We had a productive morning in home school and tackled some new subjects that we’ve been putting off till we were settled in.

In the afternoon I made the crust for a pizza, for Joshua and Rob to dress and cook and prepared to take Meg to ballet class.  The pizza is an important part of this story I promise.

Rob and Joshua needed to eat dinner while we were gone so they could attend a volunteer function at the Cathedral.  Meg and I would eat after returning home from ballet.

We discovered last week after taking two buses to the other side of town for ballet that the 42 goes there as well and also comes to  our bus stop.  Only one bus!  That was great news–a cost and time saver.

Meg and I set out and had a smooth trip into the college where ballet is held.   I wanted to take some pictures of her during class but was thinking on how to accomplish that task.  I didn’t want to embarrass Meg, being the new kid from America and all.  The parents have to wait downstairs for the ballerinas, which is not a bad lot.  There is wifi and, if you brought enough Pounds, a Starbucks coffee shop.  It is the student center at the college.

Well the teacher came and got the students and I waited a few minutes then set off upstairs to see if I could grab a few shots of Meg in class.  Good Luck!  Her place at the barre was just across from a tiny window in the door.  Better Luck!  There is apparently a two way mirror in the door so Mums can check on the wee ones in class without being noticed.  I put me camera right up to the glass, focused and got a few so so shots.  I set up to try again and heard a girl shout out (You must read this in your best and most beautiful British accent) “Oh, there is someone snapping photographs of us in the window!  And they’ve run away!”  And….indeed I had run away, for that is not a two way mirror in the glass.  So much for not embarrassing Meg.  My best hope was that if I was nonchalantly reading the newspaper, covering up my camera bag with my coat, when the girls where escorted back downstairs no one would be the wiser.

Well we started home and just missed the 42 bus, but we noticed that it was scheduled to be back around in just 20 minutes.  So we waited there at the bus stop.  It was cool and windy.  Meg was still in good humor but getting cold and hungry for dinner.  Ah, here comes the 42.  We stuck out our hand and flagged it down.  Not going to miss it again.  (They don’t automatically stop at the bus stop unless you hold out your hand.  Learned that another day the hard way.)  We hopped up on the bus and settled in for the ride.  The bus goes through the city center bus station and then out to our side of town.  Crazy thing is, it got within one stop of ours then turned the wrong way and headed back into town. Meg was getting concerned, but I just said, “We will just keep riding cause he will go back around.”  He got to the bus station and asked where we were headed, and I told him.  He said we’d gotten on the wrong 42 (who knew there were two?!?).  We were not allowed to ride back around.  We would have to wait for the other 42 and pay again.  So we were kicked off the bus.

We decided it was getting dark and we didn’t want to get lost walking the mile and a half back home.  So we walked up the steep hill to the Cathedral to find Joshua and Rob who had walked in for their meeting.

It was 9 pm when we all finally walked home and Meg and I got dinner.  The moon was out shining brightly on the Castle and the River Wear.  I’m glad the wind had stopped and there was no rain.  We had a pleasant, but uphill walk home.  Some lessons are best learned the hard way.  We won’t forget that there are two 42 buses and I probably will leave the camera at home next week……perhaps.

Blessings,
Beth