Okay. It is 11.30pm so I have just over 28 minutes to get this one done and dusted!  Here goes!

I know I said that I would write about our Oxfam walk preparations but we had a rest day yesterday and Sunday is too far away to remember!  I was tired, my legs were tired. That’s it.

Today my team mates all had an excuse not to walk.  All perfectly plausible, understandable and acceptable and as I have already said, they are already much better prepared than I am.  So I decided to go on my own.  Actually, I persuaded (with little resistance, I might add) younger son (aged 15) to come with me.  I was surprised because when I came home he was playing a computer game with his friends.  All in separate houses, on separate computers.  He does sometimes invite them to our house (or he goes to their’s) and they bring their computers and they all sit at their computers, stare at the screens playing the game and yet talk to each other.  They plan, they strategise, they negotiate and they fall out and then in again!   It is fascinating to listen.

But I am a mother and I am of a certain generation and even though I am relatively techy minded and I do understand the benefits of online gaming and all that sort of stuff, I still worry about how much time he spends on a screen.  How much time this summer break he has spent on a screen.  And I feel guilty.  I wasn’t here for four weeks.  And then I needed to work.  So he stayed on his screen.  And it was easy.  For me.

In the winter when he is playing hockey and football and training five times a week with matches on Wednesdays and Saturdays and homework, I can justify the times in between when he is on his computer games.  But in the summer, I struggle.

School starts tomorrow for him. Year 11.  NCEA Level 1.  NO MORE COMPUTER GAMES MIDWEEK!!!

So, he came out for a walk with me.  It was a pleasure having his company.  We talked.  We walked.  He ran!  We went further than he expected but he kept up and he didn’t complain.  And I actually think he quite enjoyed it!  10km.  One hour 40 minutes. Time with my boy.  Need to do that more often.