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Results Thursday 16th August 2007

There were two reasons for waking early this morning, Robbie had chosen today for his day off 'playing trains' on the North Norfolk Railway but more importantly this was the day Emily had awaited and dreaded in almost equal measure. A Level results are due this morning and depending on those all important grades she her conditional place at Leicester University would either be confirmed or denied. Every parent wants their child to do well and I am no exception, but whatever her ultimate grades I knew that Emily had worked very hard and if she had done her best that was good enough for me. I knew that Emily was feeling anxious and I was glad that she would be going into school with friends to get the results.

We needed to leave the bungalow no later than 9.30 at the latest in order to drop Robbie at North Walsham on time to catch his train. As usual he turned the luxury of time into a last minute rush and I left him still getting ready while Sam and I got the car out ready to go. As I put my mobile into hands free thingy a text popped up to tell me that I had a voice message, it was too early for the results and I retrieved the message anxiously. Emily's voice sounding young and tired informed me that she didn't have her results yet, but she had been on to the UCAS website and it showed that her place at Leicester University had been confirmed. I was startled to find tears of relief (and perhaps pride) running down my cheeks. The last few years have been hard for us all but despite the loss of their dad the girls have made the most of their educational opportunities and they have enjoyed their friends and lots of other out of school activities too. I knew that Eric would have been proud of them both. It has been a little different for Sam as he was so much younger, but despite his Aspergers he is also getting on well.

At about 10am I dropped Robbie at the Station and the phone rang, Emily's excited voice told me that she had got her longed for grades and despite her fears, that longed for A in English had not eluded her. I was so pleased for her, now she could look forward to a celebration with her friends. Sam and I headed off to Wroxham Barns for a day without trains. We began with a visit to the farm, it has been a favourite with Sam since he was tiny. He loves being able to feed and touch the animals, the goats are my favourite but Sam loves them all. This time a ferret called Jet seemed to fascinate him and a litter of 15 piglets with their mum attracted a lot of attention too. A large and hungry goat was not satisfied with several handfuls of food, he decided to have a go at my Animal handbag as well, but I managed to pull it away just in time. Two donkey's had perfected the art of illusion and by moving further along the fence while the other donkey was being fed the one who had already been feed managed to look as if he was a different donkey who was still waiting for something to eat. This was obviously a well practised routine and it had Sam in fits of laughter.

After the farm we visited the shops and Sam bought a couple of stones for his collection. We also enjoyed a visit to the amusement area where Sam had several goes at the rifle shooting and his old favourite the remote controlled cars. Finally we went back to the farm as Sam hoped to catch one of the hensin the act of laying an egg! They have constructed the coups with little peepholes and the children find it fascinating. It was nice to have a few hours back to the bungalow and Sam spent some time on the beach picking up interesting stones. Robbie eventually arrived back in the evening having spent the day travelling backwards and forwards on the North Norfolk Railway. I sat in the car waiting for him and all the other passengers walked round from the train, got into their cars and disappeared into the night, but still there was no sign of Robbie. I waited in the deserted car park wondering where he was when a familiar figure with a back pack plodded into view with all the urgency of a turkey approaching Christmas. He was a little evasive about his lateness at first but he grudgingly admitted that he had been jotting down numbers again! He was exhausted after his busy day - but not too tired to talk non stop - about trains!