Well it should be… I haven’t blogged for nearly three weeks. As always my defense is I am busy, and when I do get some free time, I tend to just flop in the chair with little inclination to do anything.

Ellie has been working out her GCSE options. In addition to the standard subjects she is taking Drama, PE and French. In Nikki and Robbies time they could take four options, but with the latest interference by the government in education, Ellies year will be going back to the system of taking all their exams at the end of a course instead of doing them progressively through modules, and coursework. So the school have reduced the options by one, as the students will be under a lot of pressure when it is their time to sit GCSE’s. It is a practical response, and a lot of other schools are doing the same. So the decision by the Secretary of State for Education has in effect narrowed the curriculum children study. The idiot… he is just pandering to what he thinks the elctorate want, rather than taking a view on what is best for the students. The only idea he has had of any note was to centralise the examining bodies… which would be a smart move… surely we want to students sitting the same exams across the country ? That would be better for standards. It would remove a competitive element for examining bodies – another big benefit. But it seems that particular item has been shelved…. The idiot. His background for being Secretary of State for Education. Well after being educated himself he became a journalist before becoming a politician. Not sure how that qualifies him for the position he is in.

Anyhow, I was talking about Ellie. She was pleased to be told this week at school, that she came top of her year for ‘attitude to learning’ in the latest assessment. We all have to do the best with whatever we have been given, and you can only do that with application… so well done to Ellie, the school are very pleased with her approach to her school work. When we went to the ‘parents option evening’ all the teachers said lovely things about her. She has just had her braces removed as well, and now has a set of lovely straight teeth. She isn’t off the hook yet though, in a weeks time she will be given a ‘retainer’ which she will have to wear daily and then after a period just at night. This is partly to ensure she maintains her nicely shaped teeth, but also to gently widen her jaw. She had a dance competition on the 24th, and did well, but didn’t win anything this time. She is now enjoying the Easter break, she finished school on Thursday and has a couple of weeks off.

Rob also finished at Uni for Easter on Thursday. I went and picked him up after work, which was quite a trip in the holiday traffic. We got home about 7:30pm. He has been doing well, and has had two A grades for his latest work. We will see how this is all reflected in his final mark for his degree, but at the moment he looks set to get a good degree. As always with Robbie, he has a strong work ethic. He is doing his final dissertation, and since coming home on Thursday, has worked on it each day, with the exception of yesterday, Easter day. He goes back to Northampton on the 9th, although his final term doesn’t start till the 15th. He wants to spend some time at the Uni making sure his work is spot on… He will be finished in June, and that is when the challenge of finding work starts. He has been sending out plenty of letters / cv’s as part of the job hunt process, so he has started, but nothing lined up yet. Rob is keeping himself well, he gets to the gym whilst in Northampton. TRicia and Rob went off to the gym this morning.

Nikki is still in Germany with Kevin, she seems to be enjoying her downtime for Bobsleigh, and her time with Kevin. She was even cooking the Easter Day meal yesterday for Kevins family. Nikki comes back on April 10th.

Tricia is just over a nasty cold…. a few weeks back the BBC were here to film Tricia as part of a local feature on the community shop. The house and kitchen in particular were cleaned vigorously… Ellie and I were banned from making a mess anywhere … and just sitting down somewhere in the house constituted a mess . As seems to be the way with these things, Tricia was filmed cooking, and interviewed, but only a small part was used. But she still has people coming up to her saying ‘saw you on the tele’…

I have just landed a part as ‘Inspector David Charlesworth’ in ‘Death in High Heels’. Which is a bit like an Agatha Christie on stage. Performances are 9,10,11 May, so not long away. I don’t come on till the start of the second half after the murder has been committed, but then I am on for the whole of the second half. Lots of lines to learn. I am also doing the Swimathon on April 27th… so have been spending plenty of time in the pool these last few weeks to start building up to the 200 lengths I will need to do. Back in the pool tomorrow morning.

BP have been getting plenty of me as well. I had to do a series of presentations, first of all to a UK audience, then online to first Houston, and then last Thursday to Singapore. Preparing for these meant quite a bit of work one weekend, and then the weekend before Easter I had to spend some time working catching up on some other tasks. So this weekend has been a welcome break. On Friday, with all the work, swimming, etc etc catching up with me I actually went to bed in the afternoon for a few hours. Then in the evening we went next door to Alan and Rachels for a curry evening. On Saturday we went shopping in MK… we bought Ellie and Rob some Jeans instead of Easter Eggs. Yesterday after church, Tricia’s Mum and Dad came over. Today has been a quiet day. Tricia and Rob went to the gym, I sat and watched Foyle’s War which I had recorded from yesterday. This afternoon I finally sorted out Tricia’s e-mail…

Tomorrow … back to work for me. Tricia, Rob and Ellie are off to a musuem in Oxford.

Here’s Rob & Ellie in MK on Saturday, then one of Ellie with her school report. Finally one of Ellie with her dance partner at her reecent competition.