An Unexpected Award

 

 

It was rather a surprise {to say the least} when we got the letter

saying Benjamin was invited to the Foundation Awards at School.

 

He got an award for Attitude to Learning in Art.

 

Now - we know that Ben is super keen and works hard at school

{it's a major problem trying to stop him calling out answers}

 

and his art teacher last year told me how much effort he puts in

{though all his efforts seem to be focused on robots and monsters with wings}

 

But still - an award for art! For Ben!

It is amusing - but it doesn't stop us being oh, so very proud of him.

{and do note the ball of blu-tac in his fingers - fiddled with it for the whole cermony -
can't take the ASD/ADHD out of the boy}

 

 

 

 

Southport Airshow 2014

The forecast for the Saturday wasn't great -

and so it turned out, with some aircraft {included the long awaited Vulcan} cancelled.

 

But we still had a great day.

 

We were in Southport by 9am, ready for breakfast at Frankie and Benny's

and on the beach by 10.30, ready for the show.

 

Ben had a chair, his tablet, a wi-fi hotspot, headphones and two spare batteries.

 

Occasionally he watched some planes flying through the murky skies -

 

The fantastic red arrows in a flat display, a fairly psychotic typhoon

and the emotional sight of the two Lancasters.

 

 

New Tee Shirt Day

He's very proud of his new TMNT Leonardo tee-shirt

 

{genre tee-shirts rule!}

 

I think....

.... he definitely needs a bigger bike!

 

Sixteen years old and a college student....

 ... but not too grown up to stop doing toss overs at FMC.

The Man Jesus

 

Al and I saw this fantastic one man show in the Quays Theatre at the Lowry.

 

It was just the sort of thing that we have written and performed in the past-

though obviously Simon Callow's performance was light years beyond

anything we've achieved.

The Tour of Britain Visits Widnes

Some great photos from the local newspapers as Sir Brad, Cav

and the rest of the riders in the Tour of Britain rode through town.

 

 

Megs saw the peloton pass Cronton Sixth Form,

Gma and Gpa watched it pass the end of their road

Ben watched the intermediate sprint at Wade Deacon.

 

And obviously I was in work -

a day of home visits for my Nursery new starters

 

 

The funniest thing is, the rest of the Stage took the tour up the Conwy Valley -

past Nannies hill,

past the Groes Inn {Auntie Judy was planning to watch there}

through Conwy and Deganwy,

past the end of Bryn Lupus Road {virtually passing the caravan}

then circumnavigating the Great Orme, before a sprint finish on Llandudno prom.

 

Really - all our places in one day!

 

 

Hanging in there

Ben is loving his sessions at Be Boulder

 

He tells me "I need to work on my upper body strength"

 

No denying my youngest is now a teenager!

 

Last London trip of the year...

.... or at least that's the plan.

 

It was another day  where we combined a trip out to Chadwell Heath to see Jonathan {he's finished radiotherapy and is now working on his recovery} and Katharine {Karen out at the gym} -

 

with an afternoon at the theatre -

seeing Martin Freeman in Richard III at Trafalgar Studios.

 

Kathie joined us for this jaunt - spending a quiet morning in the galleries before meeting up at Waterstones {nothing new there}

 

It was an interesting Richard -

very high concept - a real 1970's "Winter of Discontent"

but in the end it had too many ideas

that seemed to be more for dressing than impact on the plot.

 

{we really were spoiled seeing Kevin Spacey in a pretty much perfect production at the Old Vic in 2011}

 

We had tea at Steak & Co -

then wandered over to Covent Garden for a wander around the market

before catching the last train home.

 

And that is that for London 2014

 

{but the tickets are already booked for Hamlet at the Barbican in 2015}

 

 

 

 

Medea

Evening at the cinema with Kathie to see the NT Live broadcast of Medea.

 

It was brutal - I really don't think I would have managed to get through it at the theatre -

 

afterwards we need to sit and drink coffee/hot chocolate as we came to terms with it.

 

Yet another show with amazing music and movement -

 

and in Helen McCrory a truly terrifying Medea.

 

Into Year 9

One teenager going back to school and into Year 9