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?
Wednesday 18 May 2011
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?
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