S was singing this to O this morning. He loves it.
First of all apologises for the extreme scruffiness of yesterday's blog post. Experience has taught me that backlogging posts doesn't work and, as a primary purpose of this blog is to show that an efficient full time education is taking place I like to get something down for the day. Not least because my memory is shocking.
A hatrick of National Trust visits this week. Monday was Petworth House for the Olympic torch, Tuesday we went to Clandon Park and today, on our way home from G & G's we called into Shalford Mill.
I had no preconceptions about Shalford Mill at all but somehow it still managed to exceed my expectations that must have been subconscious. The female member of staff that helped us was fabulous, we had a personalised tour. At the same time impressed that S, 7, knew arsenic had been used to whiten flour and surprised that E, 5, was so terrified of the stairs. She told us all about the processes and workings used to make the then very fashionable white flour and how the river network fed into transport. When E freaked out at the prospect of climbing any higher she kindly showed S the rest of the mill. We compared how different the mechanized process was to the Roman stone grinding we tried at Bignor a while ago.
The staff also showed us the famous E H Shepherd scene from "Now We Are Six"
We drove past Newland's Corner on the way to Clandon Yesterday and E really wanted to stop so today we went back there - There is a visitor Centre too and S was very interested to read about its connections with Agatha Christie
Fabulous sequoia at Newlands Corner from a tree that blew down in 1987 (25 years ago)
Even in this grim weather of summers I am reminded that outdoor Mummy is a much nicer person than indoor Mummy and fresh air improves everything.
On one of Sandra Dodd's link I found this time line of a day and today I was thinking of it
6:14am E wakes up, play Wii with me. Table tennis and bowling. Talk about numbers and scores He eats some chicken breast for breakfast. I played the Wii too and got a strike on bowling! Go Me!
7:30am He tried to wake his siblings, They were up til past ten pm and I suggest they might like a lie-in. He gets mad.
8:00am He has succeeded in waking his sister who is now playing the Wii
8:30am S gets dressed. She stands in front of the full lenght mirror imagining she is a cave girl, Roman slave, Roman in a stolla, Egyptian, asks which is first Tudors or Middle Ages then imagines watching our house being built in Edwardian times and being an evacuee in the second world war all whilst I am drying my hair. O's turn at the mirror and he does ninja and karate moves for ages.
9:00am I take E for a walk to the bakers, he starts off complaining and being pretty aggressive but calms down and asks me about how the village looked when I was a child
10:00am We leave G & G's
11:00am Play at park
12:00 noon Tour Of Mill
1:00pm Newlands Corner
3:00pm Home and hungry - I'll be in the kitchen til around six doing tonight's supper and tomorrow's lunches.
In Other News
E's catapult making hero called into G & Gs last night making his day (and a new catapult) E was thrilled. He was great yesterday, really fun to be with.
The guy at the NT Mill really said something so helpful today. He said that on school trips that loudest and most outspoken of the boys at the start of the trip are always silent by the top of the mill. I thought that was a really interesting observation and helps me to see that behind the tough exterior E is actually very soft.
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