Busy Day.

Another frantic day at school, as we were doing the registers a child whose 'tummy ache' had been put down to new term jitters by Mum and myself, threw up copiously over herself, the carpet and another child. Luckily I do have a teaching assistant in the mornings so I cleaned the carpet while she took the child out to clean her up. The school does have a toilet/changing room for the children with special needs which comes in handy on such occasions. The child went home and then at lunchtime her best friend was also crying and complaining of a tummy ache though she had eaten her sandwiches and a banana. Sent for her mum and off she went. In the afternoon neither myself nor Chris' year 1 class have classroom assistants but I do have a teaching assistant who works full time with a special needs child which came in handy when Chris frantically signalled across our shared outdoor space that she needed help with a wailing child who had a broken milk tooth and bleeding mouth. Maybe it would be helpful to have an intercom system so that we could summon help when we are on our own with a class. Good news, sort of, for me is that I have been asked to work full-time until half-term so that Janet can spend her time on her acting Head duties and cover for the School Administrator who won't be in school for a little while due to ill health. At the moment I'm still playing catch up with sorting the classroom and getting to grips with the planning but I know things will ease up in a couple of weeks. I stayed in school until 5.30 and I've got quite a bit to do this weekend. The weather has been the usual mixture of hot sunshine , wind and heavy showers.

It does make for spectacular sky scapes on my way home. I only have a 15/20 min drive home and most of it is through such beautiful countryside. Such a change from cycling for 45 mins through heavy London traffic or worse being stuck in crowded tube trains for over an hour, which were my typical journeys when we worked in London. Mind you I don't think Peter appreciates the scenery when he has to spend an hour and a half driving to work.

As I drove down the hill there was a sparrow hawk sitting on the fence. Even though they are elegant birds they are not much liked because they are voracious predators of small garden birds.

After the busy pace of the day I had a gentle stroll around the garden in the evening light.
The sedums are really coming into flower and if the rain holds off they will provide nectar for many butterflies and bees.

This white tailed bumble bee was having a late feed and kept waving a leg at me if I got too close.

There was a lovely golden glow throwing Ron Fry's farm into a dramatic silhouette. ( It wasn't quite as dark as this.)

And the evening sun was lighting up the next set of storm clouds. Thank goodness I can have a nice lie-in tomorrow .