All cars need an MOT its a way of making sure you car is road worthy and not about to malfunction but it is also a time of great trepidation because cars go wrong even if you look after them and an MOT can be a big bill. Todays was “expected” to be bigger than normal because the brakes were an advisory last year and when I had the car serviced a few weeks ago he suspected they would need doing to pass an test, so I said lets get it booked in and get them done.

The rest of the car passed the MOT and I now have new discs and pads on the front but my bank account is £322.44 down from where it was this morning but hopefully it will stand me in good stead for another 12 months touch wood! Its next job that’s booked in at the end of this month is the damage to the rear bumper which is going to cost another £275 but I get paid around the time its booked so I should be fine. Now the gate posts have been removed I shouldn’t need another new bumper after that….?

Knowing how easy the SDS was going to make dropping the second post I pre- booked a tip spot and set to work. Just like last week, after half an hour I was loading the first load of bricks into the car ready to get rid and barely broke sweat.

The weather was great for pottering and I made the most of it tidying up the rubble and making a second tip run and filled the brown bin with a large part of the hedge opening the gateway to 3 feet wider than it was a couple of weeks ago.

I finally finished the Adarondak chair too something that Ive struggled to overcome but managed to overlook my mistakes and  just get it done. It was nice to finally get it painted and sat outside Jamie’s office, especially because it wouldn’t fit through my shed door (yes another mistake) but I took the back off attaching again once outside.

Elouise turned up at 6pm ready for the party her and Reagan were going to and sat and had tea with us before I took both girls dressed to the nines Reagan no longer a young girl wanting her parents guidance but

What an emotional evening it was for the cast and crew as they travelled to Oz for the final time.

It was our second time watching Lincoln, but this time we were joined by Auntie Helen, Patty and Ian, who were just as blown away as we were on Tuesday night. The performance felt slightly different tonight, perhaps not quite as polished as the first time we saw it, almost as though everyone had relaxed a little. Some of the dialogue wasn’t quite as crisp, and Lincoln himself wasn’t quite as booming, but in my opinion he still, stole the show.

It was still amazing from start to finish. The cast were probably exhausted by this point and, although they would never want it to end, it felt like the perfect moment to bring down the curtain on something they will remember for the rest of their lives.

When the lights came back on, the cast and crew were invited back onto the stage to receive a final round of applause. The cast then presented the teachers, who had been the driving force behind the production for the past few months, with flowers as a thank you.

An emotional speech from one of the cast, who struggled to hold it together, had the whole room sobbing and cheering in equal measure. It also seemed to be the moment that gave everyone else permission to finally let their emotions show and truly take in what they had achieved together.

For the Year 11s there was the realisation that this had been their final performance before leaving school in the summer. For others, there was the quiet understanding that the friendships formed during those long hours of rehearsals would never quite be the same again once everyone returned to their classrooms and became regular pupils again.

For Lincoln, the moment carried even more emotion. He knows that his friends Ethan, CJ, Duncan and Ollie all Year 11 pupils are about to leave. They’ve shared a much bigger drama journey together outside of school as well as through this production, so the end of this show meant much more than just the final curtain.

Watching him afterwards, hugging cast members and letting the tears come, you could see just how much it all meant to him. Some people may only have seen the end of a school play, but for him it was the end of a chapter.

The other night he said something that really stayed with me:
“Ethan is the reason I love drama, and he’s leaving.”

I told him that yes, that may be true, but now it’s your turn, it’s your turn to inspire the next group to love drama. One day, one of them might say, “Lincoln is the reason I love drama.”

I know he heard the words. I just hope he really heard the message.

Watching him tonight, allowing himself to feel and show all of those emotions in front of everyone, made me burst with pride.

Well done Son!

Wow just Wow

He has talked about The Wizard of Oz since getting the part of the Lion back in September and has committed a lot of extra caricular time to it and tonight we finally got to see if the hype was justified.

Oh my goodness the whole production was amazing with something to look at and marvel at from start to finish with performances from title roles and minor ensemble roles that were brilliant.

With all that said we were there to see Lincoln’s Lion and he played his part from the moment we walked in to take our seats. Very professional but most importantly a boy who looked like he was living his best life! His solo song was on point after roller skating into the spotlight.

If a father could be more proud of his son please tell me how, because he said he was going to do it, he absolutely loved doing it and to watch him play the lion made me cry he was so good.

Wow just Wow!

Having purchased an SDS drill from ScrewFix late yesterday my intentions today was to remove both gateposts that me dad built for me when I knew Jamie was coming over to live and our intention to start a family would mean making the whole boundary secure for little humans to run free but safely too! The fact that was 19 years ago and those little humans are 14 and 15 the former is as tall as me and the latter is about to leave school means the gates are no longer required. Add to that the fact that I have reversed into one of them and Jamie has driven into the other trying to get in and out of our gateway with the street full of parked cars it just makes sense to get rid sooner rather than later.

I did not know what an SDS drill was until a week ago and having read up on them it sounded like the ideal tool to make demolishing two brick pillars easier than a hammer, a chisel, brute force and ignorance. Oh my goodness what a piece of kit, it made the job so bloody easy the one I bought was cheap £80 and heavy 7Kg but it glided through the job and I was done with one post in around an hour and didn’t break sweat.

The other post can wait till next week not because it was too much work but I didn’t want rubble hanging around and one post was two trips to Crewe tip one today and because there wasn’t a second slot I will have to go first thing in the morning before work.