Countdown to (and from) my birthday

Hello again!

Guess who's come to staty again!

I've had a good two weeks counting down to my birthday. Last week not much happened, so I didn't write a blog that week. On Friday, I went to the Friday Pathfinders fireworks. Pathfinders is a part of the local church youth group; it's open to anyone between the ages of 10/11 and 18, regardless of religion. Yes, it's part of the church youth programme, but any religious undertones are relatively minor. For more information, check out the youth blog: https://stleonardsyouth.blogspot.com/. (I really need to stop these crossovers, or else Olly will be after my blood...)

On Saturday, my family made the long and dangerous journey to Chelmsford, to visit our cousins, including new arrival Huw. I got to hold Huw! He was surprisingly calm, and I did well at holding him.

Huw and his older sister, Neve. As you can tell, she's not too keen on him yet.

We stayed at a Premier Inn overnight, for two reasons. Firstly, we were going to Chadwell Heath Baptist Church, near where my dad used to live, so my parents could do a talk. Secondly, there was no longer any room with two babies and two adults in Uncle Will and Aunt Helen's house for another 4 people to squeeze in.

So if anyone was wondering where I was on Sunday, now you know.

Monday was Bonfire Night; it is also a very important date for my family, as it is the day before my birthday. This feels like the appropriate place to name-drop a friend of mine, called Lukas Shajko, who is in my English class. On Monday, he asked if he could be mentioned in the blog, and I figured that would be ok.

On Monday, I also went around inviting friends to my birthday party, which is on Saturday, at around 6 in the evening. I only invited 5 friends, as I wanted a small crowd. 

Tuesday was my birthday. I had a fun birthday, and had a friend round for supper. Supper was venison pie, and it was quite nice, if very strong. I got lots of presents, including some DVDs and new socks and trousers.

On Tuesday, I also had a hospital appointment, to get earwax removed from my ears.Without my hearing aids, I would be unable to hear; however, an unfortunate side effect of hearing aids is that earwax builds up inside your ears and you end up not being able to hear very well. For the last two months, I have been essentially unable to hear people properly, until Tuesday. (Technically Wednesday, it took time for my ears to adjust to actually being able to hear.) I was actually surprisingly pessimistic about the length of time I would be able to hear clearly on Wednesday morning. It had been such a long time by that point that I had been able to hear (around 2 or 3 months) that I felt that my hearing would go away again quite quickly. It hasn't, so far.

On Friday, I went to the Freedog trampoline centre for Friday Pathfinders. (I would also consider it an unofficial birthday party, celebrating with my church family.) It was a fun evening; I also learned to bounce from one trampoline to another. Last time I went to Freedog, I mainly hovered around the foam pits, as I had no idea how to bounce from one trampoline to another. Olly Shaw, the youth leader, helped me learn how to. He is truly a man of many talents.

I can't show videos, for legal reasons.

Saturday was also very fun, for the chief reason that I had my official birthday party in the evening, at Cosmos. 4 of the 5 friends could make it, but the fifth had to drop out unexpectedly. The evening was enjoyable; I had 2 main dishes before I got full. I had a plate with squid rings and chicken nuggets, as well as a bit of curry and rice. I also had a plate where I sampled all of the chicken dishes, except I put too much on my plate and couldn't finish it. I also had a nice pudding, comprising of several jelly cubes.

Jed's chocolate-drowned ice cream.

Me and my friend Jed.

On Saturday, I also went on a walk with my godmother, Alice. Her cheeky dog jumped up and got my trousers dirty, though I was able to get the mud off before the party. Granny returned from visiting Uncle Will (Tessa stayed with us while Granny stayed with them.)

Sunday was Remembrance Day, the 100-year anniversary of the end of the First World War! We were on time for the 2-minute silence, which was good. Everyone involved with the service did well; I thought the youth band did a particularly good job. Additionally, on Sunday, me and my mum and dad went to Sarah's house for lunch and games. Also, we had to pick up my sister, who went to stay there for the weekend.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have been good, though not a lot has happened. Today, I went on a walk with John Atherstone, which was very pleasant. I quite enjoy talking with him, because he's very good at helping me see the other side of a discussion.

Also, apologies for the long silence. I've been very busy.

Random stats:

Dog walks walked:10 or 11

Current reading book: Frenchman's Creek, by Daphne du Maurier

Days since my birthday: 9

Days until Christmas: 40