I don’t quite know where to begin to fill in the blanks of this last week of silence. Needless to say, I didn’t start to feel better from the conjunctivitis the next day, in fact I’m still ill today and feeling wiped out, exhausted and emotionally fragile.

However, the highlight of the week has to be yesterday when I received the dreaded phone call from school “Akra Jr has had an accident and I think he might need taking to hospital”. I ran over there (then ran back and got the car and DROVE round there – doh!) and rushed him to A&E, did the worst example of parallel parking in my life and got him through to the reception.

Three HOURS later we finally emerged. No stitches (wrong kind of wound apparently) but some fairly impressive looking bandages and dressings covering a nasty and deep cut to his side and various scrapes on his elbow, knees and chest.

I really have to teach my son that he needs to stop picking fights with the playground – the playground always wins.

What we feel emotionally and how we respond to other people’s feelings is probably the most important aspect of being human. And probably the most important thing for us as a human race to realise is that we have more in common emotionally than our surface differences would imply.

No, it’s not profound week here at the Prattle, but I have just discovered We Feel Fine – an awesome web project that probably everyone else discovered a few years ago but neglected to tell me about. The idea is simple: it trawls through the blogosphere looking for the words “I feel” or “I am feeling” then records the entire sentence and link to that blog. It compiles those feelings into various different data combinations, including working out location, sex, weather at the time of posting and displays them in a stunningly beautiful interface for you to explore.

It’s an amazing way to access intimate snapshots of other people’s lives – it almost feels invasive until you remember that these are excerpts from publically published blogs. And if one particular feeling resonates with you more than most, then you can click through and get to connect with another blogger – what’s not to like?

So how am I feeling? I am feeling ill (I have conjunctivitis) but I have that in perspective now, for tomorrow I will feel better and the day after… the day after I will feel fine.

How are you feeling?

I was going to do NaNoWriMo this year. Was all set up with a great idea, but somehow never got around to doing the initial planning in time.

I’m sort of glad I didn’t, though. This November has turned out rather busy and we’ve all had nasty colds – I’m pretty sure I would have ended up dropping out within a week.

Still, it’s a good plot idea, and I’ve been slowly putting in half an hour of time here and there – fleshing out the idea, doing some research, trying to write in the voice of the main character to get a feel for her personality. I’m having fun with it and I’m glad now that I didn’t try and rush through it to get it finished within 30 days – I want this story to work.

I doubt I’ll get anywhere very fast, but at least it’s ticking over in my head ready for that mythical day when I suddenly get some free time. And if not, it’ll still get done. Half an hour at a time.

The UK Territorial Army are currently offering a free interactive personal fitness programme on their website which looks pretty good, although there’s a lot of emphasis on jogging which I don’t particularly enjoy.

I have been slowly getting fitter this year and am getting to the point where I have more control over and more strength my body, so it does appeal. I mentioned it to Sylvia the Cynic who reckons they’ll try and recruit you by the end of the training, but still might be worth a play.

Anyone tried it who can give some feedback?

A day late, I know, but I was ill yesterday.

Li’l Bhaji has obviously been told about the significance of the 11th November at school. He explained it to me this morning while waiting for the bell to go. “Mum, you know the people who were fighting? Well, when they died, they all turned into poppies!”

Close enough, kid. Close enough.

At the risk of every blog post being a complaint these days, today seems to be the day of chain sneezing.

It’s hard to decide whether it’s the beginnings of a cold, or the continuing long death-whimper of hayfever (or other allergy) as even though it’s November, I’m still finding I can’t be off anti-histamines for more than about 3 days in a row before my eyes, nose and (oddly) ear canals start itching like mad.

I started getting hayfever quite late in life – my early twenties. At first, it was only a couple of weeks late-February/early-March when the tree pollen came out, but since Li’l Bhaji was born, my hayfever season has drastically lengthened to the point where I only get a couple of months off in which I can have lots of colds instead.

A few weeks back, I gave up and went to visit the GP, convinced I was either going to get a “tough luck, nothing we can do” response or a lecture on using anti-histamines and Flixonase irresponsibly. Instead, I had a very sympathetic consultation where he checked at first that I was able to control it adequately with over-the-counter medication and then that I was getting it cheaply enough. (The joy of generic anti-histamines are that it’s actually cheaper to get them off-prescription than on, at least for the standard doses). He then said he would refer me to an allergy specialist at the hospital in the hope that they may at least be able to help next season.

So, imagine my surprise when this morning I received a letter from the hospital. Wow, that’s quick – I thought – I was expecting it to be months before I got an appointment.

Sadly, though, it’s just a letter to tell me that I’m on the waiting list to get an appointment on the waiting list. Sigh. What a waste of a stamp.

Okay, I’m fully prepared to admit that a lot is due to the culture shock of having TWO rather than just one child in school, BUT:

• Residential school trip for eldest: £145
• School dinners for 2 children for 1 term: £240
• School year/individual/sibling photographs: £55
• After school clubs: £10
• Cinema night (fundraising for PTA): £6
• FOUR dressing up days (none of which we had suitable old clothes to use): £60 ish
• Miscellaneous charity collections: £5
• Book fair and reading sponsorship event: boycotted because broke by this point
• Look on teacher’s face when I tell them what to do with the next begging letter: priceless

Okay, the last one is a joke. I am a true brit and stump up with a smile on my face then moan about it to anyone who will listen afterwards.

But by my maths that’s over £500 I’ve spent at the school this term, and we’re only half way through. Admittedly all of those are optional. I could send them in with a packed lunch, refuse to let them go on trips and not let them participate in any of school life. They would have a miserable time of it though if I did.

I WANT them to be able to participate. I WANT them to have special events at school and for it to be memorable, fun and exciting. I just would like it to be a little more spaced out, please.

It’s getting to the point where I’m dreading letters coming home from school because I then have to find more money from somewhere, and this is not a private school and we are not that badly off. It’s starting to tarnish my enthusiasm for their education.

There are many families in the catchment who are not doing so well in the current economic climate, and I really don’t know how they are coping with the constant demands. It’s as if the school doesn’t have an overview of what a little bit here and a little bit there all totals up to.

But for better or for worse, the letters still keep coming and it’s the Christmas season approaching. The money for the Christmas fayre, school discos and costumes for the plays (surprise, nothing we have in that will do AGAIN) all need to be paid for somehow.