It was my appointment (again) at the gym this morning. I turned up and met the owner of the place. He took me through my 'baseline assessment' which just turned out to be height, weight, BMI and stretch. Not rocket science. I'm still not sure why it couldn't have been done a week ago and asked him. He didn't know either but assured me that as a client, I was very important to them. I did a circuit of the equipment and left. I've signed up for 6 weeks so I suppose I should make use of it.
I recorded last night's 'Question Time' and the big news, of course, is the 'News of the World'. Based on what I saw, I'd vote for Hugh Grant at the next election. He was honest, fluent and made sense. As did Shirley Williams. I remember years ago at an embassy abroad where I was working, she was Minister for Overseas Development and on a visit she was very demanding, so since then I've been a bit negative about her. However, she also made sense. The conservative and labour party reps were each blaming the other for mistakes, and completely missing the point that this is an occasion where principles count, not trying to score points. The whole business is depressing: it's brought in whole areas of society, not just celebrities and politicians, but also the police and people whose only reason to be in the spotlight was being related to someone who'd died in violent circumstances.
Friday 8 July 2011
Thursday 7 July
I was met by one of my students screaming at me that there was only one pen for the interactive whiteboard and they'd practised with two pens. Stress, poor thing. Then there was a problem with the camera. I stayed well away from that - one look from me and machines stop working. Their presentations are done in pairs and have to be filmed so that the moderating panel can check on the marks that I give them, so we couldn't start until the camera was up and running. Their names were pulled out of a hat to give the running order and then we were off. Including the Q&A session, each one lasted about 25 minutes, during which I had to make notes on language range and accuracy, content, body language, use of Powerpoint, use of voice, knowledge and effort. Nearly 3 hours later they were ecstatic and left with big smiles. I now have to write it all up.
Earlier it had all been a rush and I was slightly later than I'd wanted at school as it was pouring down with rain and my beloved was driving me but had misplaced his glasses. We looked everywhere and in the end could only surmise that they'd come off when he'd gone to post a birthday card and had slipped over. Sure enough, there they were on the pavement covered in grass and leaves. A lucky find - they're special glasses which are expensive and time-consuming to replace.
Earlier it had all been a rush and I was slightly later than I'd wanted at school as it was pouring down with rain and my beloved was driving me but had misplaced his glasses. We looked everywhere and in the end could only surmise that they'd come off when he'd gone to post a birthday card and had slipped over. Sure enough, there they were on the pavement covered in grass and leaves. A lucky find - they're special glasses which are expensive and time-consuming to replace.
Thursday 7 July 2011
Wednesday 6 July
My Foundation group aren't ready for their presentations tomorrow. They're a good group but the amount of work they're having to do is overwhelming. They handed in their geography assignments today, so have been concentrating on that, rather than my assignment. Most of their topics are natural disasters of some sort or another, so I hope that they're using their geography knowledge well.
Another blast from the past on Facebook. A boy from school (well, a man now, I suppose) who I haven't seen since the age of 18 has befriended me. It was good to see from his photos that he's as eccentric now as he was at school. Or rather, he's grown naturally into his eccentricity. He was the one in the 6th form photo who, when we were all casual sitting on the steps, wore a gas mask and twirled an umbrella.
Have spent some time trying to see how to edit the layout of the this blog. I don't always manage to write on the same day, but give my own heading of the day I'm blogging about. Unfortunately, the date that I'm writing on automatically comes up, giving 2 dates. Need to explore some more to see how to change that.
Another blast from the past on Facebook. A boy from school (well, a man now, I suppose) who I haven't seen since the age of 18 has befriended me. It was good to see from his photos that he's as eccentric now as he was at school. Or rather, he's grown naturally into his eccentricity. He was the one in the 6th form photo who, when we were all casual sitting on the steps, wore a gas mask and twirled an umbrella.
Have spent some time trying to see how to edit the layout of the this blog. I don't always manage to write on the same day, but give my own heading of the day I'm blogging about. Unfortunately, the date that I'm writing on automatically comes up, giving 2 dates. Need to explore some more to see how to change that.
Wednesday 6 July 2011
Tuesday 5 July
We're bursting at the seams a school with over 600 students this week. We're double shifting, with 5 minutes between classes and have also rented extra premises at adult education centres in Penge and Crystal Palace.
To add to the mix, we had 22 student teachers from British universities come for the whole day today for teacher training before they fly out to China on Friday. It was my job to run them through principles and methodologies for teaching young learners and also show them the material they'd be using. It was fun but hard work. I had them singing 'Baa baa black sheep', using a screwed up piece of paper as a ball to throw to each other, sitting on the floor listening to me telling them a story, jumping up and saying numbers in sequence - all sorts of good educational stuff. Some of their comments made me slightly uneasy though: one thought for the topic of 'celebration' that making a wedding card (colouring and cutting out clothes for the bride and groom to stick to a card) wasn't a right celebratory occasion and preferred a 'christmas' card. I asked her to think about religion in China but she didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with her suggestion.
The allotment people emailed me to say that I'm now on the waiting list and gave the password to see the list online. They reckon that 15 people get allotments each year - I'm No 77 so that means 5 years! I should be ready by then.
To add to the mix, we had 22 student teachers from British universities come for the whole day today for teacher training before they fly out to China on Friday. It was my job to run them through principles and methodologies for teaching young learners and also show them the material they'd be using. It was fun but hard work. I had them singing 'Baa baa black sheep', using a screwed up piece of paper as a ball to throw to each other, sitting on the floor listening to me telling them a story, jumping up and saying numbers in sequence - all sorts of good educational stuff. Some of their comments made me slightly uneasy though: one thought for the topic of 'celebration' that making a wedding card (colouring and cutting out clothes for the bride and groom to stick to a card) wasn't a right celebratory occasion and preferred a 'christmas' card. I asked her to think about religion in China but she didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with her suggestion.
The allotment people emailed me to say that I'm now on the waiting list and gave the password to see the list online. They reckon that 15 people get allotments each year - I'm No 77 so that means 5 years! I should be ready by then.
Monday 4 July 2011
Sunday 3 July
Our appointment with the beekeepers at the allotments was at 11.30am so we made sure we knew where were going and how to get there. There was a very discreet entrance, in fact so discreet that you wouldn't know it was there, no sign just a single driveway between 2 houses. The beekeepers were already smoking out bees, some with veils others wearing just shorts and T-shirts. Unfortunately, it quickly become obvious to us that our garden isn't suitable. It's a shame as it's such a fascinating hobby.
One of the beekeepers told us he had a winery at the allotments, 20 yards away, and offered to show it to us. We tasted his red wine - amazingly good! There are 7 vineyards on this allotment who have got together with 'premises' and equipment and have a great time doing it. So we decided to wander around and spoke to a few allotment holders. We were extremely impressed - there's a clubhouse, running water, electricity and you don't have to grow vegetables or flowers, you can use the ground as a leisure area which some people have done with tables, chairs, barbecues, ponds. After talking to the manager, I've put my name down for an allotment! I've always said that I'd like a dog and an allotment so with a 2-5 year waiting list, the timing might be about right.
Last year my beloved and I participated in the UK Biobank, undergoing a series of tests which took about 4 hours in total. Today I received an email asking what I'd eaten yesterday, down to the last peanut (no, I didn't actually eat any peanuts but I did have an ice cream). Apparently this information will improve the health of future generations.
One of the beekeepers told us he had a winery at the allotments, 20 yards away, and offered to show it to us. We tasted his red wine - amazingly good! There are 7 vineyards on this allotment who have got together with 'premises' and equipment and have a great time doing it. So we decided to wander around and spoke to a few allotment holders. We were extremely impressed - there's a clubhouse, running water, electricity and you don't have to grow vegetables or flowers, you can use the ground as a leisure area which some people have done with tables, chairs, barbecues, ponds. After talking to the manager, I've put my name down for an allotment! I've always said that I'd like a dog and an allotment so with a 2-5 year waiting list, the timing might be about right.
Last year my beloved and I participated in the UK Biobank, undergoing a series of tests which took about 4 hours in total. Today I received an email asking what I'd eaten yesterday, down to the last peanut (no, I didn't actually eat any peanuts but I did have an ice cream). Apparently this information will improve the health of future generations.
Saturday 2 July 2011
Thursday 30 June
Manners, or lack of them, seem to be in the news. Sometimes, people may say things they don't mean because of badly-worded phrases but other times people are just plain rude. Last week I joined a gym and today was my first induction appointment to have my 'baseline assessment' and be shown how to use the equipment but I ended up feeling offended.
I arrived at 10.30am, the appointed time, and was greeted by the receptionist who talked to me last week. He told the trainer that I was here for induction and she took me round the equipment for 15 minutes. It was strange that the trainer didn't ask my name or tell me hers but she was pleasant enough. Until the end, when she asked if I'd thought of joining. I told her I had joined and this was my induction and baseline assessment. She expressed huge surprise and told me that she couldn't do the baseline assessment and I needed to make an appointment. Of course, I pointed out that I indeed had an appointment. Her riposte was that she hadn't ever seen me before and didn't know who I was, so how was she to know that I had an appointment? I was staggered. Did she really mean that there was no reason to know who I was and why I was there? I was made to feel that I was in the wrong but hang on a minute. I'd made an appointment for 10.30am. I'd arrived on time at 10.30am and I was justified in asking why the appointment could not go ahead. Why couldn't she do it? There was no explanation, just that she couldn't do it now and I'd have to come back. My gut reaction was to leave and take my custom elsewhere. But what would that have achieved? There isn't another gym. I've made an appointment with her for a week's time but my goodwill is 'sorely tried'.
Typing it up here, it seems even clearer to me that I was not in the wrong. On reflection, if she'd been polite, apologised and even explained the reason, I would (probably) have been forgiving, but there was no apology, it was made clear that the important consideration was never me, I was the one who would need to be flexible.
Have I over-reacted? Moi? Surely not!
Thursday 30 June 2011
Wednesday 29 June
It was strange coming home to an empty house today. My beloved had gone to the funeral of an old colleague in Tunbridge Wells and wouldn't be back until about 7pm-ish.
I watched Wimbledon alone and saw my Roger beaten in 5 sets by Jo-Wilfried. J-W Tsonga is a fantastic player when he's on the boil and it took him 2 sets to warm up and then it was bham-bham - Roger tried but ... I also wanted Tomic to win against Djokovic - we saw him live last week and he's young and new but it wasn't to be. Then Lopez v Murray. It's assumed that because he and I are both British that I will automatically support him in tennis, but Murray hasn't commanded that yet. He's too whiney - I'm tired, my leg hurts and on and on. Grow up and stop whingeing. I got all three wrong, just as well I didn't put any money on them. I didn't see the Nadal quarter final but that was predictable - how could someone with a name like Mardy Fish do well? It just sounds like an insult.
I got a call from my beloved to pick him up from the station. The funeral had gone well: it was a non-religious civil ceremony with a professional celebrant who had conducted the proceedings with dignity and empathy. It was a good farewell.
He wasn't very hungry so around 8pm-ish we just had beans on toast with a fried egg - comfort food.
I watched Wimbledon alone and saw my Roger beaten in 5 sets by Jo-Wilfried. J-W Tsonga is a fantastic player when he's on the boil and it took him 2 sets to warm up and then it was bham-bham - Roger tried but ... I also wanted Tomic to win against Djokovic - we saw him live last week and he's young and new but it wasn't to be. Then Lopez v Murray. It's assumed that because he and I are both British that I will automatically support him in tennis, but Murray hasn't commanded that yet. He's too whiney - I'm tired, my leg hurts and on and on. Grow up and stop whingeing. I got all three wrong, just as well I didn't put any money on them. I didn't see the Nadal quarter final but that was predictable - how could someone with a name like Mardy Fish do well? It just sounds like an insult.
I got a call from my beloved to pick him up from the station. The funeral had gone well: it was a non-religious civil ceremony with a professional celebrant who had conducted the proceedings with dignity and empathy. It was a good farewell.
He wasn't very hungry so around 8pm-ish we just had beans on toast with a fried egg - comfort food.
Tuesday 28 June 2011
Monday 27 June
A huge intake today of 90. Our biggest room can only take 40 at a squeeze so new students were scattered around school being tested and inducted. Temperatures soared but I managed to grab a fan which I kept on me for the whole morning - some of the students were barely dressed in extra short shorts and strappy tops so they looked pretty cool, but I'm 'properly' attired so need all the help I can get. The timetable has changed (again) and I have lessons Monday afternoons now too. These are the students I need to write reports on (due today but late, oh dear) but they're generally a pretty good group and remarks like 'needs to maintain his/her steady progress' are true - unfortunately it's so much easier to write reports on obviously 'bad' students.
Saturday's The Independent has an article on camping in people's back gardens. The journalist walked around the so-called 'Capital Ring' around London, passing very close to us and then camped overnight in a back garden in Crystal Palace. He wrote about the people he stayed with, the food he ate and the route but unfortunately didn't say anything about the equipment he carried. How much did it weigh? What sort of tent? Airbed? etc.
I had a look at the website campinmygarden.com and they still only have a few people signed up around the country. They give general advice to would-be landlords including
Saturday's The Independent has an article on camping in people's back gardens. The journalist walked around the so-called 'Capital Ring' around London, passing very close to us and then camped overnight in a back garden in Crystal Palace. He wrote about the people he stayed with, the food he ate and the route but unfortunately didn't say anything about the equipment he carried. How much did it weigh? What sort of tent? Airbed? etc.
I had a look at the website campinmygarden.com and they still only have a few people signed up around the country. They give general advice to would-be landlords including
"Contacting your council is usually unwise: Council's are not generally interested, except when being paid, yet they will exclude liability for anything said even if in error and will in fact be looking to find fault and enforce against anything it might find on site, which may have no connection with the matter of your query e.g. argue some other feature is unlawful like an extension, outbuilding, decking or boundary feature."I wonder how long it'll be before a local council takes exception to this? The website's advertising for more back gardens for the the 2012 Olympics. If we were stay in London next year ... actually we probably won't do that!
Sunday 26 June 2011
Saturday 25 June
The to-do list on the back of the envelope in the kitchen is as long as my arm. A combination of a late night followed by a bit of a lie-in and then watching tennis meant that somehow I managed to ignore it. Report writing, cleaning and studying will have to wait until tomorrow.
Saturday 25 June 2011
Friday 24 June
Two of the boys are still undecided about the topic of their presentation. One of them giggled and told me that the subject they wanted would be too controversial: Bin Laden. I reassured them that if that was what they wanted, then it would be an excellent idea. BUT, they needed to be sure what the focus was. We don't want a description, just regurgitating wikipedia, it needs to be an analysis and use a variety of sources.
We talked about body language and then each of them had to stand at the front and give an introduction with peer feedback. Giving an opinion is difficult for most of them as their cultures don't encourage young'uns saying what they like. I also gave the class a vocabulary test. It was all vocab that's come up over the last 2 weeks but they didn't do too well so we ended up with them looking up the words on online dictionaries and comparing the definitions. Online dictionaries are very useful as you can hear pronunciation as well.
Tonight was the quarterly reunion with old colleagues. It's a good way to keep in touch and even before retirement we used to make sure we attended, particularly when we were on homeleave. It's not unusual to meet up with someone you haven't seen for 20-30 years and people had flown in from all over the world. It was particularly poignant as one of the regulars died last week and there were a number of eulogies before we toasted 'absent friends'. A good evening.
We talked about body language and then each of them had to stand at the front and give an introduction with peer feedback. Giving an opinion is difficult for most of them as their cultures don't encourage young'uns saying what they like. I also gave the class a vocabulary test. It was all vocab that's come up over the last 2 weeks but they didn't do too well so we ended up with them looking up the words on online dictionaries and comparing the definitions. Online dictionaries are very useful as you can hear pronunciation as well.
Tonight was the quarterly reunion with old colleagues. It's a good way to keep in touch and even before retirement we used to make sure we attended, particularly when we were on homeleave. It's not unusual to meet up with someone you haven't seen for 20-30 years and people had flown in from all over the world. It was particularly poignant as one of the regulars died last week and there were a number of eulogies before we toasted 'absent friends'. A good evening.
Friday 24 June 2011
Thursday 23 June
I have to admit that I don't like U2 and this blog in the Guardian today made me howl with laughter. Apparently Bono's peahen has been causing a nuisance and is described as "a living, breathing Bono metaphor – squawking, preening, strutting around like it owns the place, and an irksome drain on civic resources funded by taxpayers other than itself". I may see some of their performance at Glastonbury tomorrow (if the BBC are showing it) but probably only to confirm to myself that I find them boring, pompous, etc.
Something that didn't make me howl with laughter was the parking ticket given for being 6 minutes over time. I'd gone to check out a new gym that's just opened and expected to only be a few minutes while my beloved went to see if the kitchen shop had a replacement jug for our cafetiere. Of course, the spiel in the gym went on and on, so I took much longer than expected and my beloved was waiting for me so, by this point, we went over the limit. Damn and blast, there goes £60 or £30 if we pay quick.
Something that didn't make me howl with laughter was the parking ticket given for being 6 minutes over time. I'd gone to check out a new gym that's just opened and expected to only be a few minutes while my beloved went to see if the kitchen shop had a replacement jug for our cafetiere. Of course, the spiel in the gym went on and on, so I took much longer than expected and my beloved was waiting for me so, by this point, we went over the limit. Damn and blast, there goes £60 or £30 if we pay quick.
Thursday 23 June 2011
Wednesday 22 June
Could barely drag myself out of bed this morning. After two long days, I was feeling decidedly shattered. Summer school has started, so the buildings are teeming with students. Our long-termers need to be looked after very carefully now or they could end up feeling pushed around.
We're preparing for presentations but there were a few arguments about their topics. I've put them in pairs and mixed up nationalities, so they have to speak English together, and also mixed them up so they're not working with friends. They need to focus carefully and give a 10 minute academic presentation. Their initial ideas sound good, so the presentations should be interesting. I distributed the letters to them from the earlier group giving advice which was appreciated.
Dinner tonight was different. When I was a child, my mother used to make macaroni cheese but my beloved has always vehemently objected to the dish so I have never, ever made it and don't think I've eaten it for 30-odd years. Anyway, there was one of these 'easy, make it in 10 minutes' recipes so I decided to try it. The recipe called for grated courgette but I only used half the quantity as the thought made my beloved grimace but I did add gruyere and cheddar. Mmm. Well, we ate it but I don't think I'll bother again.
We're preparing for presentations but there were a few arguments about their topics. I've put them in pairs and mixed up nationalities, so they have to speak English together, and also mixed them up so they're not working with friends. They need to focus carefully and give a 10 minute academic presentation. Their initial ideas sound good, so the presentations should be interesting. I distributed the letters to them from the earlier group giving advice which was appreciated.
Dinner tonight was different. When I was a child, my mother used to make macaroni cheese but my beloved has always vehemently objected to the dish so I have never, ever made it and don't think I've eaten it for 30-odd years. Anyway, there was one of these 'easy, make it in 10 minutes' recipes so I decided to try it. The recipe called for grated courgette but I only used half the quantity as the thought made my beloved grimace but I did add gruyere and cheddar. Mmm. Well, we ate it but I don't think I'll bother again.
Tuesday 21 June
Another early morning. Mary arrived at 6.15 and wonderful dearly beloved drove us to the tram stop for our journey to Wimbledon. I was optimistic and wore a short-sleeve cotton shirt with a cardigan (umbrella in bag) but she was wearing a fleece, padded jacket and woolly socks and boots! The tram service is excellent, much faster than buses and way smoother than trains.
At Wimbledon we joined the queue, where they gave us a booklet on queuing (only in England!) and a queue ticket. Security was very strict, just like catching a plane, with x-ray machines and security arches, and thorough bag search. After 4 hours in the queue, we finally got our tickets into the ground and almost wished we hadn't. We tried to get onto any of the outside courts but the crush of people stopped us. We're both reasonably tall, with sharp elbows but after 2 hours ended up on Henman Hill with a glass of pimms, watching the big screen, and thinking that we could have stayed at home to see it on TV. Feeling revived, we set off again and managed to get seats for 4 matches (Haase v Riba, Lu v Robredo, Tomic v Davydenko, Czink v Stosur). This was the reason we were there: to see LIVE tennis.
The only time I've been to Wimbledon before was during the 80s and there were definitely fewer people then, which made the outer courts more accessible. We ended up enjoying ourselves today but vowing to buy seats in the show courts next time.
At Wimbledon we joined the queue, where they gave us a booklet on queuing (only in England!) and a queue ticket. Security was very strict, just like catching a plane, with x-ray machines and security arches, and thorough bag search. After 4 hours in the queue, we finally got our tickets into the ground and almost wished we hadn't. We tried to get onto any of the outside courts but the crush of people stopped us. We're both reasonably tall, with sharp elbows but after 2 hours ended up on Henman Hill with a glass of pimms, watching the big screen, and thinking that we could have stayed at home to see it on TV. Feeling revived, we set off again and managed to get seats for 4 matches (Haase v Riba, Lu v Robredo, Tomic v Davydenko, Czink v Stosur). This was the reason we were there: to see LIVE tennis.
The only time I've been to Wimbledon before was during the 80s and there were definitely fewer people then, which made the outer courts more accessible. We ended up enjoying ourselves today but vowing to buy seats in the show courts next time.
Monday 20 June
I was at the station by 7.30am - my beloved drove me there, saving about 10 minutes - then I pushed through the marching morons at Victoria Station to catch the 8.20 bus to Oxford. All the tutors spent the whole day in our subject groups and thrashed through the assessments and syllabus. From what was said, it sounded as though we've had the most serious pastoral problems and this is something that really needs to be addressed. Overall, it was worthwhile and only marred by the 'lunch' they gave us. There was a tray of all white bread sandwiches, with dodgy fillings like sweetcorn and tuna, no salad in them, and some pale tasteless quiches. My nightmare of a meal. There was a moment of hope when they brought out a glass bottle of water which I mistook for gin, but that was wishful thinking. Thankfully they had good coffee.
The wifi didn't work on board the bus on the return journey. Shame, my laptop suddenly felt very heavy now that I couldn't use it.
The wifi didn't work on board the bus on the return journey. Shame, my laptop suddenly felt very heavy now that I couldn't use it.
Monday 20 June 2011
Sunday 19 June
I slightly shocked by beloved by announcing that I wanted to go shopping today. I've never particularly enjoyed window shopping and when I feel I need something new I prefer to go, look, buy, leave and not be sidetracked, ie if I want shoes, I don't want to be looking at coats. I also narrow it down further by only shopping for 2 hours - this is the amount of time you can get free at Sainsbury's by spending at least £5. This has the added attraction that Sainsbury's is the only place you can buy licorice tea and is also the only place that we buy doughnuts. I announced that I wanted new tops for school - cotton, short sleeve.
Anyway, all that went out the window when I bought a new sleeping bag. There's a camping shop that opened in the High Street about 4 months ago but they were having a closing down sale. This year I've been particularly cold when camping so I now have a 3 season bag, good down to -10C, at 45% discount. I also bought a top and a pair of sandals.
At home, I finally forced myself to finish off the exam marking. All of them did better than in the mock, in fact one of them was 21% higher. He failed the mock so it was obviously the kick he needed. My beloved checked my adding up and I'm so glad he did: I'd given one student an extra 10%.
Early to bed as I'm off to Oxford tomorrow morning. Tutors from the 3 schools are getting together - we don't have an agenda so I'm not sure if it's just reflections or something more substantial. Maybe they'll give us all a bonus, as my beloved suggested on Friday? Fat chance.
Anyway, all that went out the window when I bought a new sleeping bag. There's a camping shop that opened in the High Street about 4 months ago but they were having a closing down sale. This year I've been particularly cold when camping so I now have a 3 season bag, good down to -10C, at 45% discount. I also bought a top and a pair of sandals.
At home, I finally forced myself to finish off the exam marking. All of them did better than in the mock, in fact one of them was 21% higher. He failed the mock so it was obviously the kick he needed. My beloved checked my adding up and I'm so glad he did: I'd given one student an extra 10%.
Early to bed as I'm off to Oxford tomorrow morning. Tutors from the 3 schools are getting together - we don't have an agenda so I'm not sure if it's just reflections or something more substantial. Maybe they'll give us all a bonus, as my beloved suggested on Friday? Fat chance.
Sunday 19 June 2011
Saturday 18 June
A friend from 20 years ago has tracked me down on Facebook. We were good friends in Nigeria and spent lots of time together so it's good to catch up after losing touch for so long. I know a number of people who are adamant that Facebook is evil and will steal your soul, but as far as I can tell, the person posting is in control of what they publish, so the advice has to be: 'don't post anything that could come back and haunt you'. Personally, I like being contacted by old friends.It's Father's Day tomorrow and people are posting photos of their fathers. My Dad died in 1978 so none of my photos are digital. I wonder if I can manage to scan one?
A reply has come from the Advertising Standards Agency re Asia Pulp and Paper's advert calling large parts of Indonesia 'wasteland'. This is a company that's been called 'one of the most destructive companies on the planet'' but unfortunately, they won't take any action against APP.
"While I appreciate your point, we have to consider how consumers in general are likely to interpret an ad. In this case, while we note that there have been recent investigations into the business practices of APP, we consider that viewers are likely to interpret this ad as highlighting APP’s hopes and aspirations for their business rather than any direct claims relating to any culpability, or lack thereof, in creating these ‘wastelands’. On this basis, we consider that the ad is unlikely to mislead consumers to their detriment, in breach of our Code, and will not be taking any further action on this occasion."
Saturday 18 June 2011
Friday 17 June
Need to mark exam, say goodbye to 2 groups and attend 'hello summer school' party. The exam went well and all students seem to have done better than in the mock. We had a lunch at Prezzo to say goodbye, which had one of the students in tears. We gave her a certificate and Amazon book token for her 100% attendance, which is an amazing feat for 9 months of school. She came in during the terrible snow, also when she had bad colds and generally felt homesick, so it was well-deserved.
For this evening's event we had to take a dish and a bottle, so my beloved made a peperonata salad - various sweet peppers, roasted with a dressing of olive oil, mustard and garlic with sultanas (yum). The idea was to have a barbecue at school for all staff, including partners and children. There's a really nice garden so the kids could run around but of course the weather's gone wintry with lashings of rain, so it was indoors and no grilled meats! The turnout was not particularly good which was a shame, but at least the principal turned up and I heard my beloved telling him that I deserved a bonus.
I'm getting interested in keeping bees. No planning permission is required and they need to face either south-east, south or south-west on level ground. We have a space under a tree at the end of the garden which could be ideal. According to various websites the best thing to do is 'join your local beekeepers club' so that should be my first stop. Also, I suppose we should check with the neighbours just in case they're allergic.
For this evening's event we had to take a dish and a bottle, so my beloved made a peperonata salad - various sweet peppers, roasted with a dressing of olive oil, mustard and garlic with sultanas (yum). The idea was to have a barbecue at school for all staff, including partners and children. There's a really nice garden so the kids could run around but of course the weather's gone wintry with lashings of rain, so it was indoors and no grilled meats! The turnout was not particularly good which was a shame, but at least the principal turned up and I heard my beloved telling him that I deserved a bonus.
I'm getting interested in keeping bees. No planning permission is required and they need to face either south-east, south or south-west on level ground. We have a space under a tree at the end of the garden which could be ideal. According to various websites the best thing to do is 'join your local beekeepers club' so that should be my first stop. Also, I suppose we should check with the neighbours just in case they're allergic.
Tuesday 14 June 2011
Tuesday 14 June
Phew, it was hot on the tennis court this morning. Mary and I managed 2 sets - she beat me, but not before she'd whacked a ball at my head while I was bending over and then banged me on the shin with another shot! She was already winning too! This was on top of bruising my knuckles when rummaging through my sock drawer. I looked like I'd been in a fight. It was good though to run around a bit, although by the end of the second set we'd both had enough and were more than ready for lunch at the pub. Last week we sat in a different section without waitress service but today we took it easy and had them running around after us.
We made our plans for going to Wimbledon next week. It'll be an early start and tickets only for outside courts. If we wanted centre court, we'd need to camp overnight and we're not up for that. They have lots of rules: no credit or debit cards, cash only; only 1 bag per person which cannot have hard sides or be larger than a certain size, etc. I suspect some people in the past have been totally unreasonable and now they have to penalise everyone. Or maybe they're just awkward dinosaurs?
We made our plans for going to Wimbledon next week. It'll be an early start and tickets only for outside courts. If we wanted centre court, we'd need to camp overnight and we're not up for that. They have lots of rules: no credit or debit cards, cash only; only 1 bag per person which cannot have hard sides or be larger than a certain size, etc. I suspect some people in the past have been totally unreasonable and now they have to penalise everyone. Or maybe they're just awkward dinosaurs?
Monday 13 June 2011
Monday 13 June
What a weekend! Friday night my beloved and I were on cooking duty so 11 of us had spag bog and garlic bread. This made a change from curry, which was beginning to be our signature dish, but I think that next time we'll be back to some sort of spicy dish.
It's a lovely setting at Teston by the river with a beautiful medieval bridge and on Saturday the weather wasn't too bad with reasonably strong winds, so lots of kites came out, although a few got caught up in trees and Great Ormond Street Hospital received donations. At dinner time we had a downpour but quite quickly the sun came out and there was a little rainbow.
I went to bed reasonably early as, for some reason, I felt tired (maybe it was the wine the night before?) and missed the unfortunate incident in the mess tent. A visitor, who was himself uninvited but appeared along with his friend who was related to one of our group, helped himself to our drinks and then disgraced himself by urinating inside our big tent. He was firmly thrown out but the next morning seemed to be smirking and, although he apologised to one or two people, certainly gave the impression that he was actually quite proud of himself. We were all very angry and hope never to see him again.
He quite spoiled Sunday - one of the most pleasurable things about camping with our friends is that everyone is easygoing and always ready with kind humour, but yesterday morning no-one seemed particularly easygoing and to add to the gloom, it wouldn't stop raining. Those who'd planned to stay on till Monday decided to pack up and leave rather than stay another day in the wet.
This morning my beloved put up one of the tents in the garage to dry it off and I was back at school for another intake. Only 8 today, with ages ranging from 17 to 47 and all eager to learn. I got home about 2pm and my beloved had set up the other other tent in the garden. The weather was really sunny - such a shame it wasn't like this yesterday.
It's a lovely setting at Teston by the river with a beautiful medieval bridge and on Saturday the weather wasn't too bad with reasonably strong winds, so lots of kites came out, although a few got caught up in trees and Great Ormond Street Hospital received donations. At dinner time we had a downpour but quite quickly the sun came out and there was a little rainbow.
I went to bed reasonably early as, for some reason, I felt tired (maybe it was the wine the night before?) and missed the unfortunate incident in the mess tent. A visitor, who was himself uninvited but appeared along with his friend who was related to one of our group, helped himself to our drinks and then disgraced himself by urinating inside our big tent. He was firmly thrown out but the next morning seemed to be smirking and, although he apologised to one or two people, certainly gave the impression that he was actually quite proud of himself. We were all very angry and hope never to see him again.
He quite spoiled Sunday - one of the most pleasurable things about camping with our friends is that everyone is easygoing and always ready with kind humour, but yesterday morning no-one seemed particularly easygoing and to add to the gloom, it wouldn't stop raining. Those who'd planned to stay on till Monday decided to pack up and leave rather than stay another day in the wet.
This morning my beloved put up one of the tents in the garage to dry it off and I was back at school for another intake. Only 8 today, with ages ranging from 17 to 47 and all eager to learn. I got home about 2pm and my beloved had set up the other other tent in the garden. The weather was really sunny - such a shame it wasn't like this yesterday.
Thursday 9 June 2011
Thursday 9 June
I've just emailed a complaint to the Advertising Standards Agency. I've been shouting at the TV in the mornings when an advert by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) has come on. They say that large areas of Indonesia are wasteland and so they, APP, are doing a good thing by planting trees. What they have neglected to mention is that these large areas of previously primary forest have been laid to waste by forest fires that can be traced back to their company. It's a type of propaganda but is so dishonest that it made my blood boil. I've seen first hand those areas in Kalimantan and it's heartbreaking. I wonder what will come of my complaint? Will they just fob me off with a standard reply or will they need further information?
I gave feedback on the mock exam. Some did very well but others - well, sometimes I just shake my head. One student finished in half the time yesterday and today was amazed that she'd not got a higher mark. What happened to CHECK YOUR WORK! Full of silly mistakes.
My beloved and I discussed our catering duties for tomorrow evening. I think we're all set and now he's done the shopping - good man. The forecast for the weekend is alternately dry and wet and nobody agrees with anyone else. Dry during the day would be good but we always have 'plan B'.
I gave feedback on the mock exam. Some did very well but others - well, sometimes I just shake my head. One student finished in half the time yesterday and today was amazed that she'd not got a higher mark. What happened to CHECK YOUR WORK! Full of silly mistakes.
My beloved and I discussed our catering duties for tomorrow evening. I think we're all set and now he's done the shopping - good man. The forecast for the weekend is alternately dry and wet and nobody agrees with anyone else. Dry during the day would be good but we always have 'plan B'.
Wednesday 8 June 2011
Wednesday 8 June
I read an article online today that made me laugh out loud with comments about weeing in buckets and asking the senior male of the family "Is it wise to go up that ladder holding that chainsaw whilst wearing only shorts and flipflops?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/08/english-country-garden-compost-norfolk
My dearly beloved has produced some fabulous compost and even our neighbour who wears full makeup (including extra cupid lips) and marigolds when gardening, has complimented him on its crumbly quality. Wonder what she would think if she knew about his secret 'extra' ingredient?
A busy time this last month with an extra class but that finishes this week. Thankfully today one group went off to University of Kent to be shown around the campus so I didn't have 8 lessons on the trot. Amazing how much more energy I have. Still bashing the books but have slipped to 1 week behind my timetable for a September finish. Hope I can make that up during August when I should have more time.
I also saw in the news that Tom Daley's father had died at the age of 40 from cancer of the brain. Tom is still only 17 and he's the oldest of 3 brothers. So sad to lose a parent at such a young age. His father was also extremely supportive of him and had hoped to see the Olympics next year - Tom should get at least 1 gold - so it's likely to be an emotional time for the family. I was never much good at diving but used to be a bit of a swimmer when I was younger. There's something about the sound of a pool and watching swimming/diving on TV always brings it back. Last year we took advantage of British Gas's offer of 3 free swims and did laps at the local pool. It should cost £4.90 each a go, so we haven't bothered to keep going. In fact, exercise hasn't figured much in our lives recently - I'm sure the medical profession wouldn't be pleased.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/08/english-country-garden-compost-norfolk
My dearly beloved has produced some fabulous compost and even our neighbour who wears full makeup (including extra cupid lips) and marigolds when gardening, has complimented him on its crumbly quality. Wonder what she would think if she knew about his secret 'extra' ingredient?
A busy time this last month with an extra class but that finishes this week. Thankfully today one group went off to University of Kent to be shown around the campus so I didn't have 8 lessons on the trot. Amazing how much more energy I have. Still bashing the books but have slipped to 1 week behind my timetable for a September finish. Hope I can make that up during August when I should have more time.
I also saw in the news that Tom Daley's father had died at the age of 40 from cancer of the brain. Tom is still only 17 and he's the oldest of 3 brothers. So sad to lose a parent at such a young age. His father was also extremely supportive of him and had hoped to see the Olympics next year - Tom should get at least 1 gold - so it's likely to be an emotional time for the family. I was never much good at diving but used to be a bit of a swimmer when I was younger. There's something about the sound of a pool and watching swimming/diving on TV always brings it back. Last year we took advantage of British Gas's offer of 3 free swims and did laps at the local pool. It should cost £4.90 each a go, so we haven't bothered to keep going. In fact, exercise hasn't figured much in our lives recently - I'm sure the medical profession wouldn't be pleased.
Wednesday 18 May 2011
Tuesday 17 May
Up early for tennis! First time for ages and drove at a snail's pace past 7 primary schools to get there. Why do so many people have to drive to school every day, dropping off their overweight offspring at the door? There was a huge queue of traffic caused by a pedestrian crossing where only 1 car at a time could go past as parents and children 'took advantage' of it.
Ibu had been there for a while already and she, of course, is not only much better than me but has been practising as well. She won the first set and I'm sure let me win the second (or first to 5 is what we ended up with). My left hip was feeling it, particularly bending down to pick up the balls - oh, how I miss having a ballboy - and playing singles is much more energetic than doubles. I'll never be a good player but I enjoy it. We left saying that we must play more regularly.
At home, first lunch, then I had a little lie down for 20 minutes. Pure exhaustion swept over me. I used to play 3 times a week so one and a half hours tennis shouldn't have had such an effect, but it just goes to show how quickly you become unfit. Maybe it's time to get the wii out again. I'd planned to study this afternoon but after my snooze I didn't feel like it.
My new bird baths ordered online have arrived. They're 3 copper bowls of different sizes on 1 metre poles and, although not very substantial, look quite effective down the garden. Up to now we've used 2 plant saucers and different birds come regularly, as well as the neighbour's cats. I wonder what they'll make of the new ones?
Ibu had been there for a while already and she, of course, is not only much better than me but has been practising as well. She won the first set and I'm sure let me win the second (or first to 5 is what we ended up with). My left hip was feeling it, particularly bending down to pick up the balls - oh, how I miss having a ballboy - and playing singles is much more energetic than doubles. I'll never be a good player but I enjoy it. We left saying that we must play more regularly.
At home, first lunch, then I had a little lie down for 20 minutes. Pure exhaustion swept over me. I used to play 3 times a week so one and a half hours tennis shouldn't have had such an effect, but it just goes to show how quickly you become unfit. Maybe it's time to get the wii out again. I'd planned to study this afternoon but after my snooze I didn't feel like it.
My new bird baths ordered online have arrived. They're 3 copper bowls of different sizes on 1 metre poles and, although not very substantial, look quite effective down the garden. Up to now we've used 2 plant saucers and different birds come regularly, as well as the neighbour's cats. I wonder what they'll make of the new ones?
Tuesday 17 May 2011
Monday 16 May
Intake day! A very small group this week, just 7 but the Thai guy had a terrible journey to school - for some reason he thought he needed to go via central London, rather than walk 10 minutes down the road, so he arrived an hour and a half late. He was so apologetic, couldn't believe what he'd done.
School is bursting apart at the seams with so many students and they've put up two sheds in the garden as extra classrooms. At the directors' meeting a couple of months ago, we were told to expect 'log cabins' - now I can see why they're salesmen but they really shouldn't try and deceive teachers whose whole time is spent analysing language. The sheds are quite dark so there were workmen outside all morning cutting down one of the trees. I thought at first they were just lopping off the lower branches to make it lighter but no, they went the whole hog. There were some robins going crazy in between the chainsaw noise, which was a little distressing. They should have kept the tree because those rooms are going to be boiling hot once the sun's on them and it would have given some badly-needed shade.
Emma had said she might drop in, so my Beloved Him Indoors spent the morning cleaning! Hooray! Then he cooked dinner! Hooray! (with plenty extra in case Emma wanted to stay for dinner). Just before we were going to eat, he checked his mobile and there was a text timed at 2.00pm saying she couldn't come after all. Shame, we were looking forward to seeing her but, look on the bright side - the house is clean and tidy and dinner was lovely! Hooray!
Watched a detective programme called 'Vera' set in Northumberland starring Brenda Blethyn. Saw the first episode last week, persevered this week and I think it's growing on me. I even expressed a wish to MBHI that I'd like to go up there for a visit sometime, not least because my father was a Geordie but as an only child didn't take us up there once his mother died. I'm not sure I ever met her as she died when I was about 3 and we were living in the Far East. Need to check with mother and see if she remembers.
School is bursting apart at the seams with so many students and they've put up two sheds in the garden as extra classrooms. At the directors' meeting a couple of months ago, we were told to expect 'log cabins' - now I can see why they're salesmen but they really shouldn't try and deceive teachers whose whole time is spent analysing language. The sheds are quite dark so there were workmen outside all morning cutting down one of the trees. I thought at first they were just lopping off the lower branches to make it lighter but no, they went the whole hog. There were some robins going crazy in between the chainsaw noise, which was a little distressing. They should have kept the tree because those rooms are going to be boiling hot once the sun's on them and it would have given some badly-needed shade.
Emma had said she might drop in, so my Beloved Him Indoors spent the morning cleaning! Hooray! Then he cooked dinner! Hooray! (with plenty extra in case Emma wanted to stay for dinner). Just before we were going to eat, he checked his mobile and there was a text timed at 2.00pm saying she couldn't come after all. Shame, we were looking forward to seeing her but, look on the bright side - the house is clean and tidy and dinner was lovely! Hooray!
Watched a detective programme called 'Vera' set in Northumberland starring Brenda Blethyn. Saw the first episode last week, persevered this week and I think it's growing on me. I even expressed a wish to MBHI that I'd like to go up there for a visit sometime, not least because my father was a Geordie but as an only child didn't take us up there once his mother died. I'm not sure I ever met her as she died when I was about 3 and we were living in the Far East. Need to check with mother and see if she remembers.
Monday 16 May 2011
Sunday 15 May
The plan to was to make sandwiches, put together a picnic and be out the door by 10am but we woke up with a slightly thick head (oh, that wretched Eurovision Song Contest! Who won?), so stopped by the supermarket to buy sandwiches and pork pies and managed to get down to Lullingstone Roman Villa by 11am. Our friends, of course, were there way ahead of us but we got in, saw the video, wandered round, put on Roman clothes, looked at the mosaic and generally wondered at life 2,000 years ago. I loved it - history is good.
Then we drove to Lullingstone Park and picnicked. Unbelievably there were about 20 of us - we didn't seem like a crowd at all, but there were loads of us from a granny down to a 6 month old baby. It got a bit chilly so we left after a couple of hours. A good day out.
Then we drove to Lullingstone Park and picnicked. Unbelievably there were about 20 of us - we didn't seem like a crowd at all, but there were loads of us from a granny down to a 6 month old baby. It got a bit chilly so we left after a couple of hours. A good day out.
Saturday 14 May
Writing up my notes on the presentations today, agonising about single marks between such different presentations. Will think about it overnight.
Watched the Eurovision song contest but don't remember seeing the end - think I fell asleep. Was it the boredom or might it have been the generous helpings of wine?
Forgot to mention in my roundup of restaurants during April that we met up with friends from Jakarta in Covent Garden, dragging along husbands and offspring for a meal, We're all back in England now (although one couple are off to Riyadh in September) and it was lovely to catch up. We used to play tennis together every Tuesday - have a run about, a chat and generally just laugh. There was another group who played on Thursday that we called the 'big girls' who were altogether more serious but not necessarily that much better and definitely didn't enjoy themselves as much as us.
There were some notable absences from our get-together in Covent Garden, notably H&C who are now in Qatar! But we were on Facebook at the same time this afternoon so the 4 of us had a chat. Ah, good times. Maybe we'll go to Doha soon or maybe we'll have visitors?
Watched the Eurovision song contest but don't remember seeing the end - think I fell asleep. Was it the boredom or might it have been the generous helpings of wine?
Forgot to mention in my roundup of restaurants during April that we met up with friends from Jakarta in Covent Garden, dragging along husbands and offspring for a meal, We're all back in England now (although one couple are off to Riyadh in September) and it was lovely to catch up. We used to play tennis together every Tuesday - have a run about, a chat and generally just laugh. There was another group who played on Thursday that we called the 'big girls' who were altogether more serious but not necessarily that much better and definitely didn't enjoy themselves as much as us.
There were some notable absences from our get-together in Covent Garden, notably H&C who are now in Qatar! But we were on Facebook at the same time this afternoon so the 4 of us had a chat. Ah, good times. Maybe we'll go to Doha soon or maybe we'll have visitors?
Saturday 14 May 2011
Friday 13 May
Typing the heading, have just realised that it was Friday the 13th - I didn't notice it and not one person commented on it. Is everyone becoming less superstitious?
It was the start of the A level exams today - Geography - so that group are going around with very long faces. They still have to come to all their lessons except where they're taking an actual exam. Seems harsh but it means they really have to focus on revision, particularly as their host families expect them to be out of the house all day
The Foundation group were quite angry about the insistent questioning yesterday but I reassured them that far from diminishing their achievements, they were actually able to score more marks by handling it well. We looked at 'family' vocabulary. Interestingly, they all had a problem with the concept of 'fostering', none of them having thought about an alternative to adoption or an orphanage and it led to quite a heated discussion amongst them. Coincidentally there was a poster inside the bus advertising for foster families. I hadn't seen it before as I usually walk home but it came along at exactly the right moment.
My beloved has done something to his back and is hobbling around - hope it gets better soon.
It was the start of the A level exams today - Geography - so that group are going around with very long faces. They still have to come to all their lessons except where they're taking an actual exam. Seems harsh but it means they really have to focus on revision, particularly as their host families expect them to be out of the house all day
The Foundation group were quite angry about the insistent questioning yesterday but I reassured them that far from diminishing their achievements, they were actually able to score more marks by handling it well. We looked at 'family' vocabulary. Interestingly, they all had a problem with the concept of 'fostering', none of them having thought about an alternative to adoption or an orphanage and it led to quite a heated discussion amongst them. Coincidentally there was a poster inside the bus advertising for foster families. I hadn't seen it before as I usually walk home but it came along at exactly the right moment.
My beloved has done something to his back and is hobbling around - hope it gets better soon.
Friday 13 May 2011
Thursday 12 May
Presentation Day. Some of them had dressed up in suits and ties, no baseball caps - they took it very seriously.
I was surprised at how nervous they were - they presented in pairs and the first to go had a couple of long silences before they could compose themselves and carry on. It seemed to set the tone and the others were nearly as scared. Overall though, they did extremely well and I felt quite proud of them. I only spotted 1 spelling mistake on Powerpoint and one glaring pronunciation error. There is absolutely no excuse for pron errors, particularly as there are good pron dictionaries online. It was the pair doing the effect of the internet on society who gave the wrong stress for 'pornography' but it was so glaring. One pair did 'Nuclear power: good or evil?' and gave the position of both sides very well. Unfortunately the physics teacher couldn't be there as I wanted to check how good he found the technical content but others more knowledgeable than me about such things (not difficult) seemed reasonably impressed.
There were about 30 in the audience made up of fellow students and teachers and the presenters coped very well with insistent questioning in the Q&A sessions, one even managing 'I believe that's beyond the scope of this presentation'. Good girl!
Now I just need to write up reports and give them actual marks. That can be quite drawn out as the criteria are fairly involved. Never mind, didn't have much planned for the weekend anyway ...
I was surprised at how nervous they were - they presented in pairs and the first to go had a couple of long silences before they could compose themselves and carry on. It seemed to set the tone and the others were nearly as scared. Overall though, they did extremely well and I felt quite proud of them. I only spotted 1 spelling mistake on Powerpoint and one glaring pronunciation error. There is absolutely no excuse for pron errors, particularly as there are good pron dictionaries online. It was the pair doing the effect of the internet on society who gave the wrong stress for 'pornography' but it was so glaring. One pair did 'Nuclear power: good or evil?' and gave the position of both sides very well. Unfortunately the physics teacher couldn't be there as I wanted to check how good he found the technical content but others more knowledgeable than me about such things (not difficult) seemed reasonably impressed.
There were about 30 in the audience made up of fellow students and teachers and the presenters coped very well with insistent questioning in the Q&A sessions, one even managing 'I believe that's beyond the scope of this presentation'. Good girl!
Now I just need to write up reports and give them actual marks. That can be quite drawn out as the criteria are fairly involved. Never mind, didn't have much planned for the weekend anyway ...
Wednesday 11 May 2011
Wednesday 11 May
The joy of a new class. As well as my usual classes I've taken on another one and it was our first meeting today. A good mix of nationalities, polite and some bright ones. They have their IELTS exam on Saturday so we did a reading mock - one of them finished just before me and only had 3 wrong out of 25. Not bad at all. We did a speaking mock too where they worked in carousel pairs as examiner and student. I had my usual classes, as well as a 1-to-1 tutorial for a UCAS application so it was a long day.
We watched Dr Who tonight - the one with the pirates and I really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure at first with the accents and fake Pirates of the Caribbean, but once the story started properly, it was a good one. Also saw the Gadget Show where they had a race to find the cheapest electronics in UK and Europe. The cheapest camera was in Switzerland at over £100 less. Otherwise, there wasn't much difference.
No studying today, brain not up to it.
We watched Dr Who tonight - the one with the pirates and I really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure at first with the accents and fake Pirates of the Caribbean, but once the story started properly, it was a good one. Also saw the Gadget Show where they had a race to find the cheapest electronics in UK and Europe. The cheapest camera was in Switzerland at over £100 less. Otherwise, there wasn't much difference.
No studying today, brain not up to it.
Tuesday 10 May 2011
Tuesday 10 May
Blogging has slipped past me for the last month so I thought I might get back into it. Apart from going to school and starting the next assignment, during this last month we seem to have been eating out a lot and I think I'm getting to be quite proficient at finding 'specials' on Groupon, LivingSocial, kgb deals and even lastminute.com.
After we came back from Spain, we went to the Swan at the Globe theatre for my birthday. I'd bought a voucher from LivingSocial for £29 which gave us £60 of food and drink while looking out over the Thames at St Paul's - good value and a very helpful Australian waitress.
Then the following week we met up with our friends from the 'Dining Club' (as Frank calls it) and 7 of us went to the Premises in Hoxton, a Turkish cafe adjoining a recording studio. I wasn't too keen on going there, although I love Turkish food, because I thought it would take ages on public transport, but it turned out to be very easy by changing to the London Overground at New Cross and getting off right by the Geffrye Museum. The food was rather mixed and I think I chose badly - my lamb was quite tasteless - but My Beloved was pleased with squid for starters and mixed grill. We had 4 bottles of Turkish wine and the price was still only £21 a head for 2 courses each! Coming home, New Cross at midnight was not exactly salubrious but we didn't have any problems.
Our next meal was a slap up lunch with the brother-in-law and his wife. Instead of giving Christmas and birthday presents now we go out to lunch somewhere special and this year it was the Alain Ducasse restaurant at the Dorchester - 3 Michelin stars. It was a really hot day and when we arrived our table wasn't ready so we decided to have a drink in the bar. We were assured the bar was open, but the staff were elsewhere and so we eventually went to our tables feeling very parched. My white wine was served warm, so I had to speak quite sharply to the waiter - did he think just because I asked for his advice I didn't know how to drink?! Anyway, the meal was ok (although My Beloved couldn't face the 'extra' of cauliflower foam with fois gras) but we all agreed that we wouldn't bother going back and last year's Le Gavroche was heaps better at the same price (3 courses with 2 glasses of wine £50 each -although the g&t cost £11!) even though it only has 2 Michelin stars.
Then when my brother and his wife visited for the weekend, we went out for Sunday lunch and met up with my lovely niece and her husband at the Almeida in Islington. We drove up and parked right outside (which was good as my brother lives in the country and totally unused to public transport - they don't even have a bus to their village). Apart from the woman at the table next to us collapsing and then just being left with her head on the table by her 'friends' who assured everyone that she was fine, it was a good occasion. 4 of us had the 'trolley' to start which made us laugh and was an enormous selection of cold cut meats, pate pickles and bread. The main course was a roast - which My Beloved doesn't enjoy, so he had fish - and my lamb was beautifully tender. Desserts were not bad too. Then we wandered around a little bit - it was nice and sunny and warm.
No big plans for eating out at the moment but my thoughts are turning what to cook when we next go camping? Should we do curry again or should we have a change?
Then the following week we met up with our friends from the 'Dining Club' (as Frank calls it) and 7 of us went to the Premises in Hoxton, a Turkish cafe adjoining a recording studio. I wasn't too keen on going there, although I love Turkish food, because I thought it would take ages on public transport, but it turned out to be very easy by changing to the London Overground at New Cross and getting off right by the Geffrye Museum. The food was rather mixed and I think I chose badly - my lamb was quite tasteless - but My Beloved was pleased with squid for starters and mixed grill. We had 4 bottles of Turkish wine and the price was still only £21 a head for 2 courses each! Coming home, New Cross at midnight was not exactly salubrious but we didn't have any problems.
Our next meal was a slap up lunch with the brother-in-law and his wife. Instead of giving Christmas and birthday presents now we go out to lunch somewhere special and this year it was the Alain Ducasse restaurant at the Dorchester - 3 Michelin stars. It was a really hot day and when we arrived our table wasn't ready so we decided to have a drink in the bar. We were assured the bar was open, but the staff were elsewhere and so we eventually went to our tables feeling very parched. My white wine was served warm, so I had to speak quite sharply to the waiter - did he think just because I asked for his advice I didn't know how to drink?! Anyway, the meal was ok (although My Beloved couldn't face the 'extra' of cauliflower foam with fois gras) but we all agreed that we wouldn't bother going back and last year's Le Gavroche was heaps better at the same price (3 courses with 2 glasses of wine £50 each -although the g&t cost £11!) even though it only has 2 Michelin stars.
Then when my brother and his wife visited for the weekend, we went out for Sunday lunch and met up with my lovely niece and her husband at the Almeida in Islington. We drove up and parked right outside (which was good as my brother lives in the country and totally unused to public transport - they don't even have a bus to their village). Apart from the woman at the table next to us collapsing and then just being left with her head on the table by her 'friends' who assured everyone that she was fine, it was a good occasion. 4 of us had the 'trolley' to start which made us laugh and was an enormous selection of cold cut meats, pate pickles and bread. The main course was a roast - which My Beloved doesn't enjoy, so he had fish - and my lamb was beautifully tender. Desserts were not bad too. Then we wandered around a little bit - it was nice and sunny and warm.
No big plans for eating out at the moment but my thoughts are turning what to cook when we next go camping? Should we do curry again or should we have a change?
Tuesday 5 April 2011
Sunday 27 March - Monday 4 April
didn't have a chance to update the blog for just over a week, so here's a brief update:
Sun 27/3
Essay, essay, essay. Finished. Hooray
Mon 28/3
Intake, print off essay - last minute proofread, post £5.50, home, sleep.
Tue 29/3
lunch uptown with Dutch friends who've moved to London from jakarta. Excellent meal at Cadogan Arms in the King's Road with a 50% voucher makes it a reasonable price. bought sunglasses for little Dulcie in Peter Jones
Wed 30/3
ryanair to reus. disappointingly everything went very smoothly! After all the horror stories, nothing actually went wrong and our flight was 30 minutes early. To be fair though, there is the potential for masses of problems - charge of £40 if you don't print off your own boarding card, fascist implementation of size and weight limits, but we were very good and did everything we were told. Actually had 3 seats between the 2 of us, so plenty of room. Ange met us at the airport and we zoomed back to her farmhouse on top of a mountain. Met the 5 dogs, 2 cats and of course Emma and Dulcie.
Thu 31/3
Birthday! Spoilt rotten, lazy day and then out for dinner. First restaurant closed but motored on and found another one. Had pink cava, pate, salt cod and leche frita (fried milk) could never recommend my pud - it was awful, but luckily came with vanilla ice cream so that was ok.
Fri 1/4
Off to Miravets to see the 12thC Knights Templar castle, beautiful river, lunch on the town square, Selecta beer (mm), bocadillos (sandwiches) and cortado (small milky coffees). Him Indoors cooked a curry. Lovely day.
Sat 2/4
Remembered to send my nephew a text wishing him happy birthday. Lazy day in the sun, around 30C.
Sun 3/4
Market at Hospitalet, then lunch at the restaurant that was closed on the 31st. Buffet of seafood, kebabs, paella, hams, cheese, desserts and freeflow muscatel. Yum.
Mon 4/4
Drove over to Emma's house, then beers and tapas on the town square, home, showers, bite to eat, pack, to airport. Flight arrived early again (that must be how they have the best on-time statistics in Europe). Boarded at the back again and got 3 seats for the 2 of us. On arrival went through the automated passport control for the first time ever - took longer than the IOs doing it personally. Blackwall Tunnel was closed so we had a magical mystery tour through bits of north London before managing to cross the river at London Bridge. Home by midnight. Lovely holiday.
Sun 27/3
Essay, essay, essay. Finished. Hooray
Mon 28/3
Intake, print off essay - last minute proofread, post £5.50, home, sleep.
Tue 29/3
lunch uptown with Dutch friends who've moved to London from jakarta. Excellent meal at Cadogan Arms in the King's Road with a 50% voucher makes it a reasonable price. bought sunglasses for little Dulcie in Peter Jones
Wed 30/3
ryanair to reus. disappointingly everything went very smoothly! After all the horror stories, nothing actually went wrong and our flight was 30 minutes early. To be fair though, there is the potential for masses of problems - charge of £40 if you don't print off your own boarding card, fascist implementation of size and weight limits, but we were very good and did everything we were told. Actually had 3 seats between the 2 of us, so plenty of room. Ange met us at the airport and we zoomed back to her farmhouse on top of a mountain. Met the 5 dogs, 2 cats and of course Emma and Dulcie.
Thu 31/3
Birthday! Spoilt rotten, lazy day and then out for dinner. First restaurant closed but motored on and found another one. Had pink cava, pate, salt cod and leche frita (fried milk) could never recommend my pud - it was awful, but luckily came with vanilla ice cream so that was ok.
Fri 1/4
Off to Miravets to see the 12thC Knights Templar castle, beautiful river, lunch on the town square, Selecta beer (mm), bocadillos (sandwiches) and cortado (small milky coffees). Him Indoors cooked a curry. Lovely day.
Sat 2/4
Remembered to send my nephew a text wishing him happy birthday. Lazy day in the sun, around 30C.
Sun 3/4
Market at Hospitalet, then lunch at the restaurant that was closed on the 31st. Buffet of seafood, kebabs, paella, hams, cheese, desserts and freeflow muscatel. Yum.
Mon 4/4
Drove over to Emma's house, then beers and tapas on the town square, home, showers, bite to eat, pack, to airport. Flight arrived early again (that must be how they have the best on-time statistics in Europe). Boarded at the back again and got 3 seats for the 2 of us. On arrival went through the automated passport control for the first time ever - took longer than the IOs doing it personally. Blackwall Tunnel was closed so we had a magical mystery tour through bits of north London before managing to cross the river at London Bridge. Home by midnight. Lovely holiday.
Sunday 27 March 2011
Saturday 26 March
Not so sunny today and a spot of rain but Him Indoors had a go at the garden. There's a bit in the far left corner that's not had a prune for a while, if ever, so it was time to cut back. I like our garden: it's very low maintenance and despite what others say (you know who you are!), once a garden's laid out and planted with shrubs, you only need to spend about an hour a month on it - as well as cutting the grass from time to time. We feed the birds too and it's soothing to see them hopping around and hear them singing their little hearts out.
Cracked on (again) with the essay and just need final proofing. What a time for the printer ink to run out. My beloved has promised to rush out early in the morning to get a new one.
Cracked on (again) with the essay and just need final proofing. What a time for the printer ink to run out. My beloved has promised to rush out early in the morning to get a new one.
Friday 25 March 2011
Friday 25 March
A quiet day: school where half of them are sick with flu, home, essaying, dinner, a bit of TV and then bed. Watched the film 'Ghost' for the first time - think we were overseas when it first came out and it's taken 20 years for it to come on the telly for us to watch. It was actually better than I expected - Demi Moore isn't everybody's first choice and certainly not mine, but she performed pretty well and I thought Whoopi Goldberg was brilliant as usual.
Thursday 24 March 2011
Thursday 24 March
There's lots of colds and flu going round school at the moment - I'm being very positive about not catching it and staying well away from students. We're just about to have spring break so not the time to be feeling low when you have a few days off.
Today felt very brief - essay, school, home, essay, dinner, bed. Night, night.
Today felt very brief - essay, school, home, essay, dinner, bed. Night, night.
Wednesday 23 March 2011
Wednesday 23 March
It feels like summer's here with temps of 18C today. People were out in flipflops and T-shirts making the most of it. My beloved was out to lunch today so after work I was on my own in the living room reading with the door open when our neighbour's cats came wandering in. We don't know exactly where the two of them live but they often come into our garden. They had a good nose round but as soon as I moved they scarpered. I told them I like cats but they weren't having any of it and stayed firmly out of reach in the garden.
Students had to write a summary of something we read in class on the ISS. One of them had completely misunderstood it and wrote that the astronauts 'live in a 3 bedroom house in the space'. Mmm. and I thought we'd been doing so well.
Spent 4 hours on the essay. Just another section to do and then hopefully post it on Monday. I'd hoped to send it off on Friday but having the weekend as well should make sure it's well proofread. Just feel so knackered and mustn't rush or it'll all go wrong.
Students had to write a summary of something we read in class on the ISS. One of them had completely misunderstood it and wrote that the astronauts 'live in a 3 bedroom house in the space'. Mmm. and I thought we'd been doing so well.
Spent 4 hours on the essay. Just another section to do and then hopefully post it on Monday. I'd hoped to send it off on Friday but having the weekend as well should make sure it's well proofread. Just feel so knackered and mustn't rush or it'll all go wrong.
Tuesday 22 March 2011
Tuesday 22 March
Am trying to find out exactly what the government is going to do about student visas after their debate today in parliament. If our lower level ones can't get visas to study in UK, it may close the school down.
I had a routine mammogram this morning. My first appointment was a few weeks ago but it was a Thursday afternoon when I'm teaching so I changed it online. The date of birth drop down menu rather cheerfully started at the year 1900, so after lots of scrolling forward got to my personal year (unusual for me these days for date of birth, they often start at about about 1980 and I have to scroll backwards). When the date to book a new appointment also started at the year 1900, I got slightly irritated - what is going on with their programmers? Then in the post on Saturday I got 2 letters from the Health Authority, one telling me off for not keeping the original appointment and the second one giving me an appointment for today.
Previous years my appointment's been at the Bromley site which is about a mile and a half outside Bromley centre, so needing 2 buses to get to as there's no parking, free or otherwise. This appointment was at the trailer in the Sainsbury car park with lots of free parking so much more convenient and also on a bus route. While I waited, my beloved went and bought a few bits in the supermarket.
Then home to another 4.5 hours essaying. Finally found the reference but annoyingly it didn't say what I thought it said! Have had to change things slightly to be more precise.
I had a routine mammogram this morning. My first appointment was a few weeks ago but it was a Thursday afternoon when I'm teaching so I changed it online. The date of birth drop down menu rather cheerfully started at the year 1900, so after lots of scrolling forward got to my personal year (unusual for me these days for date of birth, they often start at about about 1980 and I have to scroll backwards). When the date to book a new appointment also started at the year 1900, I got slightly irritated - what is going on with their programmers? Then in the post on Saturday I got 2 letters from the Health Authority, one telling me off for not keeping the original appointment and the second one giving me an appointment for today.
Previous years my appointment's been at the Bromley site which is about a mile and a half outside Bromley centre, so needing 2 buses to get to as there's no parking, free or otherwise. This appointment was at the trailer in the Sainsbury car park with lots of free parking so much more convenient and also on a bus route. While I waited, my beloved went and bought a few bits in the supermarket.
Then home to another 4.5 hours essaying. Finally found the reference but annoyingly it didn't say what I thought it said! Have had to change things slightly to be more precise.
Monday 21 March
Jemima observed my intake talk today in the lecture room. She's from the company that provides the online learning site that school signed up to in January. Apparently student usage from our school is way higher than any other school and they want to know what we're doing to encourage our students. I gave her feedback too particularly re the new log-in screen which you can only access once. Depending on numbers, there are different rooms that we do the intake in. Our computer room can only take up to 15 so when we're in there, each student can have their own computer and sign in, create their own user name and password. But when there's more, the lecture room is used and I can only show them online via the IWB. The difficulty is you can't access that first time log-in screen (unless we create a new fake student every week, but that would be time-consuming and I think our number crunchers would have a fit at statistics being skewed). She promised to ask her 'people' if they could do something. We'd also like teacher-only areas so that we can talk to each other, send staff meeting minutes, reports, etc. I'd like to be able to use it at home on Safari too but that probably won't happen and I have to remember to use Firefox instead.
Students dribbled in throughout the morning. There were 3 starts to the test because they came in at various times and then one guy didn't arrive until midday - 3 hours late - apparently he'd got on the wrong bus, didn't know where he was and it'd taken him that long to find out and get back to us.
More writing. I lost a reference and spent ages looking for it. My beloved helped too but it's not turned up yet. Am annoyed with myself - why didn't I write it down!
Students dribbled in throughout the morning. There were 3 starts to the test because they came in at various times and then one guy didn't arrive until midday - 3 hours late - apparently he'd got on the wrong bus, didn't know where he was and it'd taken him that long to find out and get back to us.
More writing. I lost a reference and spent ages looking for it. My beloved helped too but it's not turned up yet. Am annoyed with myself - why didn't I write it down!
Sunday 20 March 2011
Sunday 20 March
After the excitement of the rugby yesterday, today was much quieter with Him Indoors making a trip to the supermarket to get food and me doing the essaying in the dining room. I was upstairs initially but that meant that my beloved couldn't use his computer as it disturbed me (I'm aware I am sounding rather precious here) and downstairs I can spread out all over the table which is good as I'm much happier when I can distribute everything so that I can see it all.
I know that I'm definitely a teacher and not an applied linguist. The theory stuff is all very interesting but until we know definitely how the brain works and how we learn and then how we learn languages, everything is just a theory. There are thousands of studies into a few students and the researchers make a big song and dance about knowing the latest thing to be known, but the truth is they're all just theories. It depends on what is being studied, the students being studied, and on top of all that, how the students feel that day. I've been trying to nail down 'critical period hypothesis today' but with a hundred odd studies, nobody really knows whether starting to learn a second language earlier makes any difference, other than to pronunciation. We all knew that anyway.
I know that I'm definitely a teacher and not an applied linguist. The theory stuff is all very interesting but until we know definitely how the brain works and how we learn and then how we learn languages, everything is just a theory. There are thousands of studies into a few students and the researchers make a big song and dance about knowing the latest thing to be known, but the truth is they're all just theories. It depends on what is being studied, the students being studied, and on top of all that, how the students feel that day. I've been trying to nail down 'critical period hypothesis today' but with a hundred odd studies, nobody really knows whether starting to learn a second language earlier makes any difference, other than to pronunciation. We all knew that anyway.
Saturday 19 March
A day of two 'R's - rugby and (w)riting. Neither went particularly well as all three of my teams lost, unlike last week when they all won. England played poorly and the Irish stomped all over them, the French annihilated the Welsh and the Scots beat the Italians. I only have a superficial knowledge of the rules picked up over the last 25 years but it seems that each time I watch a match there are new rules I've never heard of before.
My essay is coming along but still a lot of work needed if I'm to meet that deadline.
My essay is coming along but still a lot of work needed if I'm to meet that deadline.
Friday 18 March 2011
Friday 18 March
Amazing. The whole class was there this morning. Admittedly one was late, but she didn't go to the party last night and we haven't seen her all week until today, but the others were all there bright and cheerful and on time! I told them how pleased I was and they complimented me on my dancing last night - oh, the sarcasm. But I laughed, just to show them what a good sense of humour I have. The thing is though, that they've all really changed in class. We get through twice as much work now and they're a pleasure to teach - no more sulky nonsense and they seem to like each more as well. That is probably the most important part. Before I think they couldn't stand each other but for some reason have come to accept their little foibles and the class dynamics are now very good.
I got stopped by a man on my way home. He had a phone and was talking on it and hung up. He looked respectable but alarmed me by immediately saying 'I don't want to frighten you, but ..' now there's a good way to frighten someone. Anyway he went on to tell me that he'd lost his wallet, he wasn't homeless 'or anything' and would I give him £2. I told him the truth and said that unless I'm going shopping I don't carry any money. Actually that is true but he did look disgusted. I wonder what the £2 was for?
At home we had some large flat mushrooms in the fridge that had been there for a while so I found a recipe for stuffed mushrooms using blue cheese. One of Terence Conran's wives once said that life's too short to stuff a mushroom, but she was wrong - she should have used a microwave. Yum.
I got stopped by a man on my way home. He had a phone and was talking on it and hung up. He looked respectable but alarmed me by immediately saying 'I don't want to frighten you, but ..' now there's a good way to frighten someone. Anyway he went on to tell me that he'd lost his wallet, he wasn't homeless 'or anything' and would I give him £2. I told him the truth and said that unless I'm going shopping I don't carry any money. Actually that is true but he did look disgusted. I wonder what the £2 was for?
At home we had some large flat mushrooms in the fridge that had been there for a while so I found a recipe for stuffed mushrooms using blue cheese. One of Terence Conran's wives once said that life's too short to stuff a mushroom, but she was wrong - she should have used a microwave. Yum.
Thursday 17 March 2011
Thursday 17 March
A long day. Up reasonably early, essaying, then on to school. Started with a staff meeting, then teaching till 4.45, walked home, my lovely Him Indoors had cooked a delish pork curry with coconut which we had with dhal and rice, then off I went to the school student party at 7.45pm. I only changed my jeans and shirt but was surprised to see how dressed up some of the students were in dresses and killer heels, suits and ties! Malika was doing the DJing and everyone was dancing (including me and apparently there are photos - oh dear). It was a good evening - I wonder how many will make it to class at 8.45 in the morning?
Wednesday 16 March
Another 3 hours on the draft/books after school. I'm feeling slightly more positive about this one now. I first received it in December 2008 and have picked up four times before but got bored. Being given this new deadline has turned out to be a positive thing. (but I hope I still feel like this next week). The only trouble with all this studying is that I feel that I'm neglecting family and friends.
Tuesday 15 March 2011
Tuesday 15 March
Got a slightly panicked email from a colleague - she couldn't find the CDs for her lectures lesson. I'd hidden them from sight but forgot to tell her where - oops. We're the only 2 teachers who use that particular set and they're very expensive but as the last lot disappeared from the staff room I thought I'd remove them from temptation. We sometimes have teachers in just for a short time especially for summer school and that's when most resources go missing. It's such a shame that you can't automatically trust people.
Just a short entry today - hit the books again and managed just over 3 hours. Will look at the draft again tomorrow after school.
Just a short entry today - hit the books again and managed just over 3 hours. Will look at the draft again tomorrow after school.
Monday 14 March 2011
Monday 14 March
Only a small intake today but very sweet, quiet students. Problems can sometimes arise when the range of ability is wide and more advanced students can get impatient but they were all quite low level (address? what is?) which made it fun and we did laugh a lot.
I took in a load of bay leaves which Him Indoors had twined together and the bag emptied almost immediately. One teacher said 'oh no, don't give it to me, I'll only kill it' which made everyone laugh. She had no idea what a bay leaf was. I know she can cook because she often brings in cakes for the staff room but this herb was unknown to her!
I forgot to mention that on Saturday we had workmen outside mending our road. It's unmade and the council won't do anything about it - even though we pay full council tax, we're not entitled to publicly funded road mending. The primary school next door is the major user with all the 4x4s every morning dropping off their little darlings and they really churn it up. There's a park at the end of the road but most people who go there are jogging or walking their dogs. Anyway, there was a JCB out there all day scraping away but all they did really was spread the gravel around a bit. I thought I noticed this morning that there were fewer cars - maybe it's a knock on effect of the increase in fuel prices?
I took in a load of bay leaves which Him Indoors had twined together and the bag emptied almost immediately. One teacher said 'oh no, don't give it to me, I'll only kill it' which made everyone laugh. She had no idea what a bay leaf was. I know she can cook because she often brings in cakes for the staff room but this herb was unknown to her!
I forgot to mention that on Saturday we had workmen outside mending our road. It's unmade and the council won't do anything about it - even though we pay full council tax, we're not entitled to publicly funded road mending. The primary school next door is the major user with all the 4x4s every morning dropping off their little darlings and they really churn it up. There's a park at the end of the road but most people who go there are jogging or walking their dogs. Anyway, there was a JCB out there all day scraping away but all they did really was spread the gravel around a bit. I thought I noticed this morning that there were fewer cars - maybe it's a knock on effect of the increase in fuel prices?
Sunday 13 March 2011
Sunda 13 March
Yes, Chippy - you owe me a shilling! Just a little bet on Wales - Ireland yesterday. That was a very good game unlike today's where England were abysmal and Scotland looked as though they really did have a good chance, even though they've lost all 3 of their previous 6 Nations matches. Some say that Ireland will be the favourites next week. I'm not looking forward to it and I don't think I'll be betting on that one.
We cut down one of the 3 main trunks of the bay tree today. I say 'we' but, of course, it was Him Indoors who actually wielded the saw, while I gave instructions... I'm taking in a big bag of bay leaves to school tomorrow. Not very many of my colleagues cook but they may want some. Otherwise they're being put in the compost bin.
I've finally had feedback on my second essay outline and because it's taken so long, I've been given a 2 week extension. We can only submit twice a year on 15 March and 15 September so it's pretty obvious to me that I'd better get on with it. Instead of doing a dissertation I've decided to do the taught track which is 3 more essays. They usually advise taking a year to do the three, but I've done the bulk of my reading so if I can write this one by the end of the month, that leaves 2 more to do by September and then I'm finished. Wonder if I can do it?
We cut down one of the 3 main trunks of the bay tree today. I say 'we' but, of course, it was Him Indoors who actually wielded the saw, while I gave instructions... I'm taking in a big bag of bay leaves to school tomorrow. Not very many of my colleagues cook but they may want some. Otherwise they're being put in the compost bin.
I've finally had feedback on my second essay outline and because it's taken so long, I've been given a 2 week extension. We can only submit twice a year on 15 March and 15 September so it's pretty obvious to me that I'd better get on with it. Instead of doing a dissertation I've decided to do the taught track which is 3 more essays. They usually advise taking a year to do the three, but I've done the bulk of my reading so if I can write this one by the end of the month, that leaves 2 more to do by September and then I'm finished. Wonder if I can do it?
Saturday 12 March 2011
Saturday 12 March
Have been watching the awful news from Japan. The people are having a really rough time but seem to be just getting on with what they have to do. I've never been to Japan but the Japanese that I've met have been very polite, considerate and careful about not causing offence. It's heartbreaking to see what some of them are going through now.
Had a lazy day. Beautiful sunshine so a quick turn round our little garden. It's time to prune the bay tree. We've decided to take out one of the 3 main trunks rather than prune all around. I hope lots of people want nice fresh organic bay leaves! I think I can call them organic. We certainly never give the tree anything.
Then an afternoon of Six Nations Rugby. Italy 22 - 21 France. Couldn't believe it - finally the Italians do it. Was so happy. Then Wales 19 - 13 Ireland. My second and third favourite teams win and the matches were pretty exciting. I do hope England do well tomorrow against Scotland.
Had a lazy day. Beautiful sunshine so a quick turn round our little garden. It's time to prune the bay tree. We've decided to take out one of the 3 main trunks rather than prune all around. I hope lots of people want nice fresh organic bay leaves! I think I can call them organic. We certainly never give the tree anything.
Then an afternoon of Six Nations Rugby. Italy 22 - 21 France. Couldn't believe it - finally the Italians do it. Was so happy. Then Wales 19 - 13 Ireland. My second and third favourite teams win and the matches were pretty exciting. I do hope England do well tomorrow against Scotland.
Friday 11 March
This week has flown by. I've been concentrating on getting the essay finished but a brief summary:
Tuesday: Pancake Day. My beloved cooked me pancakes for dessert. They were fabulous - complete with lemon juice and sugar.
Wednesday: decided on a complete re-organisation of the essay. At my desk till 11.45pm but stopped for a bit of dinner (teaching at school as well)
Thursday: teaching, final proofread, photocopy. Spotted mistakes in the numbering of the appendices. Beloved helps. Correct essay.
Friday: teaching, final print out, (3,970 words, 14 appendices, 1 table), extra large envelope, rush to Post Office, pay for recorded delivery (£5.50 cos it weighed 460g). Get home, lie-down, snooze a bit and let all the stress melt away. Fish and chips for dinner with a tasty cider.
Phew. Now it's time to start on the next one.
Tuesday: Pancake Day. My beloved cooked me pancakes for dessert. They were fabulous - complete with lemon juice and sugar.
Wednesday: decided on a complete re-organisation of the essay. At my desk till 11.45pm but stopped for a bit of dinner (teaching at school as well)
Thursday: teaching, final proofread, photocopy. Spotted mistakes in the numbering of the appendices. Beloved helps. Correct essay.
Friday: teaching, final print out, (3,970 words, 14 appendices, 1 table), extra large envelope, rush to Post Office, pay for recorded delivery (£5.50 cos it weighed 460g). Get home, lie-down, snooze a bit and let all the stress melt away. Fish and chips for dinner with a tasty cider.
Phew. Now it's time to start on the next one.
Monday 7 March 2011
Monday 7 March
It's been a silly weekend for news. A father was at the police station in Bromley with his 13 year old son who was being interviewed for burglary. As the father heard what his son had been up to, he clipped him round the ear. The police then stopped the interview and arrested the father for assault. Madness. 8 SAS soldiers and a 'junior diplomat' got picked up in Benghazi but set free. What was that about? And the head of Barclays bank got a £6.5 million bonus for 2010. Beggars belief.
But being Monday it was a good day. A fine new intake of 14 students from Angola, Japan, S Korea, Germany, Sudan, China, Switzerland, France, Poland, Turkey and Colombia. What a mixture - they were all chatting away and getting to know each other.
The weather made me feel good too: it was cold, about 3C but really sunny and walking home in the sunshine was quite warm.
But being Monday it was a good day. A fine new intake of 14 students from Angola, Japan, S Korea, Germany, Sudan, China, Switzerland, France, Poland, Turkey and Colombia. What a mixture - they were all chatting away and getting to know each other.
The weather made me feel good too: it was cold, about 3C but really sunny and walking home in the sunshine was quite warm.
Sunday 6 March 2011
Sunday 6 March
It was my brother's birthday today so I phoned him to wish a happy birthday. He was having a great day - both their kids and partners were there and were spoiling him and he'd been out for a good meal. That's good: all birthdays should be enjoyable. Just because the clock is ticking doesn't mean that birthdays can be ignored. It's a time to relax and let people make a fuss of you.
Chippy had spent the night visiting friends close to us so he popped in for a cup of tea and toasted hot cross bun. Then Him Indoors finished off the chipping and I got back to the interminable essay.
We watched the last episode of 'Mad Dogs' which literally descended into madness. They're all very good actors and I kept getting the feeling of 'Lord of the Flies', with the glasses being broken just like Piggy's and putting on warpaint. But the ending was inconclusive with my beloved thinking one thing had happened and I thought they were all dead. Who knows? Maybe it was left like that so they could have a sequel.
Chippy had spent the night visiting friends close to us so he popped in for a cup of tea and toasted hot cross bun. Then Him Indoors finished off the chipping and I got back to the interminable essay.
We watched the last episode of 'Mad Dogs' which literally descended into madness. They're all very good actors and I kept getting the feeling of 'Lord of the Flies', with the glasses being broken just like Piggy's and putting on warpaint. But the ending was inconclusive with my beloved thinking one thing had happened and I thought they were all dead. Who knows? Maybe it was left like that so they could have a sequel.
Saturday 5 March
We've been planning to do some gardening for ages but it's been too cold to spend any time outside. So today it was time to bite the bullet and tackle the plants growing up the back of the house. We didn't do too much: just cut the virginia creeper down to the top of the door (it was up to the gutter) and the honeysuckle to the bottom of the window (a lot of it was dead and it had become very bulky). Him Indoors then got out the chipper and cut it all up for the compost, finishing it up with a little bonfire to get rid of the final bits. A good job done but we still need to do something with the trees. We've only got a small garden so it's important that they get pruned. The first one to do is the bay tree but we're still unsure of exactly which branches to chop out. Need to check the internet.
I'm fascinated by where readers of this blog come from. I can't believe that apart from the 4 I know have read it ('cos I've told them but haven't told many people so far), readers in USA, Canada, South Korea, Russia and Morocco have dipped in. On another blog I found a 'clustr map' which will track hits on a map of the world but it hasn't updated itself yet. It took a while to set up because I didn't follow the right steps at first: I wonder if I need to do anything else to get it working?
I'm fascinated by where readers of this blog come from. I can't believe that apart from the 4 I know have read it ('cos I've told them but haven't told many people so far), readers in USA, Canada, South Korea, Russia and Morocco have dipped in. On another blog I found a 'clustr map' which will track hits on a map of the world but it hasn't updated itself yet. It took a while to set up because I didn't follow the right steps at first: I wonder if I need to do anything else to get it working?
Saturday 5 March 2011
Friday 4 March
The directors made their annual visit to school today and held a meeting with all staff. They gave us a roundup of what was going on - new school in LA opening in April, our student numbers up 70%, full school and others in the group also doing well. They opened the floor to questions: usual ones - we need more parking (parking here? wow, you should see LA!), how about a drop box so we can ask questions at any time (they liked that one), and I asked if they would be investing in more technology, ie more IWBs, computers for students. Apparently a new IWB was put in this week and another next week, which is good to know as on Thursday afternoon the geography teacher, the maths teacher and I all wanted/needed the computer room. As I'd actually booked it, I got it but when you have 3 teachers all wanting the same room, things could get a little hairy. We get on fine, though so hopefully we won't fall out in the future.
The cafe had laid on a buffet lunch which was most acceptable. Not the usual curly sandwiches from the previous owners, but smoked salmon, various tasty salads and fresh sandwiches on quality bread with desserts too of strawberries and cream. I just had a double chocolate mini muffin.
Came home to find beloved Him Indoors cooking up a big chilli. He'd made the beans from scratch and was cooking it long and slow in the oven. Smelt (and tasted) excellent.
Just under a week to go before sending off the assignments. I've still not received any response to my outline which I sent off 2 weeks ago, so haven't really got started on that one and have been moving text around on the first one. I need to stop doing that and tie it down and send it off.
The cafe had laid on a buffet lunch which was most acceptable. Not the usual curly sandwiches from the previous owners, but smoked salmon, various tasty salads and fresh sandwiches on quality bread with desserts too of strawberries and cream. I just had a double chocolate mini muffin.
Came home to find beloved Him Indoors cooking up a big chilli. He'd made the beans from scratch and was cooking it long and slow in the oven. Smelt (and tasted) excellent.
Just under a week to go before sending off the assignments. I've still not received any response to my outline which I sent off 2 weeks ago, so haven't really got started on that one and have been moving text around on the first one. I need to stop doing that and tie it down and send it off.
Wednesday 2 March 2011
Wednesday 2 March
There was an article on BBC news website about the German Defence Minister having to resign because he'd plagiarised his PhD thesis. Over 50,000 academics had signed a petition for his removal. Plagiarism is a huge problem nowadays with easy access to the internet so I used the article in class. We practised reading quickly (but not sacrificing comprehension) and summarising and then read it intensively poring over such phrases as 'another nail in the coffin for democracy'. The students' reactions were interesting but mainly they thought that all politicians are corrupt - or why else would they be politicians - so why is anyone surprised when they cheat?
Went out for lunch unexpectedly. As I was walking home, my phone rang but by the time I fished it out of my bag it had stopped. It was HimIndoors so I called him back but before he picked up, he walked round the corner with Steve. They were on their way to the High Street to see about some food and wanted to know if I'd like to come too. I was honoured. We looked at a couple of places and ended up in one that did a meal and a drink for £8. I chose sausage and mash with parsnip crisps and a glass of sauvignon blanc and the boys had steak baguette and a glass of Merlot. No cooking tonight.
My new shoes that I ordered online arrived. I'm not that keen on shopping for shoes - the shops always seem to be in a muddle or it takes ages to get served by a stroppy assistant but online is risky because of the fit. But these fit perfectly - what a relief - and I like them too.
Went out for lunch unexpectedly. As I was walking home, my phone rang but by the time I fished it out of my bag it had stopped. It was HimIndoors so I called him back but before he picked up, he walked round the corner with Steve. They were on their way to the High Street to see about some food and wanted to know if I'd like to come too. I was honoured. We looked at a couple of places and ended up in one that did a meal and a drink for £8. I chose sausage and mash with parsnip crisps and a glass of sauvignon blanc and the boys had steak baguette and a glass of Merlot. No cooking tonight.
Tuesday 1 March 2011
Tuesday 1 March
I received an email today entitled 'Dental Recall'. I have all my own teeth so I felt slightly alarmed that part of my teeth were defective and being recalled. Usually we hear about defective cars being recalled to the factory to have their brakes checked or recently cakes and biscuits being taken off the supermarket shelves because they contained salmonella eggs from Germany. The email was actually sent by the reception manager at my usual dentist's so I read on: it said my 'oral health review is now due' so in other words, it was time for a checkup. Why didn't they say that? I think my grumpy old woman phase may have been in full flow, but the wording put me off making an appointment and I'm left wondering whether to mention it to my dentist when I see him.
On a lighter note, yesterday I mentioned to my beloved Him Indoors that I wasn't able to access some online journals without paying for articles. I gave him the name of one particular author and he very quickly found the whole body of work, including access to the journals that had barred me before. Excellent!
The ice cream shop in Covent Garden has been selling human breast milk and calling it 'Baby Gaga' but now it's been removed by Westminster Council while they check that it's fit for human consumption. Even the announcer on the news this evening seemed to find that amusing. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12615353
On a lighter note, yesterday I mentioned to my beloved Him Indoors that I wasn't able to access some online journals without paying for articles. I gave him the name of one particular author and he very quickly found the whole body of work, including access to the journals that had barred me before. Excellent!
The ice cream shop in Covent Garden has been selling human breast milk and calling it 'Baby Gaga' but now it's been removed by Westminster Council while they check that it's fit for human consumption. Even the announcer on the news this evening seemed to find that amusing. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12615353
Monday 28 February 2011
Monday 28 February
It made me smile today when I read on Facebook that friends in Indonesia were finding it 'cold' there. Sitting just below the equator it never gets lower than 29C during the day and if you're lucky down to 26C at the dead of night. Actually I've been really cold myself today but I noticed it was only 3C this afternoon. Brrr.
It was cold at school as well. The radiator wasn't on in the conference room for the new students, so everyone felt chilly. Had a staff meeting as well to discuss the panel results for the students' assignments and exams. We then went on to discuss students - the less said the better.
It was cold at school as well. The radiator wasn't on in the conference room for the new students, so everyone felt chilly. Had a staff meeting as well to discuss the panel results for the students' assignments and exams. We then went on to discuss students - the less said the better.
I thought my essay looked ok but then when I printed out my bibliography a lot of the sources were more than 5 years old so when I got home I started doing searches on the linguistics and language behaviour abstract database. Apparently I'm getting familiar with 'Boolean operators' (AND, OR, NOT) but the searches turned up loads of articles in journals that the university doesn't subscribe to. To read those articles, it costs £20 per go, so I just looked at the abstracts.
Watched the Kate Humble programme 'Spices' which we'd taped. It was on nutmeg and cloves in Indonesia. There are 17,000 islands that make up the country and she travelled to the 2 where these spices come from. She interacted so well with the people and it was beautifully done. I couldn't help smiling as I watched - they'd captured the friendliness and gentleness of the people so well.
Sunday 27 February 2011
Sunday 27 February
It's so annoying that I haven't gone completely grey yet. The white hair is coming through like an Alice band from ear to ear over the top of my head but my hairline is still more or less the same old colour. I've started using semi-permanent colour that's supposed to wash out after 24 shampoos. I used 'golden blonde' today which Him Indoors thought looked more 'mouse'. Oh well, only 24 shampoos to go. I look forward to the time when it's the same colour all over and I don't feel the need to go through all this.
Davey, a friend of ours is in a band sent us a clip from Youtube that was posted the other day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4Gevw2LbYY We haven't seen him playing live for a long time - must find out when he's next playing.
Spent rather a long afternoon on the esssay so it was great when wafts of delicious smells came upstairs as Him Indoors cooked a chicken curry, with lots of five spice powder this time. Was yummy. For some reason I was still ravenous after dinner, so he offered me fruit - very healthy. I ate a banana but still craved chocolate and lo and behold! There was some in the fridge. I only had a little bit, well 2 bits actually but I did feel I deserved them.
Davey, a friend of ours is in a band sent us a clip from Youtube that was posted the other day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4Gevw2LbYY We haven't seen him playing live for a long time - must find out when he's next playing.
Spent rather a long afternoon on the esssay so it was great when wafts of delicious smells came upstairs as Him Indoors cooked a chicken curry, with lots of five spice powder this time. Was yummy. For some reason I was still ravenous after dinner, so he offered me fruit - very healthy. I ate a banana but still craved chocolate and lo and behold! There was some in the fridge. I only had a little bit, well 2 bits actually but I did feel I deserved them.
Saturday 26 February
Why should he notice mine if I don't notice his? Him Indoors had obviously read my blog. I knew he hadn't had a haircut and in the end he had to tell me. Eyebrows. Touche.
It was pouring with rain so I drove him to the station to go uptown to meet Mr Badger et al for their birthday outing. I'd have like to have gone too, but this essay deadline is getting to close for comfort and I really need to get them finished.
Later on Emma and Dulcie, along with Georgy, Andrew and Thomas popped in. It was lovely to see the the two sisters with their two babies. Him Indoors made it home in time and we had loads of cuddles together, while he and Andrew watched the end of the rugby - well done England! With long drives ahead, our visitors had to leave but promised to visit again soon.
Nice day.
It was pouring with rain so I drove him to the station to go uptown to meet Mr Badger et al for their birthday outing. I'd have like to have gone too, but this essay deadline is getting to close for comfort and I really need to get them finished.
Later on Emma and Dulcie, along with Georgy, Andrew and Thomas popped in. It was lovely to see the the two sisters with their two babies. Him Indoors made it home in time and we had loads of cuddles together, while he and Andrew watched the end of the rugby - well done England! With long drives ahead, our visitors had to leave but promised to visit again soon.
Nice day.
Friday 25 February 2011
Friday 25 February
The second red sparkly barstool is now in situ and they both look good. Can't believe it took 4 round trips in the end - rather takes the edge off the 15% discount.
Thursday 24 February 2011
Thursday 24 February
The news is full of the evacuation of British citizens from Libya and I've noticed that the majority are expat oil workers, who therefore don't pay tax in UK. The British taxpayer is picking up the bill for their rescue and whilst I think the British government should be responsible for them, I also think that it's about time that expats paid taxes, just like the USA and Australia, rather than making no contribution whatsoever. Very controversial I know, but I've never met a poor expat oil company worker either.
I had my haircut yesterday. Tina's looked so great last Saturday that it inspired me to go. Wonder how long before it's noticed?
Still no reply re my outline so I've gone back to the assignment I wrote over Christmas. Naturally I've started re-working it and it's getting a bit unwieldy but I'm sure it'll be much better once I've finished. I'm hoping that I'll get some feedback on the other one tomorrow so that I can get down to it over the weekend. Then I'll have a week to hone and polish and send them both off by 12 March.
I had my haircut yesterday. Tina's looked so great last Saturday that it inspired me to go. Wonder how long before it's noticed?
Still no reply re my outline so I've gone back to the assignment I wrote over Christmas. Naturally I've started re-working it and it's getting a bit unwieldy but I'm sure it'll be much better once I've finished. I'm hoping that I'll get some feedback on the other one tomorrow so that I can get down to it over the weekend. Then I'll have a week to hone and polish and send them both off by 12 March.
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Had an email from Biobank today. http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/
Last year HimIndoors and I went along one Saturday afternoon for about 4 hours of tests. The results were sent off to researchers and the plan is to 'improve the health of future generations'. Apparently, all the information is anonymous but they are studying around half a million over 40 year olds. We only received limited information on the day, eg height, weight, BMI, blood pressure, but it included bone density which I found reassuring.
Anyway, the email wanted to know me what I ate and drank yesterday. It just happened to be a no alcohol day and I ate (drank?) home made chicken soup which HimIndoors had made from the carcass of the roast chicken on Sunday. No chocolate, cake or processed food whatsoever. Amazing.
Last year HimIndoors and I went along one Saturday afternoon for about 4 hours of tests. The results were sent off to researchers and the plan is to 'improve the health of future generations'. Apparently, all the information is anonymous but they are studying around half a million over 40 year olds. We only received limited information on the day, eg height, weight, BMI, blood pressure, but it included bone density which I found reassuring.
Anyway, the email wanted to know me what I ate and drank yesterday. It just happened to be a no alcohol day and I ate (drank?) home made chicken soup which HimIndoors had made from the carcass of the roast chicken on Sunday. No chocolate, cake or processed food whatsoever. Amazing.
Monday 21 February 2011
Only 9 for intake today but a lovely group. Part of the talk is about respect for other cultures and international experience and I could see them nodding about that. Certainly, it's true that they meet men and women who are completely different to them in every way.
Another session at my desk. Must get the outline done quickly.
Another session at my desk. Must get the outline done quickly.
Sunday 20 February 2011
A slow start but at my desk early and cracking on with essay outline. Emma came to get her wallet which had fallen out in the car and she stayed for a delish sandwich made by my beloved Him Indoors.
Sunday 20 February 2011
Saturday 19 February
Up early, breakfast in bed and out by 10am as spending the day in Deal with an old friend and her gorgeous little baby daughter. A bit of fog on the way down and managed to get slightly lost in the town before finding her house but at the pub just after 12.30 for lunch. It was really cold, probably the coldest I've ever been in a pub, but it was a lovely afternoon. Eventually we were 7 adults and 2 little girls round a big comfortable table. The girls were beautifully behaved and when we left the bar staff were very friendly and smiley towards us, so they were likely besotted too.
Five of us then went on for a curry which wasn't bad and tried to work out who the large table of men were. After quickly deciding they were probably friends rather than colleagues and out on a low-key stag night, we got bored with them and didn't even notice when they left.
Apart from a half of cider with lunch, I'd been drinking coffee and soda water so drove home, in silence apart from occasional snores and snufflings from He Who Had Consumed A Few Pints As Well As A Curry. There was a lot of fog between Deal and Dover and I felt envious of our friends who live in Ashford as we drove past and on up the M20 but arrived home safely at half past midnight. A grand day out, but next time we go to Deal I really must have a look at the town and the seafront as well, not just the inside of pubs and restaurants.
Five of us then went on for a curry which wasn't bad and tried to work out who the large table of men were. After quickly deciding they were probably friends rather than colleagues and out on a low-key stag night, we got bored with them and didn't even notice when they left.
Apart from a half of cider with lunch, I'd been drinking coffee and soda water so drove home, in silence apart from occasional snores and snufflings from He Who Had Consumed A Few Pints As Well As A Curry. There was a lot of fog between Deal and Dover and I felt envious of our friends who live in Ashford as we drove past and on up the M20 but arrived home safely at half past midnight. A grand day out, but next time we go to Deal I really must have a look at the town and the seafront as well, not just the inside of pubs and restaurants.
Friday 18 February
How annoying. One of the exchanged bar stools had the gas thingy missing. Him Indoors now needs to go back again to Homebase. The single one is in place now and looks fine, reasonably comfortable too.
Did the last IELTS mock today and its the exam for real tomorrow. They all did quite well in the listening - maybe they do listen to me sometimes! It's fingers crossed for tomorrow but the results won't be out for 2 weeks. They already have 5.5 but need a minimum of 6 for university and 7 for a 'good' one, so it'll be interesting to see how much they've progressed.
Another report came out today re the government's proposal to limit student visas which focused only on universities and didn't include language schools, which would also be hit badly. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12496610 Anyone wanting to go to university here in the future will need to already be at university level English and won't be able to come here at a lower level than that to learn our language. Apparently foreign students are worth £5 bn a year to our economy and only about 30% are already at university level. The idea is that bogus students who just want to become illegal immigrants will be prevented from entering and going to fake schools. However, rather than closing down the fakes by insisting that all language schools have British Council status (which all the good ones do and are subject to a 4 days inspection every 3-4 years) the proposal is that all schools will close, including universities' foundation courses. I may write to my MP again about this but after the last bout of communication with him, I doubt there'd be much point
Did the last IELTS mock today and its the exam for real tomorrow. They all did quite well in the listening - maybe they do listen to me sometimes! It's fingers crossed for tomorrow but the results won't be out for 2 weeks. They already have 5.5 but need a minimum of 6 for university and 7 for a 'good' one, so it'll be interesting to see how much they've progressed.
Another report came out today re the government's proposal to limit student visas which focused only on universities and didn't include language schools, which would also be hit badly. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12496610 Anyone wanting to go to university here in the future will need to already be at university level English and won't be able to come here at a lower level than that to learn our language. Apparently foreign students are worth £5 bn a year to our economy and only about 30% are already at university level. The idea is that bogus students who just want to become illegal immigrants will be prevented from entering and going to fake schools. However, rather than closing down the fakes by insisting that all language schools have British Council status (which all the good ones do and are subject to a 4 days inspection every 3-4 years) the proposal is that all schools will close, including universities' foundation courses. I may write to my MP again about this but after the last bout of communication with him, I doubt there'd be much point
Wednesday 16 February 2011
Wednesday 16 February
Been a busy few days. The bar stools were a bit of a dead loss. One was black instead of sparkly red and neither of them had the correct fixings so you could put them together. Him Indoors went back and spoke to oxymoron 'customer service' who couldn't understand why he'd returned to the original store rather than going to Kidbrooke. Where? Precisely. He steeled himself to go to Orpington instead where they had a much better idea of service and brought home 2 sparkly red stools. They're still in their boxes in the garage but should be in their rightful place tomorrow.
We've had some good weather and spring flowers are coming out. The days are getting longer which is good because it's been a bit grim getting up in the dark and then walking home just after five in the pitch black on my late day.
Having started by saying that it's been a busy few days, I can't remember what made them seem so full, apart from work and studying. Oh, and down on my hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor. After all the workmen it was in a bad way and really needed close attention. Took ages too.
We've had some good weather and spring flowers are coming out. The days are getting longer which is good because it's been a bit grim getting up in the dark and then walking home just after five in the pitch black on my late day.
Having started by saying that it's been a busy few days, I can't remember what made them seem so full, apart from work and studying. Oh, and down on my hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor. After all the workmen it was in a bad way and really needed close attention. Took ages too.
Saturday 12 February 2011
Saturday 12 February
Was up first and made the coffee then had a lazy morning with a rare bacon and egg breakfast before braving Homebase which was having a 15% off day. There was a very long queue along the road but luckily it was just roadworks, not millions of people going mad on DIY stuff. Bought a thin greenhouse which should just fit along our side path and 2 bar stools for the kitchen. Not sure about the stools - they're a sparkly red colour but they were more comfortable than the black ones.
Watched England thrash Italy. I felt quite sad about that, not because I wanted England to lose because I really enjoy supporting them. It's just that I admire Italy playing a game that traditionally they've not been good at but have improved tremendously over the last 10 years that they've been part of the 6 Nations. Italy's also my third favourite. Wales is second, with France fourth. Ireland and Scotland battle it out between them to be my least favourite. You can imagine how I felt that Wales beat Scotland today - yippee!
Then I had to finish off my exam marking and doing second marking. It's such a long, drawn-out process having to go back and forth, but it all has to go before the moderating panel so it has to be absolutely watertight.
Watched England thrash Italy. I felt quite sad about that, not because I wanted England to lose because I really enjoy supporting them. It's just that I admire Italy playing a game that traditionally they've not been good at but have improved tremendously over the last 10 years that they've been part of the 6 Nations. Italy's also my third favourite. Wales is second, with France fourth. Ireland and Scotland battle it out between them to be my least favourite. You can imagine how I felt that Wales beat Scotland today - yippee!
Then I had to finish off my exam marking and doing second marking. It's such a long, drawn-out process having to go back and forth, but it all has to go before the moderating panel so it has to be absolutely watertight.
Friday 11 February 2011
Friday 11 February
Not a good start to the day. I expect to be the last one in the classroom so when I only had one student this morning because all the rest were in the garden smoking, I'm afraid I hit the roof. I marched downstairs, herded them up and then read the riot act. My boss joined in too and then when he left the room, I gave them a little bit more of a rant. For the whole of the rest of the morning, they were as quiet as mice. I must admit I loaded them up with homework, so it'll be interesting to see which of them really felt contrite. My other class obviously heard that I'd been on the warpath and they were very good too. Maybe I should shout more often - we certainly got an awful lot of work done today without all the usual mucking about.
Our garage door has gone pink. It looked an odd colour this morning when I went to work and then I realised that it had been open while the tiler was cutting bits up and all that dust has stuck to it. We need a bit of rain to wash it off and make it nice and white again.
Disappointed to learn that Spurs has not won the Olympic stadium bid. I don't really care about football but I did want Crystal Palace athletic ground to be upgraded. In all the fuss about the Olympics, south London has really lost out and despite all of us paying extra council tax the same as those north of the river, we've not had any benefit whatsoever from all this 2012 Olympics. Spurs had promised to upgrade Crystal Palace to make it world class again so that they wouldn't have to share but it seems that West Ham with all their promises of public money are the favoured team.
Thursday 10 February 2011
Thursday 10 February
Adam, the tiler, finished today and it's looking excellent. He was very polite when I pointed out a couple of bits that weren't quite perfect and promised to improve them - which he did. When I came home he'd already been gone a few hours and my darling Him Indoors had started the clean-up. Good man.
Him Indoors has just signed up to be a 'snow friend' with the local Council. By promising to clear the pavement outside, he's been given a huge orange snow shovel and a big bag of salt. The salt can only be used on the pavement of course but the shovel will come in handy for clearing our driveway as well. Can't wait for the next batch of snow.
Opened a bottle of rose this evening that was in the mixed case I bought a few weeks ago. It was really sweet so I think the other bottles will be going down to the cornish cousins where it will be better appreciated.
One of the MP expenses fiddlers Eric Illsley was finally sentenced today. I was disappointed to see that he only got 12 months. He has a law degree so he knew that he was breaking the law not like some uneducated benefits cheat. I hope he loses his pension as well but somehow I suspect that the MPs have made sure that none of their kind lose out on anything.
Him Indoors has just signed up to be a 'snow friend' with the local Council. By promising to clear the pavement outside, he's been given a huge orange snow shovel and a big bag of salt. The salt can only be used on the pavement of course but the shovel will come in handy for clearing our driveway as well. Can't wait for the next batch of snow.
Opened a bottle of rose this evening that was in the mixed case I bought a few weeks ago. It was really sweet so I think the other bottles will be going down to the cornish cousins where it will be better appreciated.
One of the MP expenses fiddlers Eric Illsley was finally sentenced today. I was disappointed to see that he only got 12 months. He has a law degree so he knew that he was breaking the law not like some uneducated benefits cheat. I hope he loses his pension as well but somehow I suspect that the MPs have made sure that none of their kind lose out on anything.
Wednesday 9 February
My lessons for the next month are all exam preparation so when a colleague said she'd like to observe me sometime during the next couple of weeks I tried to put her off by telling her that . It's also true that I don't enjoy being observed but it's something we have to put up with.
The tiler finally came today. For one reason and another, he's had to delay. I was horrified at the quote he gave us, thinking that the job would only take half a day. It turns out, it's very difficult to do and it'll take him 2 days. At the end of the first day, it's looking good but the whole house is full of tile dust. Hopefully we'll be able to get back to normal by the weekend.
The tiler finally came today. For one reason and another, he's had to delay. I was horrified at the quote he gave us, thinking that the job would only take half a day. It turns out, it's very difficult to do and it'll take him 2 days. At the end of the first day, it's looking good but the whole house is full of tile dust. Hopefully we'll be able to get back to normal by the weekend.
One of my pet peeves at the moment is the use of 'amount' instead of 'number', as in 'a huge amount of people'. It should be 'a huge number of people'. You can of course say 'a huge amount of beer' so the difference is that any word that you can count, ie 265 people, 5 houses, we use 'number' and any word that we don't count, we use 'amount'. Someone will naturally point out that we do count beers, but it's actually the pints or measurements of beer that we count, not the liquid itself.
Tuesday 8 February 2011
Tuesday 8 February
A beautiful sunny day and a couple of cats in the garden. They visit fairly regularly and we call them No 1 and No 2. No 1 is cross-eyed and stares and No 2 is very timid but unfortunately both of them seem scared of company and won't let us stroke them. Well, sometimes him indoors manages to get close enough but they manage to stay out of reach of me - good spatial awareness, I suppose.
More marking and received extra PDFs of scripts to double mark from our other school. It's interesting to see comments from those teachers and how high their standards are.
Some high-brow and some low-brow stuff on TV, starting with University Challenge, going on to Gok, finishing up with a bit of Dancing (something or other, can't remember the name but it's on Sky). Don't think much of the dancing usually but I do like the judges, especially Ashley and Kimberley. They don't make a point of being nasty and are usually kind but they are honest.
More marking and received extra PDFs of scripts to double mark from our other school. It's interesting to see comments from those teachers and how high their standards are.
Some high-brow and some low-brow stuff on TV, starting with University Challenge, going on to Gok, finishing up with a bit of Dancing (something or other, can't remember the name but it's on Sky). Don't think much of the dancing usually but I do like the judges, especially Ashley and Kimberley. They don't make a point of being nasty and are usually kind but they are honest.
Monday 7 February 2011
I like Mondays. It's intake day and I get to meet all the new students - well, not just meet them but spend the whole morning with them. I test them, give them information, we do a quiz together and then they spend time speaking, while I stay out of it so as to not inhibit them. There were 26 today with ages between 18 and 61 from Europe, South America and Asia. A really nice group who got on well.
I did exam marking when I got home - not my favourite task and then this evening watched the radio 2 Folk Awards on the BBC red button. It was good: I don't think I listen to enough music. I'd heard of some of them like Bellowhead but some were new like the 3 young lads who won the newcomers award. They thanked their mums and dads for driving them around. An oldie who should never had been invited to sing was Donovan. He received a lifetime achievement award which he accepted with an exceptionally long rambling speech and then proceeded to horrify everyone with 2 songs that I didn't like 40 years ago. The Levellers won an award too. I liked them but still think the folk link is a bit too tenuous even if they do call themselves 'green anarchists influenced by traditional music'
I did exam marking when I got home - not my favourite task and then this evening watched the radio 2 Folk Awards on the BBC red button. It was good: I don't think I listen to enough music. I'd heard of some of them like Bellowhead but some were new like the 3 young lads who won the newcomers award. They thanked their mums and dads for driving them around. An oldie who should never had been invited to sing was Donovan. He received a lifetime achievement award which he accepted with an exceptionally long rambling speech and then proceeded to horrify everyone with 2 songs that I didn't like 40 years ago. The Levellers won an award too. I liked them but still think the folk link is a bit too tenuous even if they do call themselves 'green anarchists influenced by traditional music'
Sunday 6 February 2011
Sunday 6 February 2011
A friend who knows told me I really should blog, if only to remind myself in the future of what I'd been up to. I was reluctant because I feared I might just whinge all the time and/or just be boring - so if nothing else this may prove if I have become a grumpy middle-aged woman.
A slight hangover this morning following yesterday's Beer Festival. I don't normally drink ale but they were good, especially Battledown. However, we were up early to visit a friend who's not been well. He was much better than we'd feared and we had a good time chatting, drinking coffee, eating muffins and generally admiring their lovely new apartment with a great view over the park. I like to have a garden but if I had to live in an apartment, that's definitely where I'd choose.
On the train on the way home, there were people with their feet on the seats. I want to tell them not to but Him Indoors doesn't like it if I do that - he thinks they may hit me, or even worse, hit him - but it really does annoy me. It's OK if you're wearing jeans when you sit down and get something nasty on you but not if you're a bit dressed up in a nice coat.
A slight hangover this morning following yesterday's Beer Festival. I don't normally drink ale but they were good, especially Battledown. However, we were up early to visit a friend who's not been well. He was much better than we'd feared and we had a good time chatting, drinking coffee, eating muffins and generally admiring their lovely new apartment with a great view over the park. I like to have a garden but if I had to live in an apartment, that's definitely where I'd choose.
On the train on the way home, there were people with their feet on the seats. I want to tell them not to but Him Indoors doesn't like it if I do that - he thinks they may hit me, or even worse, hit him - but it really does annoy me. It's OK if you're wearing jeans when you sit down and get something nasty on you but not if you're a bit dressed up in a nice coat.
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