To do list ...

I can't believe how busy I am. I am now HoD but still teaching a full timetable. Hope that will change this week. The teacher that was driving me up the wall has now left and we have a new teacher ... he seems to be okay so far, we'll see how it goes.

Nice weekend planned this weekend. Brought home three sets of books, loads of good intentions to get lots done. My plan was to get up, do some tidying then spend most of the day marking etc, then out last night for dinner with cousin, then get up early today to do shopping, before heading north to our friends' son's baptism, where we would spend most of the day but arrive in good time to get things ready for tomorrow and have an early night.

Didn't quite work out that way.

H woke up in the middle of the night with some strange symptoms of tightness across the chest etc. Fortunately after taking painkillers it subsided, but we wondered if it was partly caused by the disorganised nature of our flat at the moment, so we decided to really spend time tidying the house the next day. Because our sleep was disturbed, we got up later than planned, then decided to start by doing the dishes. Well, the dishes turned into cleaning the kitchen, including clearing out a lot of food past its sell by date, and cleaning some very greasy items from the top of the cupboard. Pans, dishes, food everywhere. Until about 2pm or so, by which time we were hungry, and couldn't really cook because all the dishes were everywhere. So we went out for some light lunch, then went to do the shopping, then came back, got changed, and went to my cousin's. Great night! They have a nice flat with a good view, and we had a delicious lasagne. Came home on the late side and went to bed. No marking.

I woke up this morning earlier than H and marked some homework sheets. Didn't get started on the books. Managed to plan the homework for my GCSE classes, but no more. Headed up north for the baptism. We arrived an hour early for the baptism and drove into the pub car park to think about having a bite to eat. However, H had the tightness again, so I phoned NHS Direct, who advised phoning 999 to get checked out. So we called for an ambulance, who then took H to the A&E, with me following on behind. ECGs, blood tests, x-rays, temperature, heartbeat etc all checked, and all was fine, other than a bit of inflammation in the chest, so he just has to take painkillers for the next week and he should be fine. Not a heart attack, and not indigestion. But we missed the baptism! We were let out around 5pm, so had a quick meal before meeting up with our friends and going back to their house. We therefore stayed a bit longer than we might have done otherwise, which was lovely, but now that we are back - just - I am too tired to get all the homework done! And still have loads to do. So thought I'd write down my to-do list:

1. Take back trousers to shop to replace - worn three times, hole in side hem already!
2. Buy and replace brake light.
3. Book car in for a service.
4. Write wish list for department to take to my line manager.
5. Prepare list of things to do for school trip on Tuesday.
6. Complete risk assessment for that trip.
7. Marking.
8. Finish tidying up the flat.
9. Lots of visits to people and art galleries etc coming up in the next few weekends.
10. Post book to S.
    

Right. Wonder how long that will all take ...

Hello dear world!

Wow, it's exhausting being a teacher! And difficult to find a few moments to write anything at all. Even now, I want to have a relaxing shower, and I need to cook dinner. I have brought a set of books home that I have not managed to mark for two weeks, despite it being the best class I have ever taught, ever, and I have a bunch of admin stuff to do as well. But I wanted to let you know I am still here and am doing okay! I'm going to break off now to do something for a bit ... Hope to be back later this evening!

Hovis and other reflections

Saw the Hovis advert just now. Liked it. Very clever, and a good history starter, perhaps!

Ugly Betty is back - well, she was back last week, but I missed her - and as excellent as ever, with some good moral dilemmas thrown in for good measure. Could use some episodes in my ethics class, perhaps ... today we were discussing determinism ... did Claire Meade have free will in murdering Fey Sommers?

Most exciting thing was hearing about my sister's scan. How exciting to be able to see little hands and feet! Can't wait to see the picture! And the real thing, of course!

Thank you ... and goodnight, Sir Cliff ...

Well, I've just seen Sir Cliff's latest offering, with which he hopes to get a number one in every decade for the last - six? - decades. Quite catchy, but also a bit sad ... If the curtain should fall, maybe even tonight, I may have given you a lifetime, but you've given me the time of my life ... (Or something like that.) And Sir Cliff still boogies and swings his stuff like he's seventeen, rather than seventy (or however old he is now). I just felt I had to write something. It would be nice ... sweet ... if all his fans bought his record to try to give him a chance of that number one, I'm just not sure that would be enough! And it is a bit self indulgent, really. Well, very personal. A message to his fans. Kind of him. However .... Anyway, the second, more pertinent, question is ... Sir Cliff, is hosting the lottery and wishing all those with tickets luck, compatible with your Christian beliefs?

Talking of which, Pupil B as mentioned yesterday has continued with excellent questions and comments. Today she has been asking about what happens to those who belong to other religions when they die. How do you know you're following the right religion? I have high hopes for her.

Other than that, a certain member of staff is continually winding me up. I will see how this goes. Could be a tough year!

Back to School

No blogs recently, since it's been a busy week, and an even busier weekend! I have met almost all of my classes now - two to go! So far, so good. A couple of interesting classes, to be sure.

Today's interesting exchange:

Pupil A: "Why do Muslims bomb planes?" (Perhaps he'd been listening to the court case on the news, although I didn't think that came through until later.)

Pupil B: "Not all Muslims bomb planes. The ones that did didn't understand the Qur'an properly."

She'll be after my job next!

There is one pupil in my class that can be a bit of a handful. However, he did very well in some exams, so it was nice to be able to phone home about that last week. Then he came in and we had an altercation on the first day about his mobile, so I made a short call about that. However, today he came in looking the smartest he's looked in a long time, with new shoes and a new black jacket. Very smart! In fact there was a long queue at the office this morning of pupils signing out to go home and get changed into the proper uniform. Black shoes, black jacket, blazers, ties etc. This may last ... we will see, and hope that it does.

The end of the holidays ...

Tomorrow, I go back to school. Last week I had a couple of dizzy spells, so I've been trying not to be on the computer too much. But I should really give an update!

Tuesday 19 August - Can't remember much! I think I was helping H with his work. Packed in the evening to go home. Went to the doctor about the dizzy spell I had yesterday. She didn't know what it was.

Wednesday 20 August - Took the train back to Scotland. Worked on the train. Arrived in time for a late dinner. Good to see Mum and Dad.

Thursday 21 August - Tried to get some more work done. Wrote a bit that I blogged yesterday. Enjoyed being home.

Friday 22 August - My Canadian cousins arrived! Lovely to see C again, and her daugher, D, is lovely! Had a short rest, then hit the town. I showed them the sights, and when we visited the main city church, we got an impromtu visit to the roof!

Saturday 23 August - Visited Discovery in Dundee. Took loads of photos! Another nice day. Visited my sister and her husband, then went to collect H from the station.

Sunday 24 August - Loads of relatives came round. I think C enjoyed seeing them again, and they were all delighted to finally meet D!

Monday 25 August - Went to Edinburgh. H realised he needed to get back to do some more work - exhibition next week - so he managed to get the last direct train to London. Mum took C and D to see the castle, while I visited my grandparents.

Tuesday 26 August - Busy day! First of all we went to the Deer Centre, which was great. We fed the deer - red, roe, fallow, St someone or other - and decided that the Highland Cow was stubborn. Then we went to St Andrews, and went down the mines at the castle, before heading along the pier and then to Janetta's for ice cream. Finally drove to Anstruther, for the best fish and chips in Scotland!

Wednesday 27 August - Took it easy. I got my hair chopped off and dyed, for the first time ever. Visited the castle where my sister got married, then came home and played some card games. Finally, went out for dinner, where we finished with a huge happy birthday ice cream sundae with a flaming sparkler.

Thursday 28 August - Took the train back down south. Sat beside a nice Dutch couple from Pittenweem.

Friday 29 August - Finished the essays I had to write - yeah! H got back late from the Midlands. I decided to lose weight.

Saturday 30 August - Diet started today! Breakfast - bacon, tomato and salad on a muffin. Lunch - Nando's chicken breast on pitta. With shared sides. Dinner - two poached eggs on a muffin with salad. Snacks - mini bag of carrots. Feel very good - until I realise how many calories are in a Nando's chicken pitta. And that's before the mayonnaise ... Went into the city in the evening to try to find a book. Had a really sore head and felt sick. This followed waking in the night with the room spinning round. Not good. Will need to see the doctor. Probably should try to use the computer less.

Sunday 31 August - Well, that's today. Because I felt so grotty yesterday, I switched off the alarms and slept until I woke up, then took it very easy all day. Had spatchcock poussin for lunch, then made a healthy beans and rice with avocado for dinner. When I was hungry I had a bowl of peas from the pod. Tasty. Have been good all day! But have also realised just how much I still have to do for school, that I have not done! And, it's already past my bedtime. So - goodnight!

Scottish Blog

Wednesday 21 August 2008

No blog at the moment since I am on holiday amongst the beautiful hills of Scotland. I came up by train yesterday and was able to get a bit of work done then - no internet access! I am sitting at my desk now looking out over gardens, trees, fields and distant hills, with a wide expanse of sky, filled with heavy foreboding clouds, bearing down on us. Not raining at the moment though. A lovely hotchpot of red and grey-green slate roofs in front of me, a tall tree with long, droopy, green leaves right in the middle of the scene - our next door neighbours’ - and, in the not too far distance, a Saltire fluttering proudly. What a difference from looking out over a block of dirty flats and a busy main road!

In the corner, the TV flutters - I still don’t want to miss a moment of the Olympics! I have really enjoyed following the Games this year. As I write, the rhythmic gymnastics are on, with girls in sequinned leotards leaping, pirhouetting and barhetting (?) around with ropes and hoops. I am looking forward to the ribbons and balls coming out! It never ceases me to be amazed at their agility, strength and precision. Philips Idowu has just missed out on getting the gold, which everyone (apart from the Portuguese, obviously!) is disappointed with. However, it is amazing that anyone can jump that far at all! Of course, Usain Bolt has been the talk of the Athletics recently, and I was glad to be able to see the race last night - sorry I missed it live when I was on the train. Quite a feat. Two world records. And what about Chris Hoy? Three gold medals ... and it’s possible that his father did my parents’ kitchen many years ago.

Anyway, I need to get my work finished now so I can get on with having a nice relaxing holiday!

7pm: Have finally received news of our exam results. The department seems to have done slightly better than the overall A*-C including English and Maths pass rate. However, it is a big drop on last year. I would be interested to know what our A*-C overall rate is, not including English and Maths, and I’d also like to be able to compare it to the English pass rate. Overall I think it’s possibly a bit better than we might have expected, although obviously we always hope the result will exceed our expectations. I wonder how my individual pupils have done, and also what my class results will be. I expect them to be very poor indeed. After all, a quarter of the students are in top sets and I teach the third set, so I doubt I’ll have any Cs. I just hope the majority have passed. I don’t know how many Us we got.

I have high hopes for next year. I am very tempted to start with the revision ... get the bare facts out of the way before working on the exam questions, the Bible quotes and the details. We’ll see. I am teaching a few members of my own form this coming year. Fingers crossed!

8pm: Having worked a bit and soaked my feet, I am looking round at the books in the study here. Memories of growing up! So I thought I’d record a few for posterity.

Hilda Boswell’s Treasury of Poetry ... The opening poem is called “Firelight”, by Irene and Aubrey de Selincourt. It is beautifully illustrated over three pages, little fairies, gnomes, castles and forests of red, orange, golden flames. I realise that over the years whenever I’ve seen a fire, and watched it flicker and change before my eyes, I have thought of this poem ... although not in the words which I record below.

I like to sit by the fire and stare
At the curious things I can see in there;
It’s better than pictures in a picture book
To sit by the fire and look, and look.

I can’t see the things that Anne can see
(Anne, she’s seven, but I’m just three)
Faces, and rivers, and forest, and all -
(Anne’s enormous, but I’m quite small).

But the fire makes a nice sort of creaky song;
It popples, as it it were running along;
It talks quite soft, and it means to say,
“I know a nice quiet game to play.”

I don’t want to jump, and I don’t want to shout;
Mummy says, “What are you thinking about?”
But I’m not thinking; I just like to sit
Quite still by the fire, and stare at it.

Then there’s Edward Lear’s wonderful Jumblies - they went to sea in a sieve, they did! Each verse of their adventures once again illustrated in greens, reds, blues and yellows.

Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green and their hands are blue,
And they went to see in a Sieve.

Later is the first poem by William Blake that I learnt: Little lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? ... Later I learnt that not all Blake’s poems were songs of innocence, as this one is! And then there is the bittersweetness of The Lost Doll, by Charles Kingsley. The prettiest doll in the world ... lost, then found in the heath one day, her paint all washed away ... but still the prettiest doll in the world. That’s love!

Wynken, Blynken and Nod in their wooden shoe ... The Song of the Engine - “I think I can, I think I can ...” (this one is marked with a scrap of yellow paper - obviously a favourite, and I have just realised that this poem by Christine Weatherly is the one I was thinking of some time ago when all I could find was the Night Express (I think?) by Robert Louis Stevenson or someone or other). The Spider and the Fly, and another favourite of mine - The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies (O!). That poem I learnt one year as my Hallowe’en party piece. I was dressed up in a long gypsy skirt, with long hair and a scarf around my head, all in the style of the gypsies in my book. I look again at the ten verses ... this is why I always secretly, quietly, despair at the sorry excuse for guisers we used to get at our old house down south. If you were lucky, the prompting of, “And are you going to say something?” would elicit some half baked, murmured joke about snap, cackle and pop, whereas in my day, we prepared songs, poems, magic tricks, dances, duets ... we could not leave the house without a complete performance. We didn’t expect to make money, we did hope for an apple and some sweets if we were lucky, and it’s probably just as well we only visited each others’ parents, because with four or five of us travelling around together we must have been in each house for about twenty minutes at least! Ah, those were the days.

Anyway, that has been a nostalgic half an hour, and now I really need to complete my work before our visitors arrive tomorrow! So off I go again ...