1. For the first time this year I took all three girls to the Easter Vigil. Cherub was very pleased to be allowed her own candle, though it was a rather high risk strategy. Nothing got burned, though quite a bit of candle wax got spilled on clothes. She was very worried about the Easter fire, and had to be taken to a safe distance by Star. I think she may have got mixed up with Bonfire Night!
2. The General Election is on. At last! In Britain a general election of all Members of Parliament must be held at least once every five years, but the timing is chosen by the outgoing government. This lot have left it to almost the last possible minute. Voting is on May 6th, so we have a month of intense electioneering to look forward to.
3. A welcome side effect of the election is that our current relatively relaxed homeschooling laws will continue, at least for the time being. The government had intended to introduce pretty draconian regulation of homeschooling in the near future, but their plans were thrown out by the other parties in the "wash up" (where the outgoing government tries to shove through as much last minute legislation as possible, which can only be done if the measures are not contentious and the other parties agree).
4. We tried taking Cherub to the cinema for the first time last week. Tried, but didn't succeed. She seemed quite enthusiastic about seeing "Alice in the Rabbit Hole" (as she called it), but freaked out when we got there. I think the meltdown was due to a combination of the size of the building (it is part of a complex that includes an indoor ski slope), the number of people, and suddenly recalling a previous freak out in another part of the complex last summer (an encounter with a Disney-style character meant to entertain children, which she finds utterly petrifying). By the time we had waited in the (long) queue for tickets for two minutes, it was obvious that she was not going to cope. We went to Toys R Us instead.
5. Star took part in her second dance festival on Monday evening. Last time her group were performing their dance for the first time, really needed more rehearsal, and the best that could be said was that they got through it with no disasters. This time they were much more polished and came second in their group, with a mark that qualifies them to take part in the All England Championships next year. Their dance was originally choreographed for an older group, who performed it in this video:
I think most of the dancers in the video would have been 13 or 14 at the time, whereas Star's group are a bit younger, mostly 11 or 12. The dance is essentially the same, with a few minor tweaks and the addition of an extra mermaid. The style is lyrical modern.
6. Any one else a Doctor Who fan? A new series started here last week with Matt Smith as the Doctor. So far, so good.
7. Quote from a daughter who shall remain anonymous: "Can I borrow Dad's jacket? I don't want to get tomato ketchup down my white top ..."
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3 comments:
One month of intense campaigning seems pretty good compared to the incredibly long campaign cycle that we go through here in the US.
Urgh the electioneering, I hate all that, all they do is take pops at one another and avoid difficult questions! :)
I LOVE Dr Who. Do you have facebook? I go on about Dr Who mostly on there. If you want to friend me I would be happy to (though understand if you don't want the world of blog and facebook to collide).
I love the reasoning behind #7. Sounds like something one of my children would say.
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