The Witch

We honestly saw a witch today

When we were together, out at play.

We were just walking,talking,chattering away,

And she strolled right by us with not a word to say.

We turned to each other in big surprise,

We honestly couldn't believe our eyes.

Was it a witch? How could this be?

In amongst the lakes and trees.

She didn't have a broomstick or a cat,

But she did have a pointy,big,black hat.

And a cloak that billowed around,

It was so long it touched the ground.

We turned to gaze after her,as she strode along,

We still couldn't believe it,it felt very wrong.

Witches shouldnt be out in the middle of the day

And certainly not where little children play.

No,they belong in the dark of the night,

Where they fly through the air and cause terrible fright.

They,come out when the stars fill the skies

And terrible creatures skulk round in disguise.

We called out "Hello"

But the witch didn't stop.

She carried on walking

And her pace didn't drop.

Where was she going,on this bright sunny day

We truly didn't have many words to say.

So we simply stood as still as stone,

And watched as she strode off alone.

When she had disappeared from view

we stared at each other unsure what to say or do.

"That was a witch" I whispered in awe

"Are you sure?" whispered back a scared little boy.

"Yes" I said "Did you not see her hat!"

"Yes" he replied "But where was her cat?"

I did not know where her cat was, or even her broom

Perhaps she had left them locked up, in her dark spookity room

And where was her room?

We looked all around

And then we found it

Above the trees and the ground

A tower with a turret in a old ruined Abbey.

The perfect hideout for a witch and her scallies.

Although the day was bright and sunny

The sight of the witch had made our tummies feel funny.

We decided to go back to the car

And drive away fast and very far.

Back, to our, safe little home

Where you can be sure, no witches roam.

We took a photo of what we saw that day.

Below is the evidence of when a witch walked our way.

Linking to Prose For Thought

 Little Spook #4

A TREACHEROUS jOURNEY 

Chapter One

 Chapter Two

Chaoter Three 

 

Little Spook knew just who had got her brother Scamp and she could also remember how to get back to the place she had run from all those long months ago,it was a treacherous journey,through the forest of doom,across the pond of enchantment and down the hill of spills,where one wrong footing sent you tumbling directly to the witches lair and straight into a locked cage and we all know what happens then....sent to be eaten at the sweetie shop,there was no time to lose though and Little Spook set off for the pond of enchantment,to see the mermaid.

"Take this" said the mermaid and she handed Little Spook a little music box, "Play this and the Ogre will fall into a deep enchanted sleep but beware,after twenty minutes the enchantment will begin to wear off and when he awakes the ogre will have quite a headache and his mood will be absolutely terrible,you must make sure you are out of his reach or you will be put on a slice of toast and eaten.''

Little Spook thanked the mermaid and set off for The Forest Of Doom.

The forest of doom was guarded by a big scary hungry ogre who ate anything that dared to cross his path,his favourite food was little boys on toast,sprinkled with a dash of cheese and plenty of Marmite,but as I've just said he was always hungry and he would make do with anything even little black cats with amber eyes.

Little Spook crept as far to the trees as she dared and then opened the music box up,the music slowly drifted through the air and the ogre began to yawn,soon he was very drowsy and before you could say Jack Robinson he began to gently snore and was soon in a deep enchanted sleep.

This was the moment Little Spook had waited for,she ran quickly past the dozing ogre and into the deep,dark forest,on and on Little Spook ran,until she thought she couldn't run one step further but she had to keep going,Scamp needed her,so she carried on running until she came to the end of the trees and was faced by the hill of spills,the hill was steep and treacherous but Little Spook bounded down it,however halfway down the hill Little Spook trod on a dark spot,the ground opened beneath her and Little Spook found herself falling down a deep dark passageway that led to a big black door,yes Little Spook was in the witches lair and she was absolutely scared.

 Little Spook #3

SCAMPS jOURNEY

Chapter One 

Chapter Two

Scamp was a daft young tom cat,who was as soft as butter,he loved everybody and genuinely thought that everybody was his friend. 

That fateful Halloween day had begun just like any other day,he had eaten his breakfast and then gone out for a sniff around the garden,he was just poking his nose under a pile of fallen leaves when he smelt his favourite biscuit treat - Kitbits. 

He couldn't believe his luck and began to greedily gobble up all the Kitbits he could find,little did he know that he was now on a trail that led to the most terrible place in the village...the sweetie shop and indeed the witches lair! 

Much later that morning,little Spook began to wonder where her brother was and decided to look for him,she ambled by the last of summer flowers,trotted by the prickly rose bush and stopped to play in the fallen leaves,this was when she smelt a strange sickly smell,the smell jogged a memory from way back in her past,a memory that was getting stronger and stronger by the second "Oh no," thought Little Spook "This smells like magic,bad magic,the witch has been here!"

Just then something glinted in the pale Autumn sun,it was Scamps blue collar with its shiny golden bell on it,it lay discarded on the ground and it's owner was 'nowhere' to be found. 

Little Spook began to frantically run around the garden,shouting for her brother,but there was no answering miaow ,Scamp had long gone,whisked away by the powerful spell of the wickedest witch around....Little Spook knew what she must do,she must find her brother and,quickly,before he was turned into a chocolate cat and sold at the sweet shop,Little Spook began sniffing the ground,she would rescue him,she simply had to get him back but she was scared, really,really,scared.

 Spooky Happenings

Right settle down now,I'm going to tell you a ghost story,

A real life ghost story. 

How do I know it's true...? 

Because it happened to me,yes it really did. So get yourself comfy and see what you think...are there such things as ghosts...you decide....you may choose to think differently,it won't sway me,I know what I saw that day...

It was a bright,sunny August afternoon,about three years ago,Chips and I had gone down to visit my mum.

My mum and dad still live at my childhood home. It's a terraced house built in,actually I'm not sure when it was built but it's pretty old.

Chips had settled down infront of the tv in the front room and my mum and me were sat around the table chatting and during the conversation my mum mentioned that my brother and his family were popping down later.

After a while I went to sit in the comfortable chair in the corner of the room and my mum stayed at the table.

Next to the chair is a window and as I was sat talking I noticed a shape outside. It walked from our neighbours wall over to my mums front door.It was really quick. I immediately thought it was my brother but I couldn't understand how I hadn't seen him walk down the yard and I couldn't understand how he had walked across the bottom of the yard at such pace. It didn't make sense. There wasn't enough space to walk that fast from just the wall. It puzzled me, so I pulled back the net curtains and the shape disappeared straight through the door.

I couldn't quite comprehend what I'd seen.

There was nothing there.

But there had been. I know that.

And so did my mum.

She sat looking at me.

She said "Is it A ( my brother) "

And I said "No"

She then asked what I'd seen,it was that obvious that I had seen something and as I told her she nodded. Apparently,in the past, she had also seen things at the door too.

It was a weird,weird feeling. I know I did see the shape of a person walk across the yard. The shape walked it didn't just drift,it wasn't a movement like a object being blown across the yard,it was a proper walking motion that I saw.

So,what was it or more to the point who was it?

It certainly made a very warm Summers day turn suddenly very cold.

I was inspired to write this after reading this tale from Helen at All At Sea take a look at her spooky encounter with a ghost.

So over to you...has anybody else had anything spooky happen to them.I bet theres loads of people who can remember something slightly ghostie from their pasts. If so leave a comment and let me know....at the spookiest time of the year lets swap ghost stories

Linked up at Verily Victoria Vocalises for #pocolo

 Little Spook #2

 THE WITCH'S LAIR

 Chapter One Here 

 Now along the road and down a steep hill,right next to a school was a tiny sweet shop,it sold every kind of sweet you could ever imagine,Percy Pigs,Chocolate Mice,Jelly Babies,Gummy bears,Freddo Bars.

Every morning and afternoon playtime the children from the school would pop over to the sweet shop and buy a bag of sweeties,little did they know that the smiley lady who served them was really a witch. 
 Underneath that pleasant exterior was really a wicked witch and the sweets she sold were indeed animals and babies that the witch had captured and turned into sweets for the sweet shop. 

Yes the Freddo bars had once been happy little green frogs hopping around innocently and the chocolate mice had been little brown field mice scurrying round looking for hay to build their nests with,the Percy Pigs had been sweet little piggy wiggies just oinking around the farmyards,the Gummy Bears had been children's teddy bears,stolen from their owners arms as the children slept peacefully at night and as for the Jelly Babies...do you even want to know what the Jelly Babies were...?

Just like the witch looked normal so did the shop,from the outside it just looked like any old sweet shop but as you walked along the upstairs corridor you began to feel a certain chill enter the air and if you walked a bit further you noticed a few cobwebs dangling from the ceiling,this wasn't that unusual but 'what' was unusual was the size of the spiders that lurked on the webs and the colour of their eyes....green,purple and red and the way the spiders eyes glowed in the dark and seemed to watch you as you walked by. 

And if the spiders didn't put you off and you went further along the corridor and through the heavy black door you would find yourself in a witches den with shelves full of potions,steaming bubbling cauldrons full of green gunky liquid,cupboards full of spell books and cages full of trapped animals,it was a terrible room and all who entered there were totally and utterly scared.

Little Spook

I used to love joining in with Josies flash fiction that she hosts every Thursday over at Two Shoes In Texas  

The idea was to write a story in six sentences and Josie would provide you with a theme to work with. I have not joined in for a while but on Saturday I popped by and saw the theme for this week was scared,based on Hallloween.

It caught my imagination and I began to plot a story for my little boy.

The story grew and grew and soon chapters started appearing,I decided to read my little one a chapter every day at bedtime,with the culmination on Halloween night itself,so without any further ado here is the tale of 

Little Spook the witches cat. I read this chapter to Chips tonight and his face was a picture - well worth the efforts! 

Dedicated to all little boys who love a bedtime story and a little bit of magic too!

Little Spook #1

Little Spook was the most beautiful cat ever,she had long black silky fur,big amber eyes and the longest whiskers you had ever seen. 

She lived at number 2 Dormy Court in a cosy semi detached house with her family,who consisted of a mummy,daddy, a little boy and her adopted cat brother Scamp and she was absolutely adored. 

She should have been the happiest little cat ever but there was something very different about little Spook,something that set her apart from all the other cats in the village....little Spook was a witches cat!

Now as Little Spook could tell you,not all witches look like witches,oh no,some, look quite normal and they have normal everyday jobs and live in normal houses,infact they seem totally 'normal' but they're not and underneath that 'look I'm normal front' lies a deep dark side,a side full of darkness and evil and of the worst sort of magic you could 'ever' imagine,a dark terrible magic that's only aim is to cause harm to whoever crosses its path,these are the very worst witches of all and it was to one of these witches that Little Spook had belonged. 

Little Spook hated being a witches cat, she had a kind heart and she didn't like to see people hurt and frightened,so one day when the meanie witch was sleeping,Little Spook had decided to run away,she ventured far,far,away,up hills,through deep dark woods,past lakes until she had come upon the little family at 2 Dormy Court and it was here she had decided to stay and as anyone who knows anything about cats knows,cats will always find their own place in the world,despite us humans!

Each year as Autumn came around and Halloween approached, Little Spook began to feel nervous,her brother tried to reassure her that she was safe and that no witch could find her this far away but Little Spook knew the true dark power that her former mistress had...bubbling cauldrons full of magical potions that could turn anything into frogs without their jumps or dogs without their woofs or even bats that couldn't fly,wands that shot magic across a room in seconds,magic pools that could see into the past,present and future and a broomstick that could fly throughout the night with amazing speed. 

And on Halloween night, all witches powers intensified,they became more powerful,more evil,more mean....as Little Spook tried to get to sleep in her warm snug bed she had a nervous feeling in her tummy,she could sense something was about to happen,someone was searching,someone was getting closer,someone was looking for her...Little Spook was scared.

Halloween Week

This week because its Halloween I thought I would do a spooky themed week.

And to start the week off here are some photos I took last week,

when we came across some very spooky goings on at 

the ruins of a old Abbey. ...

The old Abbey

A warning sign

 

Yikes!

''I'm scary''said pumpkin one ''And I'm tired''yawned pumpkin two

Spiders,spiders,everywhere!

Silent Sunday

 Silent Sunday

 Rain

As I woke to the sound of the rain steadily drumming on the roof I observed that my mum had been right...it was going to be a very wet day.

"It's going to rain all day tomorrow" she had said,as we had walked around the country park,on a glorious sunny afternoon.

"And you had better rest up," she had added,turning to me with a deep stare "You would be a idiot to go out in the rain with your leg and you have done enough this week now."

And I just looked at her and gave a non committal kind of an answer,in my best la-la-la yes mother kinda voice. ( come to think of it,is that the same kind of thing young Chips does to me when he goes "Yeeees Mummeeee" in a sing song voice...hmm,don't know where the child gets it from)

Anyway my mother was right ( shhh don't tell her I said that ) it is a rainy day! And as I sit in the dark lounge,cuddled up on the settee I'm reflecting on what a wet half term it's been.

Most days here it has rained. And not just a few rain drops here and there,nope,it's been full on torrential rain,the sort that soaks you even when you are wearing a big coat with a big hood and holding a umbrella too.Not  dodging the rain drop rainy more like drowned rat rainy. And that has made life soggy. And damp. We have wet clothes drying everywhere,my washing pile is ready to explode. I just can't get it under control. It is ruling me,not me ruling it. It's totally in charge. And the best washing day was yesterday,when the sun actually came out and what did I do....did I wash...oh no,much too logical for me to do that. Actually I may be pardoned as I went for a impromptu trip to the doctors about my lovely limping leg,this did need addressing so I don't feel to bad about leaving the washing in the washing machine. And as soon as I got back home I needed to rest up,a jaunt up and down to the doctors wore me out and then my mum and dad came up and after lunch we went round a local country park and then we came home,quickly scoffed a scone and then I took Chips to his swimming lesson,so it was a full on day and the washing didn't get done. And then today it's raining and I'm thinking of the lost drying day. Ho Hum. Wouldn't have done it any different though. Any time spent with family is worth the inconvenience of washing that rules me.

The rain does mean that Sharky is going to get soaked on his paper round though and I hate that thought. Wet soggy boy,wet soggy papers,yuk.

And my mum is going to a funeral this morning and I know she is really not looking forward to it,it has been playing on her mind all week,even young Chips has picked up on her unease about it and the rain seems to compound the feelings of sadness. I know even on a sunny day a funeral is so sad but on a rainy day it just seems even worse. Maybe I'm wrong in thinking that,I really don't know.

The rain has made our local water splash flood and much to Chips disappointment it was closed yesterday. No cars splashing through. No excited children watching the splashes. Rain stopped play...again.

Mind you,we have had rainbows. This wet weather mixed with sudden peeks of sun has produced some gorgeous big rainbows. And I guess that people have enjoyed the few flashes of good weather that have fleetingly appeared amongst all this rain.

So today...what to do on a rainy day....think it may be a keep dry,tackle school projects,cook a warm big dinner,dry suitable washing in the dryer,make sausage sarnies for brekkie and yes mum a stay inside day,even I can see the sense of that,even if I still do twinge to get out and about!

The flooded water splash.

The water doesnt usually come this far up the road and it was pretty deep.

Playtime

A cacophony of noise
A dash of movement
It's playtime 

Slowly they drift out.
One by one
Then two by two,

Into the middle of the tarmac,where they gaze around,
ascertaining where to start,where to begin...where to play.

The movement gradually begins and the once empty playground is full.

The air fills with voices,giggles,shrieks and squeals,

so sharp,they make your ears ring. 

"I'm Batman," "You're on," "He's pushed me over," "I need a wee," 
"She's not my friend," 
"I'm cold," "Look at me," "Can you zip my coat," 
"I'm the fastest runner,aren't I," 

Voices that never stop.
Movement that never stops.
Chasing games,running games.
Tig,hopscotch,ring games.

And if you are really lucky you may find a stray hoop,left out by accident. 

 Feet hopping,skipping,running,tripping

Jump,jump,jumpity jump. 

Its a whirl,its a twirl,
Its so very quick,
There is no steadiness to be found.
Its dynamic,its pushy.
Its exciting,its shovey 
Full pelt freedom,taken at one hundred and fifty miles per hour,
By the young.
Their time.Their rules. Their play.

Ankle socks with frills and black patent shoes.
Trousers with holes in the knees and probably scuffed up shoes.
And as for shorts...have you got the plasters ready? 

And in amongst the hustle and bustle,the rush and push,two little ones stand.

Hesitantly gazing around.

A little more tentative than the rest.

Yet to find their feet.

They huddle close together

But soon even they are gone and playing

Today everyone is playing 

A whistle blows
"Freeze"
And it all stops.
Children simply freeze on the spot.
 Not a movement anywhere.
Still as still can be.

Then the second whistle blows and it's action stations
Everybody has a place to go and they dive there fast.
It's the race to be first,the most important person,the leader.
Jostling abounds and shouts of goodbye fill the air as friends part and go their separate ways. 

And the playground returns to silence.
Just a big open space.
Peace reigns
Until the children play again. 


********************

I'm lucky enough to see children at play every day and it fascinates me.
One day just before half term I stood watching them play and this is when this poem began to form...the dynamics of the playground and of four year olds who have only been on a big school playground for six weeks.
Linking up to Prose for thought where the real poetry writers live! 

 Hammies In The Rain

The hamsters needed cleaning and outside in the garage is probably the best place I can think of doing this job. Less fuss out there and not quite as much mess.

It was pouring with rain though,just bucketing it down. But not to be deterred we set up camp in the garage.

Radio playing,deckchair to sit on and thick hoodies with the hoods pulled right up,we set about cleaning the little rascals. 

It was grim out there. The garage door was up and the rain pounded on it before splashing down to the ground and making big puddles on the drive.

It was pretty grim inside the garage too. It's not the most tidy of places and without causing any damage to myself I couldn't fight my way over to the light switch to turn some light on,so it was quite dark in there. 

But we made it cheery! 

Young Chips sat on the deckchair holding the hammies in a box while I cleaned their cages out.

The music played,the rain fell creating its own musical pattern and I listened to a little boy chattering away to his beloved pets. 

And it was good. The sound of his voice just melted my heart and as he told the hammies how cute they were and how he gently reprimanded them when they tried to escape, made me smile and I knew this was a moment to remember.I wished I had taken a photograph but sometimes you can't take photographs and you have to save those memories in your heart instead. And that's what I did. Listened to a little boy,my little boy and the sound of his voice and his giggles and his care,even now I can feel the sound of his conversation,precious indeed. 

So ordinary and yet so good. 

2 Minute Memories

The Fair

We didn't get to the fair this time,much to Chips disappointment. Bit hard to get onto rides when your hopping along like Iam. And the rides that Chips can do on his own are too small now and the rides he could do need a adult with him. So no fair for Chips. And out of the three nights that the fair was here we had rain,really torrential rain,I would be surprised if the fair had made any profit at all. 

I did get a couple of photos of the fair though as we walked past on our way to childrens church.

And today on a walk we were lucky enough to see the fair lorries leaving.

This didn't upset Chips,which I'm glad about. Instead he was intrigued to see the massive lorries trundling slowly up the road and manuvering round the tight little corner. 

I stood watching him watch the lorries. A little boy watching fair lorries. These photos seem poignant to me. He seemed wistful. 

Oh Chips I wish you had been to the fair. I wish it hadn't rained so badly that we couldn't have a proper look around.I wish you had played on the hook a duck stall and won a fish and it had lived more than a week.I wish you could have taken lots of 2ps down there and played on the slot machines until your arm got tired of pushing the money in the slots. I wish my leg was ok and I could have taken you on the Waltzer and we could have spun around and around and laughed and giggled until we cried.I wish we had both had ordered hot dogs and walked home in the dark,munching away and chattering happily.

I wish life was simple but it's not. 

So this time matey we just watched the fair,next time we will do the fair....pinky promise x

Splashy Weekend

And the rain came down all weekend. Fast and furious. Making even a simple dash to the car a exercise in avoiding getting soaked. Well there were two ways to do it....run with something draped over your head,be it a hood or your arms or just go with the flow and saunter,yep you got soaked but when there's a warm dry house nearby it's not to big a problem,right? We did a mix of both,going out we would dash and coming home we would saunter,it makes more sense that way and we are oh so sensible here ( big grins at that statement) 

It wasn't a bad weekend though. Inbetween all the gloomy weather we had some real bits of nice warm cosy stuff happening and the main thing was my mums birthday. 

Whilst the birthday itself was on Friday,little bits of birthday niceness trickled through the whole of the weekend. On Friday I plonked a candle in a big cream cake and as outside the wind blew the rain onto the windows we all sang a cheery happy birthday to a much loved member of the family. It may have been yukky outside but we were tucked up warm and snug 

and with cake.

Saturday came around and once we had played dodge the raindrops and got into the pub the night was good.

My mum was so happy. She just shone. All her family together and having a good time,I could visibly see it meant the world to her.

I was the orderer and I seemed to take the role on enthusiastically,maybe a bit too enthusiastically as I made lots of drinks into doubles. It bumped the price up no end! 

I had spent lots of the days before dreaming about menus and what I was going to eat,that's half the fun for me,thinking about puddings and all kinds of different types of meal choices. And when push came to shove what did I have...the carvery...as per normal! I had a lot of fun with those menu talks I held every night though,where I went through every possible meal concoction you could think of,good job those dream calories don't count!

The two youngest members of the party never stayed still,except at food time. They were up and down to the playroom and too busy fleecing money off softies so they could play on the grab a cuddly toy machine. And did they win? Of course not! Do they ever win. Not often.

The teens seemed happy enough,discussing teen things as teens do. Growing up fast that bunch ~ my mums grandkids ~ 20yrs,19yrs,18yrs,17yrs.

All in all it was a good night and we came home happy and full and pretty tired out.

The last bit of birthday niceness came on the Sunday,when my mum brought some of her birthday cake up. Me and the boys ate it whilst playing top trumps together,sat snuggled on the settee. It was wet and dark outside and Monday was looming but for that small bit of time we were snug and happy and full of chocolate cake,mmmm.

The other bits of weekend news were that I saved my dad from a nasty fall.He bumped into a sign in the Morrodogs car park and it really knocked him back and I,old hopalong who can hardly walk herself,caught him and pushed him back up. I was quite proud of that fact,see,Iam good for some things!

And we have a pumpkin!!!!! After last year and young Chips driving me mad with his can we have a pumpkin pleas I bit the bullet and when he asked for one I said yes. Hopefully that will stop the pleas!And this is why I needed to get a pumpkin as soon as!Some things never change,do they and to be honest Im glad that they dont!

School News #3

It's been a funny old two weeks since I last wrote a school news post.

Week ? was filled with total busyness. There was meetings after meetings,themed days where I worried about costumes etc and a unexpected walk to school on Chips own thrown into the mix. I felt like I was running around at at least a hundred miles per hour. And maybe I was running too hard and too fast too much of the time because on Friday of that week I fell and that stopped the running full stop.

So let's rewind to the beginning of that week....

Monday dawned and the beautiful sunny weather we had seen on Sunday was gone and in its place was a very overcast day. My head felt cloudy too. Already I was looking at the week and wondering how I would get to the end of it in one piece.

Chips friends mum usually walks him round to juniors from where I'm working ( the infants ) but her son was poorly that morning so Chips went with his friend M. They looked really happy walking together, they chattered away,their heads almost touching.

That afternoon I went to the comp to discuss A-Levels with Sharky's teacher and then rushed back to juniors to talk about those infernal socks that bother Chips so very much.

Both meetings went well but I got home and felt like I had been dragged through a bush backwards. I was totally whacked out.

The chatter on our walks to school was about cars and what kind of car Chips would like when he grew up and how he would take me everywhere in his car. For the record Chips,you said you would be having a BMW. Nice! There was also talk about bonfire night creeping in and by the end of the week the talk was dominated by the release of Fifa 14. Totally dominated!

In the playground I heard lots of talk about half term,I think the relentlessness of the school run was beginning to tell on people. 

Mathletics was back in favour and Chips spent a night playing it instead of playing on the x box!This made me smile,fancy choosing to play maths games over the x box - wow!The next day Chips printed off lots of Mathletic certificates and was well pleased with himself.

We had one afternoon pick up where Chips and his mates decided to clamber through the conifers on the school drive,he came out with bits of conifer stuck to him,which I found very endearing - Im funny like that!

There was also the story about a little year three boy,who had been unfortunate enough to have a wasp settle on his sandwich at lunch time. This had caused quite a fuss amongst the children!

Spellings were tricky that week. Very tricky. Chips had lost his spelling book and we therefore couldn't practice them. Luckily Chips got eight out of ten. Not quite in the running to get a sweetie though! To get a sweetie it's nine and above. I'm wondering if this will make Chips try harder not to lose that book and to keep practising those spellings,as he's fond of Haribos!

The homework this week was horrendous. It was literacy - embedded clauses - I had no idea what they were looking for and if it hadn't been for Tigers teacher training girlfriend we would have been stuck and stressed beyond belief. Chips ended up getting them all right but what a kerfoffle.

On Friday it was Pirate Day for the whole school. This had stressed me no end. I didn't know what to dress Chips in and it gave me quite a headache thinking about it. In the end I cobbled together a few bits and pieces and Chips looked great - a stripy jumper that I miraculously found down at the bottom of the wardrobe,shorts cut jagged,a hat and a earing and of course a patch. He looked a super pirate and was very happy as he walked down to school.

I don't know about you but there's always that slight apprehensive feeling when you walk to school dressed in something other than school uniform that you have got the date right and it is indeed pirate day or jeans for genes day or pyjama day. And when you see other children dressed the same as you, you inwardly breathe a little sigh of relief. That definitely happened to me and Chips,as the first person we saw was wearing school uniform and we looked at each other quizzically and slightly unnerved. Luckily we soon saw lots of pirates beginning to appear and we both relaxed.

I was so looking forward to picking Chips up that night and seeing the pirates come out of school but that was the day of the fall and since then I haven't picked Chips up from school at all and this does make me sad. 

***********

Week five was wet. The coat was worn for the first time since September and it was back to soggy school runs.

I was limping and the chatter we usually have was no more. Instead it was replaced with me yelling "Slow down. No I mean even slower!" Not fun when you can't even successfully walk less than a ten minute walk without being exhausted.

On Wednesday most of year five went on a residential trip. Chips did so well to cope with this change. He and a few others stayed at school and was all over the place...with TA's,in year six classes and without their mates. It was something to get over.

It's all done now though and on Monday it will all be back to normal for Chips - thank goodness for that!

All we need now is for his limping mummy to get back to normal,please let that be soon!

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This was written last week. Hopefully I will get back to normal soon,as I love writing school news.

''C'mon,I Wont Let You Fail''

On Thursday,Chips,you found yourself in the middle of a challenge. A challenge none of us had expected and therefore none of us were prepared for it,least of all you. After a really good swimming lesson you were called into the big pool to try and do your twenty five metres badge. It was literally sink or swim time.

It was a long,long way up that pool. You have got your ten metre badge but 25 metres is a big jump from ten metres...over double the jump.

As you stood waiting by the side of the pool you looked a mixture of excitement mixed with a massive big dollop of nerves. You had a great big grin on your face and your eyes were shining but I could see you were nervous. So was I! And so was your mamma!

You were the second person to go. You climbed steadily down the steps of the pool and you were in. There was no time for fussing,you turned onto your back and started to swim smoothly up the pool using your windmill arms

I felt compelled to follow your path,you in the water - me on solid ground,both of us feeling apprehensive to say the least.

You got half way there and it began to tell on you,by three quarters of the way there you were just ever so slightly beginning to lose your rhythm. This is when Dianne began to count to you and the rhythmic beat of counting,the steadiness of numbers helped to focus a mind and a little body that was beginning to flag. A countdown that began at 30 and ended way before one by the touch onto a wall,a swimming teachers arms guiding you up and a mummies voice full of emotion.

During that countdown I saw true tenacity kick in. You had to dig deep,deeper than you have ever dug before. We are not talking skimming the surface here,more like digging deep and bypassing every deep physical place you had ever visited before. The counting seemed to calm you down and focus you once more,you began to regain your flow and technique and you showed a depth of character that I always knew you had.

I soon saw that this was a private moment between you and your swimming teacher. Now was not the time for interruptions or for any other person,however well meaning they may have been,to add their words into your head. And in that moment I gave you over to Diane completely. I trusted her and more importantly so did you! I saw the look that was growing between you,as she willed you on. Too many words from different directions would have broken that connection and the connection between you and the swimming teacher was strong.

 

To be honest that was part of the magic of the moment. To watch and just observe what was happening and in doing so I witnessed something really special. I think if I had yelled out ''Cmon,Chips" the spell would have been broken and with that the moment would have been gone. I also think how hard it is for children to listen to voices coming from all directions. They are having to concentrate as much as they can in the first place,moving their arms and legs in synchronisation,add a flurry of voices all talking to them at the same time and it must confuse or at least make it harder for the child to do the task it's doing.

So I was silent. And I watched. And I listened. And that was good.

I saw you swim and complete twenty five metres and I heard Dianne do such a good job of inspiring and encouraging you. A lovely thing to witness. I would like to keep those memories alive for a long time. To remember the look on both yours and Dianne's faces and to hear her words that gave you that extra kick in your legs and that belief that you could turn your arms just a few more times. Isn't it funny what words can do,they can truly be the difference between succeeding and failing in a situation like this.

The thing is though memories do fade don't they,no matter how hard you try you can't keep them as sharp as you would like too. Over time they blur at the edges and with this in mind I tried to drink in as much of the occasion as I could. I like to think these feelings live in our hearts for much longer than the actual images stay in our heads.

With legs, as wobbly as Bambi's were when he stepped on that ice,you climbed the ladder and was on solid ground again.

I was absolutely choked!

And my other favourite memory was when the lesson had finished as Chips walked by Diane she held out her hand and they gave each other a high five. Now that's what high fives are made for!

Oh and the title...the words that I heard Diane say to Chips.