Minor ups and downs

Steady drizzle blurring the chilly air and semi-naked trees in the cemetery bear witness to the fullness of autumn, and with the turning of the season, the academic year is now back in full swing.   Summer seems a distant memory, though part of the reason for that is the very poor weather we had through almost all of it.   I was waiting for the forecast of a week's dry weather to repair a door, but it never came, and the door still awaits attention.   

Good exam results for all the resident minors (I no longer dare call them "children") brightened the holidays.   

Youngest son went off to Egypt to work as a site engineer for seven weeks after his exams finished, and penultimate son and foster daughter enjoyed a rather lazier couple of weeks at the height of the summer in Alexandria. 

My camping trip never materialised - in fact, apart from a few days city break with my lover, summer was a period of relentless work.   The amount and complexity of administration seems to increase from year to year, and as the staff at our partner institutions apparently migrate en masse to warmer climes in July and August, even the most trivial things take weeks to complete.   I did fit in a couple of flying visits to London to see second son and daughter, who have both turned into astonishing lovely people while my back was turned.

The start of term coincided with a host of annoyances: minor illnesses (minors and pets), the threat of major disruption at work and the effects of too long without a break which left me irritable and stressed.   One by one the afflicted recovered (though we have to live with the consequences of Bertie's new allergy to fleas), issues at work were resolved, and a break with my lover and visiting family dissipated the tension.   Eldest son brightened my life further having gained his MSc, a new job (which pays more than mine) and a date for his wedding next year.

But as mists and mellow fruitfulness lead inexorably towards bonfire night and we hunker down for the dark winter, life looks brighter.   There's an exciting new collaborative writing project in the pipeline which gives us the opportunity to break new ground in professional practice.   I have dipped my toe into the murky waters of A level examining to add a string to my professional bow, and a stream of requests for journal articles means that I can keep my publications list up to date.   The minors are all taking their A level courses seriously enough to convince me that they might actually get to university, and I think the worst of their temperamental teenage years are behind us, so the atmosphere at home is, if not calm, certainly noisily congenial.   

This time next year, things will be very different, so I plan to enjoy the last year with a houseful of kids before the sands of time blow them away to their futures.