Monday May 19th
Back to the routine today; with walking the dog, swimming
and work.
Laura is now in full on revision mode whilst Feli and I are
in wind down to the end of the year mode. The semester ends pretty soon and
then I will be doing a couple of weeks at XXX & Y to get enough lieu days
in for our trip to the Anitpodes. Tickets are booked, visas sorted and a new
suitcase each has been purchased for the flight. Our little day sacks will be
small enough to take on board as hand luggage, we have already checked.
I left my little lovely in the Library and Feli and I did
the usual procedure of selecting this week’s document and getting to work on
that. I think it is going to be another inventory. There seem to be an awful
lot of those, for some reason (which we will never ever find out).
We all had lunch together and then went our separate way
back to our respective work. The plan was we’d meet up again at four and go to
Mum’s for our meal. Then, back in our village Laura would continue her revision
and I would kick my heels.
Mum was in full on inquisitor mode when I arrived, as I knew
she would be. She had already gone through shock, surprise, anger and
resignation at the news of the impending baby and was now in the amused phase.
This was good, as we didn’t have to witness the intervening stages of her
coming to terms with the news. I can’t really get my head around why she would
be angry but she said that was what she had felt at one point over the weekend.
She was finding the idea of Dad having to cope with a
stroppy teenager when he was in his seventies very amusing indeed. I have
already given this some thought too and I think they may find the whole process
of child rearing at this later stage in their lives a challenge!
We left mums at about 7pm and Laura muscled straight on down
with some maths revision, her first exam is on the 28th of May. She
is pretty well prepared but exams are always a challenge aren’t they? I helped
out by bringing half hourly cups of tea as a break from the routine. By 10 she
was done in so we both walked Callie and hit the charp and had a go at
horizontal stress relief. I think it worked at treat.
Tuesday May 20th.
The two part split day was pretty much as usual and not much
happened at all in either place of employment. I guess the Uni seemed more
interesting as it is a much busier, more bustle and diversion; wheras XXX &
Y are more sedate and unhurried. I can go a whole day at work and not see more
than three people the entire time.
Definitely a Radio Stars Song Day.
Wednesday May 21st
Girly dining night was round at Brooksie’s tonight. Our
youngest member had done us proud with a Spanish themed meal, with the
ubiquitous paella as the main course. I suppose Laura is technically the
youngest member (or honorary member) but she was busy looking in to the
probability of getting a First in her exams though meticulous revision. I have
no doubt she will succeed.
The news of my Dad being a Dad again was the earth shatterer
in the conversation. They just kept coming back and nagging at the bones of the
story again and again, like sharks attacking a dead whale floating in the
ocean.
I had to admit I was shocked about the idea but also pleased
and sort of looking forward to it. The couple who were mums could imagine how
it would feel being a mum again in their mid-forties to which most of us who
weren’t mums said that we couldn’t imagine how it would feel at all. One or two
seemed to understand my worries; the incidence of disability in children of
older parents is quite high. I could see that was a real possibility and it
scares me quite a lot.
One thing Claire had done with her meal was to find some
nice Spanish wine. A rioja reserve was very tasty, she had only got two bottle.
I had dragged along a couple of bottles of Riesling as I guessed we might be
having sea-food but generally the wine was as diverse as we were. My bottles
were two of Hilmar’s; an bog standard Qualitatswein and a really tasty QMP
Spatlese. I think the girls who poo-poohed Greman whites were quite surprised
at how nice these two kraut plonks were.
At about 9.45 I had a frantic phone call from Laura. She had
let Callie out into the field behind the house for a wander and a call of
nature and she’d trotted back in carrying a dead rat! I told her to examine
Callie really carefully to make sure she hadn’t been bitten anywhere and then
to bag the rat and put it in the rubbish bin. Once again I found myself at the
centre of attention for a few minutes; explaining what had happened to the
assembled eavesdroppers as they had only heard one side of my conversation with
Laura (obviously). I told them the details and explained that if Laura called
back in the next few minutes it meant she’d found a rat bite and I was going to
zoom home and whoosh Callie down to vet. I would have to hope it wasn’t Alan
who was on the emergency standby rota tonight.
Luckily there were no more calls from Loll and we didn’t
have to rush Callie to the vet. Phew (a double phew actually, if you think
about it). I rolled in at about eleven and it was my turn to find a sleeping
figure on the sofa. Callie didn’t even murmur when I walked in and I was able
to wake my sleeping beauty with a kiss.
You have to be careful doing this as the sleeping person may
not react or behave in the way you expect. Richard was gobsmacked and shocked
when he did this to me once. OK, the kiss was lower down in a more intimate
place but my waking words of: ”Ian, not now…” took a hell of a lot of
explaining away before Richard was satisfied.
Ian was the first boy I had sex with, when I was fifteen. He
could be very impetuous and a bit clumsy too.
Luckily Laura didn’t wake up muttering her secret love’s
name, she just responded in kind and Callie had her walk delayed by about an
hour!
Thursday May 22nd.
Sarah, at the pool, was also astounded by the news of my
impending return to being a sister. She was very aware of the potential hazards
in being an older mother, too. I was able to give her my stock response to this
and other questions by now as I have had a week to formulate them in my mind.
Sarah was the first person to ask what Louisa’s daughter
thought about the news. I had to confess I had no idea. I have only met her a
couple of times and she lives with her Dad and step-mum so I don’t get to see
her very often. It is as though she has taken sides with her Dad against her
Mum. You often hear about that when couple divorce, don’t you?
At Uni I was stunned to find several of my Tutees hadn’t
even drawn up a revision timetable for their exams! (I had my pre-exam pep talk
with them and check on how their revision was going.) By now you would have
expected that they had been burning the midnight oil and getting into a cold
sweat about what was going to happen in the next couple of weeks, but no. One
bloody drongo said he wasn’t even going to bother to revise because he knows it
all. I bet he is not a student next year!
Why is it that it is usually blokes who have this totally
misguided idea of the abilities? All the girls in my group, including Mandy
rounded on Mr X and told him he was being stupid, but he wouldn’t listen. I do
enjoy these group sessions I have with them, even though it is a logistical
nightmare finding a room and then organising my tea and biscuits.
Laura came and helped at the start with the boxes of mugs
etc and I cadged her revision timetable to show them how she had organised her
time for the last month. One pillock said, “Well, yes, she’s bound to isn’t
she? She has had you helping her with it all.”
I was going to reply but Laura beat me to it, (paraphrased) “How
dare you assume I couldn’t manage to work this out by myself. I know I could
have asked Vic for help but I have done this before for my A Levels and my end
of years’ last year, so I know what I am doing. I didn’t ask for her help
because she wants me to be independent and to think for myself, even though I
knew she would have given me it at the drop of a hat. I am now going to put
what I say into practice by going and doing Thursday 11am to 12 am’s revision
session on Fluid Dynamics.” With that she walked off leaving a momentary
stunned silence.
This was broken with the girls rounding on the unfortunate
individual and giving him a bent ear as well. I just smiled. Sometimes they
seem like bloody babies in front of me, not supposedly intelligent
undergraduates. I was never like this, surely?
Felice and Laura were waiting for me at the Cottage for
lunch and I had a good old moan to them about the tutor group. They thought it
was funny that I was getting worked up about a group whom I had had foisted up
on me and would probably not see again in the second year. (Apparently the
pastoral tutor system does sort of fall away a bit the older the students get,
which I think is a pity, TBH.)
They had decided I need fire in my belly and had ordered a
Jalfrezi for me! Rah rah rah. After lunch Feli set out the plans for looking at
another casket next week. It is in Tewksbury in Gloucestershire (or is it
Worcestershire, I can’t remember). We are both going and kipping overnight in a
Travelodge, for which she got a mega deal. It is her turn to drive so I will
have to get some tranquilisers for the journey, although how bad can it be? It
is motorway almost all the way. Laura can come if she wants to, she has not
decided yet. It is the day after her first exam and then she has a lull until
about June 4th. It will also mean I won’t have to cadge any time off
from XXX & Y as it is on a Thursday and Friday.
Laura’s revision timetable has allowed her to work at
Dominic’s tonight, so after our evening meal I drove her down to the restaurant
and she was greeted like a long lost friend by Dom. So was I actually. He
really is a very nice guy. He still can’t believe she is doing Mathematics,
though. Until she astounds him by remembering the courses each table has had
and giving him the bill amount from her head before he has had time to work it
out himself using a calculator. The he realises just how special she is. (It
amazes me too, TBH.)
Only £30 in tips tonight but she had enjoyed the break from
revising and was looking forward to her first exam next week. Looking forward
to an exam? Mmm… Not so sure about that one.
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