It has arrived, so here goes
now reading – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K.Rowling
It’s less than a week after my last ‘OK this should have been posted a few days ago’ post on Sunday and here I am again.
This is going to be a mixed bag, so hence the title.
On Wednesday evening, Jo and I went to the school for the end of year staff and governors’ BBQ. After the weather that we had been having for the previous days, I had visions of everyone eating in the hall and running out to the BBQ under umberellas for the food. Sitting in the canteen at work at lunchtime watching the rain, I was sure that this was going to come true. However, when I drove home it was bright sunshine and we had clear skies all evening. The food was excellent, provided and cooked by T.Harper and Son, from Bell Farm Studham. We all sat out under the large ash tree in the school grounds eating and chating until dark.
Last night I didn’t get a lot of blogging done as we had a power cut. It seemed strange sitting in a silent house by candle light. The power was only out for an hour, but when it came back I didn’t get round to posting anything, just a bit of blog reading.
The weather forecast for today was heavy rain and boy were they right. I could hear it hammering on the roof at work all day and when I left at 1pm to drive home, it was the worst rain that I have ever driven in. It was coming down so hard that even with the wipers on full it was difficult to see the road. Maybe that should have been difficult to see the river, as there was so much water pouring onto the roads from the banks and footpaths that the drains weren’t coping and as a result it was just flowing in rivers along the roads. At the top of the hill going into Hockliffe, you could see where a large branch had fallen off the overhanging oak tree and landed in the road; I’m not sure exactly what had happened, but the branch was about 50 yards further down the road with a police car partially across the road blocking it. The policewoman directing traffic looked absolutely soaked. A bit further, on the other side of Hockliffe, there was a large removals lorry changing a flat tyre. I know there isn’t ever a good time for a flat tyre, but that had to be one of the worst.
By about 3pm, the weather had completely changed and it was bright and sunny. Hopefully the weather tomorrow will be good. We are planning to go to the Joust at Berkeley Castle tomorrow. The BBC weather forecast is still telling us tomorrow will be sunny intervals, so we are hopeful. We will however be taking our wellies, I think we will need them!
[Update] Due to the amount of rain across the country, there is major flooding across England and Wales. This includes flooding across the motorways in the area of Berkeley. Checking the Joust website this evening, the first weekend of the Joust has been cancelled, so lets hope the weather stays dry for the next week so that the second weekend can go ahead as planned.
While checking BlogCatalog last night, I came across the following discussion Make History on Wednesday.
What BlogCatalog are asking people to do is to blog to raise awareness about organ donation and the issues surrounding organ donation.
The BBC on their website are also running a DoNation season to raise awareness.
Both my wife and I have carried donor cards for several years, but last night I signed up on the UK Transplant Organ Donor Register. As they point out cards get damaged or lost or you might not have it with you. From their site:
Since 1 April 2007:
* 229 people have donated organs
* an additional 518 people have donated corneas
* 640 people have received the gift of sight
* 695 people have received transplants
* 7,304 people are still waiting for transplants
While following links about this, I also looked at the National Blood Service website. I used to be a blood donor and keep meaning to get back. I knew that they were appealing for donors, but wasn’t really aware how low the stocks were until last night.
| Group | Days Stock |
| O pos | 5.16 |
| O neg | 2.68 |
| A pos | 6.48 |
| A neg | 6.23 |
| B pos | 8.03 |
| B neg | 4.34 |
| AB pos | 10.02 |
| AB neg | 4.47 |
This morning I, along with many other parents, attended the Governors’ Merit Assembly at Watling Lower School.
This assembly was started about 8 years ago with just 4 awards and has grown. This year saw the introduction of the ‘Wat Ticks’ awards for achieving the highest scores in each years assessments. It was a particularly proud moment for me, as my daughter was one of the seven with joint highest score in the Foundation stage and my son was the highest score in Year 2.
There were awards presented for those who had been taking part in the Walk to School scheme, part of the school’s travel plan, and had walked over 100 times. Awards were given for attendance, highest number of merit points, to the house captains and vice-captains among others.
Andy Pilborough-Skinner from Templar Martial Arts presented certificates to several pupils who had graded in the after school club that he runs.
This year’s academic results are the best that the school has had and to celebrate that the children are being allowed a MUFTI day on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The weather on Saturday was really good, almost like summer is finally here.
We are going on holiday to Centre Parcs again this year, but this year we are planning to take the kids bikes with us. I looked at the options available and settled on a roof mounted solution. This meant I needed to get some roof bars and then bike carriers to attach to it. I got Thule roof bars which attach to the existing mount points on the roof of my car, then I got Thule bike carriers which attach to them.
We wanted to test this out before we go away, but as the weather has been so bad for weeks, we hadn’t had the opportunity to do this. Anyway, Saturday was good, so we fitted the roof bars and carriers and then fitted the bikes. They were really secure and apart from a bit of wind noise, I wasn’t aware it was there. The kids got to ride their bikes in a new location and I got to put my mind at rest with roof mounting the bikes.
On Friday, straight after school, the PSA organised the Summer Fayre.
We took the kids and had a go on each stall with varying success. One of the regular stalls is the unlock the box and with our last key we had the one that fitted, so now in addition to the toys that were in there, the kids have a large bucket of sweets that will probably last them for a week or two.
The weather held, which was a surprise as it has been an awful summer so far this year. This allowed the outside stalls such as the soak a teacher and the crockery smash. The later was very popular, but judging from the look of the playground towards the end it will take a while to clear up the bits.
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