Curled up in a ball whimpering quietly

Tonight was the first meeting with the coordinator of our new PGCE course. (There are several of us from college doing this course, and we're switching en masse from one university to another for our second - and final - year, as the first one was so poorly run). The new guy seems almost as annoying as his counterpart at the first place - what is it with teachers who teach teachers? In the course of a half-an-hour meeting, he managed to irritate and/or offend all six of us. I'm reserving full judgement till I've experienced his actual teaching, but I'm not hopeful. Ah well - if I can just get through this year, it'll be worth all the trauma. And he might be a good source of anecdotes. Certainly imitations of his predecessor kept the family entertained over the dinner-table on many an occasion.

Getting through this year is going to be tough, though. Already I'm finding it difficult to get my head around teaching in two departments, and these last two admin-filled weeks have been the easy part. It's more meetings tomorrow, taster sessions for the new students on Friday - and even that's a pain, dashing miles from one department to the other and then back again - and on Monday it's all systems go.

Eek.

Oh, and I almost forgot - my throat is scratchy and sore, the glands in my neck are swollen and my nose is starting to run. I'm hoping that a combination of vitamin supplements and denial will stave it off, but I sense a full-blown cold coming on....