Autumn greetings

Autumn has arrived in style since the above photo was taken last Saturday with rain, rain and more rain (my dad’s patch-up job has worked though, and the roof doesn’t seem to be leaking – hoorah). We’d headed for Bigbury for a surf; found a little swell and a dead whale floating off Burgh Island. The lifeguards had been called out to investigate because a member of the public thought it was an upturned boat. Whilst it is a good thing is wasn’t, the whale caused some interest. I hadn’t given much thought to dead whales before, but apparently they can cause a bit of a problem as there are no large shark-like scavengers (as there would be in say Australia) and the sea is cold so they can hang around for a while, until they sink.

Archie has taken a while to get back into routine. Partly I think because everything has changed. Joseph has changed schools and arrives home at a different time, Archie’s bus has changed time as well, and things aren’t quite the same. He has also gone down with the first heavy school cold of the season (luckily he got his surf in first). Archie refuses to admit he is poorly though, if asked he will cough and splutter ‘no’ whilst burning up. Being poorly means missing school so is rarely admitted to. Thinking about it that simple sentence ‘will cough and splutter ‘no’ tells it’s own tale. It wasn’t until Archie was about 9 or 10 that he even had a functional yes and no, and we couldn’t have had a conversation about poorlyness.

And now a request for help. The guys who took Archie surfing in Ireland; Alive Surf School, working with Autism Initiatives NI have put a bid in for funding for tandem boards. This would allow them to take people like Archie out surfing regularly. The boards are expensive (they borrowed one for Archie’s lesson). The public can vote for them by clicking on this link and choosing Autism Initiatives NI. A worthwhile cause, and if they get the boards I’m hoping Archie will get a ride on one next year.