Mar
21
So it is the Equinox. I can’t believe how much I set my life, like a clock on these dates. I don’t know why it matters so much and it’s not a new thing since I have been over here in the UK. It is something I have always done. Perhaps it cuts the year into manageable chunks for me, or perhaps it indicates the simple balance in everything, but either way, the sun is half way back to us now and it is indeed a pleasant thought.
It has indeed been a week of ups and downs, most of which I will spare you the details of, but some I will share with you.
This week I received a job offer, following an interview that I had attended the week before, but I turned down the post. The hours of commuting into London on 3 days of the week, meant that I would only be getting home at around 19:00 in the evenings on at least 3 days of the week. Both Mitchell and Jenna have activities in the afternoons after school and for a mom with two children, those hours were just not what I had imagined for myself. I am not saying that I won’t look at posts in London, or jobs with long hours, but if I do, then I will have to really have the right feeling about it, which I think was lacking with this last one.
One afternoon this week when I took a walk through the fields around our house, I spotted 3 little bunnies in the middle of a field. One was slightly larger than the other two and imagined it must have been “the mom”. As I walked towards the field the larger one ran straight over to me and initially I thought it a bit strange, as surely it would want to run away. However it was simply distracting me while the two little ones make a dash for the undergrowth. There light brown coats hid them so easily in the still brown winter scrub. As soon as the mother rabbit knew her babies were safe she dashed off after them and I was left standing there feeling as if I had been outsmarted. As I said in the blog last week, the wildlife in England is ever-entertaining. It is still to me, the stuff of story books. I have yet to see a badger, though… perhaps one of these days. Who knows?
Mitchell brought home his mid-year school report this week (remember the school year runs from September to August over here) bearing a 90% average for this subjects.
This year Jenna takes her first holy communion. Personally, I think that over here they do it too early. I don’t think the children are old enough to really comprehend what it is that they are doing, so they are not doing it out of their own free will. In South Africa, Mitchell took his first holy communion at the age of 11 and I think that he was able to ask the relevant questions, he was able to understand the meaning behind it all and he was able to fully accept (or reject if he had so wished) what he was taking part in. None the less, Jenna will partake in hers this year. So, on Friday, the entire Catechism class had a dinner in the school hall, followed by a Mass in the church on Saturday morning where Jenna had to read a passage. I was so proud of her and the way she read. She has really come on streaks in her reading and maths at school and some of the credit for the maths must surely go to the Kumon maths system.
Today we travelled through to London for the Sports Relief Mile. This is a charity run, held in many centres throughout the country. There was a 1 mile, 3 mile, and 6 mile route to choose from. We ran (and walked) the 3 mile circular route along the Victoria Embankment, just opposite the London Eye. There were bands and celebrities, there were people dressed up as anything you can possibly imagine, there were small children, older folk, disabled people, there were the fit and the unfit (she said smiling), but in the end of the day it was about charity and a fun Sunday morning. 
We did the run with Steven, Melanie and Duncan Heggie and afterwards we headed off for a walk through the streets of London to find our restaurant for lunch, we ambled on the Green Park to feed the squirrels and finally ended our day at Hyde Park Corner. The parks are filled with spring flowers now. People are out and about, enjoying the warm sunlight, playing with their dogs, enjoying games of football, or just lazing in the sun.
Today is the first day that I have used the London Underground on a Sunday and as most maintenance on the lines occurs on a Sunday, many of the lines were closed. So those that remained open were so full, it was like peak-time on a weekday morning, but it all still works and with a little adjustment you are still whizzing around under that incredible city.
I start writing for a new website this week. I am looking forward to it, but I will tell you more as it develops….
And finally… by the time you read this blog next week our clocks will have moved forward an hour.
