It’s oh so quiet
shh shh
It’s oh so still
shh shh
You’re all alone
shh shh
And so peaceful until…

Well actually until nothing, I’m home alone. The blonde kid went to his dads last Monday so has been gone one whole week so far…only one more to go. I’ve not fully appreciated how quite it is without him until tonight.

I am tired from working too many days without a break, James has gone to “rehearsal” (i say it in inverted commas as rehearsal for what I’m not sure, they’ve had ONE gig in the bands history and that was 21months ago, and to my knowledge they don’t have another planned yet) so I’m tired and alone and have nothing to do but I can’t sleep because if i do now then I’ll wake up later and not be able to sleep then so I’m sitting here at the computer and its QUIET. So quiet that the silence is deafening me!

*yawn* i want to sleep!

Why if a shop is going to be robbed I’ll be the one walking past as the robbers make their escape brandishing shotguns and nearly running me over with their get away car(true).

Why if someone is going to have a heart attack and die in a shop they are standing behind ME in the queue (true and only 2 bloody days after the robbery)

WHY if someone is going to collapse on the bus with some medical emergency they’ll be sitting on the seat behind me and the rest of the passengers on the bus will, with all good intentions, make matters worse (YOU DO NOT GIVE CPR TO A MAN WHO’S HAVING A FIT MORON) (also true)

Why if the end of the world is about to come down on us at lightening speed, bring plagues of locusts or whatever the hell the end of the world will bring, will I be there with front row seats and a VIP pass (not true but it could happen)

Why does this sort of thing keep happening to me and why oh why has it happened again!! I suppose I should start at the beginning.

Saturday I had to go work in Stafford again, and again it rained and rained and rained, flooding parts of the rail and road networks and delaying all my trains again. (Please take note of the amount of times the word “AGAIN” crops up, I swear the weather gods know when I’m due to visit Stafford, rain has become synonymous with any time I have to spend there usually accompanied by much flooding!)

So just to start the day I had to spend best part of an hour supping lukewarm coffee in the driving rain on platform 1 of Wolverhampton Rail Station while awaiting news that ANY train that would take me in the direction I wanted to go would be running, finally manage to get onto a train to Manchester that would be stopping in Stafford and arrive at work VERY late and VERY wet and not actually knowing if I’ll manage to get home that evening, It still hadn’t stopped raining and with the delays already in place who would know what I’d face on the return journey….It turns out this was the least of my troubles!

The rest of the day at work went by quite smoothly the broken guttering that had caused the shop to flood the last time I was there had been fixed and appeared to be working just fine and as ever the management and staff I was working with made me feel very welcome. the day flew by and before I knew it, it was time to go home.

I was actually going to Walsall that night and not straight home, and with all the rain during the day closing the line between Walsall and Wolverhampton when I arrived at Stafford Station I had a choice to make. Get a train to Wolverhampton and bus it from there to Walsall, Get a train to Birmingham and then either change onto another train or bus it to Walsall, Or take the direct train from Stafford which does take about an hour but would cut the need for any changes….how I wish I’d have taken either of the first two options.

I got on direct train and settled down with book in a seat near to the doors, as having never taken this train before I wasn’t 100% sure how long it would take to get where i needed to be so hence when to get off. All went fine other than non-urgent need for the bathroom and the couple with the annoying kids who insisted on blowing whistles just further down the carriage until we arrived at Hednesford Station.

With much fanfare Mr and Mrs “Annoying kids” attempted to leave the train, With Mr “Annoying Kid”s first helping the two irritants off the train and on to the platform when WHAM, two kids on platform and Mr “now not so annoying but very panicky kids” suck half on and half off the train….

The doors had closed on his neck…his body was still aboard, but his head was protruding out the other side and Mrs “I haven’t got a fucking clue what to do”, standing behind him not trying to get out another door to see if her kids, who by all appearances looked about 2 and 3years old respectively, we’re ok as they were standing there screaming at the spectacle of their father stuck in a train door alone on a station platform or even offer any assistance to her ailing partner who is turning a lovely shade of crimson…

Myself and a girl sitting opposite me jump up, she runs down the carriage to find help while I hit the alarm and grab one half of the sliding doors and PULL with every ounce of strength I have. It moves about 2 centimeters and it takes all my effort to hold it there, releasing some of the pressure on the poor blokes neck and I find myself shouting at Mrs fucking useless to grab the other and “HELP ME DAMMIT!!” She does and with both of us pulling on opposite doors they suddenly give and slide open freeing her long suffering partner. I stand with my foot in the door over the sensor to stop them from closing again while she jumps from the carriage to comfort her distraught children and shout at Mr “Unlucky” not to forget her shopping…poor bastard.

Now I’m sorry but if that was me I’d have hung around and screamed holy blue murder at the idiots responsible for the train, and would have demanded, well i don’t know what I’d have demanded but I sure has hell wouldn’t have disappeared out of the station like that pair did! I removed my foot from the door and it slammed shut again and I returned to my seat just in time for the return of “the other girl” accompanied with the conductor.

I can’t say that man inspired me with any confidence to travel by train again, first of all he didn’t believe us when we said that there had been somebody stuck in the doors, then he insisted that the doors were open “because his panel said so” despite standing less than 2 feet from the now closed doors that I had previously been holding open. Then after going to examine his obviously oh so accurate control panel returns and tells us we “Can’t go anywhere as there appears to be something wrong wrong with the train” NO SHIT SHERLOCK. Even better he then asks “Have any of you pulled any levers or anything?”

Er yeah, that would be me and the alarm you moron.

It was very comforting to know that our train manager had enough know how to understand that when an alarm has been activated the train ain’t going nowhere and even more comforting to know that the alarm hadn’t even registered when I pulled it.

He resets the alarm after we’ve been sitting in the station for nearly 20 minutes, phones maintenance for advise on how to proceed, checks the doors, then eventually were on our way without even a warning about maybe using another set of doors to depart the train when we reach out destination, or an apology for the delay. All this took place to the soundtrack of some ignorant twenty something idiotic excuse of a man running his mouth off at the driver, and everyone else who would listen about how he’d “sue the train driver if it were him and when the fuck are we going to get going as I’ve got places to be man!” Finally I reach Walsall 2 hours after leaving Stafford and not wanting to tempt fate leave the train by another set of doors further up the carriage with a headache and a now more urgent need to go to the bathroom.

Luckily I didn’t need to use anymore public transport that evening as I had a lift arranged from the station to James parents house so while awaited the arrival of Rob and Al, I ran into the station to use their facilities to find them “Closed due to Vandelism”

WHY ME GOD DAMMIT!!

Monday we had the announcement that the school had been giving one terms reprieve and would definitely be closed by January 2008 so having made the decision there are then that Jordan wouldn’t be going back September as not to upset another school year it was with a heavy heart I went to the school Tuesday morning to see his last ever school play there.

It was his class assembly and they’d chosen to give a performance based on what they’d been learning in history this last term, and decided to depict the lives of children waiting to be evacuated during the second world war. It was really good with several children including Jordan singing songs all by themselves and everyone was feeling upbeat until they sang the final piece of the morning….Vera Lynn “We’ll meet again”

We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when,
But I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day.
Keep smiling through, just like you always do,
‘Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away.

It was all a bit too poignant, I held it together quite well until I turned to my friend beside me who met my smile with tears streaming down her face and that set me off, but we weren’t the only ones….teachers were in tears, other parents were in tears and some of the older kids grasping the significance of the song were sitting sobbing too, but not for too long. Courtney one of the little girls in my sons class bless her heart was singing at the top of her voice, not really appreciating the emotion of the song and the louder she got the more out of tune she got and she just kept on going giving it her all until finally the whole room was laughing along!

I left there feeling upbeat to go to work, only to be accosted en route by the most lovely lady who was a dinner assistant at Danesmore at the same time I attended who proceeded to tell me what an injustice the closure was and what she’d like to say to Phil Bateman (a local councilor) if she caught hold of him. Needless to say it did nothing to improve my mood and by the time I finally got to work I was ready to burst into tears again, it didn’t last long. I’d been through the doors a matter of seconds when my manager says “Maybe this will cheer you up” and put in front of me a new contract to sign, A contract I’d been waiting for since LAST August I FINALLY GOT MY PROMOTION woo.

Tuesday evening saw us back at the school for the “Juniors” production of “Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat”, it was the final performance of the show and was absolutely fantastic considering they were only 9, 10 and 11 year olds and had only about 6 weeks to prepare. I was very impressed but rather perturbed as I was never aware that Joseph was a cross dresser?? (He was played by a girl in a skirt!!) At times emotions were wrought as teachers were escorted from the hall in tears as the hard work put in by the kids and displayed on stage just epitomized what the school was all about, but the kids coped amazingly and even during the technical failings of a over heated computer system they performed impeccably!

Wednesday was the leavers disco, normally held in honor of year six who would be moving up to senior school, this year it was one hell of a bash for the entire school and to make it as memorable as possible I took a bottle of vodka to share with James and Shelly, Justine took a bottle of Rum (which he shared with me) and other parents took there own beverage of choice with various mixers, technically we’re not supposed to drink on school premises but what they going to do?? Expel our kids and close the school…too late for that,
So in typical school disco fashion the kids ran and danced and laughed and partied, and in our corner of the school hall we ran and danced and laughed and partied also, It was good fun, upsetting at the end when the kids all cried and sang you’ll never walk alone but at that point suitably numbed by alcohol me and Shelley just clung to each other with snotty noses and watering eyes declaring it all a scandal while James and Jay (Shelly’s other half) looked on and rolled their eyes at us!!

Thursday was strange, I went to the school straight from work, over an hour early so that I could spend some time in Jordan’s classroom join in with the fun with the kids and say a proper goodbye to his teachers. It was a strange end that left me feeling, well empty.

I arrived at the school and went straight into class where immediately we went to the hall for a final assembly. Mr Snell (the head teacher) gave a short speech thanking every one for their support in the last few months, announced that the school would be closing that very day and not reopening as Danesmore in September to give the kids a fair chance at settling in their new schools and that he would be retiring. A few achievement awards were handed out a few tears were spilt and every child in attendance was given a plaque to commemorate Danesmore, a DVD of “Joseph” and a very touching goodbye. And then that was it….Everyone went home.

After the frivolities of the rest of the week it was very anti- climatic. Lots of parents had gathered expecting, well I don’t know what we were expecting really but there was nothing. We couldn’t find people we really wanted to speak to and wish well among the hoards and finally as the crowds abated and a hush settled it was like a full stop at the end of a very long story, It all felt so final.

It was very strange walking away from the school for the very last time that afternoon!!