Advent Day 11

I am not going to talk about Ofsted Day 1 because some swearing, and words like 'pants' and 'poo' might enter into the equation, but suffice to say it has not been a good day, for any of the staff.

So I get home just after 7 p.m, because not only has it been a day of walking the wire, it was topped off with a Parent Evening. Perfect end to a perfect day...not.

And the hens are waiting for me with an Advent Box full of chocolate, as promised, because hens are very honest creatures and always do what they say, unlike some Senior Management. Sorry, I said I wasn't going to talk about Ofsted, didn't I?

Anyhow, I say, 'thank you for the chocolate,' and Daisy says, 'we promised you two things today, but you will have to come outside for the second thing because it is too big for the Box.' Oooh, I think. I wonder what it is? A boat? A goat? A full-size replica of the Eiffel Tower? The most enormous sugar mouse in the world?

So I follow the girls into the garden. It is very cold, a heavy frost already settled in the grass, and the shrubs and the willow arch. It is a proper Winter night. Crisp. Sharp. Fresh.

'So,' I say. 'Where is this enormous thing too big to be contained in the Advent Box?'
Primrose touches my arm gently with her wing. 'Look up,' she says.

I look up. 'What?' I say.

'What can you see?' says Daisy.

'Dark,' I say. I am tired. I am fed up. I am not really up to guessing games.
'Look properly,' says Daisy. 'Really look...'

So I do. I sigh, because today life has been weary,and I feel robotic and out of touch. But I look. And I see...STARS...up there... chips of diamond against black velvet.

And the more I look - actually look - the more stars I see. Thousands, and millions, and gazzillions of stars.

'I know you weren't going to talk about Ofsted,' whispers Primrose,'but when you look up there, at those stars lighting the night, and you think that those stars are thousands of miles away, but you can still see them, doesn't it make you think that in the grand scheme of the Universe, Ofsted is the teensiest and tiniest of insignificant blobs?'

'It does,' I say.

'And that if the Universe is so big, it must contain more things that are infinitely more important than Ofsted?' says Primrose.
'Like love,' says Daisy.
'And smiles,' says Primrose.
'And laughter,' says Daisy.
'And banoffee pie,' says Primrose.
'Let's not get carried away,' says Daisy.
'Okay,' says Primrose.

'Actually, I'd agree with Primrose,' I say. 'And I'm not a great fan of banoffee pie.'

Wise creatures, hens. Very wise indeed.