Again its an entry for a little longer than a week but lots has been happening. Hopefully normal service will return soonish, although for our family the next 6 weeks is full of all the celebrations and special occasions.

Firstly my big news is that after nearly 18 years at my school, I have resigned, having secured a new job for September. I’ll be working again with my work bestie / job share partner of the past 12 years and I am so excited for my new role. Its a big change, but the right one at the right time. On the work front, I’ve been working really hard on some transitions for our older students and I felt humbled to receive some lovely thank you cards and gifts this week after successful placements were secured.

We had a really busy weekend last week. On Saturday, we had an away cricket game a long distance away, a 6am start on a Saturday for us all was a little tough! However it was a lovely, friendly club and the weather perfect so all was good. On the way back we stopped halfway for lunch, unbeknown to us it was the town’s folk festival and there was a fantastic atmosphere with huge crowds of people. It really felt quite joyful, a reminder of life pre pandemic. On Sunday it was another early start so my daughter and I could go shopping in Southampton, it has the best shops for a style conscious teenager. We had a very successful trip, a delicious lunch al fresco, lots of fun trying on clothes and a lovely potter along the nice make up and perfume counters in John Lewis. I also was able to buy gifts for lots of events coming up so am feeling pretty organised.

The weekdays passed without any particular notable events. I am listening to the audio book, This Is Not a Pity Memoir and thoroughly recommend it. We also finished the series The Staircase again based on a true story. There were parts I really enjoyed but felt only indifference to the protagonist. A much better watch was the new series All I know about Love, based on the book by Dolly Alderton which I really rated.

Today, I was due to go to be cricket mum again, but the match was cancelled last night as the opposition couldn’t raise a team. I was delighted that this freed me up to go to my local parkrun which was being visited and profiled by the podcast I listen to weekly. Having listened to everyone of the 206 episodes it was great to say hello to the presenter and I’m looking forward to hearing his thoughts on our parkrun next week. I also met a VI guide who is doing a ten parkrun challenge, he was so interesting and was interviewed by the local radio for broadcast next Tuesday so I’ll try and catch it on our local radio station. You meet the loveliest people at parkrun. This afternoon, I’ve been down town with the children, its rowing regatta so another busy event which creates a lovely buzz in the town.

One of the more random experiences of the week was getting papped, as a large group of people have been gathering outside our house for a few nights. It was quite intimidating on the first night and we went out to ask why there was a crowd outside our house with long lenses. It turns out that there wasrare bird in our garden and that was the object of their visit.

Tomorrow we’re off to see the new Jurassic park film as requested by the children. After a week of heatwaves and sunshine, the weather forecast is poor so it seems a good idea. Its also Father’s day so a nice way to do something together.