Autumn Ramblings

What a lovely day. I am revelling in the sunshine which comes without the fry-an-egg-on-the-pavement quality that makes life a living hell here in the summer. The days are so blue and clear at the moment you feel they could slice straight through the brown and green leaves which are starting to fall to the ground now in earnest. We wake up with a chill in the air which slowly leaves when I put the kettle on for tea - another small pleasure which has returned now I am not dashing round the flat closing the shutters once we get to 9.30am - the time the air begins to boil here from June - Sept.

All things considered, life is fairly sweet. The boys are happy at school, despite the odd spate of teary farewells which are never pleasant for anyone concerned. They last week started a dance and music class and can sing the name of their teacher like pro's, 'AN-TON-ELL-AAAAA' whilst clapping and doing a little dance. I feel the need to grab the video camera every time they do it and indeed, they are probably already fed up with me getting them to 'do it again, the dance'. They are at a great age, nearly 3 and 4, and when they are not beating each other up and/ or biting, scratching and generally trying to maim each other, they are lovely to be around.

My English lessons with the littlies are going well, after a bit of a nerve-wracking start, I am slowly getting into it. Although I only do two hours a week, it has taken up a dis-proportional amount of my time, not just the doing of it, but also the preparation, the coming up with an idea for a lesson stuff. It's great when they get it though. Those times when we are doing a lesson we did last week, and more than one - what am I saying - when even just one of them, remembers something, it's a great feeling. I am also working out my own system of justice and am getting more confident about asserting my authority when things start getting out of hand, which with nine 3-5 year olds can happen in the blink of an eye. Turn your back for a second and they turn feral without warning. So they are getting used to me as I am getting used to them. None of them run and hide (yet) when I come to collect my two so I am assuming this means I haven't been too heavy handed with them. Either that or they are too scared to move when they see me approaching. I jest, of course...

Otherwise, things are dandering along relatively smoothly. We went to an architect today to get started on the plans for the new flat which we are hopefully moving in to towards the middle of next year, which is sooo exciting. We have a blank canvas and the architects, two women, seemed to have a good idea of what I want... E has, wisely, given me carte blanche. When we came out of the meeting, I asked him what he thought of my ideas, what opinion he had of some of their suggestions and his answer, which I would have written for him given the chance, was, 'What do I care? As long as it has a kitchen for me to cook in and a TV for me to slump in front of, I'm happy'. Ahhh, we are happy chickens both at the moment!