So today marks a massive achievement for us at JustMaths and the Kanga Boys (Kangaroo Maths = Steve Lomax and Matt Nixon) … we took delivery of the first edition of the Ready? Set? Go! The Crossover “thing”. I have written about the ideas behind it here and also how it came about here.

For reasons that I’ll explain at the end of this post (for those of you that get that far!) I wasn’t able to get to the warehouse and so instead, the boys went along this morning to send the pre-orders on their way. This moment has been made sweeter by the fact that the number of pre-orders we received were for the same number of books that a major publisher estimated would sell in total after we pitched the idea to them and they went away and came back with their response to the concept. They’d diluted it to something almost unrecognisable from what we’ve been able to produce ourselves as we’ve retained complete control over every word, every full stop … basically everything! 

The other reason for visiting to see the “thing” was to also check over the final changes we made following our proof readers comments and … if we are being honest it’s a milestone for us. I’m sure there were lots of people that didn’t expect us (we’re just a group of teachers!) to pull this off. We’ve done everything from writing, designing, editing, printing and now distribution, ourselves … granted it helps that we have a great relationship with Chris at Media Print Group in Oldbury who has done our promo goods for years now and so we can now officially say that “JustaRoo” is also a publisher! At times it hasn’t been easy (nor was it cheap!) to get this far … but our original brief was to make sure that whatever we produced would be something we are proud to have our names associated with and I think we achieved that! I say that having only seen my proof copy but I can assure you that I’ve seen LOADS of photos because Seager et al seem to think it was really funny to keep sending me photos knowing that I really wanted to be there today including several that make them look like the worst world band in the world ever:

It also appears that Fize was having some fun using the racking as a climbing frame … apparently Chris took the keys out of the forklift truck as I think there may have been plans to have go on it whilst reading the “thing”:

To mark the occasion we’re doing a virtual book launch. The idea is to spend about an hour and a half online via zoom and we’ll have some guests along too (Graham Cumming is going to do something … not sure what yet but I’m sure it’ll be hilarious … no pressure Big G!!) and I’ve also suggested to the boys that we do an “ask us anything” kind of thing where we’ll try to answer any questions fired at us (any questions can be added to the comments below). Along with some other fun and games (If you’ve been to a JustMaths conference in the past you’ll know that we do things a little differently!) … details of the event can be found using this link -> VIRTUAL BOOK LAUNCH  TICKETS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE AS THE EVENT IS SOLD OUT… Sorry! 

So … You’re still reading? oh … ok … The reason for me not being their today? I haven’t really told anyone outside my circle of friends but as you’re still here … it’s nowt exciting!!

A few months ago my husband had some pains in his abdomen/chest/arms and the first time it happened he soldiered through the night and carried on as normal. The second time was right at the height of the COVID hysteria but we had no choice and rang 111. The on-call doctor made the call to send an ambulance and when they arrived they did some tests and as soon as they told my husband it wasn’t a heart attack and that they could take him to hospital if he wanted but he said no and the next morning, again, we carried on as normal. Two weeks later, I’m woken up by my husband saying that whatever was happening the pain was severe. Straight away we got in the car and drove to the local hospital … along the way he was throwing up out of the window (it was 4am so no one was around!!) and I was driving along petrified. When we arrived about 15 minutes later we started to walk to the entrance to the hospital and he collapsed – I ran into A & E to get help and he was then rushed off and taken away.

I was left outside and could only contact the hospital via phone (he’d left his at home!) and as it turned out wasn’t in a fit state to update me anyway. I swear, I have never felt so helpless, lonely and afraid in my whole life. I came home as I was told and sat on the bottom step of my stairs and sobbed. However, I knew I had to keep busy to keep the doom and gloom thoughts at bay – it was now 5am but bo**ocks to the neighbours I decided to hoover and tidy the house!. As the morning went on I kept getting updates saying he was on morphine, getting an MRI, having blood tests etc … then at about 2 I got a call to say I could collect him. When he came out of the entrance he was very wobbly but looked relieved as he knew what the issue was … he needed to have his gall bladder removed.

Fast forward a few months later, a couple of stone lighter (him not me) here we are … in self-isolation. We’ve been told that the NHS guidance is 3 days but the hospital that’s doing the op have a 14 day policy so we are now on day 5! It means that I miss the start of term too!

Told you … its nothing exciting. Just more of the same really, stuck at home but this time there are two of us (my husband continued to work as a key worker throughout lockdown) and the dog! Wish me luck … 9 more days to go!