Research

Very long meeting at school tonight, partly about teaching projects for the year, and the changes we can expect next year (when, shock horror, primary school kids will go to school for four and a half days a week), and partly a recruitment drive for the equivalent of the Governors (run the school) and the PTA (fundraising, parties).

Despite my gaze being resolutely fixed on the floor and my hands never rising higher than the desk, but with an inevitability that even I find a bit surprising, I have now volunteered to be one of the Governors.

Our's being a Catholic school, I had assumed that this would have some vague sort of religious component but, apart from talking to Nuns (our landlords) it appears not. Somewhat surprisingly, I have been put in charge of the accounts. Oh dear.

I've never been at such an awkward meeting. The outgoing President said "we need new members or the school will close" and then there was about 10 minutes of silence... Anyway, too late now to back out.

Once it was finally over back home to watch the second half of Downton with TallGirl. I had heard there had been complaints about it being too violent, so I watched it alone this afternoon to check it would be ok. It only just was - thanks to some buffering and frame skipping at extremely convenient moments, but TallGirl was close to leaving the room nonetheless. Happily CarbBoy was in bed already. That would all be too much to explain.

It's a tricky line for shows like that to tread - it is on after the watershed but seems to be such a 'family show' that I think a lot of folk watch it with their kids.