Memories

More Lockdown Blog

I have to admit that our cycling  mini-break has gone really well. Amid the Covid 19 Crisis it has been lovely to have just a change of scenery for a few days.

We live in a really beautiful area of Britain and after quite a lengthy bike ride, through beautiful countryside, less than 50 miles from home, Rhiannon( names changed )  commented that she had never seen scenery so beautiful anywhere else that she had travelled.

I think that the result of the later stages of Lockdown  is that we have taken the opportunity to get out and about (close to home) even more than we normally would. I am hoping that the appreciation of the great outdoors will last longer than the current crisis!

Fostering brings many golden memories and one that I will remember from this trip was Rhiannon’s comment that she had laid in bed the first night and listened through her open window to the waves breaking on the shore – she then commented that sadly the second night she had not been able to hear them for the rain beating on the window pane! Such is our English weather by the end of August!

I had to smile to myself tonight as I bundled the washing into the machine. Rhiannon had taken only two pairs of leggings to cycle through the British Countryside for 4 days ……. So I had resorted to buying soap powder and washing the already soaked leggings on the first evening . Rhiannon had then travelled home today in her pyjama bottoms!  I have to wonder whether to add numbers to my kit list instead of the “spare trousers / leggings” comment.

I am not sure that I have ever seen the children consume more food than they have on this trip. It is clear that the combination of fresh air and exercise has really given them an appetite. It never ceases to make me happy when I see them really enjoying good wholesome food, although I have to admit that the lady in the coffee shop where we had breakfast on this our final day, did give me a very strange look, when after a hearty breakfast I asked the guys if they would like to try the homemade cake.

Rhiannon who is a tiny dot of a young woman and Michael then tucked into a huge piece of chocolate cake each! Pudding, after breakfast, may be a new addition to the menu ( even in our house ) but I have seen how these fabulous young people have behaved throughout lockdown and on this trip – no complaints, no confrontation and showing utter compliance to the Government Covid Guidelines.

I felt fitting to have a reward that I knew they would appreciate. They know that I catch them being good, compliment them and then reward from time to time….. and this was one of those occasions. 

They love eating out and this was a fitting reward for them. The fact that I had forgotten that we were still in Eat Out Help Out meant that this was a well deserved treat for a bargain price!

They laughed when I commented that this meant that there would be money left in the kitty for Ice cream tomorrow – because they know that I mean what I say …… no false promises …….. …. No idle threats either ! ( as my mum used to say)  Strange how we all seem to turn into our parents eventually ! )

Jayne Robbins – A Blogging Foster Carer.