Hmm, dinner nowhere near as successful as last night’s, I have to say. Actually it wasn’t bad – but the Non didn’t like it, threw noise after tantrum after ‘nuther load of nonsense and ended up being sent to bed without any supper because she was being intolerable. Bit of a downer, but there we go, rough with the smooth, win some lose some, all that nonsense.

Not much to report on here but I tell you what the kookaburras were INSANE this morning, it truly sounded like you’d imagine a lunatic asylum would sound in a Tim Burton film – only really suddenly, at 6:45 in the morning.  Kind of stuns you when you wake up to that at close quarters. It’s a bit different from other animal noises (or well so I’d opine) because it’s so nearly similar to the noise a human would make – but not under normal circumstances. A lot of people say they find foxes unnerving, I think probably for the same reason – now personally I’m so used to the foxes that they seem quite homely and cosy but the kookaburras will take some getting used to. Another unnerving thing is that every night, our bed feels as if someone’s been sleeping in it before we get there. This is not because we’ve got homeless people camping out at our place invisibly, but because the head-part of the bed is pushed up against an external wall that is so poorly insulated that it heats up to an amazing degree, and the heat transmits itself very readily through the pillows and a good foot and a half down the top of the bed – really the most sensitive target area when you get in of an evening. Hmm.... just had a thought, writing this. Perhaps I should make a habit of pulling the bed away from the wall in the morning, and pushing it back at night. Might just do the trick. Or on the other hand, might be a total waste of time. In any case let me tell you the sensation is extremely odd, and not entirely pleasant. I guess it only takes a few minutes to wear off, but still. Oh well. Given the choice between unnervingly warm sheets where you half-expect to find a fat hairy Australian lurking furtively under your pillows, or the agonising plunge into the ice-bath that is the permanent winter state of English bedding (even with the nugget of warmth that might be the hot water bottle inserted there somewhere), having to dive in, cover up completely, let no precious breath of warmth escape the confines of the cocoon you’re trying to make for at least ten minutes, and then slowly thaw out the extremities over the course of the next hour or so, guess which one I’d choose. Hmm, tough choice, eh? NOT.

Hm, as for news... nothing much really, Despite some funny tantrums, the Littles came back today with her SECOND ticket for Very Good Behaviour, I shall have to ask Mr Harris about what exactly she’s meant to do with them tomorrow somehow. She got this one for being good and lining up very nicely – which indeed, I witnessed her doing, she was very good, and almost at the front of the queue, and didn’t make any ruckus at all. We saw the headmaster doing a ‘uniform check’ (pronounced: yuuunaform check) on the KH class (that’s Littles’s class) and he was apparently totally satisfied. There was one boy at the back who was too small to fit into the regulation socks and so had just grey ones instead of the grey with red stripes ones, but he was satisfied with that (the headmaster, not the boy), but did think it worth mentioning nevertheless. I don’t know why they bother, they all look perfectly attired – I can’t imagine anyone would step out of line much but there we go, they must know best.

Bored now.  Lots of love, Vxxx

p.s. I FINALLY found my summer clothes today, I really was starting to think that I’d been an ass and mistakenly sent them all off to a man (or a rag, I guess) to the charity shop but no, in the very last box to unpack they finally turned up. Labelled ‘beach stuff and toys – ATTIC’ by the ever-helpful packers. Attic???? Well, the clothes may not be the newest one has ever seen but really, that’s taking a rude hint a bit too far. Swine. Mind you what I was really looking for was some more shorts, and all I turned up was one pair of shorts and one pair of light trousers. It appears that I just never had any. No call for them at all. Never wore the things. Never warm enough in the UK. How sad is that?