A busy couple of days

The last couple of days have been a rush. I had planned to leave work early on Thursday, to get organised and away early on Friday for the drive up to the West Country, but typical of things in local government (which for my sins, I have the privilege to work in) I was called upon at the last minute to produce a pointless paper exercise. This meant that when I got home from work at nearly 7pm, I had the start of a headache and a total loss of energy. So I ate a big bowl of my patent homemade vegetable soup and went to bed early.

Up at the crack of dawn on Friday morning (thankfully without the headache), I cleaned out the rabbit hutch and run (doesn't need much cleaning - our two bunnies are quite the cleanest rabbits you could wish for - they are perfectly litter trained, and no trouble at all), did washing, ironing, cleaned the house from top to bottom and shopped for favourite and manageable meals for AS who has college on Friday and didn't want to make the journey to Bath and Bristol. I am learning to give him a bit more freedom and let him stay home if I go away overnight. As big as he is, it is very hard to leave him on his own, particularly knowing that I am a three hour drive away. It is amazing to me that I can do this at all, when he was a toddler and didn't (or couldn't speak) I never knew that he could be as independent as he is. Being autistic is not something you can measure, and some people might not even notice that he is different. He doesn't have any "Rain Man" skills (unless you count encyclopaedic knowledge of Transformers!) and he struggles with the concept that he has any kind of special needs. He daily claims his right to self-determination and it gets easier every time to give him the chance to prove that he can look after himself. His most enormous step was taking the train to Colchester - alone! Now it is a daily journey for him - including the long walk to the station (although he can catch a train the bus is out of the question - there are too many pitfalls and he doesn't want to even try).

So with my amazing son taken care of, I set off for Bath to see my amazing daughter. I picked her up from the University, we grabbed a bite to eat and I left her at the stage door where she has a chorus part in an amateur production of Hello Dolly. She loves musical theatre so much, and has been involved with a local group at home since she was about 10. During her first year at university, she missed it so much she just had to find a group in Bath to join and so she auditioned with Bath Operatic and Dramatic Society and was really thrilled to join the chorus. She loves dancing (she is in the Latin and Ballroom Club at University) and music, particularly from the shows. Although she loves the theatre, she is also very conscious of exams rapidly approaching, so next week she'll be back with the books!

I paid a flying visit to my sister in Bristol (at 6.00am Saturday!). We went to walk her dogs in the local park - but found a rave still in full swing. Neither the police or the local council were particularly interested when she phoned them, and the drum and bass line could still be heard at 9.00am when I left. I am SO glad I don't live in a city any more....

Mum and I then went to have lunch with AD in Bath and then to the theatre for the matinee. It was a lovely show (though if I am honest, I am not a huge fan of musicals, despite supporting my offspring on many occasions, and even taking her to the odd West End production - I did fall asleep once in Les Miserables to her everlasting embarrassment!). The costumes were lovely, and the dance routines were spectacular. I actually had a hard time recognising my own daughter what with the big Edwardian hats, wigs and stage makeup!

Then back to Mum's (with Mum singing Hello Dolly the whole way home) to load up my car with half the contents of her shed - we are giving away all her old garden tools, a manual typewriter and assorted other items on Freecycle and to a charity that takes tools to Africa. Then I drove home and was back around 10.30pm to find amazing son was absolutely relaxed about being alone for 36 hours. I shouldn't have worried. He'd baked himself a batch of cookies (from a packet mix - I am working on teaching him how to follow a recipe and this is the first step - following the instructions on the box) and even washed up some the dishes! (The slightly burnt baking tray was left for me).

Today, I plan to put my feet up for a couple of hours and finish my current read, Mr Golightly's Holiday by Salley Vickers, before I mow the lawn and tidy up the front garden.

Currently knitting...

My daughter is going to Romania soon to help in an orphanage for a few weeks, and I have started knitting things for her to take with her. Mittens (which are quicker to make than gloves and more practical for small children), hats, scarves and little knitted toys. The toys will be useful straightaway, the warm weather gear will come in useful when winter comes around again. A couple of years ago, she went to the Dominican Republic to spend a few weeks helping at a home for children with HIV and she took a huge suitcase full of clothes, toys etc, and in fact ended up leaving most of her own clothes, towels, toiletries etc for the children and staff at the home. I expect the same thing will happen in Romania but we can make sure this time to pack her suitcase to the gills with extra things like bars of soap, tubes of toothpaste, crayons, etc.

My mum had a second cataract operation a few days ago, which thankfully went well (better than her first op which had some minor complications and left her in pain for quite a time). I'm going to spend a few days with her, to do some shopping, vacuuming, general housework etc. I'll also get to see my sister - we talk on the phone all the time, but only see each other a few times a year as I live in Essex and mum and my younger sister both live in Bristol (which is where I'm originally from). The problem with a journey from one side of the country to another is that there really isn't efficient public transport available - it would take three times as long to make the journey on the train or by bus and it would cost three times more than the cost of petrol. I really try hard to use my car as little as possible - I cycle to work every day, though when I have to go to meetings around Essex I have to use my car. About a year ago, when my car was off the road for a couple of weeks, I tried using public transport to travel around the county but it was not a success. For example, the twenty or so miles between Canvey Island and Chelmsford turned into a major obstacle course. The journey took nearly three hours as the bus times didn't connect with the train times (there is now a regular bus service so it is not so difficult). To drive there and back takes much less time! The one real advantage of trains and buses over driving is the amount of knitting you can get done (or reading, or doing crosswords, or whatever passes the time best)!