Number 1 almost missed his bus this morning and I yelled at him to get going – he did, minus his jacket. Taking a bit of a gamble, I asked Miss W to keep an eye on Number 2 and dashed through the snow over to the bus stop, the cold took my breath away. I had on my wool jacket, but it isn’t heavy. Number 1 was sort of hunched up by a wall with some other boys and he looked utterly humiliated when he saw his mother rushing over with a jacket, but grabbed it off me. I asked him (quietly) if I could kiss him goodbye, he said “no, mum, not right now’.

I felt like I wouldn’t survive the dash back to the house – it was 11 degrees below zero, and after everyone had left I’d have given anything almost to just make a big cup of tea and curl up with my book, but had to get the snow off the car and go, aware that soon I will be staying home as I’ll have no choice.  Work has become a pain for me. Every day is just a reminder that I am losing my job. Today I deleted a bunch of books on tape out of the system and then we put them out for sale – $1 each. Roll up, roll up, your local library is for sale, folks. Now you can stay home and watch Fox News and American Idol while your brains turn to mush.