Hello stranger! The build up to Christmas fast turning into Christmas and other time constraints have meant that I've been neglecting you of late. Since my last post Joshua has celebrated his 10th birthday where we went round for a few hours before I had to go to work. Also today is Louise's birthday, leaving only Nathan's just after Christmas. On top of the various celebrations Alison's 3rd CRB check of the year came through and she starts her placement this week on top of work and attending college. Time and money constraints nearly caused her drop out a couple of times but she has been persuaded to stay on. The fact that we would have still been billed for this term at least persuaded her to finish this term and then thought once she'd got that far she may as well continue as the college said they would only need to be paid in instalments after the grant application fell through and she is ineligible for a loan with it only being a part time course.
   The time taken to start the placement was also proving to be frustrating as she felt herself falling behind, although her tutor did say that she had passed her assignments so far. Tomorrow then sees her start her placement at Melanie's school and her tutor was rather relieved as well. I don't think she has had the heart to tell him that they break up on Friday for Christmas.
   On a totally unrelated note: After dropping Alison off at college I went for petrol only to hear a disturbance in the forecourt as the man in the van behind me got into an argument with someone else. Voices were quickly raised as they swore each other. I have no idea what it was about or who came from which car, although one called the other a bully and started chasing him. A young woman came across and shouted something herself whilst everybody else quietly tried to ignore them and fill their cars as quickly as possible. It was all a bit surreal for 9:30 in the morning - Off-road rage!