The first week back after the school holidays was mega busy. It was Iain's birthday on Wednesday, William went away on his overnight school trip on Thursday morning, and it was the Pau Grand Prix all weekend. On top of this I've been diligently trying to clear the house of all the toys and clothes we don't need any more plus extra stuff we seem to have acquired in the last couple of months (e.g. a booster seat for the Oman Browns and ski gear that we got for going to Andorra in February). Something in me says that we're going to to be on the move again before we know it, so the more I can get rid of now, the better. I'm even stopping buying lots of food. I'm just trying to run down all the things in the pantry and the freezer. Iain thinks I'm mad.
Anyway, onto the Birthday Boy himself. After my mighty effort at Halloween, Iain requested another cheesecake as his birthday cake so I got to work in the kitchen (using random things up ;-) ) and creating a no-bake "seascape" cheesecake. After the jelly leakage at Halloween, I tried my luck by adding some gelatine to the cheese layer and it worked perfectly: an impermeable layer! I was a bit annoyed that I couldn't get my hands on GF haribo-esque sharks or fish sweets but I got some worms (sea snakes!) and was still happy with the outcome. Iain was also happy with the outcome, and his bottle of Arran malt, and new jammies.
Not only were we celebrating Iain’s birthday on Wednesday, but we were also getting William packed for his school trip as he was leaving first thing on Thursday. It was to an education centre about traditional Bearnaise culture called
Ospitalea. He was super excited as we went through the kit list, making sure we had everything that he needed, and that his name was on everything. Especially Bunny-Elephant. Oh, how worried I was that something would happen to
them!
We threw the last minute items into the case in the morning and as we left, William said he had a wobbly tummy with nerves and excitement! We got down to school sharp, and we were the first family to arrive. We were quickly followed by Marley and his mum, and then a steady trickle until everyone was ready and waiting to leave. There were a few nervous faces, and that was just the parents! The bus was parked at Place de la Monnie and when Mme Bonnemasou-Carrére said that parents had the option of walking their kids down to the bus, William told us not to bother and that he would be fine. I have to admit, I did shed a wee tear as he walked away with his classmates. I simply couldn’t believe that he’s old enough already to be doing overnight trips with school. Where did my wee baby boy go?!
The tears were short lived as I remembered what Iain and I had planned to do while he was away…
- Big walk (earlier than usual due to early kick off at school)
- Les Halles Oyster Bar for lunch
- Pub Crawl
- Cotes et Mer for dinner
- Long lie on Friday morning (followed by the gym)
It was actually a unique experience, suiting ourselves and not having to keep watching the clock but about 95% of our chat was still probably about William and what he was doing. And it was bloody weird not having him come into see us for snuggles in the morning.
We went to collect him at 6pm on Friday night and it really felt like he’d been away for a week. He came bowling through the back gate at the château with a huge smile on his face, delighted to see us and buzzing from his adventure. It looked like he’d grown overnight and we were just so happy to see him. As requested, we had beef stroganoff for dinner and listened to all his stories from the trip. (Still unsure exactly what they did for the whole time, but he seemed to enjoy himself!)
And then is was the weekend. William was meant to have tennis on Saturday morning be we gave him a reprieve as he was knackered from it being the first week back at school, plus his trip. Instead, we chilled out at home then spent the rest of the day (and weekend, actually) either floating about the centre ville watching the Grand Prix, or pottering in the garden. The sun is finally out and the temperatures are heating up, and it feels good. Pau is beautiful at this time of year and it felt like she got her mojo back this weekend after two years of covid restrictions.
Lorna :)
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