And I’m very happy to say that my daughter, Lily, has again been offered a place at Oxford university, starting in October. She has to get another A in another A level to qualify but that ought be plain sailing this time around for her. She’s really something… it’s not at all common for them to give ANYONE a second chance, but they have given her that second bite of the cherry. Go Lily, go. Her perseverance and achievement, despite what’s happened to her parents these last 6 years, is really really incredible. I’m very proud of what she’s done, as I’m sure is her mum.

As for me, today I took my first session as a volunteer teacher. I survived the wheelchair in the rain to Greenford and met two students for a lesson. They are both ladies who have lived for a long time in London, but have never had English taught to them, or at least not ‘ properly’. They can both speak ‘pidgin English ‘ – coo, that’s something ( there’s a joke in there somewhere ) but have pretty heavy accents. I see my job as working on the accents and pronunciation, with a view to enabling them to do things/ access services they currently do not/ find daunting.

I asked the first her name. When she said ‘ Julie Andrews ‘ I thought she at least had a grasp on random humour, and almost said ‘ I’m Dick ( Van Dyke ) ‘ but i didn’t…

Turns out it’s her real name, and she’s never heard of the actress namesake? What are the chances of that then? I’ll hold off on the Mary Poppins jokes until her English improves, and then teach her to spell the longest word in the English dictionary…. supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Sounds like a good lesson plan to me, anyway.