Busyknitter

Not much happened.

A very quiet day; My sore throat from Tuesday flowered into a fabulous head cold, so I had to cancel my afternoon singing lesson.

The friend who is coming to Greenbelt with us came round in the morning for a planning session. We decided to go for the minimal kibble approach; i.e. no cooking.

I popped into town while T was with his carer in the afternoon and snaffled two pairs of festival-suitable cropped trousers at a charity shop plus a very nifty little baglett for keeping Really Important Things safe while mooching around the festival.

After tea, T and I went for a walk and got totally soaked in a rainstorm.

And in the evening I reached a major milestone with this bloomin work!

As I said, a very quiet day indeed.

I’ve removed Spiked from my links.

Reason? I came across Lobbywatch on a casual internet browse which goes on at length about how it is hugely bound up in what appears to be a Revolutionary Communist Party, pro-GM, pro all scientific progress at all costs lobbying network. At least that’s what folk like George Monbiot reckon.

Now, I happen to think that Mr. Monbiot is a bit of an anti-rationalist wanker myself. His Guardian columns have been annoying me for years. And i did know that the Spiked people were all marxists of one sort or another.

But I don’t want to be indentified with any of this daft factionalism (Judean People’s Front? Splitters!)

So Spiked! has had to go.

Took T to the church holiday club for a little while in the morning. I couldn’t leave him there as they aren’t set up with enough workers to give him the attention (but I think I will start asking for them to lay something on next year).

He really enjoyed it. When we arrived, there was just one chair placed in the middle of the school hall with all the activity going on around it. T plonked himself in the chair as if he were waiting for church or school assembly to start and just sat there happily waiting. It was very sweet.

Then some girly shopping; face cream, mascara and a new nail varnish. I also got collared in the street by someone flogging a promotion for a local hair salon and Oh My Goodness I signed up for it (which is quite out of character). essentially I’ve prepaid for six months worth of hair treatments - cuts colour, head massages, styling etc. If I use everything, i’ll have paid £55 for £350 of treatment. Now I know I won’t do that, but even if i get two cuts and a colour out of the deal, I’ll be quids in. They’d better be good.

And here is some free advertising for them Spencer Hair Company

T’s respite carer thinks he is starting to echo back simple phrases that people say to him.

Watched the Ingmar Bergman movie in the afternoon.

Carried on working in the evening. It’s very dull but I am making good progress with what i need to do.

Ooh, and I made a huge batch of cauliflower cheese for tea and the freezer. Though i say so myself, I make the best cauli cheese on this planet.

Not much reading going on this week, though I have finished Buddenbrooks at last (Poor Hanno!). Must look out a good stock of books to take away next week.

I have a sore throat.

Husband and older son plus my Mum have toodled off to Paris for a short autism-free break, leaving me and and the little fella at home. We have no grand plans because we are off to the Isle of Wight on Saturday.

I thought I’d keep a daily diary of our very quiet week at home. Here’s what we did yesterday:

Good Bits
-T enjoyed his first visit to his respite carer in a while (she’s been on holiday herself). She’s recently moved house but is still very close to us.
-While T was out, I spent the whole afternoon messing around learning to cook a new curry - chicken dhansak, mmm-mmnn.
-We cycled to the pool and had a very relaxing swim.
-Overnight I taped a ridiculously long Ingmar Bergman movie off Channel 4 to watch over the week - Scenes from a Marriage

Bad bits
- Have you any idea of the horrible mess that can be made by an autistic boy in search of sensory fun armed with only two slightly overrripe bananas?
-I spent the whole evening working, grrrr.
-correction, I spent the first part of the evening struggling to work with my underpowered laptop then gave up and moved onto husband’s smart games oriented PC (I’m going to have to do something about this in the autumn).

Here is a picture of the Baby Surprise Jacket that I finished a few weeks ago.

And here is the new one that I am doing for a friend’s baby’s first birthday

Which is putting my lacy sock project on hold. Here is the one that I have finished.

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.

I’ve been trying really hard to ignore all the troubles going on in the Church of England. But the noise levels are getting to the point where it’s bloomin’ well unavoidable.

So this weekend I spent some time doing a little homework, reading both the Gafcon Final Statement on Global Anglican Future. and ++Rowan’s response.

Now this is the hard bit. I have to say I do agree with the words of the GAFCON statement. But that’s not the same as saying I support the motives and objectives of those who wrote them. I’m not sure that homosexuality in the clergy is a communion-breaker for me. But then I’m not having to address the question in my parish.

To be honest, I’m just very sad that all this is happening. I have absolutely no clue in my head or heart about where God is in all this; to work for unity at all costs or to draw the line in the sand and not cross it.

I guess this is how children feel when they see their parents heading for divorce and are powerless to do anything about it

I am very excited.

Following the success of our trip to Newcastle, we are planning two nights in London, hopefully staying in an apartment hotel somewhere central. We’ll do fun stuff with the boys during the day and take turns to go out in the evenings. Mr. BK is planning a night out with some of his pals. But I’m plotting to go to a Prom, which is something I haven’t done for over twenty years. Wheeeeee!

T is up to his old tricks. It’s 11pm, he’s been officially “in bed” for four hours now but he’s nowhere near asleep.

And he’s back in furniture removal mode. Well, there isn’t actually any furniture in his room except for a mattress, but I’ve just been up there to check on him and found it on the other side of the (fairly large) room.

Never mind; hopefully we will soon have his new bed installed and fixed to the floor (made by these folks). That’ll settle his hash.

Wish he’d go to sleep a bit earlier though, he’ll be impossible to wake in the morning.