Imaginary friends
| February 22, 2013 | Posted by Sarah under home education, science |
I have sat through a number of e-safety talks at my girls’ school (well, okay, just the one – one was enough!) where the girls have been advised never to arrange to meet up with someone they have met online. At this point I do normally switch off, as I have a number of friends who I met online in various places, and I don’t regret it for a minute!
Who’d have thought, ten years ago, that most of the same bunch of us home educators who got to know each other on forums, newsgroups and yahoo groups, would still know one another, and still count one another among our best friends? I certainly didn’t! I remember venturing down to Okehampton one January day in 2003 to meet a few of them for the first time and it all seeming rather bizarre, in a lovely sort of a way – and the rest, as they say, is history.
So a few of us met up in London this week, mainly to see Merry’s mum explaining her ‘bionic pancreas’. That was absolutely fascinating, and well worth the trip – I sincerely hope that they are able to jump through all the remaining hoops to get it from development to production.
The rest of the day was just a social occasion really – the children went off in various groups and explored the museum, while we caught up on news etc. Some of the kids humoured me, yesterday in the science museum, when on the way up the stairs (to try and find a quiet place to sit – in half term? ha!!) I stopped them and said ‘Quick! sit on the stairs!’ in an effort to get as many of them as possible in a pic which might look a bit like one taken 8 years ago on camp in Melrose …
all bar two of the children in the second photo are also in the first!
We grown-ups sat and chatted in a corner of the Maths History floor (the quietest location we could find!) – could have done that for much longer, it was lovely 
Missed those people who couldn’t make it though – we did talk about you, small consolation for not being able to talk to you! There are more gatherings of this gang of friends that happen which our family don’t often get to, because of school or geographical constraints or other commitments, but when we do, it is fab, and we should do it more often
ah x x would have love to have made it. really glad you got the on the stairs shot
and awwww for our little ones!
Sorry to have missed you. It’s been far too long. I wonder why Small isn’t in the stairs shot. Can’t see him there anyway.
I well up every time I look at that first Melrose photo.