Saturday 5 April 2014

The School Concert

So this au pairing lark has brought out some maternal instincts in me that some people (including me I may add) never knew I had. Yesterday I did the usual picking up J from school who had the key for the back door in her bag so we could let ourselves in…or did she?
We tried that key. Several times. Did it work? I think not. So as we were texting her mum to let her know we couldn’t get in we heard the front door bell ring. J initially thought they were burglars (interesting breaking and entering technique ringing the doorbell, don’t think she’ll be a criminal mastermind..) but I deduced that it was her sister. We walked down and around to said front door only to find her sister. I then get a call from their mother who asks me to put J on the phone. Out of the 8 year old, 13 year old and the 18 year old any sane person would choose the 8 year old wouldn’t they?  By the time she gets home its half an hour into the two and a half hours I meant to be working but that’s fine. I mean I love playing tic-tac-toe in the corridor!
Then L and her mum have to pop out to go and get something so I am tasked with going with J to pick her friend up form school so they can have a play date while this kid’s mum is chatting to Tony Blair….no kidding. This child has no clue who I am bless her but I take them back to the flat and sort the snack out for them. So as I’m chopping orange segments which they then precede to eat and make orange teeth out of (some jokes never get old!) they start watching the television on the lowest volume possible (because that makes it so much better!)
They went off to play and I just sat and drank tea until the others came back. Life is truly difficult sometimes. When they arrived I went back up to my flat to have my dinner before going back down to go to L’s school concert with them. This part of the evening is very boring so I won’t recount it unless you enjoy reading about boiling pasta?
I go downstairs at the agreed time only to find that none of them were ready or had eaten any food. So I’m sat there while they are all arguing about what to have on their bagels etc and before long we’re on our way after J has been told off for wearing an inappropriate coat. In the car on the way to the concert we had very random conversation; mostly about the Van Gogh exhibition I had been to see which obviously prompted chat about him cutting his ear off. An interesting concept to get your head around when you are eight. So we get there and take our seats in the school’s theatre while L goes to set up. J is already saying how bored she is but also boasting to her mother that she understood almost everything in the Little Red Riding Hood performance she watched at school (I must have helped a little bit with that!)
L was in the second performance out of 10 so by the time that she had played I think we were all ready to go but we had to sit through an hour more which wasn’t so bad as they were all quite good. I did feel like a proud mum clapping L when she had finished. I will definitely have to book her in to play the harp at my wedding…
Saying all of that one of the other performances did stick in my mind. There was a very cute little lad who played the accordion and reminded me a lot of my good friend James (he had a lovely tweed jacket on you would have been proud mate!) Stereotypical French instrument but he was very good so I didn’t mind too much.
At the end of the night the girls’ parents were chatting away to everyone as J and I were sat playing on Flappy Bird. Turns out I’m not very good at it.
Their parents agreed to give one of L’s mates a lift home which means that we have to squeeze 6 of us and a cello into Volkswagen Golf. A sitcom waiting to happen. But with J sat on my knee and a cello on top of her we were going nowhere which did present a certain difficulty when we had to get out of the car when we got back to ours!

I never thought this job would be as fun as it is and there is something quite funny about sharing fruit sherbets in a school concert with a very chic French woman or laughing about L and her mate sharing a job as a dog walker. It will be weird not seeing them when I’m home for Easter but it will be good to see family and friends and not having to deal with the chaos that does on here!