just another morning here

Thanks to Emma, who came and stayed over with Abbie and Joe, Steve and I were able to get to Dorset Youth Orchestra’s formal concert last night in Bournemouth. We weren’t going to bother going, we were simply going to attend the informal concert today, but we figured that since Anna had had a bit of a funny start to the week, we’d make the effort. I think she appreciated it – she spent all of the interval sitting on Steve’s lap (don’t tell her I said that ) Funny though, we are so used to her playing the cello that Steve went and chose seats with a great view of the cello section, sat down, then remembered that she was on bassoon. Couldn’t see her at all! But I don’t think we’d have been able to wherever we had positioned ourselves. Ho hum.

Anyway, it was a good concert, then we stayed in a cheap but perfectly nice hotel for the night, ate sandwiches and drank wine bought from the shop on the corner, oh yes, we know how to live it up! We had had lunch out in Exmouth with my parents during the day beforehand though so weren’t hungry enough to eat out again!

Today we were meant to be going to see the car in the recovery depot, but we missed it by 10 minutes. Steve was very disappointed (I wasn’t!). Picked up all our CDs which they’d extracted, bar the one which was in the CD player – Spilt Milk by Jellyfish, luckily looks like it won’t be too expensive to replace!

After that we had some time to spare before going back to Bryanston, so we found a little geocache circle to follow. It was a brilliant set of caches; each container individually made into a different animal/bug, and one of them was really tricky to find – really enjoyed them, they’ll get some favourite points from me. My favourite was the one in the first photo, which was made from a tape measure. Very creative. And then we had lunch

The informal concert was due to be held at Bryanston’s ‘Greek Theatre’, but it was raining, so they moved back into the lobby area of the main school. Some parents sat around in the corridors while others went upstairs and hung over the gallery to watch. I just kept gazing around at the building, I must admit – it is such an awesome place! I wonder in how many schools can you fit an orchestra into the hallway?!! Music was good too, all different sorts today, some solos and small ensembles; Anna played with the Wind Orchestra as well as doing a Samba piece that they’d obviously done as a fun workshop to end the week with. Oh yes, and she did it all in her pyjamas They are musical ones I suppose, but honestly!

Everyone else had had photographs taken in formal concert clothes on Monday morning; Anna was standing on a grass verge taking photos of our wrecked car in hers – the police did wonder what she was doing in a long black dress at 9am on a Monday morning! So, since we didn’t have a posh photo we persuaded her to get her friends together for a photo instead

Anna managed to make a good impression on the Dorset Music Service people despite the dodgy start to the week (which was my fault not hers, of course!), so hopefully she’ll get invited back again another time, she had a whale of a time after that first wobbly evening which was totally understandable after the accident.

We asked her how she felt about cello vs bassoon having just done a week there with on the bassoon and she really struggles to decide … best news of all on the way home though – the bassoon that was in the accident will be mended by tomorrow – for less than the excess on our insurance. Really impressed with Griff who took the job on and sorted it so quickly. Other good news during the week were Anna’s music exam results – two distinctions and a merit – excellent!

Abbie and Joe have done an excellent job of being home alone all day, with the occasional phonecall of support. I’d totally forgotten to book Abbie in for a week at Haven Banks that I’d said she could do (bad mummy), but luckily she phoned up today and there are still places and we can hand forms and payment in on Monday morning! Suzie has kept them busy – she’s currently asleep in a drawer, which is very cute

Despite being up for a couple of hours in the middle of the night with a sick son (actually I must confess that Steve did all the dirty work with that) my first day at work was good, again, thanks for all the well-wishes Today I was working with a group of 5 – 7 yr olds with varying needs/abilities – only a couple of them with any verbal language so very interesting. Lots to learn but generally I think I’m going to enjoy it. Steve stayed home with Josiah, who seems fine now, thankfully.

After school Abbie went to a friend’s house for tea, while the rest of us did a mad dash on a couple of missions. Steve went off to do some work-related errands, while we went to pick up a bassoon form the county’s musical instrument hire service. A while back Anna decided that she wanted to learn yet another instrument. Steve and I tried to stall her for a while but then we discovered that you could hire a bassoon (her chosen instrument – because it is wind and therefore very different to her cello, but still in the bass clef) for £20 for the year. Bargain! The lady at the music hire service place spent twenty minutes or so showing us how to put it together and take care of it. Anna also found a friend at church who plays bassoon enough to help her out with the first few notes this evening (handily just round the corner from our second mission), and has lent her a book to start off with. We have also potentially found a proper teacher but we’re trying to encourage Anna to work at it herself for a while first – I might be earning now but still, the more she can do herself, the better.

We met up again for the second mission, which was to go and install broadband at my parents’ student house. Thankfully it was relatively simple, so didn’t take too long. It was late enough by the time we’d finished, though, for us to get fish & chips for tea! I’m roasting the chicken tonight anyway, otherwise the rest of the week’s menu will be out of synch. Chicken sandwiches are nice in any case

Abbie came home; Joe had a bath, Anna played the bassoon, the phone rang a few times, I played cards with the girls, we all chatted, and now we’ve slumped in front of the telly for the evening (watching 24 Series 3, only a few years behind the rest of the world). I think I am quite tired …