First day back!

Today was the first day of my final teaching practice.

The school I am at is very different to the one where I completed my last teaching practice. The department has 3 male teachers, approaching retirement, all the female staff, bar one, qualified in the last 2 - 3 years, straight from university. The result of this is that I feel very old! Another student started in the department today. She is 21! We were discussing Chernobyl at one point and, while I wrote an essay about it at university, most of the other teachers couldn't remember it happening, and the other student teacher wasn't even born!!

My previous school was highly organised prior to my arrival. My email was up and running, I had network access as soon as I arrived, this is not the case here, and I have yet to see schemes of work and class lists for the classes I am teaching - despite requesting these some time ago. I am sure the kinks will be worked out and I will soon feel at home and at ease. The pupils seem friendly and the classes I have are varied and present challenges and opportunities. I am slightly concerned that a couple of the teachers I am teaching for have suggested that they will take the trouble makers out of the class and teach them separately. Part of me wants to jump at this chance of getting rid of the 'bad boys,' but that feels like taking the easy way out. When I am qualified I won't have the luxury of ignoring the trouble makers!

Other challenges involve getting used to a two week timetable, lessons that are different lengths throughout the day, and a compressed timetable on Wednesdays (shorter breaks and no tutor time allowing for an early finish for students and lots of lovely after school meetings for staff).

Only 49 more days to go!

I can jump puddles...

... but I'm not very good at landings!

I've had a lovely couple of days in York, staying at the beautiful Middlethorpe Hall. Husbando was exhibiting his books at the York Bookfair, I was helping out and generally getting a bit of a break. Unbeknownst (isn't that a fabulous word?) to me, husbando had arranged to meet up with my lovely friend Andrya. Andrya now lives in Preston which means we don't see nearly enough of each other. We had a lovely day, lunch, mooching around the sales, catching up on gossip, that sort of thing.

I had a lovely run in the rain on Friday. Cold and miserable doesn't begin to describe it. After a very hot bath I took myself off to the Designer Outlet Mall for a little retail therapy. I've never been a huge fan of sales, outlet malls etc. I hate rifling through rails of clothes that are all mixed up, only to find that the one thing I vaguely fancy buying is only in a size 24! That said, I never give up hope, and on Friday was rewarded by a barginacious dress from Phase Eight and a selection of tops from Wolsey.

After a boozy early meal that evening we went to the cinema to see 'The King's Speech', easily the best film I have seen in a very long time. GO AND SEE IT NOW! Compelling viewing, beautifully acted with wonderful cinamatography.

We got home late on Saturday evening, today husbando is up in London at yet another bookfair, and I am supposed to be getting ready for my final teaching practice. I won't mention which school I am at here, in case I later say something about the school! I've been achieving simply amazing levels of procrastination. I've tidied my daughters' room, done the laundry, been to the supermarket, and been for a run.

The weather is beautiful. Blue skies, bright sunshine, such a lovely change from rain, drizzle, snow and grey skies. I set off on one of my favourite routes, I've been running in the town due to the grim weather, but wanted to see some green today.

It was not easy going, once I was off the main drag between the villages I had to tread carefully to avoid slipping. At one point (a mile and a quarter into my 6 mile run) I jumped up on the verge and ran along there because a car was approaching. I ran along the verge for a while and

then decided that, as the car had passed I should

return to the road. There was a huge puddle, about 20' long and 4' wide, which looked very deep. No worries, I though, I'll just jump over it! Jumping over it was fine, landing was not! I landed on one foot (the one in the photo) which just carried on sliding. Luckily I slid away from the puddle so did not land in the puddle, but I did end up sliding across the road on my side! I took a few seconds to check that no one was there to see me, and then pondered how I would proceed. I took it cautiously for the rest of the run, knowing that I knew people in both the villages I would be running through, so if I needed too I would probably be able to get a lift home. My lovely, purple, Asics Kayanos are a little bit the worse for wear, as is my thigh! It always amazes me that a relatively minor fall like this can jar one's whole body. I ache all over now!

Books!

Inspired by Decembermum's blog post, I though I'd share the list of books I read in 2010. I've been keeping a list since April 2003 in a little black book by my bed. I am well down on previous years, but I note that over the past few years the number of books I have read has been steadily decreasing. I don't include books I have read for my studies unless they have been so well written and amusing that I would choose to read them in preference to a novel or autobiography! Looking down the list there is just one such book.

So here's the list:

They Were Sisters - Dorothy Whipple

The Bone Garden - Tess Gerritsen

Rifling Through My Drawers - Clarrissa Dickson Wright

Blazing Obscurity - Cive James

Juliet, Naked - Nick Hornby

The Woods - Harlan Coben

Bad Science - Ben Goldacre

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

Long Lost - Harlan Coben

The Complaints - Ian Rankin

Push - Sapphire

Hold Tight - Harlan Coben

One Day - David Nicholls

The Final Detail - Harlan Coben

Last Night In Twisted River - John Irving

Careless In Red - Elizabeth George

No Second Chance - Harlan Coben

The Girl Who Played With Fire - Steig Larsson

Doors Open - Ian Rankin

Company of Liars - Karen Maitland

Never Say Die - Tess Gerritsen

Hooked on a Murtder - Betty Hechtman

Mariane - Monica Dickens

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - Steig Larsson

The Unit - Ninni Holmqvist

The Ghost - Robert Harris

Night Music - Jojo Moyes

The Help - Kate Stockett

The Savage Garden - Mark Mills

House Rules - Jodi Picoult

The Carbon Diaries - Saci Lloyd

The 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoel - David Mitchell (not of Mitchell and Webb fame!)

Relentless - Simon Kernick

Slap - Christos Tsiolkas

My Life in France - Julia Child & Alex Prudhomme

French Women Don't Get Fat - Mireille Guiliano

Traitor To Memory - Elizabeth George

Dead Tomorrow - Peter James

Picture Perfect - Jodi Picould

Dead Like You - Peter James

The Corrections - Jonathan Frantzen

Moab Is My Washpot - Stephen Fry

At Home: A Short History Of Private Life - Bill Bryson

Excellent Women - Barbara Pym

Ice Cream Girls - Dorothy Komson

Day After Night - Anita Diament

Stories We Could Tell - Tony Parsons

Sisters - Rosamund Lupton

Play Dead - Harlan Coben

Bleeding Hearts - Ian Rankin writing as Jack Harvey

The Children's Book - AS Byatt

The Fry Chronicles - Stephen Fry

Then Again Maybe I Won't - Judy Blume

Tipping The Velvet - Sarah Waters

Long Time Coming - Robert Goddard

The Snowman - Jo Nesbo

Target - Simon Kernick

A Perfectly Good Family - Lionel Schriver

Brooklyn - Colm Tobin

Noughts & Crosses - Malorie Blackman

A Very Private Gentleman (The American) - Martin Booth

Jasper Jones - Craig Silvey

U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton

How To Teach - Phil Beadle (yes, really, it is laugh out loud funny!)

Any Human Heart - William Boyd

I make that 65 - which looking back is the same number as for 2009 and 2008. So the decline seems to have reached a plateau! In 2004 I read 110 books - life must have been much easier with only 4 children in the house - and the numbers have fallen since then!

First Race of the Year!

I have done my first race of the year! About a week ago I noticed a sign for a 3mile 'Fun Run/Walk' at Lasham Airfield. £5 entry fee, with proceeds going to Help for Heroes. Who could say no to a local race, with a low entry fee in aid of such a good cause? The fact that it was to start at 11.30am on New Year's Day did give me pause for thought, more because I was worried about possibly being over the drink driving limit after the celebrations the night before. Facebook came to my rescue. I noticed that a friend was thinking of doing the race, and blagged a lift.

I woke this morning feeling a little bit fragile. The two paracetamol and vitamin C taken as I went to bed and again when I woke, briefly, at 6.30am did not totally stave off my hangover, and as I cooked bacon and eggs for the children and our friends I did wonder if I would make it out of the house. But when you have planned to do something with someone else you can't let them down, so I left the house at 11am, trying to hold body, soul and stomach contents together.

The atmosphere was informal as we gathered in the clubhouse, there were only about 60 or 70 foolhardy people there, the race was started by a lady with the most amazingly shaggy furry boots ever, we were told to stay off the grass and then off we set. Being an airfield, the route around the peri-track was very flat. I set off well, running the first third of a mile *far* too fast (approx. 5.5 min/mile pace) and made an effort to slow down. The field was very spread out, and by 1 mile I was in 6th place, a long way behind the winner but with a huge distance between me and the nearest person behind me. I'd had a bit of a chat with him as, although I don't know him, we'd run bits of the Alton 10 last May together, so it only seemed polite to say hello as first he overtook me and then I overtook him. We both agreed we were running too fast! How I managed it is a mystery - I had a couple of moments when I thought I was going to lose the contents of my stomach!

I maintained my position in 6th place for the last 2 miles, I'd like to have overtaken the only woman ahead of me, but, in my defence, she was younger than me and looked much fitter! Being a flat course I could see all the runners ahead of me as we made our way around the runway. A small 'plane taxied and took off while we were running - I didn't expect that as I thought that the reason the race was held on New Year's Day was because the airfield was closed.

As I approached the finish line I picked up the pace and finished in 23mins 21seconds - a personal best for 5k. I had thought that I would set a slow pace, due to self inflicted malaise, that I could then take pleasure in beating later in the year. Not sure if I'll beat this one for a while!

Coffee in the clubhouse after the race with my friend, she was running for the first time since 1991 - she achieved the first of her new year's resolutions before lunchtime! I love running and runners! There can't be many sports where you get as big a cheer for coming last as you do for winning.

All in all, a nice little race. I'll probably do it next year!

Happy 2011 to you all.

On a day like today.

On a day like today I wish believed in an after life. On a day like today I can see why people do. On a day like today it would be hugely comforting to believe that a person 'lived on' after their time on Earth was over.

I don't believe this, so when I hear that someone has died I know that I will never see them again. There will be no sitting on clouds, looking down on loved ones and watching over them.

I heard today that an old friend of ours died on Christmas Eve. He was 48 years old. I have so many great, happy memories of times spent with him. I also have feelings of guilt. For two short periods of our friendship I was so cross with him, once for something he hadn't actually done, and once for something he did do, but who the hell am I to judge, that I was not a good friend to him. I can't do anything about that now. I'd love to offer up a 'sorry' to him, but he won't hear it. To be honest, I am not sure he was aware that I was cross, and we were on good terms again, so the guilt is just my self absorption I suppose!

Life is too short and too precious. We have one life, and one life only. Sometimes that life is far too short. There's a lot to be said for living each day as though it were our last.

RIP Nigel. I, and many, many others will miss you greatly.

What is it with me and losing things in France?

'That was the best Christmas ever!'

Not just my words, but those of all the family!

We left home at about 3pm on Christmas Eve and drove down to Maisons Laffitte to stay in Cerys & Paul's house, while they were back in England staying with their families. We didn't bring presents with us, as there would be no room in the car if we did, but Santa managed to arrange stocking presents for the children. Arriving late in the evening, the children put on their traditional new pair of PJs (from Father Christmas) and went to bed. Luckily they were all tired and didn't take long to drop off. They did wake early. Very early! I normally have to wake my children up, but they woke up at 6am French time! That is 5am UK time and far too early for me to be civil to anyone - even though Cerys had left the caffeinated ground coffee easily accessible! We managed to put them off until 7am, and then they all piled in to open their stocking presents. Sonic screwdrivers, watches, autobiographies (Keith Richards) and toothbrushes were all well received.

After a quick breakfast followed by topping up the oil in the car (pesky warning lights) we set off for Disney. I've never seen the roads as empty - it is normally stop start traffic until about 15km before you get there. I noticed that the small boulangeries, tabacs and cafés were open - even though it was only 8.30am!

Disney was chilly, about minus 4c, when we arrived, and didn't seem to get much warmer during the day. We realised that various children had forgotten their gloves, so headed into a shop to buy some more. I'd just paid and we did the normal count up of children when we realised Esmé was missing. I wasn't worried, as normally when one can't find a child they are engrossed in something on the other side of a display and you locate them a minute or so later. This didn't happen. We scooted around looking for her, having told the other 4 to stay in one place and not to move on pain of death! We started shouting her name, but still couldn't find her. We asked to speak to someone about a missing child and were asked how long she had been missing for - I said 'about 15 minutes' they told me they would file a report when she had been missing for 30! I tried to have a hissy fit in broken French, he tried to calm me down in broken English. I was torn between getting this man to do his job and running round the park looking for a small girl in a pink ski coat, and believe me there must have been hundreds of small girls in bright pink ski jackets!

Eventually, after half an hour, he took me to 'Lost Children' to fill in a report. No one would believe that she had a 'Pink hat with a pig on it!' They made pig noises at me and asked if I was sure, I said yes, and then remembered my camera and showed them a picture taken just as we arrived showing madam with her Peppa Pig hat! Forms were filled, 'phone numbers exchanged so that they could 'phone me 'if they found her' and I could 'phone them 'if' we found her! I wasn't mad on the use of the word 'if' or the suggestion that I go off and enjoy my day until she turned up again!

Luckily, just as I was finishing this process, as with all things French a lot of paperwork was involved, and about 45/50 minutes after we had first noticed she was gone, Joshua spotted her. She was chatting away to a French lady and walking back towards the shop. She'd gone out of the shop, all the way up to find the Slinky Dog ride (how did she remember how to get there? The last time she was there was September!) and then back again. She was quite bemused when I burst into tears and kept hugging her! She was very pleased with herself and had enjoyed her adventure!

The rest of the day was great fun! Lots of rides, minimal queues, and all of us knackered by about 3pm! We left Disney, stopped at a boulangerie in Maisons Laffitte to pick up some bread, and went 'home' to make supper! Pasta may not be a traditional choice for Christmas dinner, but we've had it before (by popular demand) and will probably have it again! This was followed by Doctor Who, and reasonably early nights all round!

Boxing Day followed a similar pattern, with unwrapping of presents replaced by packing of car! Disney was busier, but not excessively so. It was much colder, minus 6c when we arrived! We didn't do as much today, picking and choosing rides where we wouldn't have to wait too long and which would offer some warmth!

We are back home in England now, and will open presents tomorrow. It has been a lovely Christmas, very different to normal, but very nice all the same. We are hugely grateful to Cerys and Paul for letting us use their house as a base! I can't believe how stress free the whole weekend was (well, apart from losing Esmé!) It was far more relaxed than a weekend at home!

I've deferred.

I deferred my entry for the Brighton marathon this morning. There is no way I can train for what would be my first marathon and do my final teaching practice. I am still debating what to do about the Bath half marathon, which is only 11 weeks away and two weeks before my teaching practice ends. I want to run this race. I've run 10 milers when unfit and unwell. I finished Paris to Versailles thinking that I could do a few more miles if no one threw another hill at me, but I really don't know how knackered I'll be in a new school. I guess I will just see how it goes and defer nearer the time.

There are other races. I will do Paris to Versailles again, there is the Alton 10 in May, and the Royal Parks Half Marathon in November, so it isn't as though this is my one and only chance to run a race, but I hate, hate, hate not doing something I have committed to do.

Went to the gym again this evening as it is still too icy outside to run. I ran for 35 minutes on the horrible treadmill, covering 6.8km. To try to alleviate boredom I varied the pace, running most of the way at 10.5kph and throwing in the odd 500m at anything between 13 and 14.5kph. My head finds it hard to work out speeds and distances in metric, as I am an Imperial girl, but I think that I averaged about 8.17min/mile. More variety was added by my accidentally hitting the 'Emergency Stop' button and wondering what the hell was going on as the treadmill stopped rather quickly! The button is large, obviously very sensitive and located in the middle of a bar directly in front of my running position, so, as I leant forward to alter the speed I think I must have knocked the button with my arm - gave me quite a shock!

After the treadmill I did a quick session on the power plates. They are great for stretching out overworked muscles, and I like to think that the strength work I do on there makes up for the fact I hate lifting weights, doing squats, press ups and sit ups!

In other news, we are cautiously optimistic about our trip to Paris. Friends have just done the reverse journey and lived to tell the tale. I've also taught my older daughter to knit! I haven't done anything 'crafty' in a long while, but a couple of weeks ago I discovered a 'new' wool shop. New is in inverted commas because it has been there for four years, and I must have driven past it hundreds of times, but one Friday evening I saw someone walking into the shop and noticed it for the first time. The Inter Knit Cafe in Farnham is lovely! A huge range of yarns and accessories and the owner was friendly and helpful. I bought a couple of skeins of yarn, some funky new needles and set about knitting a new scarf in a feather and fan pattern. Kitty has been eyeing this scarf covetously as it grows, but she is not having it! Instead I taught her to knit this afternoon. Chunky yarn and 8mm needles mean that the 25-30 rows she has completed look like she has done a lot of work! Teaching her wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be. She picked it up pretty quickly and only came to me when she dropped a stitch or got confused. Mind you, she has only learnt to knit, not purl, and I did cast on for her! I'll try to remember to post a picture when she's finished.

I wonder if I should get the boys to take up knitting? It has to be better than a DS, but then again I am not sure if it is a good idea to give them weapons to poke each other with...