The Monkey Donkey!

We moved, had lots on the go, no time or inclination to blog, 'till now...

So, here we go again.

Sometimes you just feel like a bit of an









You spend so much time trying hard to do the right thing, but in the end haven't got a clue whether what you're doing is the right thing, or not. Take the case of a home-educating mother with one son. He's about the age when he could go to school, his Dad's got a job at a very good school, but... because he was home-educated he got really into tennis (a great outlet, and if that mother is going to supportively watch any sport, tennis would be the one) so much so, that he's become quite good at it. The school does not specialise in tennis. He doesn't want to give it up. So we carry on home-educating, and getting stuck in the rounds of tennis training, tennis competition, until that mother begins to feel like a real donkey. So she carries on, carrying him around on her back* through the leafy counties of Southern England (and doing a bit of sewing in between times) in the vague hope that he will get some kind of education from the books that get pushed in his direction, when he hasn't got a racquet in his hand.

Is the plodding along worthwhile? In the great scheme of things, who knows? But Providentially (so it seems) the tennis monkey is improving, having won two tournaments last weekend, so maybe the home-schooled boy will improve too, and in the long run, maybe the donkey will cheer up...



















*Actually it's a nice little red car, Deo Gratias.

One for the resident Monkey

Hello there, monkey, this is a post just for you to read!

This is a post for my son, who is a Preston North End Supporter. (By the way, any experts out there, is there such a thing as Preston South End?). Here is their badge, and maybe one day I’ll get round to knitting its design onto a jumper for you, sweetheart!

This is where the badge comes from. The lamb is the symbol of St. Wilfrid, patron saint of Preston. The monks of Ripon, where St. Wilfrid had been abbot, held land around Preston in the middle ages, so St. Wilfrid became the their patron and his symbol was adopted by the town and, eventually, by the football club. (Thanks to Simon Platt for this information).

Well done for their win the other day, now let’s see if they can keep it up when they play Portsmouth!!