The quest to improve the 5k is ON like DONKEY KONG. Yesterday I ran two, three minute “fast jogs” during my run. Next week I incorporate another “fast jog” into the jog, the next week another. The plan is to get to the point where your body is expecting you to run at that faster pace. Of course all I achieved yesterday was a very realistic resemblance to what would happen if the Wicked Witch, while in the process of melting, mated with an overripe, cellulite filled tomato.

The kids and I are in the process of finishing Judy Blume’s “DOUBLE FUDGE”. We have one chapter left and then we will either move on to MARY POPPINS or Beverly Cleary’s HENRY HUGGINS. Amazingly, they still love me reading to them, and as long as they want me to read, I will. VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER might follow Henry Huggins.

Seb surprised me yesterday. He came into our bedroom and complained that he had stomach cramps after dinner and had also had the same thing at school before snack and lunch. I asked if he had also had gas. He said he had, and it had been very smelly. “It took two minutes not to smell.” The next typical mum question is, “When did you last go to the bathroom?” And the answer that shocked me was, “Today at school.”

Sebastian is not a person who typically avails himself of the school facilities.

Back in year one, I was concerned, when Seb began the trend of dashing through the door shouting, “I’m desperate!” Were there mean, bigger, ominous boys in the bathrooms at school preventing him from using the toilet? Possibly smoking? Giving swirlies, wedgies or other things? I edged around these scenarios, and finally was airily informed, “I want to wait until I get home. Break time is for playing.”

Of course.

So hearing that Seb had broken his self imposed rule was a bit of a surprise. Then he said, “I went during class time.”

This is not good news. Sebastian could go through an entire New York Times, complete with crossword and Sudoku during his bathroom excursions.

Wanted to finish off by saying I saw a big snake today. It was garden variety, dark grey green and black stripy, and about five to six feet long. Thick. It’s the time of year when snakes are gathering food for hibernation. So it is no coincidence that later on, in a very obscure part of my walk, I came across a dead civet. A rustle of leaves around me informed me that the kill was fresh and if I would be so good to get a move on, whoever was hiding in the leaves would continue with their grocery shopping.