Le Rentrée 2020

Yesterday, was the final day of the holidays and I decided that the best way to spend it was doing lots of fun, kid-friendly activities. An "au revoir" to the holidays if you will. In the morning, we cycled out to the MTB park in Billère. This was our first trip out since that fateful Sunday when William crashed off the red level jump. It was good to get out there again to set the demons to rest. Once you get over the Pont d'Espagne, it's an easy, safe ride along the river. We probably played around for about 30mins, following the trails and practicing the easy jumps and boards. Once the energy levels started to drop, we delved into my ever present snack bag for a quick sugar hit before hitting some final trails before the ride home for lunch. And this is where the demons returned. And this time it was me who crashed. Serves me right for getting too confident! It wasn't even that big a trick but I lost my balance and my front wheel dropped off the board right at the end and jammed in the cross beam. My momentum carried me forward and sent me head first, right over my handlebars. It was a Bobby Dazzler. William's immediate response? "That. Was. Ah-May-Zing!" It was actually a pretty decent crash and straight away my thigh started to throb. I knew I was in for some good bruising. Clelands 0 - MTB Trails 2. 

In the afternoon, I finally fulfilled a wish for William by taking him on the little tourist train that goes around Pau. To be honest, I was actually keen to go on it too so it was a good wee afternoon out. My only disappointment was that none of the commentary was in English. You'd think a tourist activity such as this would provide english translation eh? Not in France! It's a fair wee jaunt around the town and even takes in the grand villas of Trespoey. William absolutely loved it. As you can see! 

By the time I was heading to bed, my war wounds were starting to show...

And suddenly it was Tuesday and the return at school. And my god, haven't we all been looking forward to this! Those few weeks back in June were very welcomed but today seemed to bring with it a proper feeling of normality and rhythm. Like someone had pushed Control+Alt+Delete and reset everything. I just hope that this routine doesn't fizzle out before we even reach the autumn holidays. It's mad that the kids are all just back and that's it. After months of lockdown and then uncertainty, everyone is just back in. It's a little strange but it's also brilliant. William was very excited to be going back but we were both a bit nervous about who his new teacher was going to be. Her name is Céclie and first impressions are that she's very quiet and reserved. We're so used to Nathalie and her warm, gregarious personality but I suppose Cécile is brand new at the school too so she's just finding her feet. A huge plus is that Laurence is his Teacher Aide this year again so that provides some very reassuring continuity. I left him at his classroom and he trotted in quite happy. What a difference a year makes! And once he'd gone in, I celebrated the milestone with an almost 8km walk and a coffee a Blend. 

And breathe. 

LM :)