Black Button

This short video raises lots of issues about the powers of temptation, and is rather clever... Click on the link at the side and it will appear in large at the top of the page.

Which option would you choose?

By the way, I went on a Victorian school trip this week, which is why I'm dressed as a parlour maid in my profile pic. Just felt like I needed to justify that. I was a little put out when one of the children asked 'Did you used to have to wear clothes like that when you were our age?'

Quote of the week: 'My mum can come on the school trip. She's definitely been ABC checked'.

I really should make a book of ridiculous quotes.

Two very important lessons learned...

Lesson 1

You should never, ever, write a comment on someone's blog then delete it because you have thought of something better to say. It was a very wrong and foolish thing to do, and I am very sorry.

Lesson 2

Never organise a Teddy Bear's Picnic for 80 children when there is only one other adult present.

That is all.

Porn stars, WeeMees and other stories

This week hasn't been my favourite week. In fact, I'd probably rank it in the top 3 if there was a poll for 'Katie's Ultimate List of Unfavourite Weeks'. Nothing major has really happened, but after being at school for 14 hours on Monday for Parent's Evening, the rest of the week never really caught up. This post probably isn't going to be a very happy one, so I suggest you join the birthday celebrations over in John's blog if you're searching for a more lighthearted, upbeat view on things...

We had our Summer Ball last weekend, which came complete with the school's very own porn star mum! She was sitting on our table and was rather outrageous... the ball was massive yet people sitting right on the other side of the place were catching me when I walked past asking what they were missing out on. I won't go into details but will say that if somebody had said 'Right, there's one person out of these 300 people that makes a living as a porn star' I would have immediately pointed to her.

So then there was longest day in the world on Monday, I wasn't feeling very well all day Tuesday, and by Wednesday I was ready to make a tent out my duvet and hide in it for the rest of the week. On Thursday I met my new class, 18 little bright eyed Year 1 children, and it dawned on me that I had spent an entire year getting my kids to grow up and become independent, only for them to be taken away and replaced with a whole new bunch of 'I haven't got a pencil, can I go to the toilet...' children. And finally last night I went out and got branded on the arm by someone with a cigarette. He then helpfully pointed out that 'if it scars, you'll have a great story to tell your grandchildren about the old days, you know, when smoking was legal'. You can imagine my expression.

But something good did come out of this week. WeeMees, the miniature versions of yourself, are now free! And a very good waste of time should you have 102 reports to write in a week and a half (I don't think next week is going be the greatest week either). Here's mine:


I don't actually walk around dressed as WonderWoman, and I don't really have a dragon called Elliot, but other than that I think it's a pretty good likeness! I'm trying to cut down on chocolate at the moment, which could explain why I've been a bit grumpy in this post. The next one will be better, I promise!

3 more weeks til the summer holidays...

Kiwi

Ok, so I've stolen this video from my friend Ben, but it really is very funny... its on the right hand side, just click on it (I can't work out how to put the video in the actual post, it's all very confusing). Before you watch it, you should note that the Kiwi is a type of flightless bird. That's very important. When Ben was explaining it to me I thought he was talking about a Kiwi fruit, which is why I didn't really get it at first.

Not much to report really, I saw a girl from Shipwrecked crossing the road in London today, but I think that's probably going below Z list in terms of celebrity. Right down there with Cleo Rocos and Matt Barbet.

(I wish I was blogging back in the days when I was in a lift with Gary Lineker and in a sketch with Ant and Dec on SM:TV... now that would've been good blogging material!)

The hills are alive...

Yesterday was a very exciting day. As some of you know, one of the Year 3 girls I teach Games to is currently performing in The Sound of Music in the West End. Tickets have been sold out for months and months but yesterday the parents of the child asked if I wanted to go as they had spare seats at the last minute! They were brilliant seats near the front of the Royal Circle, and after a brief panic that we were going to be late (yes, we got on the wrong tube train. Well, the right train, but going in the wrong direction), we arrived just in time. The whole performance was fantastic, the scenery was awesome and Adrianna (who plays Gretl, the smallest one) completely stole the show. At the interval it was all people around me were talking about, and it was really hard not to butt into people's conversations and say 'Actually, she's not 5, she's 8. And I teach her...' But I just about restrained myself. After the show we went round to stage door to meet Adrianna as we were going home with her and her parents, and got to meet all the cast... it was very exciting! On the way home she was telling me about the opening night after show party, saying 'We got to meet Graham Norton, which was cool, and all the Marias, and Nicole Kidman and Matt Damon, who were really nice, and Andrew Lloyd Webber and Bob Geldof and...'

It's a completely different world.

On a slightly different note... Nibbles (the one eyed obese death defying hamster) has, well, died. After a brief debate on whether he was actually dead or not, we buried him in the garden and had a little hamster funeral. R.I.P. Nibbles.