and so you’re back
from outer space
I just walked in to find you here
with that sad look upon your face
I should have changed my stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I had known for just one second
you’d be back to bother me
[Falsetto]I will sur-vi-hi-i-ve[/falsetto]
Did you guess? (p.s., this is not an original joke…..)
Have you any idea how much it costs for a family trip to London in high season, especially if you plan to go by train?
It’s a lot. And we decided it wouldn’t be negated in any way by me having one evening out to go to a world class concert costing £6.
So, no trip to the Smoke and I’ll have to listen to the Proms on the radio like everyone else.
But there is a new plan (already booked) which is that T and I are going to Greenbelt this year.
This is a huge deal for me. Apart from the fact that I’ve never been and I’m sure I would enjoy it, it’s a significant milestone for me with regard to my life with T.
I had booked Greenbelt tickets the year he was 2, more or less the same time as we received T’s autism diagnosis. As the summer went on it became horribly obvious that it just was not going to work, so we didn’t go. But I promised myself that one day when he was older and better able to cope with places and people, we would get there. And this is the year 
It certainly won’t be straightforward, but I have a kind friend coming along as helper/carer and the Greenbelt folks seem pretty switched on about helping people with special needs.
My latest Amazon order includes this production of The Pirates of Penzance. I have to confess I didn’t pay much edition to the edition, but now it’s arrived I realise it’s the very same version that we had at home when I was a kid. Such a treat
Was folding laundry in the bedroom yesterday evening and at the same time watching the beautiful and moving film Être et Avoir on BBC 4.The film doesn’t have a soundtrack and is generally very quiet, but I gradually became aware of a flowing baroque tune being played on a descant recorder. It didn’t really sound like it was coming from the television, it sounded close by. So I switched the sound off and, sure enough, the music carried on. It was coming from next door.
How very thrilling that a recorder player has moved into the house next door (it’s shared rented accommodation so there’s a certain amount of coming and going). Am I going to be able to resist the temptation to ask whoever it is if they want to play some duets?
Where did we go?
East Dene on the Isle of Wight
What was the deal?
Freedom Family Holidays – “the wonderful opportunity for families living with autism and related behaviours to have a relaxing holiday together in a supportive environment without judgement or discrimination”.
And how did that work?
It’s a large, rambling, shabby and comfy country house, which normally houses large groups of schoolchildren for activity holidays. But for two weeks in the summer, the place is given over to up to ten families affected by autism for a full board, semi-structured holiday. The nearest I can get to describing what it’s really like is a country house party with some very peculiar guests.
What was the accommodation like?
We got a basic room with four beds and a sink. It was the only occupied room on our corridor. The rooms were lockable from the outside and inside. You had to go down the hall for the loo or a shower (which were newly installed and very good). The organisers understand that sleep is often a big issue with autism and we were offered the use of the room next door if necessary. In fact T slept like a log right through every night but the last one, where he hardly slept at all. And as I had to be fit for the drive back to Lancashire next day, I got to slope off to the other room, leaving husband and older son holding the fort.
They also understand about the poo aspects of autism and dealt with a smearing incident in one of the corridors one day with discretion and aplomb.
The grub?
Reasonably good quality institutional catering. Big fry up every morning, packed lunches provided midday and a two-course hot meal in the evening. Older son particularly rated their sausages.
So what were the other guests like?
Ten families in all, a real mix of situations and ages; e.g.
-A family with two smallish kids, one of which seemed reasonably HF ASD
-A lady in her late sixties with her LF gentle giant of a grandson, who spent most of the holiday in either his swimming trunks or his underpants (a sign that he felt at home and at ease)
-A single mum with a teenage LF son (boistrous, but also very gentle) and a slightly younger NT boy who quickly buddied up with my own son.
-A family with four girls; two little dots of 3 and 4, who just beetled about the house all week looking incredibly at home and quite incredibly a pair of ASD identical twins, who had their own private language (mostly used to discuss the finer critical points of their favorite Thomas video)
-A family with an AS boy of 11 (very, very bright) an autistic 10-year old and an NT 9 year old.
It took no more than 48 hours for everyone to feel at home.For me meeting the other parents was one of the nicest parts of the holiday. It was also quite a learning experience, seeing at such close quarters all the different aspects of autism in both younger and older children.
We all had the run of the house, but during the day (when we weren’t out and about) we mostly inhabited two big lounges overlooking the grounds. There was a telly, a VHS and DVD. Also facilities for making tea and coffee. We also had a couple of fridges for any extra food we needed. These soon filled with wine and beer.
What did you do all day?
Well, the swimming pool was open for hours every day and everyone spent quite a bit of time there.
And each day offered different activities, all run by trained and qualified staff. We dipped into them, depending on what else we were up to and whether they appealed to us. So there was for example trampolining, archery, an organised walk, arts and crafts, giant games, a karaoke session, a campfire evening (complete with marshmallows, cocoa and singing). It was all very flexible and laid back. The whole idea was to provide a holiday that catered for every member of the family. So while your autistic 7-year old might not get much from a karaoke session, his 6 year old NT sister might just love it.
Most families also went on trips. We didn’t do much of that (too much traffic on the island to be enjoyable in our view). But we did have one very fun day, when we bought a family bus rover ticket and just spent the afternoon riding around the island on double deckers.
How secure was the site?
No more nor less secure than any standard holiday accommodation. The 10 acre site has a clear boundary, but a determined ASD escape artist would be able to just walk down the field, hop over a low fence and scamper down to the beach.
I found my range of comfort with T increased as the week went on and we all got used to the building and the grounds, but it was necessary to maintain a clear line of 1:1 supervision of him at all times.
Overall verdict
Me 8/10 – Loved the holiday, wish it was a bit nearer home (the journey back wore us out completely)
Hubby 5/10 – really appreciated the place and what they set out to achieve, but has decided that even under these circumstances that a holiday with T is no holiday at all
T – 7/10 – Loved the pool and generally coped well. Curiously didn’t like being around so many ASD kids and all their behaviours. Was very glad to get home.
S – 12/10 My older son had an absolute blast and is already begging to go back next year. This holiday worked for him on so many levels. He loved the centre and spent as much time as he could in the pool. He made a friend, which was great. He also admitted to me how much he appreciated being somewhere where he didn’t have to feel embarrassed by T.
Will you go again?
Possibly, if S still wants to go back by next Spring. But probably only me and the boys.
The library at work (which is a large further education college) has been having a sale of books that haven’t been issued for at least 10 years!. And at 10p a book they are hard hard to resist. So yesterday I brought home Nuns and Soliders by Iris Murdoch, four novels by Aldous Huxley; Antic Hey, Eyeless in Gaza, Crome Yellow and Mortal Coils (part of a nice hardbound complete works collection), The History of Rasselas by Samuel Johnson, a collection of modern British Short Stories, The Singing Sands by Josephone Tey, Private Angelo by Eric Linklater, The Threepenny Novel by Bertolt Brecht, England Their England by AG Macdonnell, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (which I’ve never read yet), a collection of SF short stories and a biography about life in a Hebridean croft.
All a colleague had to say was that if I could find the time to read that lot, they weren’t working me hard enough. Some folk just don’t understand……
Books in bold are ones I’ve read.
Any in bold with an asterisk (*) after them are ones I’ve tried to read but failed.
Any in bold with a caret (^) after them are ones I’ve read and probably never will again — because once is enough [either due to length or my dislike of it]
Books in italics are ones I want to read.
Books in normal print are ones I’m not interested in (perhaps some of you can convince me one of these is a must-read!)
1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)^
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)*
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)^
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)^
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)*
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)*
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)^
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)*
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timoth Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)^
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)*
(Nicked from Chukovsky btw)
I’ve never really “got” Gilbert and George. But this is just brilliant