Project 52 2021 week 23

We’re rapidly approaching midsummer in a couple of weeks, and everyone was hoping for freedom day on the 21st. It’s looking like I will be proved right in that I said when it was first announced that there was no way we’d be ready to get rid of all restrictions. Indian/Delta variant cases are rapidly increasing, so it’s looking like the date will be pushed back. It’s been another wonderful weather week although I have to admit I’ve not been out much in it.

Onto our week 23 of Project 23.

On Sunday it was quiet at tennis. There was only the 2 boys again – always a problem with numbers when it’s reliant on parents taking the session rather than a coach because people don’t come as regularly. They played for a bit, then wanted to head to a different park to play. The rest of the day we went to pick up more milkshake from the local farm vending machine, then spent it relaxing.

Monday was the start of activity week at school for N’s class in absence of their residential which was cancelled. He wasn’t happy with the change around to their mini bubbles, as playtime noone wanted to play their usual games. He is still in with 2 friends, so he’ll just have to lump it. He moved from the back of the class where he previously struggled to see the board, to the front where he’s also got issues seeing it. But he only complained the first day so maybe it just took adjusting. He also came home with slight red burnt arms. That’s so rare, and a mix of him probably not stopping to put on sun lotion from his bag, but also being outside pretty much all day.

Work was mad as a big date is now having to move due to someone else’s last minute data change, so that increases our workload after ours was planned for ages. So frustrating as we can’t communicate to anyone about the date until the others properly confirm theirs.

Tuesday was another work and school day. N enjoyed his day more as it was more sport and no drama which he really hates. They’re having to do a performance which he’s not enjoying – evidently there’s a lot of telling off going on which isn’t always fair in his eyes.

On Wednesday, the kids had a mobile climbing wall come into school. N loved it, plus they got to do tag rugby which he asked to do in afterschool club going forward. Unfortunately he has tennis on the same day, and it’s usually a double PE day, so he would struggle to actually do much in tennis having done so much sport before. In the evening N enjoyed getting up close as the calves in the field came over to see him. He enjoyed his tennis lesson – it was mostly playing a game with his coach, then serving practice.

Thursday our new fridge arrived. Of course my phone decided not to ring when the delivery driver was trying to work out which of the 3 of our surname was the correct house. He turned up during my chairing a meeting of 12 people. I’d left enough room for it to slot in with the old fridge next to it to transfer everything over, then clean it out. Needless to say the OH hasn’t moved it out so we’re now sitting at a shunted and cramped kitchen table until I can find a way to move it down the yard before the council collect it in 2 weeks. It’s huge, about another 40cm height, but there’s no extra shelf. There’s a lot more space as it’s a little wider though and hopefully there’ll be a lot less condensation to worry about. There was lots more sports at school – cricket, hockey and more outdoor activities.

The OH had to go up in the roof to find the leak that was leaving a mouldy water mark on the spare room ceiling. He found it, then starting removing old baby and toddler equipment from the roof. It wasn’t even ours but my SIL’s from when they were living in the other part of the house before their house was built.

By Friday N was so tanned. He tans easily anyway, but he has his comedy white ‘socks’ and t shirt arms and neckline. A week outside at school with then tennis some evenings. I had a short work day, and got everything I’d wanted to finished. I also nipped out at lunchtime to drop off more Vinted sales. We had the plumber over to fix the leak. One part of the hot water pipe had 3 spray holes, so he chopped that out and fixed it. Hopefully no more is an issue.

N’s tennis was a lot of fun for them, and his old tennis friend and teammate who stopped playing when Covid arrived was back at training. It was lovely to talk to his mum again, but it’s a bit of a mystery at the moment as to whether someone’s left. One of the team wasn’t there, so I hope she’s still coming along. The other missing boy didn’t mention at school he was stopping, but I guess we’ll see next week.

Saturday we decided we needed a trip to Warwick to the specialist sports shop there. We’ve been stocking up on sports t shirts and shorts this week for N given he needed enough kit to wear for non uniform activity week and for tennis. But we failed to get him a new pair of tennis shoes. Our usual shop in town only had 1 pair in his size and they were too narrow for him across the top. And online ones we ordered were too small. We arrived early, but the shop was the busiest sports shop I’ve ever seen. 4-5 staff members and several customers at once – we were there for nearly 40 minutes so saw a lot of people. We’ll definitely be back. N tried on about 8 pairs of shoes. He really just wants mostly white shoes, but nowadays so many are ugly heavy black, or garish bright colours. Thankfully they did manage to dig out one pair that he liked and felt fine. Luckily they were reasonably priced, but I’m hoping his feet don’t grow as there wasn’t as much room in these vs some of the others he tried. It’s good to know there’s a shop nearby that stocks plenty of options.

We had a short wander around too before heading home. The rest of the day was relaxing, cooking and watching a bit of Clarkson’s Farm on Prime to see if we could spot my brother in law, who Jeremy Clarkson had bought some sheep off. We saw him on episode 2 to much excitement for N. I turned on the Euros football early evening to see the horrific sight of the Danish player Eriksen having collapsed and the medics trying to help him. Awful for him, his family and the players, but thankfully a few hours later he is stabilised in hospital and hopefully on the road to recovery.

This week’s photo in of some of the WI creations in the village shop windows.

New posts this week:

• Buying from a milk vending machine
• Freezing veg and saving time when cooking
• Non stop talking post lockdown