New Month, New Life
Hi, I’m back! Feel like it’s been a long time since I was able to sit down at my keyboard and waffle. Since I last posted, we have moved house, the children have started their new school, I’ve had a tooth abcess and root canal work and Linda and I have started off another group of Developing Doulas, so I’ve been a bit stressed!
We moved ourselves to save some cash, so I now have muscles I didn’t know I had and a shed full of unopened boxes. War wounds include splinters from ripping up the bathroom carpet (WHO has carpet in a bathroom – especially when MEN live there – yuck!!) and various bruises.
Still almost settled now, and the children seem to have had an almost trauma-free transition. My only gripe so far is with the after school club, that makes you pay in advance for a whole term and insists you pay for the children to be there til 6pm. At their last school we paid monthly and could book a 1/2 session just til 4.30, so affordability and cash-flow wise, I think the system worked much better there.
So do I just not use the club and have to tell all my clients that I only work in school hours, or do I come across as the busy-body new girl and encourage them to think again about how they run things? It’s a thorny one.
Playground Politics
Talking of being the new girl in the playground – isn’t it a nightmare? I’m not the most extrovert of people, and playgrounds can seem soooo intimidating to outsiders. I certainly have lots of empathy with the kids, who seem to be doing much better than me!
Seems like I had the seal of approval the other day, when I was approached by a very tall and horsey-looking woman with a cut glass accent:
– ‘Are you the new girl’s Mother?’
– Yes, I reply.
– ‘Which one is she and what’s her name?’
– She’s over there and her name is Libby.
– Ahhh, very nice, well done.
I duely felt pretty small and patronised. Still, I’ve always been mostly comfortable with my plebeian status!
