Friends School, Saffron Walden

I like this picture on the left! Admittedly, it has nothing whatsoever to do with todays blog entry, but there you go. It is me, my lovely wife Amanda and young James during one of my days over at Barrington Court last summer! Thought you might enjoy it!

Anyway, on to today. I am in Essex again for my first day back as Henry after the Santa Claus escapades at Leeds Castle over the festive season. I was to drive up to Friends Junior School in Saffron Walden for a return visit, my previous appearance there being back in September 2005. I woke up early and struck out into the blowy, wet miserable morning. My sat nav took me a most amusing route via Widford, Writtle, the Easters and Great Dunmow. I only wanted a quick stop at Inverness and Cardiff and I would have had the full set. As it was, I arrived at the school promptly. Once again we were back in the Scouts Hut, which is perfectly adequate if a little creaky and old. However, with the wind howling and the trees outside shaking around I kept waiting for the whole building to take off. It was a small group today, only about 23 children, but they were very sparky. As we only had the one room to play with, the morning activities we all did together for a change, rather than with the group split up into smaller divisions. I struggled a bit today, feeling very sluggish and tired after the Christmas lay off, but the children and teachers seemed to enjoy it. The afternoon was a real struggle. However, the jousting was a success and yet again the ladies were there to triumph when it mattered. I drove back to my parents the far more sensible M11 route, but the wind is still howling like a banshee, so instead of ploughing back to Somerset tonight, I am going to lay low in Essex and hopefully scoot back tomorrow morning.