P's race for life today

There were c1200 present raising c£80,000. Unbelievably typically only 2/3 of the money pledged gets remitted to the Charity - disgrace!

5km round Connon Park, Edgbaston. Apparently anything under 30 mins is considered good.

P & Kelly jogged round in the crush in about 45 mins. There were some still on the course when I left 1hr 30+. My guess is that 2/3 of those attending didn't even break into a fast walk though some were sweating to walk. Too fat, to unfit or just too lazy. Proves the stats about fat folk though. Lots of poor gaits, poor posture and

Well organised - there was one last night as well and there are 3 in Sutton Coldfield in
Apparently Cancer Research Uk is the biggest charity anywhere . Absolute measure!

These runs raise in excess of £60M p.a.

Well done P.

The first day of tne next five years.

We appear to have a new government, all very friendly & good natured so perhaps the future is bright, yellow & blue striped, like the old Park Hall school tie.
It is called the Liberal Conservatives. The Lib Dems have 5 cabinet seats, some of which are likely to be difficult in the present economic climate. So saying, the Scottish Secretary looks made for the post.

We have eaten an M&S Chinese takeaway, which was very good, to celebrate the end of another working week.
I'm going to see JR tomorrow, leaving at about 7.00am for fear of problems on the A14. Cambridge is the worst bit with very heavy traffic.
I shall stay over until Friday to take JR out for a pootle around Saffron Walden.

The old stage floorboards at The Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford are being laid in the foyer so that theatre can "tread the boards". Great.
Another cold night forecast.

An historic day, apparently.

Well, it's been all go today in Downing street whilst the rest of the world have been at work.
The Queen's had a busy evening seeing Gordon off & appointing David Cameron. The Brown's left Downing street as a family, the first time that the two sons have appeared in public.
Nick will be deputy PM with four other Lib Dems in the cabinet.
I doubt that many people even know four other Lib Dems at the moment - Vince Cable & who?
I hope that it all goes well.

An historic day at school as year 11 take exam leave on Friday, meaning that I had the last two lessons with my maths class today. I made a large cake, decorated with chocolate numbers, to celebrate at the end of the second lesson, after working hard until the last five minutes.
Some of them remained difficult to the end; they did appreciate the cake & say that they had been well taught.
Thanks.
I couldn't believe how relieved I felt as they left.
I just hope that they come to revision sessions & get some C grades.
I planned to collect some Christian Aid envelopes when I got home but it started to rain at that precise moment, so I changed my mind, sat down & had a cup of tea & a crumpet.
There was an parcel from W & MK with a lovely black merino top as a Mothering Sunday gift - celebrated last Sunday in CPH.
I'm very pleased with it.
I seem to have slept for most of the evening since dinner, at least I stayed awake all day at school.
More cold weather promised - ne'er cast a clout.........

Bye bye Gordon.

We seem to be auctioning off the role of PM.
The Conservatives have upped their bid for the Lib Dems by adding a referendum on voting reform, Gordon has asked the Labour party to find a new leader (never once using the word "resign") as Nick declared weeks ago that he could not work with Gordon.
Still, lots of options & no clue as to what will happen.
A number of senior Labour politicians have stated that Labour lost badly in the election & should stand down - I agree with them.
At least that would get rid of Mandelson, that unelected prig.
All we do know, according to Nick Robinson, is that we shall have a coalition government with Lib Dems in the cabinet & Gordon will hang on in Downing Street until September.
Call me bigoted, but I really don't like
1. Mandelson
2. Brown
3. Balls

We have hard times to come, whatever happens at Westminster.
At least we have kept our own currency.

Back in real life, we had a good weekend - a quiet Saturday then to Bicester on Sunday where I went to T's birthday bowling party whilst G went to J & G's to do some jobs & ride his bike.
School today, maths revision class then Chemistry tutoring at 6.00pm.
Last year 11 lessons tomorrow for me as they take exam leave on Friday.
I should be pleased, but they still have a lot to learn & most do nothing outside of lessons.
I've made them a cake.

Who'd have thought it?

So how come that the Lib Dems didn't do better, that the Labour Party didn't do a lot worse & that the Conservatives didn't get a majority?
It must have been a sympathy vote for Gordon & the Lib Dem voters losing their nerve when they could only think of two Lib Dem policies at that vital moment.
Perhaps it was all Lib Dem voters who were locked out at 10.00 pm last night.
How could that happen?
One Polling Station ran out of ballot papers.
Anyway, we now have to make the best of a disappointing result.
No doubt Gordon will hang on in there like grim death, having had two or three years of practice. He will continue "agreeing with Nick" or anybody else who could keep him in power.
Nick ruled this out some time ago & appears to be a very honest man, furthermore, he stated today that Dave should be given a chance to form a government as he had the largest number of seats, so, it appears that Gordon will have to find some other chums.
The Midlands did Dave proud, apart from Edgbaston - 17 gains, including Tamworth, Nuneaton & Warks North, giving a total of 36 seats.
Our longstanding & good Labour MP, Mike O'brien lost his seat by 54 votes to Dan Byles, formerly an army major. This must be one of the closest results in the election.
Looks like it may be a Dave/ Nick event at the end of it all.
"Have I got election news for you was a hoot" - catch the repeat if you missed it.
The BBC website is good if you want to check results.

We had a great day with Jessie & Thomas including lunch at McDonalds.
Thomas is in "big boy pants".
P & A's lounge looks fantastic, very elegant.
We had minestrone followed by seared scallops with oak smoked bacon & salad for dinner.
Perhaps these are the things that matter.

Escaped!

I woke up early & then lay wake until 8.00am fearing that the phone would ring & I'd be asked to go into school.
It didn't.
I read a few chapters of my Ian Rankin/Rebus novel before having a leisurely getting up then a potter around Knowle & Solihull - the first since before Easter as I've been working or away somewhere every other day.
It was a relaxing, even without a cup of coffee as I'd promised to be home with/for a late lunch.
I got home at 3.45pm, G had eaten already.
Never mind. I did buy some delicious food from you know where - they have some amazingly good offers (fish /meat for two, three meals for £6 - we have scallops, salmon & lemon sole)
We had tea & a welsh cake & a snooze on the settee, waking up cold.
I did the ironing then made minestrone in the style of Jamie Oliver in Venice. It was very good.
We've just settled down for the election on TV.
The exit pole gives the Tories a lead, but no overall majority.
The BBC are projecting the results onto big Ben - how about that for innovation?
Aj & I predict a Tory majority

Relocation.

I'm having a snooze in front of the TV after a hard day at work.
We spent the weekend in Bournemouth, having gone down on Friday afternoon to collect the bedding & crockery that we had left down whilst cleaning/decorating as a tenant will be moving in shortly.
We walked to Bournemouth, around the shops & back to boscombe on sat. morning, around Boscombe in the afternoon & then down to Hentisbury head & a walk around the headland in the evening.
Phew!
On Sun. we went to Swanage via the ferry from Poole, where G relived past family holidays.
The hotel was now an activity centre but the beach was still there where his Father sank a rowing boat containing the entire family, whilst his Mother looked on, in stitches.
We went on to Corfe & the castle then along the beautiful Purbeck coast to Lulworth castle & Cove before returning to Boscombe to eat & sleep.
On Monday we set off for the Midlands, going via the Dorset & Hampshire countryside.
We went to Mottisfont Abbey, an NT property, a twelfth century priory converted into a family house after the Reformation, abandoned for a while during the eighteenth century then bought by a society couple & patrons of the arts in the 1930s.
We fitted in visits to J,G & family & B, E & family en route home.
The weather has been amazingly cold & windy but the weekend was fun, we even managed to do the Telegraph crossword, with a little help from aj.
No TV & G did all of the cooking.