On friendship and support

One day it is going to be really hard to leave San Francisco.

Last week we hit a problem at my daughters' school - one which affected my family personally but one which had implications for the whole school. I won't go into details - if you know me here in SF then chances are you already know about it, and if you don't know about it, you don't need to. What I want to write about is the response to the problem. I found myself discussing it after a meeting with some other mothers from the school. And I was frankly overwhelmed by the feisty and energetic response I got from them and then from others the next day. "This can't happen." "We have to change this." "I'll come with you." "I'll write." "I've called/emailed/written." "Here's what we do next."

People asked me if this would have happened back home in the UK. Well to be honest on the one hand, I am not sure we'd have had the particular problem in the first place. But I'm also not sure we'd have that many energetic parents stepping up for children who aren't their own and just pitching in.

People were wonderful. And they took time out their days to help. And they just got on with it. And in a day of substantial parent pressure coming to bear, we sorted out and resolved the problem.

So thank you all. You know who you are. And I know that one day I am really going to hate to leave you.