BLISS!  A whole day outside marching along with a jolly bunch of children though SHE wouldn't let them throw sticks for me as she said I'd wind up exhausted....what does she think I am - a wimp who can't keep going forever?  Just because she was wingeing about knees giving out!

 

We were up on the forest as dawn came up (cos at that time she wasn't sure whether the walk was going ahead) and then it was down to school.  I had cowered under her desk as she gave the headmaster a very hard time about it on Monday - admittedly the wind was sheeting down outside the window and the 'lake' was forming on the fields below school.  But she has been saying that her meal of humble pie at the end of the walk was something she just had to force down!

 

We set off from school with the 4s and Mrs Branfoot and Miss Lyn.  I cringed (she makes a habit of making me do that) as she broke into 'It's A Long Way to Tipperary' but the children seemed not to be too embarrassed so I tried to enter into the spirit - not before I'd made sure Lottie Branfoot knew who was top dog on this walk...  We marched down the drive, along the old railway line and then up again onto the road where we crossed to get onto the forest.  She got very bossy about the road, barking (she's learning!) orders at the children to go in single file on the pavement to the crossing point where Tony and Eric had funny yellow vests on and helped us across.

 

After about a bit more than another hour of walking we got to the Army training area.  The Headmaster had got special permission for us to go through it and it was exciting to explore new parts of the forest. We all stopped under a tree at about 10.55 as it was Armistice Day - she was telling the children what that was and seemed to be telling anyone who said 'how much further is it?' that we were doing it to honour their relations who would have gone MILES further and in really horrid conditions.  Alistair suggested that we said the Lord's Prayer and then they waited for a cannon to sound over the forest telling us when it was 11 o'clock for the two minutes' silence.  Well I was having none of that silence cos the boys had been ignoring her request not to throw me sticks so I whined and pleaded and pulled at the lead she'd put me on while she glowered at me as they all stood very quietly.  Then we heard the boom of the gun again which signalled that the two minutes was up and I was let loose.  We went on to the place where soup was being given out which was very close by.  The only trouble was, when we got there, Mr Mason and his group of 3s were sitting there with their heads bowed in silence.... then there was a boom and they got up and started talking.  She doesn't know what the first boom was but I had been trying to tell her that it wasn't the start - really!

 

And so we walked up hill and down into the boggy valleys.   They all had lunch on the way but there was nothing for me and my other new friends (after a snarl or two we sorted out the pecking order and I liked Lottie Branfoot and Mrs St John's two dogs) so we begged a bit and got assorted bits of sandwich and sausage roll.  Clare, Sylvia, Ian and Beverley were brilliant in these funny wooden huts dishing out food for them all - next time they simply must remember a handful of Bonios at the very least!

 

Eventually we got to the Airman's Grave where the Headmaster told us about the air crew who came down there.  It was very moving particularly as they had made it all the way back from a mission only to lose their way with an engine gone and had come down where they mistakenly thought there was a landing.  There were lots of poppies on the grave (which apparently isn't a grave at all, but a memorial) and it was a very peaceful place - even though I wasn't. 

 

We then trudged back (well she trudged and I scampered) up the hill to the car park where there were these funny white lorries with seats in them that we had to get into.  It was a new experience for me, but fun as I wasn't shut behind a cage in the boot and could snuggle up to Katerina and Annabel.

 

I certainly slept well yesterday evening and I gather everyone else did too, but I was raring to go again this morning so dragged her across our normal soggy fields to work - well the old girl has got to keep going or she'll seize up I tell her.

There I was toiling away here on a Sunday evening in an attempt to get everything tickety-boo for the week ahead when who should come into my domain?  None other than my very own MP who, with a wonderful Cheshire-cat-like grin, let it be known (in a charming MP-ish way) that I had erred and failed miserably and that my aforementioned attempt to prove myself to be the sleek, well oiled machine I would like to be had floundered at the first fence and I was indeed a rusty old heap (ahhh! I hear you say!!).  So, to undo the muddled missive sent out, I hastily sent a grovelling apology and an amended attachment over the ether…or so I thought!  But, no! The attachment wasn’t affixed!  ANOTHER had to go which has been greeted with tolerance/bemusement/scorn (thank you all who tick the first of these).  I think the correct information finally filtered through as the travel information required thereon is beginning to filter back ahead of half term so something has worked.

Apart from getting on with some work, I came in on Sunday afternoon partly to hear the visiting preacher in Chapel.  Keeping an eye on my watch, I was timing my entry to Chapel to be ‘just right’ – ie after the school but before the HM and guest preacher.  So perfect was my timing that, at 6.27 I arrived at the Chapel door to hear… ‘…forgive us our trespasses as …..’.  Fearing disarray if I interrupted the service, I ambled back into the office and made mental notes to harangue the HM for starting so early….

….next morning, as I left the house (at 7.23 by the cooker clock) I don’t know why, but I looked at my watch….. 7.10!  Oh dear - but at least I could delete the HM haranguing part of the day which was probably no bad thing bearing in mind it was Day 1 of the Inspections!

And so the Inspection Week has progressed, culminating this morning with almost being put out of my misery by a frisbee like apparatus that one of the 5s was brandishing as I walked in the front door.  Several witnesses will attest to the fact that a nasty injury was avoided only by a mega-sharp shimmy by yours truly!Wonder if there’s a frisbee throwing policy….

Half term will be very welcome and I promise to keep trying to do better.

So, I’ve been kept under her desk for a week now after a summer of freedom.  BUT, looking on the bright side, it’s the start of the new year (whatever happened to January?) and there are lots of new children to play with.  She said we weren’t to mention the weather, but I have to cos the sun has shone and I’ve had lots of outings to have balls thrown….I’m gasping even now after Isabella and Georgie have given me a really good time chasing!   Apparently I’m in the gardener’s bad books cos when I get too hot I jump into the fish pond and will wreck the lilies and things like that but, if a pond isn’t a place to wallow in, then what’s the point of it?

She’d threatened to make me have puppies this summer, but something called an Inspection has kept me away from the maternity ward this time.  They’ve all been running around like headless chickens getting prepared for this Inspection and she must be responsible for denuding a rainforest when I see the amount of paper being spewed out of that machine above my head!

Well I must away to set off for home before it gets dark – so boring that the evenings are beginning to draw in.

So, with the sun JUST beginning to peep through the clouds, I am back in the great indoors.  Probably just as well before wet rot sets in after quite the dreariest summer (weatherwise) I can remember - the lounger sits on the terrace and the parasol adorns the table, both having been used precisely twice!!

 

Countdown has begun and, with five offical hours to go till the troops return, I thought I'd attempt to get something onto this term's website.

 

As parents know, we've had tragedy in the shape of two much loved members of the extended Ashdown family - recent Ashdownian, Marcus Egerton-Warburton, and recent gapper, Jack Stovold - being killed in road accidents during the summer and this has certainly affected us all hugely.  Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with their families.  As staff stood to remember them and their families on Monday, a wry smile came across my face to counter the moistening eyes as the window cleaners attacked the Theatre with a vengeance and a delivery lorry beeped backwards towards the kitchen.  I am sure both Marcus and Jack would have been amused that such a sombre moment was interrupted by the mundane business of the day.....

 

Staff all observed that, wherever we are when the window cleaners come, there they are.  The staff meeting continued in the East Wing Hall and, sure enough, there they were.  No longer sponges, chamois leathers and ladders, but extending poles and gushing water - so I am sure you get the picture!  Add to this mowers being kicked into life between downpours, dusters, hoovers and mops being put into overdrive and everything looks gleaming and as tidy as it will ever be.  If anyone comes into my office and thinks 'how can she live in this tip?', please bear in mind that it's been spring-cleaned this week and is TERRIBLY neat!!  Once the term starts and the little darlings return....heyho!

 

There's always a feeling not totally dissimilar to going to the dentist about the start of term!  The days before the children return are hectic - and not without plenty of laughs - but somehow you feel it's rather unfair to be at work and how much you'd rather be in the garden, watching a film, sunbathing (!!).  However once you all start pouring into the Hall, we're off - with never a backwards glance....

 

SO - hold tight, take a deep breath and enjoy the Autumn Term ride!   Plays, matches, concerts, outings and a bit of work - it'll soon be Christmas.