Gifted and talented

C has started on his summer school for the gifted and talented. He and his best friend O are the only ones from his class to be chosen. Today they studied Plato and Aristotle. Great!

Tomorrow they go to the Ashmoleum.

Today R was offered a place on a 6 day residential in Polish theatre next week. She had to be interviewed, as she was officially too young to go. But naturally she passed the test.

J has started to come into his own as well. He has just had his still life of tulips picked out as best in class. His parent's talents in art are coming through. In fact he is better at art than his big brother. R scoffed at C being picked for the art course this week. She is much better than him. But it is clearly less arty and more broad based than her equivalent week two summers ago. C merits his place on it.

I have been tidying up H’s admin for Cambridge and rewriting the play today. I am quite pleased with the way I am making the new start and ending. I just have not set the words down yet.
Curiously H herself is involved teaching two courses for gifted and talented children in London and Bristol over the summer. Naturally she was chosen to work with this group of secondary school children.

In terms of my ambitions to earn my living as a writer I feel hugely depressed. Yet I should not be feeling so down hearted. I am not doing all that badly. I am at least doing things. I shall start to build things up again now.

G has decided to slow down and then stop drinking. This will not be easy. She drinks far too much. But she really seems to be making a good start. She did stop smoking after a false start. This is a vital part of our making progress together as a family. She has cleared up the last of the marking of exams.

I have set up a programme of things for us to do to move forward together. What I don’t seem to be achieving is a real focus and business plan to take me forward.

The world may not have much of a future. But I have started to believe that I have at least a short term future. I am not going to die any time soon. I must develop a strategy for success. Though the height of my immediate ambition is to cartch that big wave and surf properly just one time.

G is at least contemplating the possibility of teaching again. The children are all looking good for the autumn and can look forward to a deserved holiday.

I think it may be time to put behind me the shame and degradation of last autumn when we were supposed to start our new working life and nothing happened but persecution. But it is the head of the local school who is gone under a big cloud. It is our family that is still standing proudly.