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.
Thursday, 30 June 2011
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.
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