Ants

Madeleine and I spend the afternoon together mano-a-chica. We head to the common taking reading materials and other entertainments. She is, of course, immediately bored so I tell her the story about Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. This lasts ten minutes. "Come on dad, I thought you said we were going to have some fun" she exclaims. We sit on the park bench and I tell Madeleine that "if you are bored you are boring" and she rolls her eyes at me. Finally, she breaks through her barrior and follows the travails of a lonely ant returning to its ant home. From there she imagines herself as one with the ants and I watch her imagination at work. It is a good afternoon.

Last night I attend our PTA meeting - me and 20 women. Our main discussion is the fast approaching Summer Fair, which I am overseeing (theme: Wild, Wild, West). Yesterday also was a fair all-hands meeting following the morning school drop. I am happy to report that the mums are coming out in full force, thank goodness (our goal is to beat last year's £14,000 fundraise). During the pow wow, it became known to me that there has been some grumbling about the entrance fee of 50p ("why should the children have to pay?!"). Last night I raise the issue with the PTA and in true PTA fashion we debate the 50p charge for 30 minutes. Time... stands... still....