16 October 2013

And there is no god with a plan

Everyone's been very quiet. I've been working. Sherlock's been trying to read things he shouldn't, which serves me right for bringing it home.

John's been pottering about, mainly trying to sort out Sherlock's school gear, and helping with homework and tidying the kitchen that we all made a mess of. And offering me tea. Lots of tea. (Because he wants to help, and can't, so tea is the closest to help.)

It's very eye-opening, meeting the families of murder victims. There is such a broad range of reactions. Some people are so angry, some are numb.

The family I'm dealing with at the moment are incredibly quiet, polite, thankful. Makes me feel so much worse that we haven't caught anyone yet. The eldest, a boy, today when I was talking to his mum he fetched me some water and a got out biscuits. I mean, most kids wouldn't do that at the best of times - his dad's just been killed.

Doesn't make you any more determined to catch those responsible - you always want to do that. But maybe once it's done I'll feel more...glad. That they have that.


And I've been staring at this for so long it's now time to put Sherlock to bed.


Someone asked me today if I thought John and I would foster/care for other children, once Sherlock and Mycroft are all grown up.

Made me think.

64 comments:

John H. D. Watson said...

Made me think.

And what were your thoughts?

Greg Lestrade said...

That it would be an amazing thing to do. And that I felt selfish not doing it. But also maybe wanted to grow old with you and spend time together and be able to drop everything and head off on our bikes and not think about anything else.

John H. D. Watson said...

Yeah. That's about how I feel too, I think.

Greg Lestrade said...

Sort of wish we were younger.

pandabob said...

well that's a post full of big thinking!!

I hope you get your case cleared up successfully soon not that the criminal justice system does much all that quickly but if you can get your bit done then that would be good :-)

John H. D. Watson said...

Mm. Even ten years ago it would've seemed more possible. And less exhausting.

Greg Lestrade said...

Ha! You're just a youngster compared to me ;)

John H. D. Watson said...

Heh. Only in actual years lived I think sometimes.

Greg Lestrade said...

as opposed to maturity?

John H. D. Watson said...

No. I suppose I feel like I can be too serious and a bit negative sometimes, that's all. Which has nothing to do with age anyway so I don't know why I said that.

Greg Lestrade said...

I don't think you're negative. Sometimes a little serious, but everyone is. I'm probably a good deal less serious than I should be, a lot of the time.

Love you.

John H. D. Watson said...

I like that you're less serious. It makes the world seem like a better place.

I love you too.

Greg Lestrade said...

Good. I mean, I think that's why I started, to convince the others everything was fine. So...yeah, good.

rsf said...

I expect that once Mycroft and Sherlock are well and truly launched you'll find ways to help young people that don't necessarily involve checking their pockets for stray critters before you do the laundry.

(I'm just catching up, and wondering if a false widow spider is something real, but I'm far too sleepy to ask Google.)

Greg Lestrade said...

False widows are real, and 'taking over' Britain (which means you'll probably never even see one, unless you read a rag of a newspaper that wants to scare you)

They are our 'deadliest spider' - no one has ever died, to my knowledge....

Kestrel337 said...

Your thoughts on fostering made me think of the story about the starfish on the beach. It's a bit of a long one (and pretty old, too), but the upshot I think is that you do the good you CAN, and accept that there are some things you can't. You both do a lot of good, and there is nothing selfish about saying 'I don't think I'm up to that'. It's awesome that someone thinks you guys would be good at it, flattering I'm sure, but don't take that to mean you are under some obligation to take it on. (and my captcha says 'pubsafe')

REReader said...

I thought false widows were a good deal less dangerous to humans than true black widows? But I could have that wrong.

Fostering children is difficult in all ways. It's a wonderful thing to do, and I certainly would agree that you two would be good at it if you chose to take it on--but that's not really a good enough reason to do it, I think for it to work it has to be something you have a strong desire for. And as Kestrel said, that you might be able to do it doesn't mean you are under any obligation to. You have to see what's right for you.

Trills said...

Very quiet walk to work this morning as the schools in my area of London are all closed due to the teacher's strike. Did Sherlock go in this morning or is he about to throw a hissy fit once he reads this comment (if that's the case then sorry)?

Small Hobbit said...

I always thought that black widow spiders munched on their mates. Does this mean that false widows only pretend to munch them?

L - I wouldn't worry about what you will or won't do by the time Sherlock has grown up. If you've managed to keep up with him that long you won't have any energy left to do anything else at all.

pandabob said...

I hope you're all having a good day and that its being productive in the very best of ways :-)

Greg Lestrade said...

Fairly productive. Sherlock is at school.

And no, false widows aren't very poisonous.

Greg Lestrade said...

Got an unintelligible message from John's phone about pumpkins.

I'm assuming they've been to the allotment and Sherlock is now planning an elaborate pumpkin carving.

John H. D. Watson said...

You assume correctly. There are going to be dragons and tigers and spiders...

pandabob said...

I've never carved a pumpkin but it always sounds like fun :-)

Unknown said...

I think you guys would be brilliant foster parents, but of course as it's been said, you're not under obligation.
Friends of mine have done foster care for a while (not currently, but for quite a few years when their kids were growing up), and they were amazing... some kids stayed only a few nights on an emergency basis, others longer, two or three they adopted and kept. Another friend did foster care for teen boys, which are incredibly hard to place. She had her share of problems with them, but I think she was really good with them too, and of course being teens it was a shorter term commitment than a small child would be. It's a bridge you can cross or not when you come to it. Or there may be things like Big Brother/Big Sister you can do, which don't involve full time parenting.
S

Joolz said...

We usually end up with boring scary faces and bats, but I always love the ones that look so intricate that you can't believe how they managed to do such a complex pattern without cutting through an edge (like I always seem to do!).

Good luck with your designs, Sherlock and John. Are they home grown pumpkins you are using because that's even better if so. :)

Greg Lestrade said...

I'm sure it'll be brilliant.

Just to warn you... I have very slightly black eyes. I mean, you probably won't even notice.

And a thumping headache. I think it's unrelated though

John H. D. Watson said...

Are you all right? What happened?

Greg Lestrade said...

don't know why I have a headache.

Recieved an incredibly enthusiastic hug from one of Sal's nephews. Included free enthusiastic impact between small head and my face. Actually challenged one of Sherlock's enthusiastic hugs - complete with run-up.

John H. D. Watson said...

That's...very sweet. In a way. I hope it doesn't hurt too much.

Greg Lestrade said...

nah, it's fine. And it was sweet. I sadly had to turn down a trip to the park though.

Joolz said...

Aw that was sweet, if a little overenthusiastic. You aren't expecting a visit from Mrs H are you, that usually accompanies some of your more colourful facial experiences. ;)

Hope your head feels better soon.

John H. D. Watson said...

I could invite her over for dinner...

Greg Lestrade said...

I think I just look tired to most people - but John and Sherlock are two of the three likely to notice it's not just that!

Have a nice time in the allotment, John?

John H. D. Watson said...

Yeah, it was great. Sherlock wants to quiz you on everything that can be done with pumpkins, just to warn you. He was talking about keeping a fish in one at one point.

Greg Lestrade said...

He'll have to wait until you've worked your magc on my head. But no fish.

Just leaving.

John H. D. Watson said...

I'll do my best. See you soon.

REReader said...

Aw, that was sweet--but ouch! Hope you can do something about the eye, John. :)

It sounds like you will have some very exciting pumpkin sculptures--or at least some exciting planning of pumpkin sculptures! I like the ones with fairly simple silhouettes the best to look at--they're so dramatic.

Greg Lestrade said...

I have a husband who's greeted me with tea, a head massage and the promise of dinner. Brilliant.

Greg Lestrade said...

and he only gave me a slight glare when he un-balled my socks.

Anon Without A Name said...

Awwwww :-)

John H. D. Watson said...

That wasn't a glare. It was...a look.

Greg Lestrade said...

It was a look combined with some severe sock-un-balling.

John H. D. Watson said...

Severely is the only way to unball socks. They're tricky little things.

Anonymous said...

I used to love to just run the pumpkin guts through my hands and squish -- but there's plenty of other things you can find to do with pumpkins.

rsf

Greg Lestrade said...

Ian Dibell got the Police Bravery Award tonight. A very worthy recipient. Paid the ultimate price while trying to help another. Of course, all nominees would have been very worthy winners.

Anonymous said...

I was visiting family in Eastern Ontario and was brought to an event called Pumpkinferno. They do these amazing displays of carved pumpkins (both real and synthetic).

Google images

Perhaps some inspiration could be found for your carving?

OctoberAnon

Greg Lestrade said...

October Anon - those are great! Thanks :)

I fear our skill level will be lacking...

Having a nice day off here, with the hubby. ;)

REReader said...

Wow, OctoberAnon, those are really impressive--and also beautiful.

That's sounds lovely, too, L. :)

REReader said...

By the way--if you're looking to get into the Halloween mood, Mythbusters has a Zombie special. :)

pandabob said...

Have you had a nice rest of your day gentlemen? I hope you found nice things to do together :-)

How was school Sherlock? When does half term hit for you and Mycroft? Do you have many plans? not that I'm thinking of stealing your ideas or anything ;-)

REReader said...

Oh, hey--if you all like the results of your pumpkin carving, Nerdfighteria is having a pumpkin carving contest, over here: http://nerdfighteria.vanillaforums.com/discussion/3602/nerdfighter-pumpkin-carving-contest?new=1

(I bet you could win, Sherlock!)

Greg Lestrade said...

Anony - we should have been getting Mycroft back today, but he's staying and extra night for Astronomy club sleep over. Sherlock is pretending he doesn't care whilst also literally blaming the universe for Mycroft not returning.

pandabob said...

An astronomy club sleep over sounds like a very good reason for Mycroft to stay a little extra time with his friend but I guess its hard for Sherlock to see that a sleep over after term ends if different to all the other nights Mycroft is away.

Anon Without A Name said...

Oh, yes, it's a lunar eclipse tonight, isn't it? Mycroft, I hope you get a better view than we're likely to get here - we've got cloud and rain.

Greg Lestrade said...

Christmas adverts on the telly - unbelievable! Should be banned until December.

REReader said...

What, already? It's still OCTOBER!

Well, if it's a lunar eclipse...then Sherlock is quite right to blame the universe, or at least the solar system. :)

Greg Lestrade said...

I'm ignoring it completely this year.

Not that Sherlock will let me...

pandabob said...

You can't ignore Christmas not when you have children around, schools inflict it on them for months, get them all worked up about it and then kick them out the door for the holiday high as kites for us to deal with ;-)

You having a good evening?

Greg Lestrade said...

I know. But I'll be working this one. I'm fairly certain Sherlock will manage to smuggle himself in with me or something though.

Having a quiet evening, not the boy wonder is in bed. He wants us to get up pre-dawn, I think, to fetch Mycroft. Not that he misses him or anything, obviously!!

REReader said...

It's just being sensible after all...

Have a Shabbat shalom/fun Saturday!

John H. D. Watson said...

Course not...he just has things to tell him. So many things. Good thing Mycroft's a good listener.

pandabob said...

Crime should be banned at Christmas but sadly I'm guessing its quite the opposite really.

I can't think of any reason that any one could possibly think that Sherlock might miss his big brother while he's away ;-)

Greg Lestrade said...

He's so funny - so adamant that he's fine and Mycroft is just stupid anyway, but he's bursting to have Mycroft home with us again, and just can't hide it!

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