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When I was at school, a group of friends and I would often write stories and each write a different part. Fast forward 10 or 20 (ahem) years and an amazing group of writers have decided to tell you a story. We have no clue how it will end as we are each telling a small part. The story was started by Tired Mummy Of Two.. and from there you can simply click through to read all that has been happening so far. Today, it is my turn to continue  - I am taking the baton from Life At The Zoo.

Laura didn't know quite what else to say to the handsome man, who seemed to have made himself quite at home in her house. Somewhat annoyingly her faithful pooch seemed to have taken quite a shine to him, so he politely excused himself (and the dog) while she pulled the covers over her head again and tried to piece together the events of the previous evening.

"What on earth happened" she thought to herself?

She recalled the dancing, there was lots of dancing and laughing, not forgetting the copious amounts of wine and after about the fourth tequila, it all got a little hazy. But there was something niggling her, something that wasn't quite right.

Suddenly she sat up in bed, a cold shiver went over her, she remembered seeing Robert by the pond. She shook her head and instantly regretted it. Her head hurt. Seeing Robert? What was she thinking? 

That was impossible, Robert was dead. 

So what did happen to Robert? Find out the next part of Laura's story tomorrow over at Five's a Fellowship

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Learning new adventures is all part of being a child isn't it? 

Learning to roll over, to crawl, walk, run and ride a bike. Bike riding has been very topical in our house this summer, with big sister finally letting go of the stabilisers and little sister making her first attempts to ride a bike, courtesy of the fabulous Strider Bike and whilst they are safe riding in the confines of our gardens, I wouldn't want them out on the road just yet.

For over 60 years, children have wobbled their way through the Cycling Proficiency Test, now called Bikeability, and there are 3 levels that children can take. Level 1 helps new riders (like my girls) to control their bike before they move on to developing on-road skills at the next level. Level 2 is usually tackled by children in Years 5 or 6, before they leave primary school but then level 3 teaches children how to ride in different and more challenging traffic situations, and is usually completed by children of secondary school age (so I have a little time before I start worrying about them being on the road because the last thing I want to be worrying about is road traffic accidents and whiplash injury). 

The little one is still a long way off from finding her feet (or her pedals) on the bike and she is just as happy to go down to the main road and watch the traffic go past. I genuinely thought my other half had gone a little bit mad when he suggested going to watch the cars one morning but she loves nothing more than waving to the trucks, farm tractors and cars as they go past and getting them to honk their horns!

So I don't think I need to worry about her learning the dangers of the road, as whilst she may only be little, she seems quite competent at commanding the traffic from the pavement.

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This week's Ranty Friday post is based on proposed action by the government. I am not getting all political (its not really my style) and in fact I am in support of the proposals by the Lib Dem's that schools in England need to take action to cut the cost of uniforms for parents. It is ludicrous that some schools still insist on uniforms being bought from one single outlet, giving parents on different household incomes no option but to shop there. You can see the article from the BBC here.

I totally understand that schools want their children to be smart and a good representative of that establishment but surely that can be done by wearing a branded jumper or a supermarket one? Isn't the behaviour and appearance of the children the responsibility of the parents, rather than the clothes on their backs?

I was looking at the uniforms from our schools "single use supplier" and they have a variety of uniforms available but one thing that did strike me with other schools was that you had the option to buy a sew on emblem, meaning that you didn't necessarily have to buy the branded clothing but you could buy elsewhere and just sew on the logo. (hopefully in the right place and not at all wonky)

There will always be those that are for and against this move. I like my children having a uniform and I wouldn't support any decision to get rid of it completely but I do think that there are lots of families that want their children to go to the best schools but being forced to shop in one specific place just simply isn't right!

For the sake of parents pockets,

For the right to have a choice,

For those children that regularly lose uniform,

I support these changes, do you?