The Queen's (Mary's) Speech

Another busy day today. Sara went off after breakfast to Karen's (more Calendar business) leaving me to deal with some housework and office work - quite a few emails to write. On her return we went down to the gym together and spent an hour working out - this was my second trip in two days and so I felt quite fit - poor Sara, hasn't been there since May last year so really felt it! Afterwards we had a light lunch of tuna salad (me) and tuna pasta (Sara). Some more work this afternoon before Mary came home. This evening Mary was one of sixteen finalists in her school's speech competition - eight pupils from Years 3 & 4 and eight pupils from Years 5 & 6 (Mary is in Year 5). The parents were all present and we listened to sixteen excellent speeches - quite inspiring from 8-11 year olds with some very wide ranging topics. Mary's speech was on the topic of "What animal [she] would like to be"? She spoke with confidence and the speech was structured with tinges of humour and information. A really good effort. It also had originality over some of the other entrants. She was absolutely shocked, and we were absolutely delighted, when it was announced that she had won the Year 5 & 6 section - indeed, her speech had won over some excellent efforts from children a year older than her. I was, myself, very struck by the originality of her talk and felt she deserved her prize of a book token. Well done, Mez! We returned home quite elated. After a meal of king prawns and roasted vegetables, I met Klynn down at the Lion's Head where we spent nearly three hours discussing a whole range of topics including reviewing our own spiritual journeys (and I don't mean whisky or brandy on this occasion!) and analysing our life/work balances and futures.