First day back at work...

... and I'm exhausted. And it wasn't even a full-on day, just meetings and admin stuff!

Yesterday was a brilliant end to the holidays, though. Bobby and I cycled the 40 miles to Brighton, along the back roads. It was a beautiful ride, traffic-free for much of the way. It felt so good to be outside, in the sun, and moving...

The last hill almost killed me though. It went on for what seemed like forever ... but we made it (just) and then it was downhill into Brighton, and a cold beer and a delicious meal at a beachfront restaurant.

Pictures on facebook, if you want to see -

And we had a good family evening - Indian take-out, to belatedly celebrate Em's excellent AS levels.

I have tomorrow night's dinner already prepped and in my new crockpot - I love the way it looks, hope it cooks well too! It is cool that you can saute onions in the crock on the hob, and it can also go in the oven and under the grill...

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...

First day of work

I always hate the last day of any holiday. I mope around, feel stressed by all the things that have to be done at work (lesson prep, marking, students with personal problems who need extra help, students struggling with the work who need extra help, planning last minute revision for the forthcoming exams, observations (by me), observations (of me), bloody key skills (schleppy tasks we are required to get the students to do - takes ages)... and I feel weak with dread, and wish I didn't have to go back, and contemplate buying a lottery ticket.

And then I go back, and realise I actually like my job.

Maybe I should just work straight through the holidays. It would save an awful lot of angst.

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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Christmas is coming!

I love all the Christmas lights. The trees along the road opposite the college are all white and sparkly, as are the fir trees next to the park. It makes leaving college in the dark (the sun sets ridiculously early at the moment; it's pitch dark before I've even finished teaching every afternoon) a pleasure instead of a chore.

The other nice thing about the insanely short days is that you can get up very late and still be in time for the sunrise. On Saturday we went for an early morning run - left home at 6.45 - and were able to run by moonlight. Beautiful, specially running round the duck pond in the park. It was a good run - except that it clouded over and started to pour with rain when we were about half a k from home. Nothing quite like slodging through a muddy field in the pouring rain, and having your trainer literally get stuck in the mud! I'm very grateful for hot showers.

Work is going well at the moment; I am feeling organised and (touch wood) on top of things. I have really nice students in all my classes this year, which helps too! And I'm starting to look forward to Christmas. I think all the Christmas shopping is done. I did mine online which was completely painless. Soph needed me to take her shopping, though, so we went to creepy-Crawley on Saturday morning. She is a very thoughtful gift buyer - I was impressed by the things she's chosen. And we had a fun girly morning together.


Christmas itself should be good. We're going to this cottage on the Cornish coast with my parents - I can't wait for long windy walks along the cliff tops! And then warm nights in front of the fire, with the kids, and board games, and books, and hot chocolate.... Only 11 more days! And only 8 of those are work days!

Not everyone seems to be feeling the festive spirit, though - poor Emily routinely has to deal with angry customers on the evenings when she works at the local Chinese take-away. People get annoyed when the wait times are long - fair enough, but why take it out on the two teenage girls behind the counter? One of the teachers from her old high school was in there on Friday night; Millie says this woman got really angry when she had to wait for her order, and then, as they were leaving, her boyfriend grabbed a prawn cracker from the bowl on the counter, threw it on the ground, and snarled "I'll be back"! Seriously, what kind of an idiot behaves like that? Emily and Claire (the other student who works there) both thought it was funny; it sounds a bit upsetting to me, though. You'd think the teacher would want to set a good example to former students - presumably she didn't recognise Emily ...

I always like the foreigners best

Yesterday evening after work I had to go to one of the local high schools to do some student interviews with next year's prospective college students. I can't say I really felt like doing the interviewing; it was cold and dark and raining and I would far rather have gone straight home to the family. Most of the interviews were either boring (straight A students who know exactly what they want to study) or frustrating (students with unrealistic expectations - E in Maths at GCSE, wants to do Maths and Physics at A level). But one girl really touched me. She was there without a parent or guardian - unusual, since the norm is that students come to the interview with a parent. She and her mother had arrived in this country two years ago not speaking a word of English (she was Polish) but her English was already excellent. She's clearly clever - she had a very good set of predicted grades - and she also seemed far more mature than most girls her age. Very poised, very adult. We spent a long time chatting about her subject choices, and her experiences here, and she told me - but not in a self-pitying way - how hard it was for her at school, being foreign, not having friends, struggling to get to grips with a new culture - and how much she was looking forward to making a new start at college. It just broke my heart... I hope she settles in well at college, and that she finds a friendship group... Kids can be so clique-y... Unfortunately she didn't choose my subject so I won't be teaching her next year. But I'll keep an eye out for her..

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...

The movie last night was really good. I don't usually enjoy thrillers all that much, but I found this one gripping. I could actually feel my heart racing during the tense bits - so odd, that watching something that I knew was not real could affect my body so dramatically.

I've been tired today, though. I think having a full teaching load, and teaching on three courses, is catching up with me. So I am treating myself to an afternoon and evening off. I left work as soon as I'd finished teaching today (and of course, I will pay for that on the weekend, as Wednesday afternoons are my prep times) but I think it'll be worth it. So this afternoon, instead of working, I had my hair cut - and by a decent hairdresser, not by gruesome leaves-bald-patches girl - and then I bought myself a new sweater, and the new Nick Hornby book. So tonight after dinner there'll be no marking, and no lesson preparation. And also no run. Instead, there'll be a hot bath, snuggly pjs, a cup of tea and maybe a biscuit or two, and my new book. Aaaah.

Day One

Today was the first full day of college for the new lower sixth students. Which meant the first full day of teaching after the summer for me.

And it really was a full day - my timetable on a Monday is solidly packed.

But all that preparation paid off; my lessons went like clockwork and all the students - well, almost all - seemed interested and engaged. Which bodes well for the rest of the year.

I had that first-day new-routine energy today. Put in a full day at work, went grocery shopping on the way home, cooked dinner, vacuumed, did a bit of marking, and all without feeling irritable. The challenge, of course, is to maintain that level of activity once the initial adrenaline rush disappears.

Need a better plan...

Well, so much for that.

Bobby and I had planned to make sure that Sundays were free from college work and housework, so that we had a whole day to relax as a family. Didn't manage it this week, though... I worked pretty solidly today - 9.30 till 11.30 this morning, and then again from 1pm till 7. This on top of working yesterday afternoon from 1pm till 11pm. Ridiculous. That, plus the usual weekly chores, meant that there wasn't much time for relaxation this weekend.

It wasn't entirely gloom and doom - there was some enjoyment in the weekend, in amongst all the work.

Sophie had a sleepover here on Friday. Three little girls, lots of giggling.
I took Emily and Sophie shopping - undies and shoes.
Bobby and I went for a really nice run early this morning.
And the five of us went out to dinner tonight, at our usual Indian restaurant.

But I feel exhausted, rather than refreshed. Working this much on the weekend is not really do-able long-term. I am going to have to get through all my prep during the work week, otherwise I'm going to burn myself out.

And in any case, I won't be able to work much next weekend - it's the weekend that we take Steve up to uni! First chick to fly the nest... Quite a milestone.

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...

Milestones

On Friday, I phoned my PGCE supervisor to see if he had our results in from Greenwich - and I've done it! Two years of hard work, and I'm finally properly qualified to teach here. It's slightly annoying that they only grade PGCEs on a pass/fail basis (I'm all about the external rewards) - but he did tell me that they were extremely impressed with the quality of my assignments, and that my subject specialist one was outstanding. To be fair, some of the other people on the course seemed pretty hopeless, so the competiton probably wasn't that stiff. But it's still nice to do well. Makes all those weekends of hard work worth it.

It seems very appropriate that I should have got my results on Friday, because Saturday was an anniversary - four years in the U.K.

The first while here was tough - finding a job for Bobby, finding schools for the children, finding a house ... it was all far more stressful than we'd anticipated. And then, for me, having to start over again in the world of work ... It's been a long, hard, slog.

No regrets, though. Our time in the USA was a really good experience for us as a family, and, now that we've overcome all those initial obstacles, we feel at home here. There are things we miss about South Africa, and there are things we miss about Florida, but on the whole we're happy to be right here, right now.

We celebrated both events tonight - appropriately enough, considering our hybrid identities, we ate out at our local Indian restaurant. I like the fact that Chicken Tikka Masala is the nation's favourite meal - I like the mingling of different cultures. (Chicken Tikka Masala originated as a sort of fusion British/Indian food - it's a milder, creamier version of a chicken curry...) We had a really nice family night out. The children are lovely to be with these days; they (and Bobby) are my favourite people in the world. I love them (obviously), but I realised recently that I would like them if we weren't related and we happened to meet up. I feel very lucky to have them.

Three more days!

Just three more work days till the summer starts!

I'm working flat-out during these last few days, getting things ready for next year. It's quite enjoyable actually; I am loving updating all my resources, finding extra bits and pieces of research to challenge the best students, and working out ways to make things more accessible for the students who struggle. It feels really good to have a permanent post - it means that the more work I do this year, the easier it'll be next year, and the year after.

We are all also supposed to make sure that we have super-detailed lesson plans for the whole of the Autumn term, as they're expecting a lot of swine-flu absences in both students and staff as the summer ends. Already there are cases at Sophie's school, and they've moved away from trying to contain the virus by shutting schools etc to simply treating the infected. So college won't close no matter how high the infection rate... Pity, that! Specially as London currently has the highest infection rate in the country...

Looking ahead to the summer, it looks like Bobby's mum and sister will be visiting us in August - should be good! We haven't seen Bobby's sister since his Dad's funeral in 2005 ... far too long...

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...

Fridays in London

Last Friday, I took the train in to London to see a William Blake exhibition at the Tate Britain which I'd been wanting to see for ages.. It was a lovely, leisurely day; a late start, a stroll to the gallery, picnic lunch in a park...

Tomorrow, I'm taking the train in to the city again. This time, though, I'll be attending a training day for the course I'm teaching next year. I'm looking forward to it - except that, instead of leaving at 10, I have to leave before 8, along with all the suit-clad commuters with their briefcases and laptops and newspapers. What always strikes me as weird is the way that there always seems to be at least one woman doing her make-up on the train. They seem totally unself-conscious, with all their little pots and tubes arrayed on the table in front of them. Maybe it's because of that English thing of ignoring the people around you while on public transport - perhaps they really feel as though they are actually on their own. I'm glad I'll have my iPod to distract me. I love it dearly; I'm not sure it's good for me, though. It can't be entirely healthy to revel in distancing yourself from the outer world... Healthy or not, I'm addicted, and my new favourite podcast is WNYC's Radiolab - fascinating stuff!

Finished!

All three of those hideous, hideous assignments are done! Each giant wodge of paper is neatly filed (oh how I love those pretty cardboard section dividers) and ready to be handed in on Monday. I hope they're all okay; I need to force myself not to re-read them or I'll start to doubt myself and re-edit them.

What will I do with all the free time that I'll have now that this work is out of the way?

I shall start off by going downstairs and tidying up a bit - we have a friend coming over for dinner tonight -

Yippee!

Killing time

I have half-an-hour or so before I need to pick my folks up from the airport. They've been in Portugal for the last couple of weeks. It'll be back to reality with a vengeance for them once their plane lands in Gatwick; it's grey and rainy and cold today. Though to be fair the weekend was gorgeous here ... We didn't make much of the weekend, though, as Bobby was working. The implementation he was dealing with has finally happened and it went well. He's very relieved, and basking in the well-deserved glory.

I went for a run this morning and enjoyed it. This came as a surprise, as every run I've been on for the last couple of weeks has been dreary and tiring, to the point where I had almost decided to find some other way to get my exercise in. I particularly enjoyed running through the graveyard today(I'd insert some pun about the quick and the dead at this stage but I can't quite figure one out.) It was beautiful, all mist and long grass and fallen grave stones. Maybe tomorrow I'll take Bobby's phone with me and take a couple of pictures. (Mine has a crappy camera to go along with the rest of its inadequate features).

Tomorrow I intend to put the finishing touches to all my assignments, and then I'll be done, done, done! Two years of hard work...seems hard to believe I'm actually almost finished... And, nice surprise, there was a letter in my pigeonhole at work on Friday; they're bumping me up another notch on the salary scale! So my salary as of September will actually be quite reasonable.

It has been lovely hanging out at home these past few days. (We're half-way into the half-term break). Is this a sign of old age, that pottering around the garden in the sun and drinking tea with the kids seems positively delightful? Used to be my idea of utter boredom...

Slug Pub

Our morning inspection of the veggie patch revealed a slime trail and two lettuce plants reduced to stalks.

Slugs!

Something had to be done, so we have constructed a slug pub. Also known as a beer trap. Carling lager; the can says "refreshment for all" and let's hope that includes slugs.

In other news, the students wrote their Psychology exam today. It seemed to go well; we'll have to wait till August when the results come out before we know for sure, though. Sociology on Monday; let's hope that they are all spending their weekend revising rather than socialising.

And I finished one of my assignments; one down, two to go! It's going to be an amazing feeling when I'm finally done.

Place marker...

Time is short as usual. But I want to be able to remember what we've up been up to recently, so, quickly -

I've finished with the observations for my PGCE. One last Tuesday, one yesterday. Both went very well, all boxes ticked (and that's a lot of boxes, trust me), so I've officially passed the practical part of my course. Now I just have to hand in a wodge of assignments. June 1st is D Day. Aaargh.

Am wrestling with forms for Steve's student loan. Why oh why am I not better at filing official documents? I am definitely losing the plot a bit; keep tracking down documents and then re-losing them. Aaargh.

Am probably going to be teaching across two faculties next year. Aaargh.

Am feeling ill and tired. Probably not swine flu, more likely an allergic reaction to the fact that I have to interact with AndyPandy, my PGCE supervisor, tonight. And have to drive to bloody Weybridge in order to do so. Aaargh.

On the plus side, we spent a beautiful sunny Saturday with my folks in Beccles. First time in ages we've had a whole day of R&R. It was lovely. And we've planted some tomato plants, some carrots, and a solitary runner bean. Hope they don't die, we are quite besotted with them. Also, went for a really nice run on Monday morning. Who'd have thought I'd ever say "nice" and "run" in the same sentence??