Back to School
The alarm clock woke me with the local radio station at 7 this morning. After a few moments daydreaming, and staring aimlessly at the ceiling, my other half poked me in the ribs, and said something along the lines of “come on then”Breakfasts to make. Lunches to pack. School bags to gather.
Following some kind of miracle, by the time I stepped out of the shower the children were already downstairs and dressed for school. While marching to and fro in search of bread, ham, and fruit, I glanced at the clock. Half an hour left?You see our house runs on rails during term time. It has to, otherwise mayhem and chaos would overtake any and all attempts to ever achieve anything. The kids get up, we throw breakfast at them, we then chase them all over the house”have you got your PE kit?“, “where are your shoes?”, “where is your bike helmet?”, “where did you last have your ruler?”, “no, I have not taken your pen”, and so on.
Somehow that spare half an hour got eaten. As 8:15am approached, we were actively running from room to roompicking this up, putting that in a bag, searching for something else, shouting after each other, and becoming more stressed by the minute.
Miss Nine marched into the house from the back garden.“I can't ride my bike to school!”“Why not?”“Because the saddle is wet!“Moments later I was marching the bikes to the front of the house, wiping the saddles with a tea towel en-route.
We made it. Just. An hour and a quarter of quietly controlled chaos, ending with two little girls cycling off down the road, laden down like astronauts by various bags, and our eldest marching off to her friend's house in her new school skirt.
No doubt dinner this evening will be a breathless avalanche of stories about new teachers, and new friends. I'm looking forward to it.