I make every effort, as a rule, not to say the same thing here as I’ve already said on Facebook.  Most of my FB friends are people who read this blog, so it would be a bit dull for them – however, this is the exception, sorry.

I was so pleased with myself this afternoon, that’s the thing.  I so rarely get it completely right first off.  Al and Pugsley appeared at the door after lunch; it seems that Dilly had some friends over and Al felt that the atmosphere was entirely too girly and that he and his son were, as he put it, personae non gratae.  I know, darlings, I didn’t understand it either.  Anyway, they came and joined me for a considerably less girly atmosphere.  Al read several books to Pugsley and then P wanted to watch television (he loves tv here, as I allow CITV, which has advertisements), so Al felt able to turn his attention to his laptop.

I may have mentioned that Al is a governor at the village school, the same one I was governor at for 18 years and which Ro attended for 5 years.  They found it hard to get rid of me, darlings.  Actually, when I became chairman of governors (because the CoG died suddenly, it was awful), they were going through a difficult time – anyway, a few months later, we appointed a new headteacher.  The choice wasn’t a unanimous decision, and she knows that so I can say it, but I will also say that it was a superb decision and I was instrumental in it happening.  A cautious person by inclination, I’m not afraid to follow my instincts when it’s time to be bold.  This was 8 years ago and she has been brilliant in sometimes difficult circumstances (coincidental serious staff illnesses, that was awful too, because not all of them survived).  Now she’s moving to a different part of the country and a new job.

So, various governors have been asked to write each part of the information pack to applicants, and Al was asked to write the part about the locality.  He agreed and came promptly to me for advice, wise boy.  I (‘scuse the caps) WENT STRAIGHT INTO THE STUDY, TOOK DOWN A FILE AND FOUND THE INFO FROM 8 YEARS AGO.  Just like that.  I haven’t been a governor there for 4 1/2 years, I’ve destroyed nearly everything, but I still had this and I knew where to look.  Remarkable, hey?  Anyway, some of it is out of date, but at least it gives Al something to base his piece on.

The second thing I’ve already mentioned on Facebook is the phone call I had this morning from someone called Kate who wanted the Sage to ring her back, from the Viron Licencing Dept.  I asked her to repeat it twice, I didn’t understand, and I could only write it down phonetically.  The Sage was puzzled for a minute.  Then his face cleared.  “Firearm”, he said.  “It’s about my firearm certificate.”  Oh.

Tonight, I had governors training on Safeguarding Children, which is a main OFSTED focus this year.  Next September, it’ll be dead in the water but right now if you haven’t ticked all the boxes you’ll fail.  Actually, we do tick nearly all the boxes and have an action plan (sorry) for the rest but I need to keep up to date on things and haven’t been trained for about 4 years.  I wisely prepared a delicious fish pie before I went out.  I was glad of nice food when I slunk back at 9.45.  And a couple of glasses of wine.

There was an air frost by 6.30 this evening, by the way.  I had to clear the windscreen before I left.