Level 2 Chi Kung (tightness in left thigh now getting really annoying). Micocosmic orbit.
Beautiful warm sunny weather, which only made it more frustrating that almost four hours of it were taken up dropping Dash at school and picking him up. In spite of having asked for, and received, the necessary information on the 7th of July, the local education authority have still not managed to arrange Dashi’s transport to school. Yesterday, because Jack hadn’t started back to school and is uneasy on public transport, we had to take taxis and clocked up a bill of over £70 for the two trips – and came close to an even higher bill when Katie vomited in the taxi on the way home! Fortunately I managed to catch most of it in a carrier bag so the driver didn’t charge us the vomit clean up fee, which can be up to £100.
Today, with Jack at school, we were able to take the bus – a great deal cheaper, but also a great deal slower, hotter and less comfortable. The LEA promised yesterday that they would phone me at 11 am today to give me an update on progress but of course they didn’t call, nor did they answer any of my many phone calls to them, so it looks like we’ll be doing the whole thing over again tomorrow.
One plus note is that I did get an opportunity to do my absolute favourite kind of good deed – i.e. one that helps someone else and is also really fun for me! I was on the bus on the way to collect Dash this afternoon, when a young woman struggled onto the bus with a sleeping baby in one arm and a buggy in the other. The bus was crowded and there were already several buggies on board, so she was going to end up with the near-impossible task of trying to fold the damn buggy one-handed, as the bus lurched wildly along (in my experience, bus drivers are generally grumpy and unhelpful and particularly hostile to mums with buggies – I think the grumpiness is probably something to do with the fact that there are hardly any public toilets in London and bus drivers aren’t allowed to just nip into the nearest pub like the rest of us). As she went past, I asked if she wanted me to hold the baby while she got herself sorted out. She looked me over and I must have looked trustworthy because she gratefully handed over the child and went off to stow the buggy. Well, she took ages to come back, so I got a good long cuddle, as well as a few strange looks from people getting on at the next stop, possibly on account of the baby being as dark-skinned as I am pale.