Back To School Day

If you listen carefully, you'll be able to hear the rustle of leaves in the trees or the tinkling of a nearby wind chime. This has nothing to do with the weather - this is the result of me letting out one major sigh of relief. After seven weeks - seven weeks - it is finally Back To School time.


I always start the summer holidays with glee. Lie-ins, relaxing at home, no school runs, fun days out! But reality soon kicks in. Squabbling kids, My Little Pony on a loop (thanks Pop Max for putting that on repeatedly for two weeks), rainy days scuppering your plans for fun days out. And don't even get me started on the dreaded uniform shopping.


By the end of Week 3 I was ready for the return to normality. By the end of Week 4 I was officially counting down the days. By the end of Week 5 I was looking into the costs of boarding schools - and there were still two more weeks to go.

But the day has finally arrived and my little darlings are starting their new school year. We have our routine back and my stress levels should be back to normal pretty soon. I'm already starting to fool myself into thinking it wasn't all bad.

The weather hasn't always been great during the good old British summer, so most of our activities have taken place indoors. I did, however, manage quite a bit of outdoor reading. I didn't read quite as much as I'd have liked over the summer as I was squeezing in writing time whenever I could as I'd set myself the target of finishing the first draft of my latest book over the holiday - and I managed it with a week to spare!

I've had the past week away from writing to give myself a little break, but I'm looking forward to diving back in and catching up with Maddie and the gang!