Y is for Yesterday and Z is for Zoo

Yesterday (well not quite now but it was when I wrote the post and failed to upload it) was the royal wedding. It was lovely, there was flag waving, romance and street parties. I vaguely remember a street party which involved eating party rings, wearing union jack bowler hats and sitting outside and not being very sure why.

Ours was lovely, having had a wonderful breakfast party with terrific friends who put up with my three very excited children we watched a very nervous Prince William depart for and arrive at the abbey. Then we were off, despite Lucy falling over en route to the car we just about managed to get home to see Catherine set off and Heather was entranced by the whole thing. Matthew watched most of it but Lucy stole my phone and disappeared off to play fairies or something like that. She arrived back towards the end and declared that she liked princesses and watched the carriage journey.

As soon as they were safely ensconced at the palace everyone was outside carrying tables and chairs, hanging bunting or balloons and preparing the music for the party. Then we all dashed in to watch the kiss on the balcony. We were lucky enough to see the jets that did the fly past as they came over our house much to the excitement of the kids.

At about 2pm we all took our food and drink out and the children spent the rest of the day bouncing on the castle, climbing on the climbing frame and when they were pooped out doing some colouring. They touched base with us once in a wall to eat and drink and once Grandma and Grandpa arrived they bossed them about as well. It was a great opportunity to get to know our neighbours who we hadn't seen much of. All in all a great day.

Z is for Zee end

Ok so the zee is a bit of a cheat! But it is the end of the a-z blogging challenge. I am proud to have in the main persevere and got to the end and it definitely was a challenge, not only coming up with topics that related to the letter of the day but also remembering to post on a regular basis, when often I only get 1-2 posts completed a week!

On a totally different note today the US declares that Osama Bin Laden was dead and around the world people were celebrating. Whilst it may be good news that he is dead, it has to be said that 'the war on terror' is far from over. If anything his death will inflame more terrorist attacks in retaliation. Rumours are already circulating that somewhere in Europe there is a bomb just waiting to be detonated, that it wasn't really him, although hopefully the DNA results will dispel the doubters.

I still think that there will be forthcoming plots and we will still hear reports of foiled terrorist plots, one man's death doesn't kill his legacy and while I do not share his politics or ideas in anyway, there are many who do and will step up to fill the void now left.

I am hoping that the world can be a safer place as that is what I want for my children, a place where they don't have to be afraid about who is planning what against the place they live just because of their nationality. After all none of us plan where we are born, we can't choose our parents and so we should seek to negotiate where we can, after all I was taught we were all created equally and should treat others as we wish to be treated. These days this seems idealistic, even naive but who knows maybe one day we can learn to tolerate difference and get along with one another without having to resort to war - just watch kids in a playground, many of them highly skilled at negotiation and manipulation - maybe we could learn a thing or two!

X is for X files

This program is one of the few that stood the test of time. The characters made an impression on people and even when the plots became endlessly insane at time the loyal watchers still watched. Buffy is another one that not only spawned spin off series but came to a natural end rather than being killed off by ratings chasers. Perhaps this is the reason why Dr Who had been such a big hit. The fans hadn't finished with it and so they fell back in love with, even those of us who have grown up and should know better than to hide behind a sofa!

I think that these shows somewhere spark a curiosity in me, the unexplained, the why and wherefore of the world, probably things that we will never know, or if we do know it will be like the Galileo revelation. Even if discoveries are supported by a body of scientific evidence there will still be detractors and those attempting to prove they are right and the other people are wrong.

The X files though reminds me of all the times when you hear a piece of news and you get a shiver down your spine, get that odd deja vu sensation or know who is on the other end of the phone before you pick it up. I have had a few odd things happen, a few 'feelings' that I wished I had listened to before acting and it seems to me that sometimes we 'know' without knowing and that we can't explain that, yet. Truly an X-File.

W is for Wedding

Did you know, there is a very small wedding happening on Friday? You may have heard about it from the news, papers or radio, simply walking anywhere, as you can't fail to notice the union jack bunting and decorations everywhere. There are some who are complaining about the coverage and saying it is too over the top, but I prefer to embrace it. How often do we get lots of people united for a good reason, we have the Olympics next year but I doubt there will be many Olympic street parties.

I am lucky enough to be able to attend one, in fact I was lucky enough to have three separate occasions to go to but alas, one of me and a closed road with three kids mean we will be spending the majority of the time at our home street party rather than gallivanting across Essex visiting others.

I have the bunting prepared, and in this day and age I have also prepared the warning notices for the various bouncy castle, climbing frames and trampolines that people could injure themselves on. The fridge in the garage that is usually empty contains party food that the kids are looking forward to as it is normally carefully rationed. Heather is looking forward to watching the wedding, Matthew not so much he would rather be out playing and I am not sure how much Lucy understands. I hope the rain holds off, it looks as if we will see some wetness on the day, a shame after all the beautiful weather we have been having.

Anyway however you spend the 'free bank holiday' raise a glass to the man who will probably be our king someday and his new wife and if you can get to a street party don't forget the silly union jack hats!

V is for Victory

There are many different types of victory in this life, some have good consequences others have bad consequences. I had a small personal victory this weekend, I have been back running for about a month now and even when I was running regularly I was struggling to get my average time per mile down. This is essential if I am ever to run the marathon, otherwise long after most people are sitting in their ice baths I will still be struggling along. I began gingerly, the previous run had resulted in a slight strain to a muscle but after a mile and several stretches it felt OK, I ran 3 miles each under 11 minutes, that sounds a lot, however if I could run each mile in 11 minutes I could do the marathon in 5 hours just, the next goal will be 10.5 minutes and longer distances. Victory motivates, it makes us think something is worthwhile that we can do something even though it seems difficult.

I see the kids beginning to appreciate it, the first time they rode a bike without stabilizers, crossed the monkey bars without an adult to help, rode a horse, the list seems endless.

Perhaps though victory is not always a positive thing, think about how the importance of victory to some politicians have meant pain and suffering for many in diverse nations, how it causes athletes to endanger themselves with drugs so they can be the best. Sometimes victories are physical, the person who relearns to walk after injury, the people who perform great physical feats such as crossing the channel, kayaking down the Amazon or trekking over the North Pole to raise money so that others might have the chance for a better life, those are the kind of victories to be celebrated.

I doubt any of my small personal victories will mean much to anyone outside my immediate family and friends but I am looking forward to setting myself some goals and looking forward to the challenge.

U is for Unique

It's funny that when we go to school or work in certain places we all wear the same uniform. Despite that we are all unique. Each of us has our own hopes and dreams, things we want to achieve and likes and dislikes. When I used to teach I would be presented with thirty new faces, a name attached to them and possibly some information from a previous teacher or school. One of the first things I always did with them was to get them to do a little factfile, what they liked and didn't like.

When we meet new people we try to find something that we have in common, for me frequently now it is children that we have children, but even this is a unique experience, Each child is unique, even between my three there are huge differences between them. They approach things in their own way and they confidence levels vary greatly.

Lucy for example, despite being the youngest has learnt more things ahead of time because she has the benefit of two older siblings, Matthew projects great confidence but isn't always as confident as he seems. Heather has to do everything first, new schools, trips, and clubs and so on. She has grown in confidence as she has gotten older but even so she still needs a lot more reassurance.

That is why I have tried to instill in my children that treating everyone the same doesn't work, always be polite and treat everyone with respect but I encourage the children to get to know people, find out what makes them tick and to treat everyone as an individual, because after all we are all unique.