Thomas starts his new school

Thomas being cheeky, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Here is Thomas a few years ago when he came to visit us in Amsterdam with his Mum.

He is now a big boy of 11, going on 12 next month and last week he started secondary school. I was in London for a couple of days work and spent the night with Thomas and his Mum, saving the company a night's hotel bill and spending that on taking them out to dinner at a place near their house called Bumpkin. Very nice English food, organically produced and for a reasonable price.

I had hoped to see Thomas in his school uniform, but he had already changed by the time I arrived and teh next morning he was still asleep when I left the house 7.30 for my trip back to The City. A pity.

Anyway, the school seems to be fine and well equipped. They already have smart boards, like those TV detective series on which you can write as well as project pages from the internet. Fred is just receiving lessons on how to use such a smart board, the first one having just been introduced into his school.

Thomas has already earned two credits - one for Art and one for Religious Knowledge, neither of which he has really excelled before, Thomas being like his uncle, better in Maths! He has also been appointed counsellor for his year, so other pupils can talk to him about their problems and so on. So he seems to be doing very well.

Keep it going, young man, your uncles are very proud of you.