Playing catch up.

So these were actually taken a while ago (last week and before...) but I like them so they're being uploaded!

This is the walk home from school.  It's a 4 mile round trip (though obviously J only does 2 of those, as he's only doing one direction...)
We did the walk over the Christmas holidays, and he managed absolutely fine.  It probably helped having relatives and a dog to make things less boring. 
I figured that it wouldn't kill us to do it every now and again.  My hope was at least once a week, preferably twice (which would mean 8 miles walking for me).  So last week, we decided to give it a crack (earlier in the year and we'd have been making some of the journey in the dark.  This is roughly how Wednesday's journey went, starting in the nursery room itself:
Me:  Do you need a wee sweetheart?
J:  No.
Me:  We're walking home, so it will be a while before we can go to the toilet.  Are you sure you don't need a wee?
J:  No thank you.
Leave nursery, cross car park, walk towards swimming pool (last loo before the open road)
Me:  Are you sure you don't need a wee sweetheart?  It's your last chance.
(I'm sure you can see where this is going...)
J:  No.  (It was actually more of a Noooooooooooo)
Continue walking, past swimming pool, through garden and across cricket pitch.  Get to the little bridge over the stream...
J:  Daddy, I need a wee.
Me:  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH That's why I asked you.  You said you didn't need a wee - I said we were walking and you said you were sure you didn't need one.  (That should probably all be in capital letters - that's the commonly accepted way of shouting online isn't it?)
J:  But I didn't need one when you asked.
Me:  (Well, to summarise, we agreed to disagree on this point...)
Cross over bridge, find tree and have a wee.  (Wise advice offered en route and throughout the operation)

Walk past church, across farm track and into the field (don't worry, there's a footpath).  Approach the copse, begin to think what a lovely thing it is to be walking home from school across the fields...

J:  Daddy, now I need a poo.
Me:  (At this point, assume a load of capital letters - I asserted that pooing, unlike weeing, was not something we were going to be doing in the open)
J:  Ok, I'll hold it in.
Me:  Good - you're a big boy, I should hope so!

Continue across fields, down hill, over the very narrow bridge (assure J we'll bring boots next time so we can go through the stream rather than over it)

J:  I still need a poo.
Me:  Do we need to be rescued?
J:  Yes.
'phone Anna and request urgent rescue mission.  Walk up hill to the road, wait for a few minutes for car, which miraculously appears to take us home.
Oh, and you know he said he'd hold it in?

He didn't.

Happy New Year.

I don't actually have time to blog at the moment.  But it's been over a month since I last did, and I keep thinking I should, and then don't, so I thought that, even though I don't have time in the next five minutes, I'd do it anyway...  Just to get back into it.
I've done a blog on the outdoor blog, and just done one on the book blog, but nothing here for ages!
So here I am.  I am still alive, and had a lovely Christmas and New Year.  I'm now back into the 'writing the book' bit of my life, which is going ok.  I've only got two chapters to finish and one to start and finish, then I'll send it out to various people for checking (it'll probably be a tight timescale...) and re hash it.  Then it's a question of finding a publisher...  (If you would be willing and able to read and comment on it, I might be able to send you a draft - as I say, it'll be a pretty tight turnaround in all likelihood)
Teaching last term was fun, but seriously time consuming.  Way more than I'd envisaged, which of course meant another deadline move for the book.  The new one (and feel free to keep tabs on me) is to have it finished and (ideally) sent out, commented on, rehashed and ready for sending to publishers by Easter.
That's Easter this year, by the way.
Anyway, as I said to start, I don't really have time to write this blog (the last couple of days have been productive but full) so I'm going to push off again.  I'm now too late to walk to school to pick J up, so will have to drive.  (Don't worry eco warriors, it is a 2 mile walk, I'm not just popping round the corner!)
Feel free to comment on this blog - it's always nice to have people respond, even if it's only a line.  I do sometimes wonder why I do this when no comments are forthcoming.  (I know, I do it as much for me as I do for you (in fact, probably more!!))