Monday 10th June

Another week dawns and the eldest is back to school after exams and study leave. She drags herself out of bed this morning not looking at all ready to face the world. The youngest by contrast has an exam this morning and is bright and alert. Mrs P has taken the opportunity to work on Mondays this month, and so having provided breakfast and tidied up after it, I am left to my own devices not long after 8 o’clock. In this case my own devices mean Invigilation, and so I’m soon walking down the road, dodging dawdling school children as I go.

I don’t really understand why some kids either just don’t turn up for exams or turn up late, as was the case for one this morning. No reason was given they just came in late. Surely this just puts more pressure on the pupil, even though they are still allowed the full time (as long as they arrive within a certain time window of the official start time.) Why would you do that to yourself?

After the exam I’m off to the supermarket, dispatched by Mrs P with a list, a budget and instructions not to make any impulse purchases. The list as ever is a thing of wonder, written in order as I walk round the supermarket allowing me to pick things up in the order they are on the list. Despite not being able to lay my hands on cotton buds, which were on the end of the aisle, I managed to negotiate the challenge quickly and under budget. Only later did Mrs P inform me that I had overdone it on the fruit, but I can hardly be blamed for that as I don’t eat that much of it, and so am not familiar with our normal quantities. I did bump into an acquaintance at the checkout who had one bottle of whisky, one bottle of gin and six bottles of wine in his trolley. Nothing else. But in his defence, he and his wife were going away for two days to visit friends.

After lunch I was back cutting grass on behalf of my father-in-law who is still sunning himself. Though fortunately because of the week of sunshine we’ve had, it has grown very little, and so was a quick job this week, and I did get a cup of tea and a biscuit and the opportunity to sit in a large garden in the sunshine. It makes you proud to be English. One unfortunate side effect of the lovely weather is Mrs P is carrying a bit of sunburn at the moment; she’s probably out in sympathy with the eldest who burnt her legs last week, though they have now recovered. Just goes to show we don’t really know how to cope with sunny weather in this country.

In the evening I go to football, and I really am getting worse, but to be honest I don’t care. It’s funny watching grown men acting like petulant schoolboys and sulking when things don’t go their way. Some people really do take themselves too seriously. When I return I take the eldest out for some driving practice, and by and large I’m not too scared by the experience. The test is drawing near, and with a following wind she’ll be alright. Like many things in life, she just needs a bit of good luck on the day.

Yours dreaming of an English country garden.

Jay