On Friday Fives for the 12th of February

Since we last spoke Dreamwidth at least five things have happened

1) There has been lots of rugby. Some of it has been disappointing but turning away from the national team of 2019 to my P4's (the national team of 2029) - they are awesome. First week back tackling on Sunday, and being tackled,  after the winter layoff was a three-way festival at Portobello. Really brave and thoughtful performance from them all. I don't necessarily mean physically brave, I mean being willing to have a think about what they are doing as individuals and as a group. Managed to put my coaching qualification in to use straight-away. Sadly the international 5-way festival scheduled for Saturday was rained off. At least one of the clubs we were playing on Sunday had loads of girls. BRFC P4's have none/ Most clubs have 1 but either Portobello or Livingstone had about 6. I wanted to go and ask them what they were doing to attract and retain them but everytime I tried one of my P4's injured themselves.

2) Had a conversation with a sort of relative about Brexit. Mostly came away with the feeling that the English don't really understand Scotland and that Brexit is going to cause political divisions in the UK for about two generations if it goes ahead. The Rejoin campaign is already funded as is the SNP and both are waiting to Brexit to happen to start their campaigns.  Brexiteers and other British nationalists are going to be fighting a rearguard action for decades to come. I don't think they understand this. I don't think they have the energy for perputual revolution and I don't think they can convert the elite to their programme.

3) The Captain and I have enjoyed / survived a week with MLW away on business. We both agreed that it had been of an acceptable quality and nothing important had gone wrong. Obviously Chris Grayling was not in charge of anything. Most brilliantly I took the Captain to his piano lesson on Tuesday. He ended up composing a short piano piece called "The Forgotten Book" and then played it again for me on Wednesday morning. On Friday I found him playing the piano without prompting.

4) Work is busy but exciting.

5) I am trying to sort out holidays. We've had tentative discussions with my sister and separately with some friends about a joint holiday but I think those are going to come to nothing. MLW and I are still asset rich / cash poor whilst the cottage business gets properly built up. Once BB has finished uni, the Captain is in secondary school and a few of the short-term loans related to the cottage are paid off it'll be back to holidays in Spain but not yet. Also, I'm not really sure that I fancy a holiday abroad during the turmoil of a the first summer after Brexit (or after Not Brexit, or not after Brexit). However, in other news I've booked a long weeked in Amsterdaam for the end of April. I'm staying on a houseboat. (All part of my evil plan to make MLW live on a canal boat when we retire.)