Review of 2021

Well, here we are almost at the end of 2021, learning to live with Covid-19 and slowly beginning to resume some of the things we used to take for granted pre-Covid. It's not been the most exciting of years, but we've still managed to have some fun moments.

January started with a bit of a shock, as schools were suddenly given less than 24 hours notice that the children would not be returning the following day and we would be back to online learning. Adam was quite happy about this, although Lucy was sad not to be going back to see her friends. Fee still had to go in to teach the keyworker and vulnerable children, as well as setting and marking online learning for the rest of the class but, not having had the vaccine at this point, was quite relieved to be teaching a smaller, socially distanced class.  Brian was still working from home, as he had been since the beginning of the pandemic.

February and March were obviously quite uneventful. Adam celebrated his 14th birthday in lockdown and, shortly afterwards, he and Lucy returned to school. 

April arrived and, during the Easter holidays, we finally managed to catch up with Fee's side of the family to celebrate Christmas and exchange presents. We had a lovely day at a country park near Newbury and thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas dinner of sausage sandwiches!

After Easter, Fee took on a new role at school, going back to being a class teacher again, as the year 3 teacher had left . She thoroughly enjoyed it as a short term role, but one term of 55-60 hour weeks as well as keeping on top of the housework and family stuff was enough for now!

With GCSEs being cancelled, Lucy got stuck into her forty something assessments (to give the teachers enough evidence to give them teacher assessed grades) and, at the end of May, had her last day of school. As her end of year prom had been cancelled, they were allowed to dress up for their last day.

Also in May, Lucy managed to finally complete her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition (which she almost admitted to enjoying!)  then decided to get her hair cut and donate it to the Little Princess Trust to make into wigs for cancer sufferers.

We celebrated Brian's birthday (and the first day of being allowed to eat inside at pubs and restaurants) with a meal at a local pub. It was so nice to be able to do something normal again, despite the large plastic screens between tables. Another return to normality came with the cricket season, and it was amazing to be back watching Adam and his team play matches again.

June passed by pretty quickly, and soon it was the summer holidays. Fee, Bri and Adam went to see the 'Hundred' cricket at Lords. We watched the ladies' match in the morning, before the heavens opened, forcing the cancellation of the mens' match in the afternoon. Still, at least we got to see a bit of play! July also saw our first canoe polo tournament in over a year. It was a perfect day for being out on a lake, with temperatures of 28 degrees C. We even persuaded Adam to give it a go.

With foreign travel still very difficult, and requiring quarantining on arrival back in the UK, we booked a caravan in Hastings for a week. The weather wasn't exactly what you'd call 'glorious sunshine' but we only had one day of rain, so were able to get out and visit some places such as Battle, where the battle of Hastings took place, and a crime museum. We rode in the clifftop funicular, went for a few bike rides and ate fish and chips on the beach (although sadly, we couldn't go in the sea due to a sewage leak!)   In August we celebrated Lucy's fantastic GCSE results and also spent a nice few days in Bristol.

In September, Fee got a new job (in the same school) as joint English subject lead.  She is enjoying the new challenges of the role as well as still teaching French and music across the school for 2 and a half days a week.

Adam started his GCSE courses, having picked Computer Science, Music, French and History for his options. And Lucy started her A levels at Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge  - studying French, Media Studies and Psychology. She found it a bit of a shock to the system at first, with long days and numerous train cancellations. However, she has now settled into it and is enjoying being a bit more independent. Shortly after starting back at school, we celebrated Lucy's 17th birthday, which of course meant she could learn to drive. She seems to be enjoying her lessons and - apart from breaking down the first time Fee took her out to practise - she's doing well.

November seemed to be focused on Adam's scouting activities. He decided to apply for the 2023 World Scout Jamboree in South Korea and made it through to the selection weekend. Unfortunately, he didn't make the final cut but had a great weekend and it was all good life experience!  The following weekend he had a survival camp, sleeping in home-made shelters in temperatures of -1 degrees C, 40 mph winds and sleet. Not my idea of fun but he seemed to enjoy it!

In other news, Brian is still volunteering for Mid Shires Search and Rescue and has been out on numerous searches this year. He's also still running and has entered a couple of races this Autumn. Lucy is still coaching gymnastics (but now getting paid for it) and Adam has started helping out at Beavers for part of his Duke of Edinburgh Award. He's also taken up Parkour which is definitely keeping him fit!

We've just enjoyed a fantastic trip to London for Fee's birthday, to see the musical 'Come from Away' and we went to watch Adam's school pantomime last week. We're off to Bristol over Christmas and will be catching up with Brian's side of the family too.

Hope you are all keeping safe and well, and have a lovely festive season.

Love and best wishes from

Fee, Bri, Lucy and Adam. xxxx