If you follow my blog, you may have noticed that my final blogpost last week was on Tuesday. That just goes to show the kind of week we had ! It was the last week at school so I had meetings on Wednesday morning and Friday morning - my two half days off usually, boo ! I also had to go and see Pierre's teacher on Tuesday after school, so I couldn't go to the end-of-school-year drinks at work. Juliette got the paperwork on Wednesday to say she can to the "lycée" (upper high school) that she wanted and informing us to go online rapidly to accept the place. No problem, except my codes to get online weren't working. I phoned the new school who told me to phone the old school, but the old school said they couldn't do anything about it and to get back in touch with the new school. Luckily, as I'm a teacher, I asked the secretary at my school, who confirmed that yes, it was the old school's responsibility. I phoned back and explained that I'd double-checked then FINALLY managed to get new codes for the sign-up. On top of that, I got an email to say that the "collège" (lower high school - the same school that Juliette is now leaving) had been in touch with Pierre's primary teacher to say they were surprised I hadn't followed up on his new place. I'd been told (during confinement) that it was all being done online and had filled everything in on there. So that was Wednesday, on top of normal work, racing about digging out paperwork and doing photocopies and filling in all the new file for Pierre. Thank goodness I'm on holiday now - I need to breeeeeathe !!
Sunday 28th June - It was a gorgeous day so we headed out on the bus, going along to the far end of the promenade to avoid the crowds. There were quite a few people walking along the beach (twenty or so) but, as you can see in the pictures, social-distancing wasn't a problem, as it's such a huge beach, stretching all the way along to Belgium. This is the mirror bunker, which has been here for a few years, but the artist has just said he's not going to maintain the upkeep any more, so it may well disappear this summer.
After a nice walk along the beach, we grabbed a Belgian-style waffle at a little refreshments van, before getting the bus back home.
Monday - After a day at work, then sorting out dinner, I settled down to watch Ragnarok on Netflix with Sophie (and a box of microwave popcorn). It's a Norwegian series, but we watched it in English. It's not bad. It deals with a family moving to a new town and the teenage son is endowed with magical powers, so he is the incarnation of Thor, coming up against another "evil" local family, alongside all the regular teen angst.
Tuesday - We had to go and see Pierre's primary teacher after school for the final time, to give in the few remaining books that he had left and to pick "something" up. It turned out that, as it was their final year, the parents' association had given a €15 voucher for Le Furet du Nord (very similar to Virgin Megastore, which is what it was before) to each of the pupils. This was to use up the funds that usually would have been used to buy chocolates at Easter and pay for an end-of-year day out. Pierre was really chuffed. Got home to discover that Juliette had made loads of pancakes - that's tea sorted out then ! One of them even had a face !
Wednesday - I had a meeting in the morning, then dashed around sorting out all the paperwork for Pierre. Not to be outdone by her sister, Sophie made some Oreo Brookies (a mixture of brownies and cookies). Very tasty but apparently 400 odd calories per portion - eeek !
Thursday - A looong day at work, but it was the final chance to see the pupils, so it was fun. We mostly played Hangman and did wordsearches in English and talked about which "lycée" the older kids would be heading off to next year. Still really hot.
Friday - The final day at school. The kids were off already so we had a morning of meetings, to sort out where to kick off in September. Apparently, the Stage 2-confinement has been planned for October, but fingers crossed we won't actually need it. Better to be prepared though. We all had a buffet-style lunch together in the school canteen then headed home. That's it until the last day of August - phew ! It was a cool sunset tonight, with the sky full of little clouds as the sun started to go down.
Saturday - First day of the holiday - no need to set the alarm, yippee ! After heading in to town and sorting out Sophie's glasses, we took the dog on a long walk.
I sat down with Sophie and we made a big To-Do list for everything that needs to be done around the house. There's plenty to keep us going throughout the holidays (cleaning, dejunking, repainting, repairs, ...), including some big jobs like finally selling Mike's car (which needs a new battery first). We also have plans to go visiting Belgium for a week, so we're looking at where to go (and where to sleep). The train is only €15 for a week's worth of unlimited travel apparently, so definitely a good plan.
