Wellies back..........

......and so is the boy. And almost all of his belongings have also returned safely from camp. Except his waterproof jacket. Which is not a bad result, all things considered. And he must have washed at least once because his facecloth was wet. Of course, there could have been an all-in wet facecloth fight in the dorm, but I prefer to believe there was some hygiene involved.

It was really quite sweet in the school playground this afternoon. Lots of mature, sensible adults barely concealing their nerves as we waited for the buses. Just about everyone in sight had their arms tightly folded across their chests - the low level excitement was almost palpable. And then the first bus arrived and everyone was desparately scanning the windows for a glimpse of their child. Is he there? Is he smiling? Does he look like he had a good time? First Born was on the second bus, grinning like a loon and waving. Fortunately the lump in my throat had dissolved by the time he actually got off and sauntered over to say hi.

So he had a good time and the activities were fun and the food was okay ("I got fish one night which was DELICIOUS but the day everyone else had pizza they gave me sausages in this yucky brown stuff (onion gravy??) which nearly made me vomit!"). One night the teachers all dressed up as Disney characters and they had a game of life-sized Cluedo. First Born's teacher was a dwarf from Snow White, complete with shoes on his knees! I have nothing but admiration for those teachers. They all came off the buses looking shattered!

First Born even brought back a present for his brother, bought with his own spending money, which was a nice touch. And now they're arguing with each other about what they are going to watch on TV and jostling each other round the house. In other words, we are back to normal.