Project 365 2021 Week 49 Day 339-345 A week that saw me in London twice and also saw my son turning 12 – how has that happened!?

Sunday 5th December – Day 339

I’d bought some FFP2 masks for a bit of extra filtration and we headed down to London for a day of pre-birthday surprises for my son.  My niece and her partner were in London for the weekend so they met us off the train and we spent some time catching up with them.  She shares my son’s birthday too.  We all got to see the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree in its glory (not).  Pizza for lunch (thank you Tesco vouchers) and after a quick look at the Lego display in Covent Garden we headed to the Adelphi Theatre for the main surprise – seeing Back to the Future The Musical.  The show was brilliant, very clever staging and we all loved it.

I was rather surprised, especially given the latest Covid news, that no one’s Covid passes were checked, neither was my son’s LFT result.  There was a lot of people ‘drinking’ in their seats before the performance but I didn’t notice anyone not wearing masks once the lights went down.  We just kept ours on all day.

We went for a walk to see some of the Christmas lights after the show, before heading back to the station to get the train home.  Another LFT for my son before bed so that he got the all-clear to go to school tomorrow.

Monday 6th December – Day 340

No email of doom at the last moment, so my son went back to school.  We’re all tired and grumpy this morning, doesn’t bode well for an afternoon of maths homework! I wasn’t working until later today so I headed into town as soon as the bank opened as I had some old notes to pay in for Dad and some coin bags I’ve had sat in the kitchen for months.  Not only does the bank open and shut at strange times these days, but it seems that they are doing everything possible to stop their customers from dealing with a cashier.  I was only allowed to queue for the cashier because I had money bags.  Dad, it’s just as well you live in Spain.

I spotted this yarn bomb postbox topper which brightened my mood.

It looks as if my brother might have Covid so we ditched his visit tonight to bring over my son’s presents.  We thought he was just suffering from the after-effects of his booster jab, but clearly not.

Our niece’s MIL died this morning, she’d not been well for a long time but it was still a shock.  Our great-niece and nephew have now lost two grandparents in the space of six weeks.  Too much for them to process right now.

Tuesday 7th December – Day 341

It used to be my son standing by the window waiting for the dustbin lorry to arrive.  Now it’s the cats.

Was so relieved when the postman delivered an eBay auction order for my son’s birthday that was sent on 29th November 2nd class signed for,  I was beginning to think it was ‘lost in the post’.

After work, I braved the high winds and headed into town to post some blog giveaways and then on to the garden centre to look at their Christmas displays.  Seemed much smaller this year.  Picked up a few presents for friends and got everything wrapped.

This afternoon we learned that the Dad of one of my son’s friends had lost his fight with Covid.  He’d been in ICU for five weeks, but I hadn’t contemplated him not pulling through.  He was a regular member of our Primary school drop off and pick up group all the way through Primary School.  Always laughing and joking, a really lovely man, from a really lovely family.  He leaves a wife and son the same age as mine.  It’s absolutely heartbreaking.  Our boys have grown up together, I just can’t get my head around it at all.

Wednesday 8th December – Day 342

It’s wet, windy and the kind of weather that makes you just want to stay indoors.  I’ve got a mountain of blog work to catch up with so my day off will still be spent in front of a laptop!

I’d told my son earlier in the year that elves don’t visit children once they start Secondary School but he was having none of it.  With two kittens who are into everything, I just couldn’t see how it would work this year, but I partially relented.  Berry arrived a week ago with my son’s advent calendars and a letter from Father Christmas.  The letter told him that Berry really should be with him and he’d been granted special permission to leave his role in the elf factory.  But because this was an unscheduled stop, Berry was just too tired to get up to all sorts of mischief and would spend most of the visit sitting watching over my son.  He was happy with that, and it’s meant that most evenings I can totally forget about the elf!

Thursday 9th December – Day 343

I’m in London all day, LFt negative and off we go!  I travelled down with my boss to attend the monthly board meeting and afterwards, we had our work’s Christmas meal.  Although all the covid issues have sucked a little of the joy out of it all, it was just lovely to do something a bit normal and to have a bit of me-time.  One or two G&T’s may well have been consumed and we may well have had a cheeky burger and chips on the train home!

Back home to ensure balloons were blown up, and the correct presents were left in place for the morning.

Friday 10th December – Day 344

I have a 12-year-old in the house, and my niece is 25.  How are either of those things possible! Thankfully I’m not working today and we’re going out for dinner tonight so I can chill a little. My son had got into bed with me in the middle of the night, so I didn’t get much sleep before it was time for the present unwrapping to begin before school.

He’d got some ‘epic surprises’ apparently and headed off to school a very happy boy.  I went back to bed and woke up three hours later – oops!

We had a Skype with his grandparents for more present opening and he’d received a present from Berry the Elf in the post.  Once unopened he realised he’d got his own Christmas tree complete with lights and decorations.  More brownie points earned, this one can stay safely away from Pippi and Fudge, in his bedroom and can be planted in the garden after Christmas.

We went out to Prezzo for dinner and apparently it had been the best birthday ever.  Result.

Saturday 11th December – Day 345

The weekend and because his birthday had been on a school day I’d promised him that today would be a home day and he could spend the whole day building Lego.  The smile says it all.