After a weekend of brain storming and pondering, we decided to try something new. I went into the warehouse on Sunday afternoon and did what I would normally do on a Monday morning. Charlie watched the children of the dinosaur people on their quad bikes and was very mournful. He had a little cry about loosing Anna and not having seen "the girls" much this year, I think watching the dinosaur children have so much fun together reminded him :(

That, coupled with some other events this year has really made me determined to get away from here where there is just nothing HE-wise going on. We're completely cut off here and this means he only gets to be anywhere near other children at Karate or playing out in the close, which isn't happening much at the moment due to the weather. We're both lonely, we've both been dropped by so called friends and it's starting to affect us. Too much loss for one year. So I've started looking seriously at nice places to go and live, that fit what I want, have a good HE scene but won't be full of painful reminders. Charlie is bordering on being deeply unhappy I think.

So, the plan behind going into the warehouse on Sunday meant that I didn't have to go into work on Monday and could spend the day catching up on paperwork, ordering stock, more paperwork, some housework and spending time with Charlie. He had some more tears this afternoon about having lost Anna and not seen the girls either, so we had a long cuddle and a chat. I don't think I was very comforting as I am very cynical about friendships but I tried hard. It's difficult to know what to say. It's so hard seeing him that upset.

He didn't do any work today but changed his bed linen and did some hoovering and tidying. We're also trying out a new system for his work too, so we'll see how that goes. He's nearly at the end of 3B in Maths and 4A arrived on Friday and I got a bit scared when I looked at it so we might leave that for a while and do some much easier GP maths instead. It seems like a huge jump from 3B to 4A - what were they thinking??

He's bombing through English, Science, History, Geography, NVR, VR etc etc everything is easy for him and, dare I say it, he even pretty much bombs through Maths too once he understands what is being asked.

I really won't be going in to the warehouse on Mondays at all any more unless there is some kind of emergency. I'm trying to keep my visits there down to once a week, so far this "Christmas" is a million times better than last and it seems to me that just having the space to spread out properly means you can do twice the number of parcels in half the time. Everything is so much easier. I'm taking on another 300 sqft in January which will help loads, very lucky that the unit next to me is empty and so they can knock through and give me 300sqft of the space. We now have our Royal Mail collection back at a fantastic time of day and with Yorks and one dedicated driver who cannot do enough to help. Already this has made a huge difference in 3 days.

I've got a dental assessment appointment in bloody Oxford on Thursday and then Swine Flu jab on Saturday morning. Off to London on Monday afternoon, staying overnight and then seeing an immunological disease specialist on Tuesday and heading home. We're planning to hit Harrods as this is Charlie's favourite place in London, see the Christmas lights, milkshakes at the best diner in London, maybe make it to the Tate Modern, going to the Apple store and perhaps Hamleys too. It's going to be a fun trip rather than educational (except for the part where I have 20 vials of blood taken!) and we're treating it as a mini-break. Dogs will be in kennels until Wednesday so that is all taken care of. I might see if I can book us on a London Eye night flight as we've done a day flight twice.

I will treat Charlie to a meal in Yo Sushi! too as he loves, loves, loves sushi. I am actually looking forward to it, here's hoping it will be a nice little break.