Break

[liv]

So the students have finished their exams and gone home for the summer, meaning that work has been a lot less frantic for the last couple of weeks. I decided it was a good time to take a long weekend off, and I'm very glad I did so.

I spent Wednesday evening and Thursday at the parents', helping with some gardening and the Times Jumbo crossword. It reminded me again how lucky I am to be in a situation where visiting parents is a treat, not a duty or something to be dreaded.

Thursday evening I went out with jack to Rainbow (which as usual provided tasty and filling food, interesting if a little hippyish). And then to a ceilidh in Emmanuel, which I enjoyed very much indeed. Yay for bouncy dancing and people who don't mind if I'm not very competent!

Friday I saw redaloud, though a muddle with arrangements meant we only had a little time together. We went to Clowns, which has been our traditional hang-out for about 15 years. She joined me at rochvelleth's excellent Pipnic in Kings. Someone had brought peppermint flavoured chocolate cookies, which were surprising but very tasty. It was almost a shame that we had to leave early, but we'd planned to spend the evening playing poker with some of jack's friends. The poker was very fun and companionable, though I was fairly rubbish at it.

The theoretical purpose of the trip was to attend my school reunion. This was a bit of a disappointment in some ways, as pretty much nobody of my age showed up. There were a few 10-year leavers, whom I knew at least by sight, and some of daneres's crowd who were in sixth form when I joined the school aged 8. Other than that, only people much much older than me, and teachers. It was good fun to see several teachers from my era, at least, and we had some fun and gossippy conversations. To be honest I've always got on well with teachers, so it's not surprising that this was socially successful. And I think most of my near-contemporaries are busy getting married and having babies, just at the moment.

Some of the current prefects (they are only year 11, the equivalent of our U5, as the sixth form is now an entirely separate institution), took me on a tour of the school. It was good fun to see the parts that haven't changed at all (the famous chestnut beech tree, the language classrooms at the top of the back stairs, the science building which was newish in my time but is looking distinctly dated now), and the considerable innovations (an entirely new two-story building where the school hall and Portakabins used to be, with a proper cafeteria on the ground floor and a much newer hall above it). The old dining room is now a library, and the Peacock Panels have been moved to the corridor with the offices; the girls who showed me around didn't even know they existed. They also took me to the junior school, where again some shabby and temporary buildings have been replaced, and the scrap of grass has become a proper playground. They have instituted a "friendship bench" where you are supposed to go and sit if you are feeling lonely or have had a quarrel, and a monitor is appointed to come and console you. It's a nice idea but I have a strong suspicion it would in practice be unforgivable social death to use it.

Sunday I accompanied Mum to some community social events, and then jack drove us back to Stoke. It was the loveliest journey ever, beautifully sunny, not too crowded, and of course having the company made it seem a lot less boring than travel usually is. jack spent much of the trip telling me the plot of Hamlet.

So yes, that's why I've not been around online very much. I'm planning to be in Oxford this coming weekend, this time for a college reunion. And the weekend after that (evening of Saturday 3^rd and most of the 4^th July) in London. Would anyone like to get together for either of those, or possibly offer crash space Saturday night?

Comments

[nanaya]

You're welcome to stay with us again. If Argos sort out our order, we may even have a less annoying sleeping arrangement!

[liv]

I'm really sorry for not getting back to you; my plans depended on too many other people and I'm only just now getting organized. Are you still free for me and Jack to come and stay tomorrow night? If not, don't worry, I have back-up plans, and it's totally my fault for leaving this until the last minute. But it would be really nice to see you again!

[green_knight]

I'd love to meet up this weekend. (Can't make Sunday 12-3pm, free otherwise).

[liv]

I'm really sorry this didn't work out, as it would have been lovely to see you. I just didn't quite get my act together to ask you for contact details in good time. Hopefully we can manage to get together at some point.

[blue-mai.livejournal.com]

do you mean the big beech tree?

[liv]

Argh, yes! Don't you hate that thing where you think one word and write down a completely different one? Thanks for spotting that; I was so convinced I'd written what I actually meant that my eyes didn't notice the error.