Level 2 Chi Kung. Microcosmic orbit.
Took Sherlock with us when we walked Katie to drama and then took him on the Heath afterwards. He was a happy wee Sherlock and, at various points on the way home, actually walked nicely on the lead, without trying to pull my arm off. Another borrower is coming to meet Sherlock next weekend – a lady called June who is lonely because her cocker spaniel died and she isn’t able to have another dog at the moment. I felt obliged to warn her that Sherlock is quite naughty and steals socks and chews them up, but I got quite a stern email back from her saying that stealing and chewing up socks is completely fine for a dog his age: “he has to express his personality”. When I related this exchange to Nick he agreed that he is quite happy for Sherlock to express his personality by chewing up June’s socks!
Took Dash to guitar, where his teacher, Mr Baulch, threatened him with ‘guitar prison’ for failing to practice over the summer. In a remarkable piece of clear and precise communication, Dash responded by saying: “I know you’re joking, but please be literal.’ I was so impressed with Dash’s perception and articulation of his own needs. And so bloody disappointed that Mr Baulch completely ignored it – and this in spite of me having taken him aside a couple of times last term and explained that Dash won’t understand humour or sarcasm and he needs to just say what he means. Mr Baulch is a lovely man – really nice and very patient with Dash – but sadly he just doesn’t get it. He has been teaching guitar at the Conservatoire since before I was born and I guess he has developed this jokey style of interacting with children and can’t remember how to do it any other way. I would be really reluctant to hurt his feelings but I am wondering if we should try a different teacher. We are committed until the end of term anyway, so for the moment I might try using it as a bit of a learning exercise for Dash – how to deal with styles of communication we might find a bit difficult.