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Most of Saturday without the kids and I just wasted it staying in bed til 10am, eating scrambled eggs whilst watching telly and having a bath. Best day of my life. Didn’t even remember to have lunch.
Suddenly it was 4pm and the kids were on their way back.
Oh man, I’d missed them. The idiots.
And also really not missed them.
Good to have them back. Catie forced by the law to have her birthday in different chunks was going out tonight and I got to do the last bit of the day on my own. I think this might be my first night in without her being here since March. So even that felt like a weird bit of pre responsibility freedom. Even though I was technically looking after my sleeping kids. As long as we didn’t need to drive to hospital it would be OK…
The kids were unusually obedient for me tonight, but I let them stay up a bit later than usual, so that the clocks changing wouldn’t fuck us up too much tomorrow. We coloured in (or on in Ernie’s case) and wrestled and played on our devices and had a happy bath where they didn’t fight even a little bit.
And after I’d read Ernie a story (that Phoebe sat in for), Phoebe asked if she could read the books she’d chosen. It made me cry a little and it wasn’t a sad story. Obviously I’ve seen her reading before, but the progress is rapid and her confidence is impressive. How the Hell do kids learn this stuff? It seems impossible or at least magical. It certainly doesn’t happen overnight, but when the stabliisers come off then suddenly they are flying.
What a pair of little champs they are. And how much easier it is to feel that way about them when they’ve been out of your hair.
RHLSTP #300 is now up for early download - including a bonus 30 minutes that won’t be in the podcast (released on November 4th). Plus anyone downloading it before then will be entered into a draw to win a box of RHLSTP merch (including the coveted Rubik’s Cube). It costs £8, but that money (minus PayPal fees) goes to Refuge. So if you have a little spare money then
please do download now here.
Over 500 have done that in the first (half) day online, which is amazing. I am hoping we’ll get at least 1000. But there’s a lot of listeners. Imagine if we got 10,000. Or 100,000. Or 100,001 (Ok that last one probably isn’t realistic).
I put together a newsletter about this and the other stuff that’s coming up. Be great if you could contribute to one of the charity things - if you’re with Amazon Prime you can do so without spending any more money.
I’ve had an OK year (considering). If you have too then it’s time to put something back (in your own way). I’m giving November (and maybe December). If you’ve had a good year then think about what you might be able to do. Especially if you’re Ian Amazon and made a couple of extra billion (mainly due to the revenue from my Twitch channel, though apparently he does some deliveries too)
