Grange Primary School, Gloucester

It was back up the old wind and rain blasted M5 again today. Another crack of dawn start saw me and the new Peugeot heading back to a flood warning area! I was going back to Grange Primary School in Gloucester - a school I last visited back in 2005. I didn't seem to recognise the place when I got there, but the lovely teachers who greeted me reassured me this was because the place had been almost completely re-built in recent months.

I have to say that this was a really fun school to do today. About 100 children from years 3 and 4 and they were just so sparky and funky! Great fun all day. Laughs and jokes aplenty all day and some terrific Tudor knowledge from some of the children. The teachers were a delight to work with and the atmosphere in the staff room was more like a friendly local pub than a place of work! After a really tasty lunch it was back to the hall for the afternoon session. The laughs during my stocks routine were loud and genuine, and the jousting was a real rumpunctuous success! The ladies once more came through for a well earned victory.

I have tomorrow off to continue with the fun and games of my tax return, plus I still have to get my dead Honda Accord over to Ian Summers at Popular Motors at some point... Thursday is another appearance by me on BBC Radio Somerset and then Thursday evening is the Barrington Court Wassail evening. See you there...

Dean Close Prep, Cheltenham

Well Henry fans, here it is! Long time - no blog. Well, things have been happening. My trusty old friend, my Honda Accord, has died. I was driving the poor old thing up Wayford Hill the other week when the engine just went "No Way" and stopped. I nursed the car home and drove it around for a couple days, but then it kept cutting out. No chance of me using it for work any more. So a new car was needed. I went to see Ian "Honest" Summers of Popular Motors in Merriott and he was brilliant. Ian is a great bloke and always very helpful. He only ever laughs with me about the cars I buy, never at them. So from this very high class vehicular boutique I have purchased a very nice Peugeot 406 on a V reg plate and today was it's baptism of fire as I got back on the road again being Henry.

Today I was back at Dean Close Prep school in Cheltenham, for the third year running. It was good to be back. Dean Close is such a lovely school to visit. The children are always great fun and never any bother, the teachers are incredibly friendly and generous with their time and the lunch is always spectacular. What more could you want?

As usual with a private school the timings were all a bit wonky, with the morning running on until nearly 1pm and the afternoon only lasting from 2.15 to 3pm. However we had a good time, lots of laughs and with the final jousting session the ladies won by default as the gentlemen's cheating on their final leg was so blatant as to be embarrassing!

The drive home was very good, mostly clear roads but occasional huge downpours of rain. I have to do a similar drive tomorrow as I am appearing at Grange Junior School in Tuffley, Gloucester. Should be a good one as I haven't visited them for about three years!