NotSheep

It’s been a busy day today. We started off with a brisk-walk-with-bits-of-running again (third day in a row) and I exercise-biked when we got home (second day in a row). And as if that wasn’t enough, when Barney headed off on his bicycle to the leisure-centre, the rest of us joined him: Freddy and George on their own bicycles, and Jack and Toby in a child-trailer (which I really must return sometime because I only asked to borrow it for a couple of weeks… and that was months ago!) I had my doubts about this plan, given that I can hardly push Jack in a stroller anymore, but it was actually okay. Quite a bit of the route is downhill, and I managed the flat bits without much trouble. We left Barney at the leisure centre and took a shortcut through a park to the library, where the boys read and I collapsed in a heap. I tell ya, if I’m not thin and gorgeous by tomorrow, I’ll want to know who to blame

After we’d been in the library for a while, another mum came in with her children - four of them - and we got chatting. She’s expecting her fifth baby in December, so we talked about people’s responses to the whole idea of having five children. Then she asked something about mine going back to school - I can’t remember what the question was now, but my answer was “Well, we home-educate.”

When I tell people we home-educate, there’s quite a variety of responses that I get. Some are positive, some are negative, most people are a bit baffled as to why anyone would do that, and occasionally somebody is just plain rude. But this woman’s response completely took me by surprise. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting.

She said… wait for it… “Oh, so do we.”

Another home-educating family! In my town! Living within walking distance of us! And they home-educate partly because she really likes spending time with her children and doesn’t want to send them away yet! And with five (well, nearly) children! So doesn’t think we’re freaks for having five ourselves - or if she does think we’re freaks, probably doesn’t mind

Remember my answer to #7 in Monday’s meme?

Is that weird freaky amazing a huge coincidence proof that the universe reads my blog cool or what?

I gave her my phone-number; I hope she rings. And yes, I know I sound like a lovesick teenager

Scratchy met us when he’d finished work, and we put Freddy, Jack, Toby, Freddy’s bicycle and the child-trailer in the car, then Scratchy and George cycled up to meet Barney while I drove home and dropped off Freddy’s bike and the trailer. Then I drove back down and met the others part-way and put George and his bicycle in the car, and brought everyone else home while Barney and Scratchy cycled the rest of the way. Did you manage to keep up with all of that? Well, whether you did or not, now you’ll understand why I begged for a bicycle-carrier on the local Freecycle list a few days ago. And guess what I went to collect this evening? Yep, a bicycle-carrier! It fits perfectly on the back of our car, and it carries three bikes, which works very well for us right now. The woman who gave it to us was lovely too - and not just because she gave it to us (though of course that counts). We’d a good chat about kids growing up and all the activities they get involved in, and we talked about Scouting - she’s a Scout leader and I’ll be back to Beavers in a couple of weeks.

I have loved today