Well, Rohan and I did have a lovely weekend despite the fact that it rained all day and I mean all day.
After breakfast in bed and perusing the weekend section of the paper for me and the sports pages for him we decided to drag ourselves out for the local Big Day Out c/o of the railway station. Well, folks don't hold your breath for news of that amazing event because it was pretty low key to say the least. The highlight for me was the fact that we could walk along the viaduct that extends beyond the station.
So picture an eleven year old boy, his Mum and a motley crew of (more than) middle aged men tramping along in the rain with our brollies up. Poor Rohan looked at me quizically a few times as if to say "what are we doing with this lot"? Well, we got to the viaduct only to find that we couldn't even look over the top because we were surrounded by six foot high brick walls on each side. Rohan then did give vent to his feelings with a "well, that was worth it Mum". Mind you he did stifle a few guffaws as the train spotters asked inane questions of the guide like: "when you renovated these walls did you each work from one end and meet in the middle or did you all work from the same end". Train geeks that's what he called them for the rest of the weekend. Mind you he did at least climb on top of a salt/grit box and look over the said walls. He said it was amazing to see how high up we were.
Anyway, on the way back we did slide down the embankment a bit and took some pics:
It is an amazing structure but I do feel that I think I might have blown it a bit with Rohan because next month there's a steam rally somewhere near and he's already told me there's no way he's going to it! Well, what do you expect from a nearly twelve year old I guess? Shame he now thinks that his mother is also a train geek!
Talking of train geeks I must just show you what one chap has spent his spare time building:
It's a replica of the local station as it was before British Rail decided to knock it down in the 70's and replace it with a building like this one:
(This is not the actual station but when I did a Google search on it there was no image. This station is pretty much like ours). Did someone actually design this?
The rest of the week went in the usual end of term rush and culminated with a concert from Rohan's class where all the children played tunes on their individual instruments. Rohan, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, plays the piano. He's incredibly lucky in that he can play by ear. So yesterday he played a blues number and then a piece that he 'composed' himself. He was awfully shy and embarrassed but he got an amazing round of applause and cheering from the audience. As you can imagine he just takes it for granted and doesn't rate it at all. He rather wishes that he had the same gift in the field of sport, especially cricket which he loves. Meanwhile, I was doing the proud Mum in the audience bit. (I wish I could record his piece and put it up here but I have no idea how to - might ask Tom to do it over the weekend).
Otherwise, we're off for a week now and our friend Abby is coming to stay tonight. Tomorrow we're off to Portobello Road and on Wednesday it's a day trip to Boulogne. Thank goodness I'll have something to write about for a change .........................
I wish I lived further south - a day trip to Boulogne sounds idyllic (although in fairness we are headed in that direction in June). I hope Rohan forgives you soon!
Posted by: Vonnie | May 23, 2008 at 10:21 PM
For haiavng nothing to write about I think you did rather well Simmy! Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend with Rohan and despite it being rather boring for him with the trainspotters, I am sure you built some lovely mother/son memories together that will be taken out and cherished in years to come. I hope you have a wonderful week this half term and that you have a great time in Boulogne!!!
Posted by: Marie | May 24, 2008 at 07:31 AM