 13. There is no u/13 division. He had one corker of a game this morning for the A team! Well done, boy!
Jenna also spent Saturday in London with Mike’s sister and her cousin, Kirstin. She attended the Disney show “Princess Wishes” on ice at the O2 arena. She loved it. She was so excited about showing us the moves when she got home. How the princesses skated, how they were held up and spun around by the princes.
Sunday lunchtime was spent in the kitchen making pancakes and milk tarts. I made 4 milk tarts and then realised that I really didn’t have enough space in the fridge to chill them all before Mike and Jo Bowen arrived to visit in the afternoon, so I made the most of a chilly English weather and simply put them outside in the garden. In no time at all they were set. (Good thing England doesn’t have hadedahs though). Mike and Jo arrived to spend the afternoon with us. It is always fun-tastic to spend time with Mike and Jo – and yes, the ice-skating is a definite! (Thanks for the disks and all the files, Mike. Loving them!)
This week in England I saw the most incredible full moon. I have seen the full moon every month since we have been here (yes, that’s how cloud-free the Kent sky really is). You know those times when you see something really beautiful and you wish you could share it with someone who you know will just “get it”? They will understand what you are actually seeing, why you are seeing it, and just why it matters to you? Well, it rose from the horizon like a giant ball in the sky, I made myself a cup of hot-chocolate, put on my jacket and went and sat outside in the cool crisp autumn air so that I could enjoy the moment. The moon fades away and sometimes you can’t see it anymore, but unlike the fireworks which only last a moment in time, you can live with the anticipation that the moon will come back, that it really isn’t gone, that the light has just faded from its face and once the light hits it at the right angle, you will see it again on a clear cloudless night.
It is Remembrance Day this week. Mrs Peace Bodill in East London, we really are thinking of you! Happy Birthday.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:53 am
Always good to see you guys as well and good to meet Philip. How was the frost this morning at your place? We woke to a lovely frosty morning and mist & fog. In fact fog all the way into London today.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:09 am
We had no frost! I heard on the radio that it was a very frosty morning and people all over the county were scraping the ice off the windscreens so I jumped out of bed thinking this is it, this is the first morning for frost on the car…. NOTHING! Just dew! (and no, it wasn’t after 9o’clock when I got up – hahaha)