Wednesday 28 May 2014

The Merry Month of May

This May has seemed like a long month (and it still hasn't ended!), which is unusual in this day and age as time seems to whizz by and before we know it the end of the year is upon us and the mad rush to stock up on Christmas presents has presented itself once again.

Other than keeping myself busy with a customer order and making plenty of new things for Ellie's Treasures at Wisbech Craft Centre, May also saw my birthday come and go and Jay's too - he's now 17 years old, although he certainly doesn't act that age!
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We've had some glorious hot days where the barbecue was dusted off and the home made coleslaw prepared for a couple of alfresco meals.
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Ben's "selfie" whilst toasting marshmallows on the barbecue.

The lawn is being cut every weekend and the herb garden has gone into over-drive!  We've been busy tidying the front of the garden too, mainly because we had a special visitor (or 15) come in the middle of May.
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Back in January we received a letter from a gentleman named David whose Great Uncle used to be the village policeman living with his wife in our home.  He used to ride around on a specially adapted bicycle and David asked if he could bring the bike back to its home for a visit, along with some of his family and a team of cyclists doing a charity bike ride.  The day dawned, bright, sunny and wonderfully warm and the rather large team arrived around lunchtime.  It was as if we'd known them forever, they were all so friendly and chatty and interested in the bike in question and its origins.  One of David's Aunts used to visit our home as a teenager during the war so we gave her a bit of an indoors tour and took the opportunity to ask her some questions on the house layout and which rooms were used for police business etc., etc.  She also got to meet one of the oldest residents in the village who lives next door to us.  David's Great Uncle was 6'7" which is why the bike had to be adapted.  Many of the cyclists, including David, had a go at riding the bike up and down the road - not as easy as it sounded as there were no gears and you had to peddle backwards to brake!  A lovely sandwich lunch with the group at the local pub and a pop down to the village fair afterwards made for a very pleasant day.
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David riding his Great Uncle's special bobby bike.

May has also seen the start of Ben's GCSEs.  The 3 hour English Language went well and luckily the hot weather broke in time for the big day, meaning those sitting it weren't feeling as uncomfortable as expected.  By the afternoon the weather had changed drastically with thunderstorms and very heavy rain.  Villages close to where the exam was held experienced unbelievable hail resulting in damage to some properties in the area.

Since then, the weather has remained fairly unsettled.  This little fella seems to be the only thing around that's enjoying the sudden downpours and sogginess of it all.
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With his Maths exams popping up early next month and soon out of the way, concentration is turning to Physics and Chemistry and the thoughts of GCSE Astronomy as well (via distance learning).  We have found lots of You Tube videos to help with the sciences and some interesting hands on experiments (which so far have been successful - it's not always the case!).  We made a basic battery a couple of weeks ago which was fascinating.  Details can be found on this pdf here.
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Layers of pennies, tin foil and kitchen towels damp with salt water = simple battery.

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