I long for a weekend where we don't do anything; where we can sleep in as late as we like, and where we don't go anywhere at all.

Things we've done this weekend :

Been into London so the kids could do some climbing. One good thing that came out of that is that the coach at the gym saw them climbing and said that they should definitely be on the team, even though we don't live in the borough, and that he'd see if they could make a plan.

Realised that there must be zillions of ex-South Africans in London. Have seen countless cars with SA flag stickers and Natal Rugby Shark logos on them; not to mention all the shops that advertise biltong.

Been to Ikea. We started out quite strong and focused, but as we followed the arrows through the store our resistance gradually wore down, and we started to accumulate household goods almost randomly. Once we and our lamps and curtains and new dishdrainer and flat-packed chests of drawers were safely home, we discovered that we had run out of energy. So sadly, buying the chests of drawers has done nothing to solve our clothing storage problems. All it means is that now, in addition to the moving boxes that lurk in the corners of all the bedrooms, we also have Ikea boxes.

Hung the curtains. Discovered that you can, in certain circumstances, substitute paper clips for curtain hooks.

Been grocery shopping. Necessary but tedious and time-consuming.

Discovered that redcurrants look very pretty but taste very sour. Perhaps you are supposed to cook them like cranberries. Or perhaps they'd been marked down to half-price for a reason.

Bought some new clothes. UK sizes run two sizes bigger than US ones. So a US 4 is a UK 8, and so on. It felt very nice we moved to the states and I dropped two dress sizes instantly; it feels equally not-nice to have suddenly gone up two sizes. Bobby says this is irrational, and I'm still the same size. But what does he know.

Cut the grass.

Finalised our school selections for the children. We've had to provide three choices for each child, so, after much angst and time-consuming internet research, this afternoon we visited the schools that we'd shortlisted. We couldn't see inside (it's Sunday, but the schools are closed anyhow - seems even the admin staff are off during the summer holidays - heck, you don't even have a recorded message when you phone at the moment, the phone just rings forever) but we walked around the grounds and tried to get a feel for the various places. The kids enjoyed the process, and are eager to find out which school they'll be attending. We'll mail off the forms tomorrow, and will hopefully hear shortly where they've been accepted. I presume our applications are at the bottom of the queue, as the deadline for school selections was last October. Sigh. I am lurking on a UK homeschool list, but, since I think I will need to find some form of employment if we're going to make ends meet comfortably, we are really hoping that the kids get into decent schools.