Hockley Heights Gazette

It is an unusual lifestyle we have embarked upon in the UK. With the highly structured routine of work and school separated every 5 weeks by a week of extraordinary adventure within the UK or Europe.

T'is the night before Portugal, the packing is complete and the excitement is high! Portugal is Mitch's 'must see' place. We have a new person at work, Ricardo, who is Portugese and spent an hour and a half letting me know all the amazing things to see in his home country.

Anthony and I have given Jackson an early monetary gift for his 14th birthday (Monday 2nd April) which will help him enjoy Portugal. We also had a parent teacher night for Jackson last week. Very common comments such as 'achieving well, very popular student, in fact probably too popular!' (see snapshot of Science report as picture)

We also recently went to a performance of 'We Will Rock You' at The Bromfords School. I thought it was a fantastic high school performance but as expected it didn't quite compare with the opening night Anthony and I attended in Perth in 2004 with Ben Elton.

On the work front we had the shock resignation of the Research Manager at the University of Greenwich so you never know, there may be imminent promotion opportunities afoot! There are plans to extend the Docklands Light Rail (DLR) to Woolwich Arsenal (where I work) which would be excellent for my commuting future. That would reduce my trip each way to one train to Stratford, then the DLR to Woolwich..currently I have one train to Stratford, then the Underground to North Greenwich then a bus to Woolwich. One benefit with all the travelling is the opportunity to fully read the newspapers everyday, which I really enjoy. It is quite extraordinary reading about Tony Blair's priorities in the last days of his prime ministership...shared leadership between Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley of the Loyalists(DUP), international pressure for greener policies, the withdrawal of troops from Iraq....and the now not so chummy relationship between the UK and the US to name just a few.

With the new position for Anthony in Chelmsford there is also the question as to whether we should move to Chelmsford. Unfortunately New Hall School only has the option for Mitch to move into the independent school as they only introduced senior boys into year 7 this year. There is a school in Chelmsford with a very well regarded reputation, King Edwards Grammar School (KEGS), but of course this is very difficult to get into so we shall see.

Anyway, wishing everyone a happy and safe Easter.

Adeus!
Kym