A total shambles

It's taken me 24 hours to recover sufficiently to be able to summarise the debacle that was the half hour between 7.30am - 8.00am yesterday morning.

N.B Take it as read that we'd gone through the whole; time to get up, draw your curtains, have you made your bed? Come down and help with breakfast, eat your breakfast etc. daily routine. 

And now the curve ball from William at 7.45am, five minutes before we're all due to head off..."I just need to get my stuff for Food Tech."

For those of you born of an older generation, Food Tech is what used to be Domestic Science or what we oldies commonly call Cookery. William has a lesson every week and this Thursday it was lasagne. He had managed to 'chop' a carrot and onion into various shapes and sizes and put it in tupperware (leaving detritus all over the kitchen top and floor). Eddie'd gone to the shops to get him his mince. So far so good.

But what William had failed to do was measure and prepare all the other ingredients - butter, flour, cheddar, milk, tomatoes, tomato puree, stock, onion and mushrooms. AND dish. Plus foil. All of which had to be either diced, grated or measured and brought into school with him.

To throw him under the (metaphorical) bus? Or not to throw him under the bus? On this occasion we chose not.

"You don't need to do any of that." Complained Will as I manically minced mushrooms and Eddie grated cheese.
"If the worksheet says PREPARE AND CHOP ALL VEGETABLES AT HOME!" I read that as prepare and chop all vegetables at home!" I yelled back. Incandescent.

By 7.50am all the Food Tech stuff had been packed and it was time to go.

"Have you got your shoes on Will?" Me.
"Er. No...Where are my shoes?" Will.
"Aren't they in your room?" Me.
"Er. I don't know." Will.
"WELL FIND THEM IT'S TIME TO GO FOR GOODNESS SAKE WE'VE BEEN READY FOR NEARLY HALF AN HOUR AND YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE PLUS I'VE GOT A SERIOUSLY IMPORTANT CALL IN 30 MINUTES!"
"James is wearing them!" Will.
"No I'm not."James.
"Can everybody just calm down. Louisa, stop shouting." Eddie. "James, give William your shoes, you'll have to wear your trainers. You must have left your shoes in the Boot Room."

James bursts into tears.

8.00am. The boys left for school. Will in James' shoes and a sobbing James in his trainers.

3.30pm and a text from Eddie confirmed that James had been wearing William's shoes. He'd left his pair in the Boot Room.




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