We're having heavy wind and rain here in Chippenham. Some roads have been flooded [like our High Street, see below] and JD's school closed for two days (much to his delight - nobody likes playing rugby in a pond!). Strange times.
 I've spent about 30 hours over recent weeks putting together the first of three assignment towards the ILM Level 5 Course in Coaching for which I am studying. My first draft was only ⅔ "pass", so I strengthened some sections and my second draft has now passed. Onwards...
 JD had his best friend Liam over for a playdate the other day. Liam's parents are French, but Liam's as English as they come!  We played Risk, I took them swimming and then, after a nerf gun battle, they enjoyed a duck pancake meal.
 We drove up to visit my friend Claire and her kids today - and I was quite taken aback to find 60th birthday decorations, an amazing buffet, terrific presents and a chocolate cake! So kind of Claire - a very memorable early birthday celebration! I'm still in my late 50s, but only for a few more hours!!
After our most recent trip to my parent's house we were able to bring back another carload of boxes from their attic. One was a selection of board games my brothers and I used to play as children. JD is now expanding his repertoire from "Monopoly", "Risk" and "Scrabble" to some new games. It's no good forbidding him from hours of playing on his phone if you don't provide alternative entertainment!  "Formula One" and "The Mind" have gone down well, as has the collaborative "Thunderbirds" game [see above]. Less gripping were dominoes, Wari and "Shoulder to Shoulder". And we haven't even attempted "Colditz" yet! 
With our good friend Krista away in India we thought it would be nice to invite her husband Stuart over for a meal last week. Jiajia excelled herself with a delicious chicken and veg meal for us all. 
 JD spotted his favourite ever registration plate on
this Aston Martin last week. Start saving, son!  I ran a personal best at yesterday's Park Run - under 28 mins at last.
Our move to Chippenham, and indeed to the UK, 6 months ago would have been sooooo much harder were it not for our good friends, Krista and Stuart who previously helped us purchase a couple of properties whilst we were in China, and then furnished our temporary house in preparation for us moving in.  In our first half-year here, they have been invaluable friends - showing us the Chippenham ropes, taking a real interest in our lives and making us feel so welcome. We attended their church last weekend (it's 50m from our house!) to see Stuart leading the service and preaching. And we are hosting them for a meal on Christmas day.
We spent a lovely few days with my folks this half-term week. Despite bring in their 80s, they cope really well with life's complications and they complement each others mental/physical short-comings perfectly! It occurred to me the other day that I can't remember the last time I had an argument, or even a sharp word, with my parents (or my brothers come to that!). That's what family is all about.
 We met up with Ratch, my good friend from College days, in London today to visit the British Museum. So much to see, and quite busy, but we saw the main sights by the end and left exhausted for a spot of shopping and some pancakes for dinner.
Despite seeing the Rosetta Stone, Elgin Marbles, Easter island statue, Sutton Hoo helmet, Lewis chessman, etc, I think my strongest memory will be handling the flint knife [bottom right] which the "hands on guide" assured us was crafted around 400,000 years ago. I mean, wow!!
Free pumpkins were being given away in Chippenham High Street this morning. So, this afternoon, JD had a lot of fun carving his first one.
JD finished his first half-term at a UK school today. He's settled so quickly and done really well. On Monday this week, he played with Year 10s and a teacher in Badminton Club. Yesterday he came 4th in the Lego Club Finals (despite being a team of one against 7 other teams of three!). And today he cooked spaghetti bolognese in Cookery class.  Then today we registered JD to take a Mandarin GCSE examination next Summer. And JD now has 87 online praise points - second in his class and top 10% in his year. We are really pleased with so many aspects of his work/play. Good job, son!
We've been trying to visit a new place each week since arriving back in the UK. This week it was the turn of Avebury Manor, or at least the gardens around it, since the Manor itself was badly flooded in January this year and remains closed. We started at a small Museum where the curator gave JD an "Odd one Out" worksheet, to help him focus on the contents of the displays.
The extensive and picturesque gardens were hosting over 80 sculptures by local artists, and we had fun spotting them and gasping at their asking prices! The sculpture exhibition was about to finish its six week run, so we just squeezed in. We'll head back again when the Manor finally dries out!  I recently found a website that sells spare parts for a wide variety of old Dinky and Corgi vehicles. So I ordered some missing bits for 3-4 of my vintage Gerry Anderson models (Thunderbirds, Joe 90, Captain Scarlet) and they arrived yesterday. I spent this morning using them, and some Halfords car paint, to upgrade my collection.  Before  After This is Captain Scarlet's "Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle" (SPC).
 When we moved back to the UK, our neighbouring church promised they would cut back the huge hedge which runs parallel to our back garden. And then the rains came. And then it was bird-nesting season. But finally, the work has begun. It has left us with a view of brown branches rather than evergreen leaves, but should let a lot more light into our garden and back windows.   Today was the first class of a 6-8 month course I've signed up for. It's an Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) foundation degree course in "Coaching". Most of it is online and self-study, but there are four days of meet-up classes.  I'm not sure where, if anywhere, the qualification will lead, but the course is being run by Mind-gap - my brother's training and coaching business. So there's a bonus aspect of being able to see him in action as well as being a student, instead of a teacher, for a change.  The first day went very well, but was also the starting gun for a month of self-study leading to a 5000 word assignment. Better get cracking...
JJ asked me how honey can be used to polish things. Fair point...!  |
 AuthorPaul Hider started this blog to share his rather odd life living in China for over 20 years. Since returning to the UK in 2024, the blog now records his more "normal" lifestyle! Past blog entries
December 2024
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