Who ordered the rain on Sunday?

Whilst I don't mind running in the odd shower, I draw the line at constant drizzle. However I was in the Great South Run for a good cause, so I got on with it. I managed to run almost all of the first mile without stopping - a long way for me. Think that was about the time Paula Radcliffe was crossing the finish line.

My feet behaved themselves for the most part until blisters started forming at about 7.5 miles. By 8 miles my hips were protesting, but I was at walking speed only (and slow at that) by then. The last two miles were along the seafront from Eastney to Southsea Common by the Pyramid Centre. There was a cold breeze blowing constantly, which made you very cold very quickly. Foolishly I'd handed my fleece over to A at 6,5 miles because I was so hot and sweaty I was sure I wouldn't need it. Note to self for next year - keep the fleece!

Yes, that's right. D & I are already planning to enter next year's event.

By the time I crossed the finish line my arms were red and almost completely numb. My fingers were like lumps of flesh with a mind of their own - not good. I managed to collect my goody bag and quickly found A & D. Then I burst into tears - I had had enough and wanted to go home. A got me back into my fleece and waterproof coat then stood hugging me to try to get me warm. We walked slowly back to some friends flat where a hot shower and a mug of tea soon perked me up a bit. Then we came home. I think it took me till yesterday (Monday) to be properly warm again.

Here are the finishing positions and times (will fill in the blanks when I can):

I (friend K's sister) 4455

C (friend with flat) 4461

Friend K 10201

D (my son) 10985 2:09.04

Me 11486 2:39.35

Friend A 11530

Taken before the start with our other halves.

They're letting blind people drive!

That's the only conclusion I can come to for how someone can totally miss a silver Mercedes E-Class estate and drive into it. We were coming round Segensworth roundabout, a large but well-marked and signed effort near to our house. A was driving, I was in the front passenger seat and K was sat behind her Dad (and nearest to the impact point).

The muppet decided that, instead of following the wonderful markings, he would stick like glue to the inside lane of the roundabout before launching across 3 lanes to the exit he wanted, which was one before ours. We were in the correct lane for the exit we wanted, and it would have been the correct lane for muppet too if he'd been in it.

He hit us on the rear driver's-side wing and bumper, giving us a bit of a dent and some scraping in dark red/maroon. Part of me is quite smug about the fact that the entire front bumper of his car has fallen off and goodness know what that has done to the rest of the chassis. I'm also quite glad we have a Merc and not a small car because things might not have gone so well for us then.

K was ok at the scene but is developing whiplash. I've given her the icepack and painkillers/anti-inflammatories. She's going away tomorrow, sailing with sea scouts, till Friday. A & I are fine although our tempers are a little frazzled. The car will be repaired within two weeks by the insurance company appointed repair shop. I will get a courtesy car, which I expect to be some poxy 2 door Ford Ka or equivalent and of little use to me whatsoever.

Lots to tell you

It's been a while - again. Sorry, life keeps getting in the way.

D is a happy soul. College is definitely suiting him. He has now decided that he may like to do a degree in Geology and/or Chemistry rather than Maths and Computing as he his having so much fun in the science lessons. He's nursing a strained joint where his right-hand pinky finger joins the hand - basketball injury. Hopefully it'll be better by next weekend.

K has been in need of attitude re-alignment this week. All that typical teenage angst has been flying around, and I'm the one on the receiving end. Well she got her re-alignment on Thursday and it seemed to work, but today she decided that my 'no food in your bedroom till it is tidy to my standard' rule could be forgotten. So I removed all PC/PS2/Wii/TV privileges. Guess who is now making in-roads into that tip she calls her personal space (trade descriptions act could be used there)? Voluntarily too! Edited to add, she's just taken the hoover upstairs!!!!!

A is fighting off yet another cold. This must be the third in 2 months. He's been working longer hours so we are wondering whether it is down to the air-con system at work. Lots of people there are sniffly and coughy. His car is now working again, touch wood, fingers crossed, etc. But we are still looking to change it in for something smaller. Then he will have my car for work and I will have a tiny runabout.

I am crocked - again! My running was doing really well and I found a new burst of stamina. Then the achilles and plantar fascia in my left ankle/foot decided they weren't happy and I'm back to walking. The physio I saw last week has suggested that the Great South Run might be too much for me but I'm doing it. Sponsorship is inching ever-closer to the £1000 mark.

I didn't get the part-time admin job at a local Sure Start centre. Part of me is disappointed but part of me is ok with it. After a lot of thinking I've decided that basic office work would be boring. I enjoy a bit of variety and would prefer to be really interested in what the place I work at does. Anyway, yesterday I found a job in a Traffic Management Office. The blurb on the job website suggests it is like I used to do many years ago as a despatch clerk/typist but with more general admin as well. I'd really like to apply for it but the downside is it's full-time. A is pretty sure that jumping straight back into full-time work after 17 years off might be too much. K isn't ecstatic about being left to fend for herself each weekday but says she'll get used to it and be fine. So what do I do?

Have an interview!

A few weeks ago I applied for the post of Admin Assistant at a Sure Start centre attached to a local-ish secondary school. It's 25 hours a week flexible between1 - 8pm. I got a letter a couple of days ago asking me to attend an interview on Friday 10th at 11am and to bring my ORIGINAL exam certificates. Does anyone know where their certificates are after 25 years?! My house is going to be the tidiest in the country. Or, of course, they're still lurking in a box at one of the parents houses. Serves us right for moving so many times.

At last!

Amazing what can happen in 24 hours. D has come home today with all the bumpf needed to do Stats 2 in Further Maths! Now all he has to do is get on with it, which shouldn't be an issue.

Yesterday he sat in on an AS Geology class. He sorted it out himself with the teacher, and is going to sit in on a couple more before getting it added to his timetable.

Today he received a letter from college - no, it doesn't make sense to me either seeing as he's there all day - asking him to attend ICT Key Skills workshops to work towards Level 2. Umm, the boy is studying A-Level Computing. I hardly think that his ability to file handle and make Office do its thing is going to be sorely tested here. This is the boy who, at 6 years old, was rescuing his primary school teacher's files and folders from wherever she'd hidden them on the class PC. Ah well, the hoops we have to jump through just so the boxes can be ticked.

As a total aside to all this, my daughter loves me! What did I do to bring this about? I made lasagne for tea, a whole load of it. Then she promptly invited a friend over to help make a big dent in my hoped for freezer supplies. Now A will be taking some to work tomorrow for his lunch so I may be lucky to get 3 portions frozen. Not bad for 3lbs of mince ;-)

What would you do

D has settled well into college. So far the work isn't stretching him and he is considering adding AS Geology to his timetable. Our biggest gripe is that he hasn't had a Further Maths lesson yet.

Why? Well it seems that the first module they do for the AS is Statistics 1. D has done this, and passed with an A, for his A2 Maths (Maths and Further Maths are two different courses, although the modules available are interchangeable). Now college have known he would be starting full-time there since November. They knew in February/March that he would be sitting the Stats 1 module in June. They've known since the middle of August that he got an A. They've known since 29th August exactly what his finalised course choices are. YET THEY HAVE YET TO DECIDE WHAT MODULE HE CAN STUDY INSTEAD!!!! They don't want to have this issue next year for the A2 so they need to decide what they will be teaching next year so that D can choose something else instead. Wouldn't you be a bit peeved that here we are two weeks into the year and he still has to do any maths?

I've told D that when he sees his tutor, who happens to be his Further Maths teacher, on Wednesday he is to tell him to sort it or I will lose patience and be in to see him - and that it won't be pretty if I do.

Did you miss me?

It was the summer holidays and not much was happening here in Dark Corner. The kids were quite happy to bask in the afterglow of their exam results. K got back into studying last week and is making inroads into Maths, Chemistry, Latin, French, ICT, and Ancient History. She only plans to sit exams in the first two, the rest are to build up a portfolio to impress college ready for next year.

Speaking of college, D has had his first day today. It was an orientation day - to meet their tutor and the other students in the tutor group, to sign up for some extra-curricula activities, sign up for a NUS Extra card and bag lots of discounts at various places, sign up for the gym, get a library card, check out the college cafes, grab a locker, etc. He's really hyper. He's made a couple of friends, one of whom has almost the same timetable as him, and signed up for basketball and archery. The NUS team gave him a free UV anti-theft marker to write his postcode on all his valuables, so he's been busy finding things to mark. His timetable has plenty of gaps in it so he has room to do most of his homework at college. In fact, he hasn't shut up since he got in. Long may it continue.

I have a few possibilities on the job front, all office-based. Fingers crossed one of them comes up trumps. A is working hard, as usual, and liaising with D on which nights D will need a lift home from college.