Two fingers to that

I’d relaxed into the whole teacher’s strike business. I’d come to terms with not getting ahead. I’d made my peace with being in the moment instead. I was quite looking forward to seeing Brave and inhaling yum cha with the Sprogs. A bold redhead wisecracking her way through the forest, followed by succulent prawns wrapped in rice paper was going to be fun … Then a school dad asked if I was going to Sprog 2’s keyboard concert. And I was like – imagine me saying it in a panicked, squeaky voice – what keyboard concert? He explained that despite the teacher’s strike, the end-of-term keyboard concert was going ahead yesterday. Que? Then I remembered Sprog 2 has keyboard lessons every Wednesday at lunchtime, using my chocolate-hued electronic keyboard from the ’70s. Groovy baby. As the keyboard lessons are conducted by an external operator called Mr Adrian, he was obviously keen to collect the large weekly fee he charges to teach my child to play a musical instrument. And decided to celebrate her two-fingered progress with a performance. I sent a text to Mr Adrian asking about the what/when/how/why details. He texted back saying the information was in the letter he’d sent me. The letter? Damn, I thought that was a bill, so I’d been studiously avoiding it. With sinking heart I opened the letter and discovered an invitation to the concert, which was taking place at 1.40pm yesterday, after keyboard lessons at 1pm. That pretty much blew my plans for the day apart. No Brave. No yum cha. If I was writing this on my Blackberry, I’d add one of those emoticons, the one where the smiley face sobs. So Sprog 1 and I loitered around the school for 40 minutes waiting for Sprog 2’s keyboard lesson to end, then shuffled into a demountable classroom to crouch on little plastic chairs and listen to seven little keyboarders take turns playing their two favourite songs, which consisted mostly of Hot Cross Buns and Bouncing On The Bus, although one boy bravely stumbled through Love Me Tender. At the end of the concert, Mr Adrian handed the kids bags of lollies and the parents invoices for next semester – crafty bugger. But every cloud has a silver lining. I got an email yesterday afternoon informing me that Sprog 1’s athletics carnival had been called off due to adverse weather conditions. Hurrah! Sprog 1 can go to school today! It’s too late for me to get ahead, but I might at least get less behind.