A QUIET TUESDAY

Things have had a touch of the hectic about them of late. (i.e. I've had stuff to do!), and this week is no exception, but today is a day with no appointments in the diary, nowhere to go, no-one to see. Of course there is the usual stuff that needs to be done, but I'm not yet sure that I can be bothered to do any of it.
Instead of my leather office chair, which seems to give me instant backache, I am sitting on an exercise ball, hoping to improve posture and benefit my core muscles while "doing nothing". Well, it's a start.
It's 9.30am, and I have yet to be startled by the yapping of Yorkshire terriers from next-door-but-one. It usually starts around now, and then I have to drown it out with the radio. Last night as we were putting our children to bed, one of their children was in their garden, attacking his little brother's sit-on tractor with a saw and a hammer. At one point it looked like he might saw himself in half. It serves to illustrate how little his mother cares for his welfare - she must have known what he was up to from the amount of noise he was making, but not once did she come out to check that he was OK. While he was doing this, one of her precious Yorkshire terriers escaped from the front of the house. I watched as she went out and tried to lure the yapping bastard back in, and when she failed to do so after 2 minutes, she went back in and simply left it there, which is the same approach she takes with her children. They are also actively encouraged to lie, cheat and steal. Words fail me. I hate being anywhere near these people.
On Sunday I took Jasmine along to a local Jiu-Jitsu class, on the recommendation of a friend. I was worried that she might find it too intimidating, as she's a bit of a shrinking violet at times, but she got stuck in like a good 'un. Actually, I found the violence a bit overwhelming, but I wasn't there for my benefit. She seemed to enjoy it, and declared an interest in going regularly. I can also take Dylan, as they accept children from the age of 5, so next week I shall take them both, and see how they fare. On one hand, I'm a bit uneasy about exposing them to such violence at such a young age, but I'm also uneasy about exposing them to our neighbours on a daily basis. They have been bullied once, and doing this might ensure they can stand up to any bullying they come up against, which I never could.
9:45, and right on cue, out come the dogs.
To balance things, I went and bought 2 descant recorders yesterday, along with the tutorial the schools use, so I can give Jasmine recorder lessons. The deal is that if she does well at it we can get a saxophone. I think I want one more than she does, but so what? I'd like us all to be able to play music together, and recorders seems to be the way to go, to begin with. Although I had not blown one in anger since schooldays, I was straight back in there, no messing! I now need some "proper" music to play, so I can practice up while Jasmine is at school and stay ahead of the game, as I know what a fast and eager learner she is!