This week has been different. I was back in the office for a few days & work definitely took up more time and that’s meant less reading & less film watching. Also, my back has been playing up too so my last run was on Monday. It’s feeling better now but still twingey so trying to gage the balance between not making it worse and missing the chance for exercise.
On the plus side I got my first door step delivery from Big Smoke Brewery ready for our first Saturday night family quiz and the Sunday night quiz with the Yesterday’s Jam gang.
New SOTW
In My House - Cornshed Sisters
Music I’m enjoying
A bits n bobs week as I caught up with my play count (still doing that 3 plays of most albums that I got from Ruth & Martin’s Album Club) of recent releases but it’s the Long Neck album I’ve been enjoying the most.
Other notes
Tuesday night I was out in the back garden trying to spot the Starlink Satellites. It took a while but eventually I did see a series of bright spots in the sky passing overhead. Not quite as closely strung as I’d expected. I tried again on Wednesday and was treated to seeing the Falcon 9 rocket that deploys the satellites go over. That was really bright & the night seemed clearer. Came out later to see more satellites but failed. Despite it not being entirely successful it did feel quite relaxing staring at the sky and just having a moment of peace & quiet.
I’ve built up a bit of a backlog of Off Menu: podcasts so listened to a couple of those which both made me laugh out loud. Catherine Bohart’s episode was recorded in her flat which gave the episode a slightly different vibe and led to Catherine getting a call from her Dad midway through. The Joe Thomas episode was largely Joe spouting a stream of consciousness and was, quite possibly, the funniest episode yet. I also listened to the first episode of James Acaster’s new Perfect Sound Whatever, which was right up my street but perhaps a little short.
I’m filling the void left by a lack of sport by playing a retro Football Manager game on my phone. I’ve already got Fulham promoted 3 times, won the FA Cup once and the European cup once.
April 24th: Tweeted this last week but thought I’d include it here for my benefit.
For various reasons April 24th was a bit of a sad day for me. I mean, not terrible but not jolly. It would have been my Dad’s 90th birthday (he passed away 18 months ago). I’ve thought about him a lot during this weird few weeks and not sure how we’d have coped.
Meanwhile, I went to school to hand in a few of my 16yo’s books & mock papers to help with the teachers assessment that will now decide his GCSEs. He has now officially finished with school.
G’s not enjoyed education. He’s dyslexic and managed to time his arrival in senior school with the curriculum changes that Gove brought in moving us away from coursework back to a more “classic” approach. It was the worst option for G, he doesn’t remember facts well, and now he doesn’t even get the chance to finish that off properly.
I wonder if one of the societal changes that follow this pandemic might be a move back towards constant assessment and course work having greater emphasis than exams. Either way I don’t think traditional school was ever going work out great for G. He was never hugely engaged and maybe just needs time & space to find the thing that does.
Ultimately, we’re lucky that we are financially able to look after him. That helps me feel less anxious about what might happen. I’m sure he’ll find his feet eventually and we’ll encourage him in whatever he wants to do.
All told, a day of contemplation about things I can’t change. In between that I had loads of people tell me the favourite pubs of their youth and that made me happy.
Postscript: On Sunday G spent an hour or so helping his Mum in the garden. What was initially just a bit heavy lifting turned into him clearing a lot of stuff and getting more done than we were expecting. There was one really think trunk he tried to remove but couldn’t and we went out together today (Monday) and finished the job. He might just finally be bored of being stuck in his room but maybe gardening is a thing he might take to. There’s a glimmer of hope.
