Gorgeous gorgeous day....

... and I'm inside writing reports.

That's what happens when you are a responsible teacher I suppose. *grumble* :-)

However I have to get them done today.

Originally I had 3 days to get the reports done and the house finished before we went away for the weekend.  It's the AC's birthday on Sunday, and he just needs to be away from here.  Rich always made such a fuss of him on his birthday, so J and I have decided we will be somewhere else.  We're going to see J's parents to sleep, then Saturday go to a battle re-enactment event (NOT like SCA lol - these things really happened lol!) to see Charlie, then on Sunday go to see J's tattooist, and then to a falconry centre to see a friend of J and have tea and so on.  All these things are things we didn't do with Rich, and so they cannot be things that remind the AC.  We'll have T-boy with us as well, which is lovely, and it should be a good weekend.

So.  The plan was that I would have 3 days to do reports.  AC was being collected by his father on Wednesday am, and T-boy was coming on Friday night.  But no!

No!

No!

AC was here until 3.30 on Wednesday, and T-boy is coming tonight.  I had a fab day with AC, we went swimming, and up the SouthGate, and played in the park, and so on.  However, I didn't get any reports done! (Hmm, which would I have rather done?  I think we all know that, Dear Reader!)  Tomorrow T-boy and I will go to the park and play, maybe picnic out for lunch, and pack things ready to go away as soon as AC gets back from Legoland where his father has taken him for a few days.  He'll have had a fabulous time, and he and his father are getting on better again at the moment.

So in effect, I have had...... today.

And I'm getting there.  They aren't as individual as I'd like at the moment, but I'll change that when I go through and do the names and so on.

In other news, I have a new phone.  I like it.  My old phone was a pain in the rear.
I also have mastered the lemon cheesecake. Oh yes.
I've also found the whole of a poem that I have loved the first verse of for a long, long time.





SAY IT NOW

IF YOU HAVE a friend worth loving,
Love him. Yes, and let him know
That you love him, ere life's evening
Tinge his brow with sunset glow.
Why should good words ne'er be said
Of a friend-till he is dead?

If you hear a song that thrills you,
Sung by any child of song,
Praise it. Do not let the singer 
Wait deserved praises long. 
Why should one who thrills your heart 
Lack the joy you may impart?

If you hear a prayer that moves you 
By its humble, pleading tone, 
Join it. Do not let the seeker 
Bow before his God alone. 
Why should not your brother share
The strength of "two or three" in prayer?

If you see the hot tears falling
From a brother's weeping eyes,
Share them. And by kindly sharing
Own our kinship in the skies.
Why should anyone be glad
When a brother's heart is sad?

If a silvery laugh goes rippling
Through the sunshine on his face, 
Share it. 'Tis the wise man's saying
For both grief and joy a place.
There's health and goodness in the mirth
In which an honest laugh has birth.

If your work is made more easy
By a friendly, helping hand,
Say so. Speak out brave and truly
Ere the darkness veil the land.
Should a brother workman dear
Falter for a word of cheer?

Scatter thus your seeds of kindness
All enriching as you go-
Leave them. Trust the Harvest Giver;
He will make each seed to grow.
So until the happy end
Your life shall never lack a friend.

UNKNOWN

I was lucky enough to be able to tell a friend I loved him yesterday and to thank him for everything he had done for the AC and I. Amongst other things, the inquest would have been impossible without him. I went, because it was the right thing to do, because it was where I had to be, because it was part of honouring Rich to find out what had happened. None of his so called Next of Kin went. I went, and to know that someone cared enough to change a shift, to work extra to make up for time missed, so sit and just rest a hand on my back as I hugged the person who had driven the car because there was nothing else I could do, well, that made it possible for me to do. It was good. I know that we will always be friends, because some things bond people together, and I think that is one of them.

Anyway. More tea vicar, away from this, and back to the work ahead. *ahem*