Strewth, there's a bloke here with his strides on!

It's the October holidays and after a recent sad event connected to school I'm glad to have a break. I'm sure that all my colleagues feel the same. Last night we went out for drinks and a meal with Heather and Ewan. It was a lovely evening, we had drinks in Metropolitan followed by a pleasant tapas meal in Merchant Square then another drink at Babbity Bowsters. We had a great chat as usual and the evening was particularly notable because it was the first time for some months that we have seen Ewan wearing trousers! The reason being of course that he has recently had his leg frame removed and as a result he can dispense with the shorts that he has had to wear because of the frame. At least he was wearing shorts over the summer months, but I think he is very glad to be back into his trousers before the winter sets in! It's great to see Ewan looking so mobile and back to normal, although he became pretty nifty on his crutches and latterly even managed without them. It has been a long haul for him and we're very pleased for him that it was successful and that he can now get back to doing all the things he wants to do.
I'm blogging in our Travelodge in Gosforth near Newcastle airport. The reason that we're here is because we are going to fly out to Jersey tomorrow morning from Newcastle and staying here means that we won't have to get up too early. I have a fondness for Travelodges and Premier Inns because we have made use of them many times since the children were born, usually at pleasant times like the beginning of a holiday at an airport before flying off to somewhere lovely, or for the occasional weekend like when we went to the castles around Berwick upon Tweed or when we go to Leuchars air show. When the children were small we used to economise by smuggling all five of us into a room for four by never letting all three children be seen at reception together! This saved us the expense of an extra room because that would have doubled the price. Tonight there are only four of us because it is term time for Jamie. Grandma is going on holiday with us but we didn't smuggle her in, we booked her a room of her own at the Travelodge! James and the boys are watching a programme about D Day and I am playing with my new toy - my iPhone 4S which was just released in the UK yesterday and which James very kindly pre-ordered for me and collected from the shop yesterday lunch-time. After a bit of a footer with email, it is now fully functioning and I like it! I'm still exploring its features and am looking forward to trying out face time which Jennifer and Russell demonstrated to me when I visited them during the summer. How cosy we are in our wee room.