We’ve come to the end of our stay at Bryanston. Today was concert day + afternoon free + Bryanston Revue (a variety show in the evening).

The kids performed largely well. I was exhausted and emotional in the afternoon after a hectic week. Had a surprisingly fun time at the pool for an hour. This was the first I did some swimming instead of being ‘forced’ to play pool tag with the kids. And Baby-F actually did some swimming when – for once – we played a fun game of diving to get items, which I actually enjoyed and was helpful in training his swimming. The Revue kind of interesting, but felt extremely long after a while.

After the show, I explained to the kids: 1) The reasoning behind my level and style of ‘audience participation’ / supporting the performers, 2) Why the teenagers at Bryanston were really very kind (and reiterated the importance of being ‘honest, specific, and kind’ in their feedback to performers), 3) That if they wanted to participate in future, they had better be amazing, 4) Which were the highlights / low lights, 5) Why they need (at least Big Boy O needs) to dial up their showmanship a bit, but strike a good balance. I explained to Big Boy O that he used to have the perfect level of showmanship, then recently he has toned it down to being too wooden and robotic, but that he shouldn’t tune it up to another extreme (and I inserted an example name)

Spoke to one of the mums of kids who used to be in our Suzuki group, and realised that she is best friends with a mum who I used to know when Big Boy O was younger and we used to go to the same playgroups. Small world! Also spoke to a dad – discovered he was also ex-finance, whereas I had assumed he was an arty sort – and he told me about grammar schools, and how entrance for one of the grammar school is much easier with a Grade 5 equivalent result, which Big Boy O happen to have (he got a Merit in his Grade 5 violin exam over summer). It’s funny how we had chatted off and on for ages, but I never really got either parent’s name until towards the end. It’s always “Matteo’s mum” or “Isaac’s dad”.

It was a good end to a busy, and productive week.