Testing, testing

We have selective secondary education here in the Frozen North (and just when will Spring be sprung, anyway?) which means that just now our super Mattman is head down for major preparation works that will last until the last of three Tests in November and December. So we're all battening down the hatches, and life is busy!

We remain very grateful for the very lovely Mr Knight, who has staved off the worst of the pre-selection Grande Panique by simply maintaining that there is more to life in school than testing. This is very good for our souls!

In Googling images of tests I laughed when I found the BBC test card. I am old enough to remember it well, or so I thought. When I gave it some thought, I remembered seeing it in the evening, but was it also there during the day? And my goodness, I so well remember the girl who looked fascinatingly like my Tracy Tea-Party doll with moving arm for pouring tea. But I did not remember the clown. My children are afraid of clowns. Why was there a frightening clown and why do I not remember him?

I live in the hope that, like my clown, even these Testing months will recede from Mattman's memory of P6 and leave Mr Knight's bright pink guitar strap, the wacky flower homework, and the day that Andrew Trimble did their spellings test.

This month

 

Bluebell 1. n /'blu:bel/ a European woodland plant of the lily family, which produces clusters of blue bell-shaped flowers in Spring.

 

Bluebell 2 n. /'blu:bel/ where bread and cakes are made and happiness always shines.

 

 

Dear Bluebell Cafe in North Belfast,

Thank you very much for the pot of hot and much needed tea this morning. You were an oasis of sit down and think about nothing in the middle of a celebrate-birthdays-filled month. I do come in now and again for one of your amazing sandwiches and then I take it next door where I get my hair cut and I eat it there, breathing in the moments of manic-free hair product.

Today I had some time before moving next door and I sat down to wonder at the clock made of tea-cups, and wall of funny signs like the one above, and the trio of folk at the table next to mine. That was one fascinating bunch! I wonder did the lady on the right begin to see her partner's money as her own?

I am three birthday celebrations through out of four this month, with the Spring Ball tomorrow night, and we had an impromptu theatre trip last night. Normal stay-at-home service will be resumed soon, but this morning I just needed tea!

Thank-you!

Mags x