back to school

I've stopped being in a bad mood. This is a good thing. However, I'm still not going back to scary Bollywood classes, and you can't make me. I have largely left the whole PE-phobia thing behind me these days, mainly by avoiding all team sports. Someone asked me to join in the BGN swimming competition, and also some volleyball match, the other day. I think I must look sporty somehow, possibly because people see me in my gym kit in the mornings - but spending half an hour on the rowing machine after I drop the kids off at the school bus does not magically give me co-ordination, competitiveness or something else beginning with 'c' that I can't think of right now. Next time people are casting about for an extra team member I'll tell them to call the Bollywood teacher, who is clearly a task-orientated and competitive person, and what's more, enjoys a bit of shouting.

Started writing novel again today. Actually I spent most of the morning re-reading what I'd written before the hols, to remind myself of what the book is about. However, I did manage to do a couple of scenes, dialogue only. Interesting - Aunty Shirley and Kathleen definitely have some sort of secret that they are hiding from Zoe. Unfortunately they are also hiding it from me. I haven't decided whether to turn them into the kind of women who'd hire contract killers for errant husbands or not. They will probably decide for themselves by the time I get to that point in the book.

Kids are back at school now, but only for a week-and-a-half, and then they get a long weekend for Tihar (otherwise known as Diwali), and then it's only about a month until the xmas hols, the little blighters.

I'm hoping that over the Tihar weekend we can get away to Pauline's Guest House. I've just emailed Pauline, so waiting to hear. It's a little tiny place just outside Kathmandu, and the woman who runs it is the sister of the cheese-and-sausage man (he's French, and pretty tasty, by Kathmandu standards - although I have only met him once, but he was good-looking enough to make me spend a small fortune on fromage and charcuterie - or do I mean saucisse? hmm, probably) so there's lots of tasty food on offer. Not a huge amount for the kids to do, but I suspect they will just roll around playing 'Dr Who' or 'Star Wars' wherever they are (Dr Who is preferred option because there are better female characters. I know Star Wars has Princess Lea, and Padme, but who wants to be Padme? She's about the most tedious fictitious character ever created).

I was going to tell you some wierd camp gossip (gossip from the army camp, not gossip involving Larry Grayson - is that how you spell his surname?), but I'm not sure if I should. Probably not. It's not a good thing, but when you hear something downright odd, it's a bit hard to keep it to yourself. For example, if you were leaving somewhere, and somebody was organising a leaving lunch for you, and they happened to put a picture of a sad-looking dog on the poster advertising the lunch, would you think:

a) the person organising the lunch has a kind heart and a soft spot for animals; or

b) the person organising the lunch has questionable taste and no graphic design skills; or

c) the person organising the lunch is implying that I'm a dog and I therefore shall not go to my own leaving lunch.

If it were me, I guess I'd think 'a' and secretly a bit of 'b' too. However, there are some - who shall of course remain nameless - who would think 'c' and therefore boycott their own leaving do. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't 'c' just a teensy weensy bit paranoid?

Blimey, it's five minutes to bedtime already, and I will be awake at six, whether I like it or not, so I'm off now.

Toodle pip x