WELCOME BACK
Admittedly I have been absent for quite some time (and for that I'm sorry), but it is
my promise to get back on the D&D horse this autumn!
At this point, I feel a bit stunned that the summer is over
and the school year has begun again. The King is in year 2 (I’m always asked
what the U.S equivalent is, and to be honest, I still don’t know how to answer
that. Let’s just say, he’s being forced to do his times tables and most of
the kids are 7 years old) and to be honest, I have no idea how that happened. Mere moments
ago he was my little curly haired toddler pushing a pink pram around the park
filled with cars and now he’s almost as tall as I am. Okay, not quite, but he
did ask me to pick him up the other day and after one attempt, I almost threw
my back out. I also resembled a stumpy fisherman trying to wrestle a LARGE
flounder so I’m thinking holding my child is going to be reserved for when I’m
sitting in a chair.
Of course he is now at the age where the requests for independence are coming fast and furious…the latest request of his was to get a Mohawk. I informed him that when he’s
18, he could do whatever he likes to his hair, but at this point, I’m still in
charge (he always laughs when I say this, which unsettles me as I know he
thinks I’ve got this all wrong). Thankfully, he quickly loses interest and segues into asking me who
my favourite Ninjago is and why -- I always retort it’s Mia cause she’s the
only female ninja and of course she must be the most powerful and WISE (he’s not sold on
this because apparently Cole can turn into lightning or something like that….good god how did I fall down this rabbit hole?)
Like most people, the summer ended up being a traveling blur of
friends, family and far too much food. There were days where my husband and I would look at each other and ask when was the last time we bathed our son! We traveled to the States, packed more
in that was humanly possible, and was told by the King that he wants to live in
each place we hit along our journey – of course this was based on what food
they had and how entertaining he found the people. I tried to inform him that it
was not humanly possible to live in four different places unless you are a
professional athlete, Elon Musk or a Trustafarian, but he wasn’t giving in. To him,
summers in Brooklyn (where the ice cream rocks apparently) and winter’s in Carmel (with all his friends transplanted
from London to California of course) seemed perfectly doable.
And like most of the world, we were of course also Olympic junkies (in between Wimbledon and Formula One of course and trying my best to avoid any coverage of the circus that is American politics). I can never get enough of International sports, although I’m still not
convinced badminton or that gymnastic ribbon-dancing thing should qualify as
sports…honestly, those two 'sports' are up there with curling. The King weighed in that he was a bit mystified by Tae Kwon Do as from his pov, it just looked like they kicked each other in the head repeatedly. But he quite liked the swimmers as they went fast and looked like they had very
good goggles (trying to find the perfect pair of goggles to suit the King has
been my life quest).
By the time we got back to London, two things
struck me: damn I love my city, and wow, have I spent a large amount of time
discussing the intricacies of Ninjago. Of course by the time the first day of school arrived (and I realised all his school trousers were six inches too short!), I was practically
dragging the King out of the house at six in the morning, half dressed uttering,
“No no, it’s fine, you can eat breakfast as you stand outside the gates. I’m
sure plenty of people will be there waiting!”
Welcome back everyone. Here's to a great autumn….