valentine week

How are you? The rugby has not especially improved as far as I am aware.

I took J2 for his annual consultant check-up. This time we saw a specialist growth consultant who was very kind and very thorough. She is going to send J2’s bone X rays to a specialist in London and monitor his rate of puberty more regularly over the next 18 months to see if he has sufficient testosterone to ensure a growth spurt or whether he could be helped with hormone injections. She is also going to get a genetic specialist to look at him, because obviously FH and I are carrying it in our genes and he may carry it forward in his. Both J2 and I got a bit upset about it!

The end of last week had a heavy focus on rural issues with parish Challenge grants and a visit to Pirton Parish council about the Rural Strategy. Some of our villages are every bit as posh and beautiful as yours and the villagers rich, gifted, articulate, sometimes bolshy – campaigning with great force and charm for their pet projects. Money and education definitely give individuals a leg up in life, but it doesn’t, as we know, make them immune from debilitating relationships with other human beings, alcohol or other disappointments beyond their control.

I have just finished reading, ‘How to change your life in 7 days’ lent to me by a colleague. Not as good as the Covey stuff, but I love this quote from President Calvin Coolidge:
‘Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than an unsuccessful man with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent’.
I LOVE the phrase ‘educated derelicts’!

Bear has bought a 2 bedroom ground floor flat in a converted Georgian house in Croydon. He is not moving out of course, but will rent it out and have it as an investment. I hope it will work for him and good luck to him getting on the property ladder.

My valentine culinary aspirations were met handsomely. FP cooked me a 4 course meal and presented me with a card, gold necklace and bracelet. I had couscous with almonds and sultanas in yellow pepper, pink grapefruit sorbet, beef casserole with cream, cheese potatoes, French green beans and red cabbage followed by strawberries and cream and then he packed up the leftovers for me to eat. Between him and Rosie I will never learn to cook! It was extremely nice and I am immensely touched and appreciative of the huge effort he puts in to cook me nice things. I know he likes cooking, but it’s very time consuming.
On Tuesday evening this week I went to a media seminar run by a former journalist. I found out from my boss today that he has been raving that my voice was just one of the most extraordinary he had ever heard in that it oozed/personified care and concern. Actually I ball-sed it up big time on tape and was committing the council to millions! Still – it was fun – he was very engaging and I learnt a lot.

Yesterday I went down to Bristol for a Scarman day so it was LONG – up at 5.30am and back post 11pm. Loads of stuff coming through. Matthew is seriously influencing government policy. I’ve got through various documents from the Home Office this week with ‘Scarman recommends this … Scarman recommends that ….blah, blah. The phone has got far too many messages left on it when I get home and it looks like they are getting serious funding. How am I going to juggle that in 8 hours a week?

A* is coming home tonight for the week-end and she is staying Thursday and Friday at my house and Saturday at the Hoo. We are going out for dinner tomorrow night at a wonderful pub/restaurant in a little village called Moulsoe. Last week-end I was in a state of anxiety because she’d only emailed me once all week. This week I got the sweetest hand-made valentine from her saying what a support and inspiration I was and she is back to depressed state – worried about body image, binge eating and missing home. The last email was quite heart-rending. It’s probably quite lucky that J1 isn’t back from skiing till Saturday so I can give her full attention.

Nothing more of note and excitement to tell you about!