Saturday, January 20, 2007

Little Firemen



After school this morning, we went on an impromptu field trip to St Helena Fire Services! Jane actually arranged the whole thing, because she works right next to them, so just asked if the kids (hers and mine) could come and look at the trucks. It was wonderful. The boys could actually get right into one of the trucks, unfortunately not the huge fire engine, but one of the other smaller ones. They were allowed to switch on the sirens and the hooter, and the floodlight in the front, and then they even had a go with the hosepipe, which looks like an enormous gun – what better toy can there be for a little boy!! The three boys each had a turn while Zara hid inside the building peering out from behind the glass. It was a really great experience for them. After that, Jane whisked all the kids off to her house so they could have an afternoon of playtime. I went straight home so that Nick could use the car to get to the radio station. While I had the house to myself, I did some homeschool reading, as I haven’t actually properly started the handwriting program because I didn’t know I should have been, so have been a bit confused about what I was supposed to be doing in that particular slot. It’s all clear as mud now and next week will be more organized. While reading, the idea popped into my head to phone the education department to see if I could arrange some smaller desks and chairs for the boys, because working at the diningroom table is not good for them. They should really have their feet on the floor and be able to comfortably lean their elbows on the desk. What we need are child-sized furniture items, and since some schools are closing, I feel sure that they would have something available. I spoke to a very nice lady, the Education Officer, who said she would find out what she could. I wait to hear from her.

Nick had his prison service this afternoon, so I went into town with him and wandered around the shops, actually looking for yeast. There is no yeast in any of the shops. So we have a yeast and mayonnaise shortage. We fetched the boys at about 3.30 and of course they had all had a lovely time. Jane’s mom is visiting at the moment from SA, a very pleasant and down-to-earth lady. Supper was yeast-less pizza, which wasn’t quite as good, but still tasty. After supper we dashed down to the docks, because it occurred to us that there might have been a box from Wilson today, but everything was already closed up. We stayed a while at the docks though, because it was a nice atmosphere and lots of other people about. A rare occurrence for St Helena today – three ships in James’ Bay. The RMS came in this morning, and then a tourist ship, the Saga Ruby, arrived at lunch time, and there is an LPG (gas) carrier anchored in Lemon Valley which you can see from the docks. I think a lot of people turned up just to see the unusual sight!

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