Saturday 26 April 2014

And back to normality (more or less)

We picked up a new (to us) car today. A Kia Sportage, it's a bit bigger than the little hatchback we've had to squeeze into for the past few years. I apologise in advance for the trail of broken wing-mirrors I will probably leave through town. Son Number One is trying to make me feel guilty for choosing an unnecessarily large car ('Why not just hold a gun to Mother Nature's head?' was one comment), but while browsing cars with us last week, he was judging them by the amount of cricket equipment he could fit in the boot. This one got the nod because 'we could probably get four cricket bags in there.' He doesn't seem to be taking into account that he gets our old car and will thus be driving himself and assorted team-mates around in that. No, we don't need such a big, chunky car, but I was spoilt when we had our old people carrier and like sitting higher up so I can see what's going on. Son Number One says I should drive an HGV in that case, but that's taking things a little too far. I'd never be able to park in the multi-storey. 

The Husband used to be able to drive HGVs. He had to learn during his army days, and took his test in Cambridge on a Saturday morning. The centre of Cambridge, for those not in the know, is a chaos of students on bicycles, and is best avoided. Especially if you're a learner in an army truck. 



He admitted, not so long ago, that the reverse parking part of the test was aided by the army driving instructors, through use of strategically placed cigarette ends on the ground. He drove the trucks down to Salisbury Plain a few times, where they had ridiculous exercises like driving for miles in convoy at two in the morning with no headlights. They would do this for several hours, prodding each other to keep awake, and then go on shelling exercises where they'd pretend to bomb non-existent objects. A bit like the Brownies really...

My OU counselling course has started, so I've done all of the important things like buying highlighter pens and sticky notes. I think I only do courses for the stationary shopping I can get away with. I've just signed up for an RE course for school as well, so I may need some sharp new pencils and a range of notebooks, too. The RE course involves three assignments and a self-assessment, and can take anything from two weeks to two months, depending on how motivated students are. That'll be two months, then... I can choose to study up to four 'religions/world beliefs' in depth, but it doesn't tell me what I can choose from. I'm hoping for Cargo Cults, Voodoo and that religion that worships Prince Philip, but won't hold my breath. 

And now I must get back into the habit of studying. Better fill up the kettle...
  

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