Fiona Duff: Home is where hard work is at half term

It only seems like yesterday that youngest child went back to school. Yet suddenly it is half term. Needless to say I had organised hee-haw in the way of trips and outings when she asked me on Monday what we would be doing for the fortnight away from the classroom.

Apart from going to see Top Hat at the Festival Theatre that is, and to be honest that was a request from Granny Joan. I hope the cast live up to her memories of Fred and Ginger otherwise she’ll start heckling the onstage hoofers. She hasn’t been to the theatre for a while so may have forgotten how to behave.

Thank goodness for friends with a bit more thought for their offspring. As of last night we now have a couple of activities in the calendar – riding on an East Lothian beach and another day out in town with a mate and her mother.

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Once I’ve organised a few days visiting other granny in Fife and booked up a couple of films, the diary will no longer be looking like the Sahara desert.

Mind you, my purse will be taking a bit of a battering as none of these things come free.

Of course, I did do a last-minute panic look at trying to fix up a short trip abroad, as I quite fancied visiting Copenhagen or Krakow.

That was a laugh – the cost of flights in mid-October are sky high. I don’t blame the airlines as it is all about supply and demand. Anyone who rents out their home in Edinburgh during August knows the deal.

When the time comes for her to leave school I’ll certainly enjoy nipping off to foreign parts for peanuts when other people’s kids are at school. However, until then, both she and I shall have to put up with half terms at home.

After all, that is where the heart is, isn’t it?