Mad Teacher

The month rather than any person I may or may not own called June.

Half term came and went - actually that was May I think, anyway we went to the Cotswolds for a few days to celebrate my father-in-law’s birthday. It was cold.

We bought a bbq which we have put together but haven’t used yet.

We went to see the Pet Shop Boys at the O2 Arena. It was fabulous and I wondered why we don’t do that sort of thing more often - I’m told it’s the cost - and getting back on the tube at the end of the evening. Have a look at some rather distant photos at the bottom (I can’t seem to put them amongst the text so am not even trying).

I took a group of kids to London to look at some great places of worship and they seemed to enjoy it.

We survived an inspection at work - stressful but successful. I still disagree with the whole thing, not that schools shouldn’t be checked but all it succeeds in doing is putting schools that are struggling under more pressure and speed them along the road to illness and failure.

Got very hot when singing in a Church with the group of people I sing with (makes sense).

Watched some tennis but not as much as I sometimes watch.

Typed up Deanery Synod meeting notes six weeks after the meeting - strangely I could remember very little but had scribbled down some notes. These included “we miss our thumbs”, “some people have something to say about everything”, “emotional and practical support”, “interesting water jug* with plastic cups”, “Huzzah” and “joy”. As you will detect not a great meeting, though my personal highlight was when we were told to get into small groups and the woman immediately in front of me turned round and told me to talk to the people behind me because she already knew the person she was sharing her pew with. I did feel loved.

*It wasn’t that interesting, it was a jug of the style that is often used for communion.

(In a small sense really)

• Get fit
• Visit new places
• Jigsaw puzzles
• Creative projects
• Cook more interesting foods

But really I’m happy really, i just look up and see lots of jigsaws that I would really like to do but haven’t done yet. This also makes it a bit awkward when I want to buy a new one and really can’t justify it because I still have some to do. (The one that makes me smile most is one I got back from a friend for Christmas when I gave it to her for her birthday - she genuinely seems to have not realised this fact.)

I was catching up on some long over due marking the other day and found myself in fits of laughter. The topic was Buddhism and, having looked at the five precepts, I asked them to write a day in the life of a Buddhist doing their best to follow these precepts. There were an amazing number who craved bacon for breakfast but decided they couldn’t because that would be going against the precept of ‘I will avoid taking life’. The precept for ‘I will avoid sexually harmful behaviour’ resulted in people turning down dates because they were married, others noted ‘I made love to my wife, but it wasn’t harmful’ which really did give me a giggle. However the best was the boy who wrote about how he worked helping disabled people (very commendable one might say) , however his actual job wasn’t quite what I expected in that he worked in factory producing wheelchairs. Of course this is important but surprising nonetheless. Later, in demonstrating the precept ‘I will avoid saying what is not true’, he happened to be in the wheelchair shop when someone came in looking for a new wheelchair. The customer asked him if a certain wheelchair suited him, “I had to tell him it didn’t really and suggested he tried a different one”. I suppose I hadn’t really thought about people choosing a wheelchair like that before.

* very occasionally

Apologies for the rather hideous title but I am very happy. Three years ago my husband and I spent quite a long time choosing a kettle to put on our wedding list. We found one we thought was lovely, trouble is we fell for it’s good looks. It couldn’t pour. Rather than being sane and sensible people we didn’t take it back and every time we use it it causes a little bit of unhappiness at it’s lack of pouriness.

Anyway,  after about six months of gazing at new kettles and wondering how we would ever tell whether they would pour well or not, we finally took the plunge and purchased a new kettle. I promised that if it showed any signs of unpouriness it would go straight back. We took it home and it is our new friend. The design is such that you can see exactly how much water you are puting in with the idea that you are more likely to boil only what you need. It works, it boils water very nicely, it is easy to see how much water there is and it pours beautifully. Here is a picture of the kettle.

Easter has been dominated by Spring Harvest. I can’t say this is something I was particularly looking forward to but in the end it was better than I expected.

Highlights were

• The Easter Sunrise* Service on the beach at Minehead, granted I was tired for the rest of the morning but it was lovely, especially as the tide was in so the waves were crashing on the beach.
• Spending time relaxing
• Spending time and indeed breakfasts with my sister-in-law.
• The anecdotes by Danielle Strickland in the morning Bible reading, that to be honest wasn’t really a Bible reading, but interesting nonetheless.
• Worship on the second to last evening, it definitely benefited from a couple of more hymn type songs.
• Having a go at Fencing for the first time since I tried it once when I was about 15.
• Actually going to the swimming pool, which I had never done before at Spring Harvest.
• Going to the readings and reflections service one evening.
• The weather.
• The fantastical dancing I saw on the last night in the big top by a man and a woman who must have been particularly blessed in being able to make God smile a big genuine grin (well it worked for me).
• The easy journey home.

The lowlights

• Much of the worship which involved lots of songs I didn’t know and didn’t find particularly good.
• Having six people in a chalet with one bathroom.
• The constant urge people have to make you talk to complete strangers about things that you really don’t feel you want to talk to them about, whether because it is very personal or just simply pointless.
• The dreadful journey to get there, culminating in us arriving at 9.30pm

This demonstrates that the better things outweighed the worse things, which is nice.

Other things I have done this Easter involve driving down to Brighton to see a mini Michael McIntyre gig, which was great but I would have liked to spend more time in Brighton. I also took a friend to Bluewater for some shopping. My husband and I also went to a nearby seaside place for a pub lunch yesterday.

*Sunrise in Minehead was a bit slower, probably because it’s further west, a very civilised 7.30

I have discovered this evening that even though having a song going through your head constantly is really, really annoying, it is far worse to have a song going through your head when you can’t remember more than 8 words of the song and have forgotten the tune. Esentially I have the words ‘There’s no one so Irish as Barack Obama’ going round in my head constantly. I blame Terry.

I drew the above when given a two minute opportunity to try out a drawing pad thingy. I wonder what it says about me!

I can’t believe it has been over a month since I last posted. Things happen and I think ‘I’ll blog that’ and it never seems to happen, now of course I can’t remember anything I was going to blog at all.

We went away for half term - the whole week which is a first, we sometimes take 3 or 4 nights away but never 7! It made the time feel longer somehow, I suppose I didn’t waste time sitting in the house feeling tired because I wanted to be out and about.

Here are a couple of photos of Chipping Campden. And I have been enjoying playing with my lovely little camera, I took a lot of pictures of snowdrops and feel I was nearly there but just not quite. I like the background effect in this one.

We went for another walk and for a pub lunch which is a fabulous way to spend a work day! Just a couple more photos for you. I’m back to work tomorrow but apparently the weather could get worse again towards the end of the week.

I love the snow, it is giving me two days off work. What a fabulous week this will be!

Here are some pictures of the day.