Keith Hall

Second only to moving lock stock and barrel to Moonmin Valley, my perfect tonic to the Monday morning blues has to be a frosty walk around the estate on a beautiful but Baltic crisp clear morning.

There are many reason for feeling a bit down today but it's probably more to do with the fact that I was up at 12, 4 and 6 with the littlest and at 2 to rescue a burning pot of stock from the aga, than it is anything else.

I had lunch and a good old catch up with two colleagues before heading home to make Monday meatballs for tea and then up to school to pick up my two and a pal who came to play.

We bumped into a teacher on the way home who promised all three boys merit cards if they walked home nicely and listened to me. We'll see if the cards materialise tomorrow but in the meantime it certainly made my life easier!

The eldest has a high temperature tonight and was coughing and sneezing his way to sleep at about 10.30. It could be a long night. The call bottle is already by my bed ,