Gotta get up early tomorrow.....

Wills and I have already been re-introduced to the strange administrative operations at Indus. We ventured in to primarily pick up PE uniforms. As well as the t-shirts and shorts he wears on non-formal days, he is given 3 pairs of long track pants (never wore last years), one sweater with sleeves and one without (again neither worn last year). If I hadn't been worn and frayed by my time at the account's table I would maybe have rejected these items but no doubtedly that irregularity would have thrown the system into chaos and not been appreciated by those in line behind me. On entering the sports hall you pick up an information card which has to be signed off by accounts before you can proceed any further. One of the senior guys from accounts rides our school bus and has always seemed a 'not get involved, non-stick teflon' type. When trouble/noise errupts on the bus he hides further behind the folds of his newspaper. So seeing him at the accounts table didn't inspire me with confidence. I was armed with Simon's spreadsheets showing we were all paid up to date. But did my information reconcile with that on the accounts guys laptop. Of course not. He reckoned we owed thousands of rupees. However after a bit of hoohah our debt miraculously disappears and we can move on to the next stage. This quite often happens here. If you are adamantly not going to do something, it gets let go.

Wills get measured for formals - at least 10 measurements taken, so they'd better fit. Adam will have to sort himself out and locate the tailor when he gets back. I did pick up (though I did summon Parundar to help get them back to the car) Ads' huge pile of both exercise books and text books. It appears he is studying 'The Merchant of Venice' this year, physics looks scary, biology includes drug addiction, cloning and biotechnology, maths includes some trig, matrices, in fact a bit of everything. He is going to be busy this year!! I got his PE uniform gesticulating that he's a couple of inches shorter than me and much skinnier. I hope he hasn't overindulged on American food these last three weeks or he'll be exchanging for a bigger size!

We also pick up Will's school shoes. I seriously don't think these could be more aesthetically unpleasant, and they are also far from practical. They are far too narrow for his feet, so we have to get a extremely long pair, so he can actually squeeze his feet into them but this comes with a loss of stability. They have totally smooth soles, so Ads starts the year covered in bruises as he slips and slides on the marble floors. The leather is as hard as rock until it suddenly looses all form and shape part way through the year. I suppose they go pretty well with the equally hideous dark green nylon socks. 

The bus guy visibly quaked when I approached to confirm Ads' and Wills' place on bus 3b. Hopefully the bus experience will altogether be more controlled and timely than last year and our paths will cross less often!

Another summer over all too quick, another school year about to begin. Just got to locate a backpack, pack some snacks, fill a water bottle, remember to set the alarm and Wills will be starting second grade tomorrow!