Letting The Days Go By

Cue song!
This day drifted by and as I'm back blipping I find it hard to remember it! Having just written up the afternoon and finding myself dragged down memory lane, I suddenly remembered what I did in the morning! The Gardener came to get some of my resources! Her grandchild has global developmental delay and with his birthday coming up she was desperate to find toys he would actually like. We spent 3 hours talking about special needs and how to engage a child with both visual and hearing loss. She left with 3 large boxes of resources! It felt good to be able to offer advise on how to play with her grandson and extend his awareness and develop his exploratory play and communication. It was also good to know my resources were finally going to be used for the purpose for which they had been bought, instead of languishing away upstairs! I quite like the idea of doing sessions with him - it feels like all the knowledge and experience I have is going to waste along with my resources - but I so know I could not return to teaching in a school.
Her daughter had been told by one professional that having a special needs child was like planning a holiday to France and ending up in Holland. Despite the disappointment and frustration at not having the experience that had been planned, one had to recognise that actually Holland was a pretty good place too and had lots of unique things to experience. Quite a good analogy. 
I had a funny head in the afternoon and finally decided on a walk to clear it with Oscar and The exile in Cotehele Woods. The weir was in full spate due to all the rain we have been having. We only met three other couples the entire walk so it was a lovely peaceful walk. Storm Callum had blown down loads of sweet chestnuts and The Exile and I gathered them up and stuffed them in  our pockets  I have a chestnut roasting pan so I know exactly how I will cook and eat mine! 
Home to cook a meal for us both and then catch up with Killing Eve and Dark Earth Rising - we were both rather lost on the latter series once more! It reminds me of management meetings I attended as Head of Department in the London school I worked in. The others all seemed to have this particular type of talk which seemed to have subtext and power play. I was completely mystified by it and just lacked that ability or desire to grease up the head and deputy by making ingratiating comments commending them on initiatives they were taking! Once I moved out of London to come down south I resolved never to get into management again! Bit of a bummer the second school I worked at I became the Acting Head! There were only 3 classes and teachers so I got the role because I was the most experienced! Not at all what I wanted and  I quickly got out of that sinking ship! It was a school run by SCOPE and I can't say I was impressed with the way the organisation operated. There was a lot of political correctness and not much understanding of what  the children in this particular school required. The society was set up by parents and social workers to fight for the rights of children with cerebral palsy, however this schools pupils had profound and multiple learning difficulties and did not fit the policies of the society. Nor did I find it viable as a school as there were only two classes and a mixed nursery. I had expected it to be at the cutting edge of provision given the whole school population was PMLD - sadly it wasn't! Being a residential school there was also a lot of conflict between the school and residential side, compounded by it providing respite care for children from other schools. I felt  the two provisions should have been  run separately. In fact the school did close down a couple of years after I left! 
Looking back on this day and writing it up and remembering the events of the morning after having got segued into reminiscing about past schools through watching Black Earth Rising, I am amazed at how our / my brain works! I wonder if backblipping is actually good for our mental health - keeping our memories intact and helping with recall?! I think I do need help in that respect!