Melanie C and John Thomson

From comedian & Writer Paul Kerensa:

As I journeyed here today, my eldest was commuting too, first day back to school. My youngest is back to pre-school, and here am I back at… post-school. Some returned weeks ago, but over the next few days, those last stragglers in shopping centres and cinemas will be herded up and returned to their curricula for the new school year. As those Boo Radleys once sang, summer’s gone, days spent with the grass and sun, but I don’t mind…

We found our rhythm five and a half weeks into the six-week holiday, embracing Britain’s brilliant brown roadsigns. At zoos and parks you’d find packs of other families, all coping together. Once, my wife was in the ladies toilet when a dad yelled in… “Katie? You alright in there?” My wife expected an eight-year-old girl to say “Dad, I’ll be out be out in a minute!” Instead she heard a forty-year-old woman: “Yeah yeah, you found me…” Turns out quite a few were just in there for the break, so my wife told me, twenty minutes later, when she finally emerged.

But less cynically, we are giving thanks for the summer break, and its opportunities for much-needed rest and renewal. Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I’ll give you rest.” He taught an awareness of, and inclusion of, everyone: Samaritan woman on the margins, wealthy tax collector, destitute leper. Rejuvenating down-time is for each of us, whether we think we deserve it, need it, or can afford it.

I read that food banks have been hosting holiday clubs this summer – and I’m glad of the resource, though sad of the need. Like at many schools and churches, they’ve given food, fun and time; a report says some parents have skipped meals this summer just to provide food and childcare.

I don’t take holidays for granted: they’re a right yet a privilege, and divinely appointed – even God rested seven days in.

So thank you, summer childcarers: from holiday clubs to friends, godparents and grandparents, many of whom are I’m sure now off to enjoy their holidays… at term-time prices.

And teachers – I hope you managed a rest, because now, it’s over to you…