Act IX- First Day of School and Some Kid-Free Time

  Huzzah! The gods of bureaucracy at last came through for my frayed parental-nerves and Leif and Klaus were able to start school this week. In my last post I think I left you all at the point where Kurt and I had resorted to the calming effects of a gin and tonic after being mentally wrung by the School Admissions Board. The following morning after several more phone calls with terribly polite members of the primary educational sector, we were finally and definitively told by both parties that the boys would indeed be accepted at Abbey Meadows. However the fastest turn of the bureaucratic wheels would only provide for a school start date of Sept 10, three full-days into the school term.

    Happy to be done with it all I settled into two more days of summer with my summer-saturated children. We had a good time and come Monday they sprang into their new uniforms and we set off for Abbey Meadows. There is no school bussing system here in Cambridge. Parents are responsible for providing transport for their kids to and from school. Luckily we have the bakfiets as the walk to Abbey Meadows from our house would probably take an hour at the boys' distracted pace. Klaus filmed the whole ride there for you (takes about 15 minutes) but as he is still working on his camera-man skills most of the time he had the lens pointed at his feet and in an orientation that my computer refuses to correct. I have posted one of the more watchable sections at about the halfway point of our trip which involves the descent from a bridge over the train tracks. Missing from the video is a picturesque trail through the cow pastures of Coldham Commons, a tunnel under the train tracks, and passage through four cattle grids. 

 

School Bus

Drop-off at the school is quite different from what we are used to in the Gettysburg and involves parents/carers walking the kids directly to their classrooms. At 8:30 the school gates are open and everyone walks through a series of courtyards where each classroom has an outside entrance. At 8:35 the teachers open their doors and admit the students, chatting with parents and answering any questions that may arise. It seems like a really nice system for helping parents get to know the teachers and vice versa. Leif's teacher, Ms. Boorman, is a hoot and seems to have already got a good handle on Leif's tendency to day-dream. Klaus' teacher, Ms. Fitzpatrick, is heavily pregnant and will be leaving next week for the rest of term. Not sure who is going to replace her but Klaus seems unconcerned.
  Having finally deposited the children in good hands, Kurt and I decided to take Monday off and go exploring downtown. We wandered around for a few hours, taking advantage of St. Johns open gates and enjoying the views of its many courtyards and lovely chapel. The college sits on the site of a medieval hospital and was endowed by the grandmother of Henry VIII, Margaret Beaufort, whose symbol, the portcullis, is carved into many of the buildings along with her son's, (Henry Tudor) rose. The Bridge of Sighs, one of the most iconic sites in Cambridge, belongs to St. Johns but sadly can only be seen by visitors from the outside. 
 

  We also visited Fitzbillies, a renown Cambridge bakery, and picked up some of their famous Chelsea Buns (think cinnamon roll with dried fruit in the folds) before heading to a riverside restaurant, The Millworks, for a decadent kid-free lunch.  The food was fantastic and the decor, with its working water-wheel, was charming. Oddly enough the Millworks is the name of one of our favorite restaurants back home.

  The kids are now well-into the school rhythm, happy when I drop them off and happy when I pick them up. Leif even came home the other day ready to relate the history of Coldham Commons which we cycle through on the way to school. In medieval times the land of the commons was communal farm land worked by peasants to support their families. The nearby Barnwell Priory (the abbey for which Abbey Meadows is named) wanted to enclose the lands into their own holdings but after an ugly peasant revolt ("Lots of fights" as Leif put it) abandoned that idea. The priory lasted until Henry VIII's break with Catholicism, when it was dissolved like many others across England. Only the storehouse of the priory remains, but the Coldham Commons continues to this day though some of the grazing land has been converted to football pitches and a nice recreational park. 

  This afternoon I get to attend a production meeting via Skype and I could not be happier about it. We are having a great time in England but it doesn't mean I don't miss my job back home. Luckily the Gettysburg Theatre department is the best and has made is possible for me to do the costume designs for this Fall's production of "The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee" remotely. The show is contemporary so most of the costumes will be pulled or ready-made purchased items organized by a handful of my student workers. I have also outlined a few items to be built and, so far, they have all been willing to take on their assignments. Fingers crossed that it continues to run smoothly.