17th October
Yet another Saturday evening of local entertainment in the Village Hall! We all went along to the Basing Singers Autumn concert in aid of Children in Need. The theme of the concert was “Animals”, and the Hall was suitably decorated with dozens of cuddly toys. Many children turned up in animal costume and were rewarded with a prize for their efforts, including our very own Violet-Elizabeth, who had spent at least an hour and a half with face paints and make-up (mine). The concert was very well attended, and we heard some old favourites with a modern twist such as Old McDonald and Old Mother Hubbard, as well as some medleys from “Cats” and “Beauty and the Beast”. There was also a small group of eight musicians from the Basingstoke Area Youth Orchestra and Wind Orchestras, who played familiar music also on an animal theme, led by their conductor John Fuller. Alas, yet again I didn’t win the raffle, but I have been advised that about £500 was raised for Children in Need.
22nd October
Made sure that Marcus was up and ready to go for his driving theory test. He said that he would walk to the test centre in Basing View, as he thought it would look a bit pretentious arriving in the Bentley. We were quite relieved later when he arrived home later having passed. He has already applied for his driving test and will be taking it in December.
23rd October
After the euphoria yesterday of passing the driving theory test, today Marcus is having his wisdom teeth removed. Apparently, they were too difficult to extract in the dentist surgery. Spencer had remarked that he had a pair of suitable pliers in the garage, that might just do the trick, but this had been met with hoots of derision by both children. This might have had something to do with the nail that Spencer had been tasked with removing from the sole of one of Violet-Elizabeth’s tap shoes, which had seemed to take an inordinately long time and disproportionate amount of effort. I had hoped the dentist would have waited till after Marcus had taken all his A level modules just in case it makes a difference but I was assured that wisdom has nothing to do with it. I dropped him off at the hospital early in the morning and arrived back at 12.30pm to find him propped up in bed with a bowl of tomato soup and looking remarkably perky. This soon wore off as we got home and I said that perhaps he was well enough to tidy his room up a bit.