Over the Long Weekend break I went home on Friday after the boarders parents evening looking forward to ‘feet up in front of the fire’. In fact, each of my three children had a friend for a ‘sleepover’ and I was straight into rolling out the dough for a pizza-fest: it was great fun and everyone was on terrific form.

The next day I headed off with 5 other Dads to watch Bath play their final game of the Heineken Cup against Glasgow (interestingly enough the train we caught from Taunton was destined for Glasgow - thankfully the game was at the Rec!). The train was inevitably busy and amongst the throng I bumped into Rick Gore (an old boy of King’s) who was headed in the same direction with his own group.  When I started at King’s College aged 13, Rick was my House Captain and seemed like a demi-god. There was another ‘boy’ in the upper sixth who had huge shoulders, propped the 1st XV, swam butterfly lengths in one stroke and was one of the fastest sprinters in the school: as a third former he was definitely ‘Superman’ and to cap it all, at a time when surnames were the normal form of address, his name was King!

Just before the game, another coincidental meeting was with a chap called Chris Howard with whom I had played many games for Bath Youth nearly 30 years ago.  We had also played some cricket for a mutual friend’s team but I hadn’t seen him for at least 15 years. It really is amazing how quickly a decade or two can pass and you are left looking back at a time that seems to come from a completely different life.

Bath played pretty well with Tom Biggs impressive in defence for a little bloke and we drifted back to Taunton.  It was then time to smarten up for a 40th birthday party at Augustus, a lovely little restaurant in The Courtyard off St James’s Street. It was a terrific evening with a very bubbly atmosphere and a loud hubbub of animated chatter and laughter.  The food was lovely and most certainly a good time was had by all.

Sunday was a much quieter affair with at least three members of the family challenging themselves to spend all day in their pyjamas - whether they went on the trampoline or not! A little bit of marking, some preparation but mainly R & R that included quite a lot of Sequin Art.

This week has kicked off with PSHE talks about Internet Safety, Year 3 exploring Reversible and Irreversible Reactions with mainly consumable items heated over an open fire in the woods, we had our first CUB4 Lunch concert and Cross Country matches abound.  We are into Scholarship season now and all those involved should be very proud of themselves.  Merely taking part is an achievement and the outcome will take care of itself: well done to all those Year 6 who were involved in either the academic, sport or music awards over the last week.