I have lost the plot a bit this week. Having barely survived the pre-school summer fair I entered the last week of term less than fighting fit.
This was not good news. As parents across the country can attest, this is when you need to be at your most organised and energetic. Instead, just looking at the calendar was giving me a headache - end of term concerts, parties, visits to fire stations (yes, really), bring a game to school day etc, etc, etc
I was so brain addled by Thursday that I was convinced it was Friday - to the point of phoning my brother to wish him happy birthday. "It's tomorrow actually" he said. I was quite exasperated with him and spent about five minutes insisting he was wrong whilst my brother, quite reasonably, pointed out that he tended to remember the date of his own birthday.
No surprise then that I managed to forget to buy the obligatory end of school presents for the children's teachers. This was a big omission, particularly as Ava insisted we needed six for her - two teachers, three teaching assistants and one lunch time supervisor (or dinner lady to anyone over 30). All I can say is, thank heavens for the garden - my go-to for last minute gifts.
So yesterday evening was spent spraying plastic plant pots, digging up self sown young Verbena bonariensis plants and printing up thank you notes and planting instructions. I even chucked in some of the seed packets we made for the summer fair - avoiding the poisonous ones (I wouldn't want the teachers to get the wrong idea).
Next year they're sharing a box of Maltesers...
Been there and am now safely out of the other side just have driving lessons, and collecting from the pub to deal with!!! All those end of year presents for teachers used to drive me mad. I'm impressed you had spray to hand to spray pots but what a good idea. Just think how much calmer you will feel next week (or may be not!)and you had time to do your yell post.
Posted by: Helen - patientgardener | July 17, 2009 at 07:57 PM
This was the first year for us in 13 when we haven't gone to the primary school Summer Fair. With children at 13 and 15 they just don't want to do it any more. We could hear it from the garden, the PA system echoing around the village. We weren't sad, the time had come, we had moved on. But our blog has just brought it all back to me. Thank you.
Posted by: Karen | July 18, 2009 at 08:09 AM
Helen - I'm not sure I can cope with the idea of my three either behind the wheel of a car, or, for that matter, rolling out of a pub! I just hope their general co-ordination and common sense have developed somewhat further before that time comes...
Karen - I'm already excited at the idea of the summer fair being a distant, echoey backdrop to the gardening, rather than in the garden itself.
Posted by: Dawn Isaac | July 20, 2009 at 11:58 AM