Saturday 13 February 2021
Book Review: 'The Graveyard Riddle' by Lisa Thompson
Thursday 11 February 2021
Beyond SPaG: Advice For Parents When Writing With Children At Home
Teacher and author friends!
— Aidan Severs (@thatboycanteach) February 11, 2021
What tips would you give to parents and teachers for how to promote and aid children with developing their creative writing at home?
I would like to collate your ideas for an article.
Please RT.
Hoping for a more positive response, I tweeted the above after seeing a journalist hunting for authors who were 'surprised/angered by what their children are learning about grammar, English etc during home schooling or how they are being taught to write?'. And positive response I got. By all means, click on the above tweet and explore all the answers at your leisure, or stay here and read a summary of the advice that was shared.
Before launching into the advice though, I think it would be wise to give a bit of context. During partial school closure during lockdown, teachers have been providing a remote learning experience for children who are at home. This remote learning provision, however good, cannot mimic exactly the normal ways of working in a classroom that teachers have developed; it has had to be an adapted provision. As such, it would appear that many teachers have felt that SPaG-based activities have been easier for children to complete at home; the teaching of the creative aspects of writing relying more on teacher interaction.
So, what this blog post sets out to do is provide you, a parent at home, with ways of working with your child that will help you to help your children with creative writing rather than SPaG-focused English learning. The ideas below should allow you to work with your child in a way that mirrors more closely the work that their teacher would normally do with them at school.
Reading
Many people pointed straight to reading as the first step in helping children to write. Books can inspire children and they provide a model of what a good piece looks like so they make a great starting point. The theme of reading will reoccur throughout the advice under other headings.
Reading aloud more to their kids just for fun. And occasionally casually talking about the way the writer writes and how it's different to another book you read aloud would help.
— Melissa Jordan (@melissacreate15) February 11, 2021
ImaginingI used wordless picture books in the library. Often ones they hadn't seen & only giving them 1/2 images so they wouldn't have a clue what the story was actually about. Also used my own street photographs to generate discussion and ideas, with some prompt questions to start them off
— Barbara Band (@bcb567) February 11, 2021
I'd say daydreaming time as important as writing time. Visualise your landscape & make it real. It can be an incredible fantasy world but still needs to feel rooted in real experience. Put familiar objects in; think about weather, light, plants, sky..
— Nicola Penfold (@nicolapenfold) February 11, 2021
InspiringI play a game with my son: he has to describe a scene or place without naming it e.g. by writing about smells, sounds, textures, and I guess what it is. Make it extra hard by writing from a perspective of a blind person, a small child, or a spy who has to conceal certain details
— Svitlana (@SvitYarm) February 11, 2021
We keep a tin of Random Story-Starters in the library with opening lines to get them started. There are lots eg "Only the very oldest of them remembered a time when people could read ..."
— HVC Library (@HVCLRC) February 11, 2021
It can be difficult to get story ideas, so try writing stories based on books, films, tv shows, games. It's helpful to have a few parameters eg write an adventure story set in the jungle, a mystery set in a castle. No harm in imitating their favourites. Allow scope for enjoyment.
— Dan Smith (@DanSmithAuthor) February 11, 2021
Be positive & welcoming about all the tools & formats they want to use to make stories/songs/poems/characters, inc. comics, fan fiction, gaming, emoji, toys. They're all generative & valid.
— So Mayer (@Such_Mayer) February 11, 2021
Collect postcards and interesting pictures from mags/newspapers. Choose one that interests you - really look at it, maybe describe it. Think what’s going on in the pic, what happened just before, what might happen next. And off you go, with a story!
— Sue Purkiss (@sue_purkiss) February 11, 2021
Give alternative scenarios (and get them to come up with their own). What would have happened if... the slipper had fitted one of the ugly sisters; Harry Potter had been a ‘squib’; Hansel and Gretel didn’t find their way home...
— MrsR (@MrsR51710002) February 11, 2021
Keep a journal which includes copying lines from favorite songs, poems, and readings. Read different styles of authors. Listen to podcasts and old radio shows...
— Leticia Hallmark (@ushistorysage) February 11, 2021
Print out photos of unusual things or people and ask them to make up a story about what they can see. That's always a fun idea. Or a pick and mix where they pick one theme (ie space story) and three random words (ie banana, tree and cheese) and they must create a story from that.
— Author N J Simmonds (@NJSimmondsTPK) February 11, 2021
ExperiencingWriting 'fan fiction' - allowing children to get to writing and play with language with characters and worlds that have already been established. As a child my favourite things to write were my own stories based on the Zelda video games and A Series of Unfortunate Events books.
— Rob Laight (@ArticuLaight) February 11, 2021
Start young. .
— 🐾📚Mimi Thebo📚🌿 (@MimiThebo) February 11, 2021
Encourage making up stories and collect favourite words. Stop on walks to wonder what faeries would live there. Think out loud about how to describe the feeling of a puddle splash or the taste of cake.
Write these down.
Gradually relinquish the pen.
loads of reading and then getting outside / to amazing places and having experiences to write about.
— David Rogers (@davidErogers) February 11, 2021
TalkingGo outside. Start noticing everything. Use a camera to zoom in to tiny details and then back out. Do mindfulness to learn how to fully notice and experience life. Good writing comes from mindfully experiecing the world around us.
— Mrs P (@thinker_teacher) February 11, 2021
Read lots, discuss lots. Create together (orally & writing), play together, notice things that writers do/ be curious. Celebrate lovely things & funny things. Laugh together at things that don't quite work & wonder why. I think the words share, together & enjoy are important.
— Zoe Enser (@greeborunner) February 11, 2021
Read. Let them write about what they want, with what they want, where they want. Talk about imaginary things. Eg: If this was a magic leaf, where would you fly to? If you were 2cm tall, how would you get from the couch to the table? Encourage wondering.
— copycontentwriter (@copycontentw) February 11, 2021
ImitatingStory telling. When we sit at the table for dinner, we always do a 'how was your day?' I started telling completely wild tales about fighting dragons or ogres and it's now a bit of a tradition to tell a wild tale at dinner.
— David Oates 🙋🏻♂️ (@Oates27) February 11, 2021
PractisingEncourage them to copy their favourite writers. They're comfortable trying out footballers' and singers' techniques and making them their own: it's the same with writing.
— Tom Palmer (@tompalmerauthor) February 11, 2021
Sentence starters! Often, the most difficult part of the writing process is just getting started - blank pages can be intimidating! (Talking from experience)
— Gwen Morris (@MGwenMorris) February 11, 2021
If you provide sentence starters, you might take some of that fear away and get their ideas flowing!
PlanningI do basic metaphor building activities that kids love. Eg make lists of abstract noun/gerund/body part and put them together in exciting ways (love was swimming in my toes, sadness was jumping in my spine, time was itching in my hands)
— Lewis Buxton (@LewisBuxton93) February 11, 2021
I have to draw my characters, the landscapes and create a storyboard before I even find the words.
— Gill Lewis (@gill__lewis) February 11, 2021
Ask them to think of a character first, then what that character WANTS - that is key to every story. Then they encounter a problem, must solve it, then they do/don’t get what they want. Boom. I have a story worksheet on my website here: https://t.co/5eQfRhzLZR
— Maz Evans (@MaryAliceEvans) February 11, 2021
RecordingDo a lot of thinking and talking (or mind map/scribble) around ideas. The first idea you think of will be the same as everyone else's (see twitter jokes), the 3rd will be better but what if you try and reach for the 6th, 7th, 8th idea? That's the one that'll be uniquely you.
— Siân Rowland (@Sian_Rowland) February 11, 2021
Keep a special book to note ideas, special words or phrases, experiences etc. and read, read, read...
— Helen Sampson (@helensampsonart) February 11, 2021
Also, write from the heart & let your imagination flow without getting bogged down in grammar. Get those imaginations on paper and the rest will follow. You can think about grammar when editing it afterwards.
— Author Kerry Gibb (@AuthorKerryGibb) February 11, 2021
2) separate the skills. At school he has to write neatly. This matters but not always. We focus on thinking of great ideas and writing them down, not handwritng. Practice hand writing, punctuation, spelling etc. separately. (2/?)
— Megaphone Write (@MegaphoneWrite) February 11, 2021
Keep a scrapbook - that's a project in itself - collect pix, stick 'em in - add bits of writing - poems - short descriptions - whatever comes to mind. This can then spark further ideas for longer pieces of writing. Make it FUN.
— Celia Rees (@CeliaRees) February 11, 2021
KEEP A DIARY! Fill it with stories, poems, film reviews, new words you discover etc! I kept a diary from 11-18 and still have them all!
— Ian Eagleton (@MrEagletonIan) February 11, 2021
Don't stop acting as a scribe once they start being able to write. Getting the handwriting and spellings right can feel laboriously slow for a child & really disrupt that feeling of a story flowing/bursting out of you. Get them to tell you a story & write it down for them 2/2
— Susannah Lloyd (@Susannah_Lloyd) February 11, 2021
ReviewingWrite freely, then record what you’ve written, listen back to it. Does it make sense, does it flow nicely, are you repeating yourself?
— Mr Owl Head* 💙 (@sullieship) February 11, 2021
Then edit the text and repeat that process.
I think listening to recordings of yourself can build confidence, while developing critic and voice
Celebrating..we spend a lot of time on the drafting, editing, cutting and trimming. We try and craft writing rather than spew it out and leave it. We are warm writers and cold editors; we don’t hold on to ideas, we are ruthless with jettisoning them😁
— Lucy 🏳️🌈 (@honeypisquared) February 11, 2021
I am very passionate about this ❤️
PublishingGet them to read their work aloud to you or read it back off the page out loud to them. Celebrate illustrations in books and by them of what they're writing. Storyboards can be great. So can mind maps. If it feels experimental and fun, they feel relaxed.
— Cath Howe (@cath_howe) February 11, 2021
My 8-year-old is writing a book in @Canva. She loves decorating the pages as she writes. Kids love using the tools we use so let them.
— 👩🏻💻 Emma Page (@wordsbypage) February 11, 2021
Other ResourcesEncourage them to enter young writing comps once they have written a good short story like The little BIG Book Comp https://t.co/IzpCQGRGUx
— Abiola Bello (@ABelloWrites) February 11, 2021
Thankfully, this blog post isn't the only source of advice in this arena. Several excellent experts have produced resources to help parents help their children with writing at home:
Supporting Children Writing At Home: https://writing4pleasure.com/supporting-children-writing-at-home/
Three Steps To Writing from SF Said: http://www.sfsaid.com/2017/01/three-steps-to-writing.html
It’s A Kid’s Life – Lockdown by Kerry Gibb: http://kerrygibb.com/its-a-kids-life/kids-life-lockdown/
Writing Prompts from Beverly Writes: https://www.beverleywrites.com/blog
5 Ways to Engage Reluctant Writers with Creativity from Now>Press>Play: https://nowpressplay.co.uk/engage-reluctant-writers-with-creativity/
Homewriting Workshops from the Candlewick Press YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEqVZlLgos-WN7boUH8tsFWNihT745u9u
Michael Rosen's videos: https://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/videos/
If you would like Aidan to work with you on developing writing at your school, please visit his website at https://www.aidansevers.com/services and get in touch via the contact details that can be found there.
Saturday 30 January 2021
Book Review: A Vanishing of Griffins by S.A. Patrick
Whilst reading 'A Vanishing of Griffins' I was also reading 'Prisoners of Geography' by Tim Marshall and here's where there are further benefits of reading multiple books concurrently: Tim Marshall's book had caused my mind to think geopolitically, and so, when I picked up a children's magical fantasy book which is ostensibly rooted in a fairy tale, I saw things I wouldn't have otherwise seen.
Indeed, I noticed things about the whole fantasy genre which I'd not really stopped to consider before. Despite knowing, for example, that JRR Tolkien based much of his Middle Earth on Anglo-Saxon Britain (a time when geopolitics were surely everything, that and religiopolitics of course) I hadn't really considered how the wider genre might also represent other examples of geopolitical stories.
'A Vanishing of Griffins' is the second in the Songs of Magic series, the first being 'A Darkness of Dragons'. S.A. Patrick's latest book picks up where the story left off, and thankfully it features a recap of what has happened so far. Patch (a piper who can play magical songs), Barver (a dracogriff) and Wren (a girl cursed into the form of a rat) are in pursuit of the terrible Piper of Hamelyn who is bent on world domination, and will go to any lengths to get it. But the plot, unlike some stories aimed at the Middle Grade age group, is a little more complicated than that.
In fact, there are sub-plots a-plenty, ones which mainly revolve around mysteries that must be solved, people that must be helped and things that must be found in order for the Piper of Hamelyn to finally be found and vanquished. Reminiscent of classics of the genre - The Wizard of Earthsea, Eragon - this is an adventure quest where solutions do not come easily to the protagonists. In fact, they come up against bureaucracy and red tape as often as real-life peace-keeping missions probably do. As they travel through a world caught in the constant flux of war and peace, where power struggles are rife and political and military allegiances can change with the wind, their good vs. evil quest is a perilous and arduous one.
Whilst the backdrop may be political, the strongest theme is true friendship: the sacrifice, the willingness to go to great lengths to help loved ones, the kindness and commitment to anyone who finds themselves in need, particularly the oppressed. Wrapped up in a world of dragons, pirates and magic is an example to all children who, in reality, are growing up in a world just like the one portrayed in 'A Vanishing of Griffins'. Sure, they might not be able to call on magic to save the day, but they should be able to call on friendship.
If you are up for joining the gang on a journey that takes in being fed to a monster by a pirate king, discovering magical texts in a secret underground vault, rescuing the inhabitants of a town under fire, discovering lost relatives and fighting battles against dark forces, then this book is for you. Although, I would strongly recommend that you get hold of book 1 first to really benefit from the whole story (it can be found on my Children's Fiction - Fantasy & Magic list on bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/children-s-fiction-fantasy-magic).
A Vanishing of Griffins by S.A. Patrick is available on bookshop.org and features on my MG Fiction Books January 2021 list: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/mg-fiction-books-january-2021
Monday 25 January 2021
Working Towards a Middle Phase in an All-Through Academy: Potential Logistical Changes for Years 7 and 8
If you would like Aidan to work with you on developing your transition offer either at your primary school or your secondary school, please visit his website at https://www.aidansevers.com/services and get in touch via the contact details that can be found there.
Thursday 7 January 2021
Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be... A Delivery Guy
Today I was delivering laptops, but it hasn't always been devices for children who are struggling to access the online portion of our remote learning offer. I've lost count of the number of free school meals I've delivered, whether that was en masse during lockdown (pre-vouchers), or on a more individualised level for those self-isolating throughout the last term. Before that it was printed packs of learning resources when we realised that many of our families weren't able to access our online offer.
But it is never just the delivery. It's the logistics behind it too.
Way back at the beginning of the year I sent out an online survey to parents asking them about their access to online devices (and also about their need for key worker provision in case of another lockdown). Of course, the online survey didn't fare too well for those who struggle with getting connected so there were plenty of paper copies flying around my kitchen table this week too.
Once I'd imported (exported?) the Microsoft Forms data into an Excel document and filtered various ways to find out which families needed laptops, and once I'd added in the requests from other families, I had to check that against our list of Pupil Premium children. As I expected, the lists didn't match up - from my survey I could say that many of our PP children already had sufficient access to device, but that other children, for various reasons, did need laptops.
Why is Pupil Premium not fit for purpose?
— Aidan Severs (@thatboycanteach) January 6, 2021
Because parents have to apply for it themselves.
And there are many barriers to that application happening for families who truly are disadvantaged:
Not knowing it is available, pride, the complicated form.
2/3
After some ranting and raving about the red tape involved in the government-provided laptops only being available to PP children, my principal helpfully pointed me towards our E-Learning Systems and Media Specialist who this time was doling out our class sets of Chromebooks to aid with remote learning. I sent him my numbers over and by lunchtime I had a stack of laptops checked and ready to go.
Maybe this is my perfectionism kicking in (or lack of smartphone) but I had to create myself some sort of delivery route to make the best use of my time - one Google Maps session later, I had put the local knowledge that I didn't have a year ago to work and had a great journey plan ready. That done I was ready to head off to school to pick up the laptops.
Once there, with requests for laptops continuing to come in left, right and centre, I filled in the serial numbers of the machines on all the necessary paperwork, wrote down usernames and passwords, and Post-It noted each laptop to ensure that I was giving the right one to the right family. With all that done I was ready to leave.
Suffice it to say, there were some very pleased and thankful parents and children this afternoon. The cold weather was infinitely better to work in than the sweltering temperatures of the summer (my normal work wear was not conducive to getting in and out of a car hoying around bags of bread and fruit and the like). After the disappointment of not being able to give government-provided laptops to the children who really needed them, it felt good to be making a step towards getting more children educated during this latest lockdown. Even de-tangling the snaking mass of chargers in the footwell at each stop couldn't break my good mood.
And tomorrow morning I'll go back out to spread more joy, like some kind of out-of-season Santa Claus.
Tuesday 29 December 2020
Book Review: 'The Perfect Parent Project' by Stewart Foster
So here I am, ready to enter into another year of reviewing children's books, and kicking things off with the latest book from, I will admit, a favourite children's author of mine: Stewart Foster with his 'The Perfect Parent Project'.
'The Perfect Parent Project' is in the vein of Stewart's previous books in that it centres on a character who represents a potentially marginalised group of children. Sam is a foster kid, and although he loves his support worker, Rock Star Steve, he dreads the day when he'll bring the news that he is moving on from his current foster carers. Avid readers of Foster will have come to expect an absolute spot-on rendition of the child's voice, and this one is no exception: the reader is put well and truly in the shoes of Sam as he searches beyond his current foster family for his perfect parents.
And the heartache feels real. Sam plots with his friend Leah to find his perfect parents, not realising how well things are going with Reilly and his mum and dad. After spying his perfect parents and contriving to get to know them, Sam finds himself spinning a web of lies that eventually ensnare him. Unable to keep up the pretense Sam jeopardises all his closest relationships in his bid to make new ones. Readers, adults and children alike, will recognise that Sam's happiness really lies closer to home than he thinks; the downward spiral Sam creates for himself is sure to generate a sadness in readers of all ages.
Yet, this isn't purely a sad book. Again, Foster's writing is full of humour - a perfect antidote to the emotion of the main storyline. Sam remains upbeat for the majority of the story and his optimism carries the reader onward: although I knew what ending I wanted, I genuinely wasn't sure if I was going to get it. Given that this is a story that contains no real dramatic set-piece moments, it is full of drama, and as a result is extremely compelling - the desire for Sam to stop digging himself into deeper holes hooks the reader in.
As well as being an enjoyable story, this is one of those books that should get children thinking. Orphaned children are a staple of stories for children - many Disney movies, for example, rely on children having no parents so that they can get up to all sorts of mischief. But here we have a much more realistic interpretation of what it is like not to know one's birth parents, and to be seeking a loving home. Here we have a window into a world that, for many children, will be one that they have no experience of. And perhaps, for some children, this will be the opportunity to see something of themselves represented in story form. Either way, it feels right to have this experience acknowledged rather than fantastically exploited.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's UK (January 21, 2021)
'The Perfect Parent Project' is available on my Children's Fiction 2021 book list: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/children-s-fiction-2021
Monday 28 December 2020
My Corona: A Christmas with Covid
There was a selfish fear too, of course: what if I come into
contact with someone who tests positive and have to isolate? Or what if one of
my own children gets sent home from their school?
My fears were, inevitably, pretty quickly realised: my
middle daughter came home on the penultimate Friday, destined to self-isolate
until Friday 18th. But that didn’t touch Christmas, but it meant a
huge burden on my wife, working at home fulfilling Christmas baking orders. I
hurried back from school every day in order to try to provide some relief.
Every day, that is, until Thursday.
Because, of course, it was the unthinkable that actually
happened.
Rewind to Wednesday night:
Wednesday night was a tough one: I had an inexplicable pain
across my lower back – I couldn’t get comfortable in bed and, along with the
accompanying nausea, it kept me awake most of the night.
I ‘woke up’ the next day feeling slightly unwell, in my own words. Thursday was to be the last day
in school, and not thinking that back ache and tiredness should stop me from
enjoying the last day of school, off I went.
Thankfully, I spent the day ensuring, as usual, that I was
social distancing, was in well-ventilated places, keeping my hands washed
regularly and so on. The day was a great way to end what had been a fantastic
term – yes, a challenging one, but a challenge I had relished. I was glad to
leave by the end though, as, due to a lack of sleep, or so I thought, I was
flagging somewhat.
At home I caught up a little with the DfE’s newly-revealed
plans to ask secondary schools to test pupils as of January. I fired off a
quick commiseration email to our principal (I work in an all-through academy)
and thought I’d forget about it. With one more work-from-home morning left to
go, I retired to bed that night, although not before a heated discussion with
my wife regarding whether or not I should get a Covid test: when my symptoms
are definitely those of Covid, was my stance; tomorrow, regardless, was hers –
so that we knew for certain whether or not our Christmas plans would be
affected.
But my subconscious brain clung on to the evening’s
thoughts, weaponising them and torturing me all night. I dreamt of having to
set up a testing centre at school – one of those looped dreams consisting of
bright colours (the testing booths were decorated with red and white Christmas
string), repeated phrases and nothing at all very tangible other than the
feeling of dread. I woke at 4:10 am and headed downstairs to book myself a
Covid test, the fever being such that the virus was becoming a more certain
possibility.
***
Just before lunchtime on Sunday the test result came back.
I’d all but convinced myself it would be negative, mainly on account of an
easing temperature and the presence of phlegm: it was a chest infection, it must
be.
Dear Aidan Severs
Your coronavirus test
result is positive. It means you had the virus when the test was done.
I went downstairs to break the news. By now, of course, the
rules for Christmas had changed, all our plans involved people now marooned in
tier 4, so my corona was not going to be the cause of spoiled Christmas plans.
However, there were plenty of other consequences.
I have to admit I cried. Many times. Everything set me off.
The thought of potentially ruining so many other Christmases. The fact my wife
had to cancel and refund all her Christmas orders. Knowing my mother-in-law,
who is in our bubble, would not be able to spend Christmas with us meaning that
she may face it alone. The knowledge that my children, who have soldiered on
through the country’s toughest restrictions, living as we do in Bradford, and
not even an area of Bradford that got out of local lockdown for a while, would
have to endure more time indoors with only each other as company. Heightened
emotions may be a symptom – then again, its legitimate for it to be that
upsetting without that as an excuse.
I completed my Test and Trace information, and the academy’s
counterpart. Thankfully it was deemed unnecessary to ask anyone else to
isolate, due to the mitigations in place and my keeping to them. That was a
weight off my mind, although I spent each day of the holiday waiting to hear
that someone else from work had come down with it because of me. At the time of
writing, I have heard only of one very tentative transmission, and am hoping
that when I speak to my colleagues again in the new year, all will report a
healthy Christmas holiday.
And the thing just left me weak, wheezy and a waste of
space. Unable to go out, incapable of doing anything of any value. I
par-watched a film, and an episode of a series. Reading, writing, music had
very little draw – besides the initial headache that came with my Covid
prohibited these activities. I slept on and off. I mostly just felt guilty – I
know it wasn’t my fault - and sad that my wife was having to take on
everything. My muscles ached, my skin felt like it was on fire, my head felt
like it was sunburnt.
At some point, it robbed me of my sense of smell, leaving me
with only a partial sense of taste. All that Christmas food! Would I be able to
taste it? That was if I even had the appetite for it – usually ravenous the
whole time, I certainly experienced some fluctuation in my desire to eat.
It felt unfair. We’d stuck to all the rules. I’d survived
the term, always being there at work, covering when others thought they might
have had it, or indeed, when others did have it, plugging away finding
never-ending solutions to all the latest Covid problems. We’d ridden wave after
wave of the UK’s harshest restrictions, very rarely losing hope.
Even after a week, I was still dog tired. I woke up on the
23rd feeling a bit brighter, a little more energised, but as the day
wore on, that wore off. If there’s one thing this virus does well, it’s robbing
its host of their vitality. Perhaps the exhaustion was due to my body fighting
of the illness effectively enough for me to remain at home, instead of being
hospitalised? I suppose if that was the case, then I am thankful for the
tiredness.
Of course, friends and family rallied round. Many a kind
message was received, people picked stuff up for us, dropped it off.
Entertainment for me and the children was sent. My wife did a cracking job of
keeping the morale high despite everything.
Christmas Eve was merry – I was feeling a lot better and
managed to join in with all the day’s activities – still inside the house,
isolating of course. Just before we headed out for a drive around to look at
the Christmas lights loads of my family members came to the street and sang to
us – a lovely, heart-warming moment, and a chance to sample some of my dad’s
Covid Carols live! But we weren’t only going to see the Christmas lights, we
also made a second trip to the test centre: my wife had begun with a cough
- a cough which by now was plaguing me
to the point of perceived pain in my lungs.
And on Christmas morning, whilst preparing the meal, her
text came through: positive.
And the so the saga continues. Thankfully by Sunday 27th
(my official release date) I was feeling normal enough again to do a decent job
of having a good time with the children, feeding the family and keeping the
house in some sort of semblance of order. I took the kids out for a brief walk
in the woods and it did us good. At the time of posting, my wife is still ill
in bed, experiencing her version of all the symptoms I had.