Tis almost sweet

The children are in bed. The clothes laid out. The lunches made. The pencil cases full with sharpened pencils. And bags stand ready for the start of the school year tomorrow.

Bloody hell, do you have any idea how much work this was?! And it’s coming apart at the seems! Not literally, unless P’s trousers really do give way. I don’t understand it, they fitted him four weeks ago! I’ve got three pairs, all with their shop tags on, the only trouble is I’ve already sewn the name tags onto the waist band. I think he shall have to try Maureen's juice diet ‘coz I can’t afford more!

And the shoes! I forgot to name the shoes. Well I didn’t forget, I just couldn’t get the tip-ex pen working and was too tight to buy a new one when I could hear the liquid inside the pen. I gave up this morning and spent the two pounds.



Just look at all of them! Please note the scruffy trainers in the third row. R wasn’t supposed to wear them running around the garden. Just look at the state he’s got them in. I’m not amused. And he knows it.

Ooo, and the pair at the bottom left aren’t for school. They were on half price sale and I couldn’t resist. Cute, huh?

J’s all a’flutter. We did her hair tonight. We HATE doing her hair because it takes an hour and she cries from the pain. How can two straight haired people produce a child with ringlets? It’s not fair, on her or us. I spend a fortune on hair products, but the real problem is our well water, the ph is all wrong and it’s impossible not to get tangles. Still, she bore it with good grace, in anticipation of her first day at Big School.

I’ve already mentioned we don’t have any trousers for P, but I can cope with that a whole lot better than his strop about wearing a new tie. I could understand it if it differed IN ANY WAY to the old!! I guess he’s doesn’t like change, as his jitters are obvious. But on the positive front he did say he was looking forward to the assembly next week (the Town library people come up and presents the medals for those who completed the reading journey), as he’s been tested on all six books now and bored the pants off the poor library assistant who had to listen to him passed with flying colours.

R seemed calm. Right up until we were at the dinner table and the BH asked if he had any worries. With the green light on the flood gates, we had twenty minutes of gabbled fretting of not knowing where he’s supposed to go, and how he’ll be the baby of the school. I think he’d like me to take him into school tomorrow and hold his hand (figuratively), but I want to get S to nursery with plenty of time left for J, so the BH is taking the boys. I'm hoping he’ll focus on looking after P and not have the time to worry about himself (Hey, it works for me!).

S is the only one without a care, as she’s been at the nursery since January. But I don’t think she realises J won’t be there anymore. I’m not so sure how she’s going to react when we walk away. Still, it can’t be as bad as the boys were. Their cries still haunt me now.

The BH is predictably untouched by the start of the new term. Except that he’ll have to leave early tomorrow because the school traffic adds ten minutes to the journey.

So the only one left is me. I feel sick. Here we go again. I’m starting my eighth year of the big school run, and from tomorrow I have two (technically three) schools to get to. Cars, mothers and children everywhere. My living nightmare. Did I ever tell you I managed to stop my best friend from sending her children to my children’s schools, after I took her on the school run with me? Umm, she freaked.

The trouble with my children’s schools (as opposed to the village schools) is that there’re eight schools (technically eleven, counting primary and secondary separately, twelve if you count the higher ed. college) all on three consecutive hills. There’s no way to avoid the bedlam if you’re within a mile radius.

So it’s dread from me.

But it’s not just the school runs that bother me, it’s also my sleeping patterns. I’ve been trying to get back in sync, and taking over-the-counter remedies to help. I can get to sleep (and stay asleep!) when I take them, but then the day after feels fuzzy. The bigger trouble is if I don’t take a pill (after I have been taking them, if you follow) I’m up most of the night and my pattern is worse than ever. I need to live on a planet with a twenty eight hour day.


Why am I waffling about kids and school when I originally sat down to post about our anniversary? It’s today! Thirteen years. I haven’t bothered looking up what comes with that, but I did remember to get the BH a card! And I received flowers, which was nice, especially as they were my favourite colours (this has taken years to achieve!).

I guess the end of summer is upon us. It turned into a surprisingly good (if short!) one.