at the centre, we are children, we are welcome

What a day. Busy but fun. The joys of half term and all that.

Popped into work to pick up a few bits and pieces and see how the ICT work was going on. Yeah I know, I’m not ICT coordinator any more. You can take the ICT (and the pay) away from the boy but you cant…

Went to the library with N to drop off some (overdue) books. Our local council were undertaking a market research project, ‘how shit is harrow’ I think it was called. For those readers who would know what the Pulse is, this was like a bad display in the Pulse. I take the piss, I know but they listened to my comments and seemed very interested in what all the locals had to say. My main gripes were that the local park has gone to pot (and heroin) since the warden was done away with so the gates are not locked at sundown any more and the fact that plastic is not recycled. We are pretty good and try to recycle as much as possible but I would say that 90% of what we chuck is plastic. If the council recycled that we would have a practically empty green bin and a brown one that would need to be emptied twice a week (a problem I’d be happy to accept.)

Then off to the park for a spot of kite flying. Some of you may know of my sad delusional love of designing, making, flying and crashing kites. So with N and a few (well about 12 actually) kites we held pieces of string in a muddy park looking upward. N put on the voice of Mr Dragon (a Malaysian delta) and commentated about how much he was enjoying flying in the sky rather than being scrunched up in the bag – a metaphor for life if ever I heard one. I just swore at a box delta that I had spent hours making that refused to fly. Bugger.

B and S joined us for a session on the swings. I have to say that B appeared to have more fun than the kids. N saw an old pal from nursery, I saw her attractive mum so nice result there and S monopolised the slide.

Then home to forget that N had a swimming lesson only to be reminded by A via text message. Arrived in the nick to see N continue to stagger me with his ability to swim. I was 12ish when I learned but N is already swimming front, back on top and under and he’s only 5. He looks a treat (and a bit camp truth be told) in his very faded Spiderman trunks. The chlorine really gets to work on anything dipped in the water – eyes, flesh, hair, fingernails - pretty much anything organic is unsafe in that acid bath. When I was a kid the water wasn’t half as bad as that as I recall. In fact the outdoor pool didn’t seem to be treated at all. It started the summer clear and shiny and went through phases of yellow, orange and then brown as each kid in the neighbourhood used it as a public urinal. Oh, those were the days.

Back home in time to put the children in B’s care so that I could leg it to Griffin Park for Brentford (5th place) to hammer Southend (1st place) 2-0. ‘top of the league, top of the league, you’re having an laugh, you’re having a laugh.’ And what with Swansea and Colchester drawing at home it was a great evening that saw us jump up to third with two games in hand. Charlton on Saturday in the Cup. Come on you Bees.

Then home to break promise to self about the work I would do if I went to football but instead wrote blog. Actually I was a bit delayed in getting going because A was communicating with the person on Ebay from whom we had bought S’s birthday present. It seems the Post Office attempted to deliver the parcel to the wrong address and left a card instead which said bring some ID down to the office and we’ll give you the parcel. So the bloke from down the road went to the office, didn’t show or showed the wrong ID (more likely the former) and took home a play microphone. A has knocked on his door loads of times and got nowhere and has now decided to take it up with the Post Office because they gave a parcel marked for one address to a person with ID for another! Believe me, this is not the kind of issue to get A involved in. Once pissed off, she will not let it go until she feels that she has won, is seen to have won by everyone, especially the losers and that the losers are seen to be losers. Lord have mercy upon their souls for she will grind them to fine dust all.

And so to bed. I am currently listening to ‘At the Centre’ by Lies Damned Lies. Those of you who know the track, please try to feel as mellow as I am feeling just now. For those of you unaware of the track please feel mellow anyway.

I’m glad I’ve just written all this. It’s reminded me that I have had a busy day but a good one and that it’s finished as good as it started.