I can’t decide if life’s busy or quiet, I think that probably means that it’s chugging along at the same sort of pace as ever, and I’m tired. I had my first good pasting today at school from the person I was supposed to be working with. She’s a lot bigger than me, I gave up trying to protect her person or the school’s property in favour of my own (slightly battered) skin at the point where she ripped a metal cupboard door off and tried to hit me with it. Brings back memories of another place I used to work… I don’t do challenging behaviour, it wasn’t my strong point in the other place and it isn’t now either. I’d really like to be working with the guys who barely receive any attention because they are unable to cause enough trouble for anyone to notice their presence… but of course school don’t think they have any difficulties with those kids precisely because they aren’t demanding attention, so instead they’ve given me the select little group of the students that they know they can’t handle. Luckily classes finish soon, and then I’ll have a couple of weeks where the only kid I’ll be in charge of is my own, before summer scheme starts, when I’ll spend the subsequent two months turning into a mermaid, or more likely a wrinkly prune, in the local outdoor pool in the company of a (mostly) different bunch of disabled people, and my ever-present little friend from the village.
Meanwhile my DIY wheelchair insert is taking shape in our garage, albeit slowly; partly due to time constraints, but also because of having to let each stage dry for a few days before moving on. Martin’s in Cordoba, should be well on the way back by now in fact. Boy and I took the dogs for a good walk this afternoon, cue much squelching in mud and splashing of stones into the irrigation canal (Joni throws the stones and dog dives enthuseastically into the water after them). Day concluded by throwing one muddy child in bath, followed by food, stories, and bed.
Someone sent me the link to this video, which may be way too cheesy for you guys who are already up to your necks in corny Christmas gimmicks, but we don’t get anything like that here, so I quite enjoyed the couple of minutes of festive cheer (and the quality of the singing’s pretty good too);