Portland Climbing

Beautiful day in the late summer sun.

Back to normal?

So college opened today after our two snow days. We were one of only three institutions in the district to open, apparently. We need every lesson we can get, as the lower sixth students start their exams on Monday. About a third of the Sociology students made it in - and, fair play to them, for some of them it took almost 3 hours, what with the ice - and about two-thirds of the Psychology students made it in. Which just about sums up the difference between the two groups...

A 3 day work week seems just about ideal to me. Enough to keep busy, not enough to get stressed.

I am still liking the snow - though I am starting to get a bit frustrated at not being able to drive anywhere as the novelty factor begins to wear off.


I still found the walk home magical, though...

Last day of the holidays

The picture is from this morning's run; the bit that took me along the high street. It felt insanely early, but it was 8am. I am not sure how I am going to cope with getting ip for work tomorrow...



This break has gone awfully fast... I just logged onto the college system to see how many of the students had accessed the work we set them over the break - seems like just two of them have! Two! Out of more than 100! Aaargh! Though I shouldn't judge tmem too harshly I suppose - I've not done much work this break myself. I marked some tests early on New Year's Eve, and I am preparing lessons this afternoon, but that's all. Perhaps the students are all planning to do all their work this evening. Well, I can hope...


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Dark days

I think I'm going to have a hard time this winter.

This will be our fifth winter here, and the first one so far that I'm struggling with.

The days have been getting shorter and shorter, and it's coming up to the time of the year when we only have a few hours of light each day. Right now, it's 4.30 and the sun's already set. And it's going to get steadily darker and colder for the next six weeks.

It's so frustrating, having such a short daylight period. I would like to go for a bike ride now, for instance, but cycling through the dark is not terribly pleasant - one can't exactly appreciate the scenery. And during the work week, it's dark by the time I get home. I feel sorry for the lower sixth students; this will be the first year that they'll have to go home in the dark - college ends 45 minutes later than their schools did, and most of them - specially the ones from south London - have quite a trip home.

Ugh.

One plus about the current season is that it's not difficult to get up in time to see the sun rise. We went for a run yesterday morning; it was beautiful. Blue sky, sun (albeit sun with no heat in it). Slightly spoiled by the fact that I have a hacking cough, so had to stop every now and then to gasp and wheeze...





I do enjoy seeing the seasons change.

It's just the dark gets me down...

And I'm slightly stressed about some work issues. I don't have a single difficult student (touch wood), I'm on top of my prep, my marking is more or less under control - but I'm having minor difficulties with a colleague. I probably shouldn't write about it here, but he is behaving quite unprofessionally, and I don't know what, if anything, to do about it. The issue is, we share a class (each teach 50% of the contact sessions) and I found out that he's making undermining remarks about me to the class. They told me that he suggested to them that they play what he calls "teacher tennis" to see their behaviour would affect my teaching. This is something he mentioned to me before - where one side of the class is noisy, so the teacher focuses her attention on them, then the other side is noisy, so the teacher focuses there - etc etc - like a tennis game, back and forth. The student who told me this said "but it didn't work, you seemed to clock what was going on as soon as we started, and you sat down at the front of the class and started calling on individuals". Now, I have no recollection of this incident, and I'm grateful that my classroom management skills were obviously enough to nip it in the bud. But - how unprofessional of him to suggest such a thing to the class! And, how do I know what's he's going to say or do next? I have no idea how to deal with this - whether to say something to him, or just leave it, or tell someone else ... the particularly awkward thing is that he is the head of department. I have visions of, if I mention it to him, then him going back to the class and telling them not to let on next time he does something similar... I would never dream of talking about another teacher to a class, let alone suggesting ways to make their life difficult!

Ugh.

Six more weeks till Christmas break...

Half Term

Thank God. I really need this break.

Nine days of freedom - and three of them have already flown by.

The days are going to get shorter and shorter from now on, because the clocks went back yesterday. Soon I'll be teaching the last period of the day, and notice that it's pitch black outside...But on the plus side, I love the whole run up to Christmas, all the lights and the decorations, and the carols...

Yesterday was fun, albeit tiring. We went into London, because Bobby needed to take his poor drowned iPhone into the Apple store (you can read about his emotional trauma at his blog). We thought we'd make a day of it - do a bit of shopping (winter coats for the girls), and take Stephen out for a meal. It was a good day, but I was knackered when we got home. Oxford Street was heaving, and it's tiring fighting for pavement space with so many other people. The meal - very late lunch or very early supper - was absolutely delicious, and revived us all. But then, we got on the world's slowest train for the return trip. Instead of the journey taking the usual 30 minutes, it took us more than half an hour just to get to East Croydon. We stopped - for ages - at stations I'd never heard of before. And we had to change three times. This, as Bobby pointed out endlessly, is what happens when one travels without an iPhone.

Today has been pleasant too. I have cleaned the house (no more of that this half-term), eaten cookies baked by Emily, done the ironing (I love the smell of ironing water) and finished my book. Ian McEwan is now officially my current favourite author.

Not sure what we'll do tomorrow, but I'm going to try to make myself go for a run before breakfast. The weather is absolutely stunning at the moment, and I know it won't last. This was Sheffield Park Gardens last weekend ... beautiful colours...



My parents will be spending this weekend with us, so I should get my marking and prep out of the way before they arrive. Then, we have a big family gathering happening on Sunday - a combination welcome party for my cousin's new baby girl, and a surprise 70th birthday party for my uncle. It will be interesting to meet up with all the cousins again. Bobby won't be able to join us, though - he's going to be working all weekend. I will miss him - at events like that, it is so nice to be to catch his eye at certain moments and know that we're both thinking the same sort of thing... I am glad we are still in love. Someone I work with - actually, two people I work with - really seem to dislike their partners, and see them as nothing more than income sources. It's depressing listening to them - it must be grim to have annoyance as the primary emotion that you feel towards your spouse.

Sunday night

Took this on this evening's bike ride. It was grey and drizzly all day today, so when the sun finally came out at about 5.30 we seized the opportunity to get outside.

The sunset was very gentle, all pink and blue. The view is of the golf course, as you emerge from the trees in the first picture.



I am currently procrastinating after having enjoyed a lovely leisurely Sunday night dinner with the family; I have a folder full of marking that must be dealt with before tomorrow. I should actually have two folders full, but I forgot one at work on Friday. Can't say I'm devastated about that...

This morning...

We paused on our run this morning to take this picture... Still can't get over how lucky we were to land up here.

The rest of the day has been tending to sicky Sophie (who has a horrible hacking cough and headache), taking Ems for her cervical cancer vaccine (ow) and cleaning (four loads of washing currently hanging on the line). So, nothing special... but the autumn sun makes the mundane seem beautiful.

Another milestone

Yesterday was Stephen's first day at university.

Here we are outside the King's College library...



Coincidentally, this weekend also happens to be the weekend when many buildings of historical interest which are usually private are open to the general public, so we were able to tour the library. Pretty amazing...

We were in London by 11, and while Steve got his room key and started unpacking, Bobby and I went to what was billed as an orientation session for family members. Afterwards we met up with Steve again for lunch.

.

His walk from his hall of residence (hall = res for SAs, dorm for US people) to campus is quite spectacular - along the Thames, opposite the Houses of Parliament, past the London Eye and over the bridge to Somerset House.

There was lots happening along the river on Saturday - street art -



someone juggling a glass ball



dancers taking a break - I liked the juxtaposition of the African dress and the Houses of Parliament in the background -



and people blowing bubbles.



This is Stephen's hall - Brian Creamer House. It's in the grounds of Lambeth Palace, and very close to the Archbishop's Park. Because it's set back from the road and hidden from public view it feels very tranquil, despite being so central.



After we'd eaten, we walked back with him and picked up a few groceries on our way - the hall is self-catered; each group of four students has a kitchen to share. A far cry from the pampered existence Bobby and I had, back in the day! And then we said goodbye. He had a party to go to, and we had to get home to the girls.

The day was too busy to feel much sadness. But today all the emotions have hit hard. A mix of happiness for Stephen - the start of a whole new phase for him - and apprehension - how will he cope - and sadness - because we're going to miss him.

This is the end of an era... Of course he will come home... often, I'm sure... but he's now officially a young adult, living on his own. Very bittersweet... Bobby is also quite emotional - I don't think he'd expected that Steve's starting uni would feel quite this momentous, but it does. It really does.

Whoosh...

...the sound of another week flying by.

Work this year is going to be hectic. I have a "real" timetable this year (no more NQT remission), I'm teaching three courses instead of two, and I'm mentoring someone who's embarking on their PGCE, so that's yet another period a week. It's going to be odd - albeit less stressful - being on the other side of the observation!

So I'm going to be busy, which means that the weekends are going to be precious.

I went for a run early on Saturday morning, and then we cleaned the house and dealt with the laundry. Bobs went to fly his planes in the afternoon while I did some college work, and the kids hung out and read their books. The evening was also low-key - ironing and chatting, mainly.

Sunday has been a day of relaxation, though.

We went for a walk



and then on to Fanny's Farm Shop for brunch. It's so pretty there, especially round the back in their kitchen garden section - little battered tables hidden in the foliage. There's also a treehouse that one can hire for special events - I'm wondering if Sophie would like her next birthday party there...



Then we went blackberry picking. It feels quite eco-friendly getting food from the hedges, and I always feel like I've earned it, by the time I've fought the thorns and the nettles that grow interspersed with the bramble! I decided to make bramble jelly this year, instead of jam - the seedy bits were slightly annoying last year. But I got slightly freaked out by how repulsive the berries looked while they were draining through the straining cloth. It looked distinctly like something a serial killer might have in their kitchen. Very disturbing.



The end result looks good, though. I have three jars of jelly sitting on the kitchen counter, ready to be tasted at breakfast time tomorrow morning. I hope it'll be a good start to the week!

Last hurrah

Bobby's mum and sister left for South Africa on Friday. It was lovely having them visit, and it still feels odd without them here - the house feels much emptier, and cooking meals for five instead of seven feels wrong. Hopefully it won't be too long before we see them again...




And today was my first day back at work after the summer holidays. Interestingly, I have noticed that the more holiday I have, the more I want. Apparently, for me, there is no such thing as enough free time. It's not that I don't like my job - I do, and I can't imagine a nicer one - but I like being on holiday with the kids more. Presumably I will get back into the swing of the work week, but I was shattered when I got home today, and it wasn't even a proper work day - just meetings and such!

Since yesterday was my final day of freedom we decided to have as full a day as possible. So we took the train to Waterloo early, and went to see Stephen's hall of residence. (He starts university on the 19th - eek!) He is so lucky - he'll be able to walk to his lectures along the Thames, looking at views like this one!




Then we went to Covent Garden Market, and looked at a variety of tat, and watched a guy on a unicycle.

Then on to Camden Market...




...for lunch next to the lock.



The food stalls there are amazing - everything from Ethiopian to Chinese.

Then to Regent's Park, for a lie down on the grass, a cup of tea, and a walk though the gardens...



... before going to Trafalgar Square, on to China Town, and to the book shops in Charing Cross Road.

This is a reflection in the mirrored surface of a bridge as we came up from a tube station.



While we were at Foyles, I bought myself a copy of Margaret Atwood's new book. I feel slightly guilty about it - normally I'd wait for the paperback or just get it out of the library - but the cover was so beautiful and it felt so satisfyingly heavy when I picked it up that I couldn't resist. The girls got books too. Sophie got Forever Rose, by Hilary McKay. I absolutely love her books, they are funny and honest and intelligent and also very charming. And Ems got Tell Me No Lies, by Malorie Blackman. Bobby is still working his way through a programming book he bought when he went into London with his sister last week, and Stephen is tackling some of the books he'll be studying, so they didn't get anything...

The weather was so gorgeous that we couldn't bear to go back home, so we went back to the South Bank and had supper outside at Wagamama.




We lingered for as long as we decently could, watching the people go by, and then wandered down onto the pebbles next to the Thames.




One thing about the British and the sun ... when it shines, the men tend to take their shirts off, and it's not always an appealing site.




This view, on the other hand, was truly beautiful...




We walked a roundabout way back to the station, and were well and truly tired by the time we got on the train. Not in as bad a way as the drunk guy who got on the train at East Croydon, though, and staggered up from his seat after a few minutes when he realised that he had no idea where he was, or where he was trying to go. He alternated by saying "Oh dearie, dearie me!" and "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Lucky conductor, getting to deal with him...

Wow!

Emily got her GCSE results today: 6 A*s and 5 As. (She took an extra subject last year; hence the 11th result).



We're going out tonight to celebrate.

What we've been doing...

Horses on the hill at the allotments...



Tower bridge...



Boat trip on the Thames...



On the grass outside the Maritime Museum in Greenwich...





High up on Beachy Head...



and deep down in the Underground. The escalators were broken so Bobby's mum had to walk all the way down those steep stairs; a bit frightening for all concerned. I'm grateful it was at a quiet time of day - it would have been terrifying if there'd been loads of rushing commuters pushing past her.



Outside Buckingham Palace. (There's water behind them, and no, he didn't actually fall in...)



And to tea in a rather sinisterly decorated farm shop.



Poor swine-flued Bobby missed out on a lot, though he did recover in time to have a good day in London with his sister yesterday. He's back at work today; what an infuriating waste of his week of leave!

And, note all the blue sky! The weather has been glorious; the English summer at its best.

Busy!

I woke up able to walk, so we took the train to Charing Cross Road and had fun in the bookshops.

Stephen has If Minds Had Toes, Sophie has The Carbon Diaries 2015, Emily has Finding Violet Park, and I have The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

We felt bad about not getting a book for Bobby, but he has a whole pile next to the bed that he's working his way through, so he really doesn't need one... We did buy him a little box of tamarind chilli sweets from China Town, though - thought he'd like them as he likes spicy things but alas, they are rather vile. Like those dried fruit snacks we used to get in South Africa for lunch boxes, the ones with sugar on the outside - only burny and nasty. Poor Bobs. Stuck at work, and with a horrible present to boot.

After we'd been to the bookstores, and had a cup of coffee, and bought our customary samosa from our favourite cafe, and wandered through China Town, we watched the person on the 4th plinth in Trafalagar Square for a while. The fourth plinth is used for temporary works of art, and the current one is Anthony Gormley's conception - random people stand up there for an hour each and do whatever they like. Seems like it could be pretty interesting, but when we were there the woman on the plinth was not making the most of her time up there. She has a thermos (of tea?), and was throwing sweets at the onlookers. Not terribly thought provoking, really. Here she is...



By the time we got home again, my back was hurting quite badly, which meant that we had to take the car to see the Harry Potter movie, which, despite all the nitpicky reviews, we all enjoyed very much indeed.

So that was yesterday. A good way to start Sophie's summer holiday - term only ended for her yesterday, though the rest of us have been on holiday for a while. Today's been equally busy, though not nearly as fun. We had Emily's appointment with the endocrinologist (she's still growing beautifully, and we'll keep things as they are till the next check-up in six months time), the vacuum cleaner repair guy had to come (at least Dyson has good service) and Emily had to be taken to (and fetched from) a party in creepy-Crawly this afternoon(laser-hub and then a movie). All well and fine, except that to my horror, as I went through the pile of documents-to-be-dealt-with, efficiently making pap smear appointments and sorting out pension stuff, I realised that our car's tax disc needed to be renewed two weeks ago. And in order to do that, its annual MOT (roadworthiness test) has to be done. Shit. So much for my efficiency. The first slot I can get is for next Wednesday - Sophie's birthday - and we really shouldn't drive the car meanwhile. What a nuisance! And then, to add insult to injury, the next letter I opened was a speeding fine. For Bobby, last week when we went to the beach - 36 miles in a 30 zone. £60 and 3 points on his licence - ugh!!!!

The only good thing about today is that my back is hardly sore at all. With any luck, if I rest up tomorrow, I'll be back to normal this weekend...

Perfect Summer

It's been beautiful here recently. Long, perfect, summer days; days when the sun shines all day; days when it's still light at 10 and you can lie in the garden with a glass of wine and look up at the leaves and the sky... Knowing that it can't last forever makes it all the sweeter.

And everything is growing! My pumpkin plant is spreading its tentacles in a triffid-like way, the courgettes are getting bigger by the second, there are dozens of baby tomatoes, and the peas are flowering! It's all very exciting.

The flowers in the fields around us are gorgeous too.



I took this at about 6.15 on Saturday morning (it's light here well before 5 at the moment). Wild poppies and daisies and cornflowers ... My favourite colour in the crayon box when I was 6 was Cornflower Blue, so it makes me happy to finally see cornflowers growing wild.

And I think this is flax growing in this field. I am enjoying seeing the seasons change on my running route; so far, I've seen this field frozen and grey; freshly ploughed; sprouting tiny green shoots; and now covered in blue and white flowers.



Oh, and my parents spent this past weekend with us; it was lovely. We hung out at home on Saturday, and on Sunday the boys went to an airshow, and us girls took the train down to Brighton. We looked at pretty clothes in the lanes, and walked along the pier, and ate chips on the seafront. And ate Chinese takeaway when we got home (from the place where Ems has her Saturday night job). Delish.

I'm still working hard; lots to do before term ends on the 14th. Teaching is over, but I have an awful lot to prepare for next year, and it all has to be done as soon as possible, as other people will also be using the materials I'm working on. It's somewhat stressful but also quite enjoyable.

One more picture, this one taken in the parking lot at the climbing gym last week.



Sophie wants to start climbing again so we've started going to the gym again. I'm enjoying it - it feels good to work my neglected muscles again. Hope she maintains her enthusiasm. I think it'd be good if we started climbing regularly again...

Hand-in Day

Today was official hand-in day: all assignments and my portfolio are now in for marking. It felt odd walking out of the library (where we handed them in) and seeing our folders sitting in a heap on someone's desk, waiting for some poor individual to go through all those thousands and thousands of words. I'm glad that individual is not me!

I'm also glad that I didn't have any work to do this past weekend, because the weather was amazing.

 

I took this picture on Sunday morning's run. It was only about 6.30 and already the sun had been up for almost two hours. Gorgeous... We went for a cycle ride in the evening, to a lake we last visited in winter. On that ride, the whole world looked grey; it was an icy, foggy morning, and we couldn't even see across the lake. There was not a glimpse of colour anywhere - just grey and black and white. Yesterday, though, the sky and the water were deep blue, the grass was bright green, there were yellow buttercups and white daisies ... it's like living in a different country, now that it's summer.

Weekend!

The other two people scheduled to go to India with Bobby left this morning. I'm can't quite express just how happy I am that he's not on that plane! Waking up with him this morning felt so sweet, knowing that we'd be able to go to sleep tonight together as well.

I got up early this morning and did my final Week Five run in the Couch to 5k program. Today was the two mile/twenty minute run, and I did it! So I'm pretty happy about that. A friend is trying to convince me to run a 5k race with her in a couple of months. I'm a bit daunted, as she is a "real" runner, but I think I might end up going for it! I was back home just after six, and Bobs and I left again at 7.15 for a bike ride. We went just over 25km - longer than I'd really bargained on - but it was fabulous being out and about so early. We went south from our house, towards Gatwick. I love the way that there is so much green space mixed in with densely populated, urban areas.




And the farms are working farms for the most part...




I still tend to think of farms in South African terms, where they are in the middle of nowhere, not 5 minutes from the shops and twenty miles from central London!

You may have noticed that I measured my run in miles and Bobby measured our bike ride in kilometres. This is because Bobby stubbornly refuses to succumb to the imperial system whereas I have given in to it - when in Rome, and all that... They really do have an odd relationship with the metric system here, though. We pay per litre for diesel for our car, for instance, but our fuel consumption is measured in miles per gallon!

I baked scones for breakfast, and after that we cleaned the house as a family. (Oh how the children thanked us for that!. At lunchtime I took Sophie and a friend over to a third friend's house (they're taking the bus to Epsom to see that silly-looking Shopaholic movie), and since then I've been sitting at the kitchen table motoring through a bunch of work stuff that I'd been putting off. I actually think that I may have got through it all by the end of tomorrow! If that happens, it'll be a first... If only my energy levels could always be this good...

A friend's coming to dinner tonight so I have a good excuse to abandon my preparation for now, though! And, Bobby's cooking, so it's all good!

A ghost? A monster?





No, it's Bobby, changing the duvet cover. It's his own method. Can't think why more people don't use it.

There's been much toing and froing this weekend - various kids have had parties to go to, sleep-overs to not sleep at, and friends to visit. So, busy, in a pleasant but not-very-interesting kind of way.

I didn't get nearly as much work done this half-term as I'd planned to. I feel a bit guilty about that, but on the other hand I really did need the break, and it's been wonderful to have this time to relax with the kids. I may pay for my relaxation this coming week, though... I made the mistake of checking my work email earlier this afternoon, and it made me really anxious. So many things to take care of - none of them unmanageable on their own, but taken together quite daunting. I'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow morning. Ugh.

Bobby and I went for a walk in the fields five minutes south of our house this afternoon, though, which helped with the anxiety.





These past two days it's felt like Spring is coming. There are so many more birds around, and it's been so much warmer. This afternoon we saw pheasants, and rabbits... And the snowdrops are out.





And this was the sunset when we walked home.





I really like living where we do.