TRUMPET CONCERT ET AL

My friends are here from Australia, flopping about in a jet-laggy way. It’s lovely to see them. Annoyingly, they are the perfect family: beautiful, affectionate, considerate. The husband adores the wife, who looks like Julie Christie. They have two gorgeous children. It’s so not fair.

It’s difficult because they are having to divide their time between staying with me and staying with my ex. They were our best friends when we lived in Australia and we were pregnant at the same time with our first borns. Because they were far enough away from the trauma to have managed to avoid “taking sides”, they can remain impartial. It is not ideal because my kids are with their father this weekend – so not good for their children, but I can’t do much about that. We are all meeting on Sunday night to have dinner together and going to a musical on Monday night, so we’re not doing too badly.

I had a really proud mother moment yesterday. I went to a special assembly yesterday to see my 8 year old play in the trumpet concert. After having a worrying period with him recently at school, they not only announced that he had been chosen to represent his class in the poetry recital competition but he was also awarded a certificate for another piece of work. I had been dreading the concert. I have been to many with my other children, where try as I might I have not been able to detect a recognisable tune amongst the cacophony. Either I have become immune, or I was expecting so little that things could only get better, but I thought it was great. The tunes actually did what they said they were going to do and remained tuneful. Admittedly, for the majority of the time, the younger players were encourage to remove the trumpet part of the instrument and only play the mouth piece. That obviously helped a lot.

He had his school disco last night and he loved it. He came out looking like he’d just had a shower. Really unattractively sweaty. Hope that improves as he gets older. My teenage son was suggesting he play “spin the bottle” …. really helpful.

My friend who’s boyfriend has been cheating on her is still livid. We have suggested that she do nothing for a few days in order to calm down. Somebody else has subsequently told her that he has been with several other women during their relationship and now I’m quite worried about her. Another friend texted her “I hope he doesn’t have any rabbits”, to which she replied “I am not a bunny boiler” – although I suspect wanting to cut him up with a scalpel is right up there. Poor thing. Think she’s well out of that one.

We’ve had a death in the family. One of my 8 year olds goldfish died yesterday. As I commiserated and said “shall we bury it in the garden? I can find a match box and some cotton wool and we can make a little sign” he said, “no it’s fine mum me and my sister have just flushed it down the loo”.

Sentimental or what?