Not Tennis

The week and a half have been great. No work means no getting up early, no deadlines, and plenty of time to invent new games with other people who also have nothing better to do. I also feel I have also achieved something by participating in a sporting activity for more than one consecutive day. I present to you, the reader, the wonderful world of... NOT TENNIS.

A brief history

The game of Not Tennis was invented on a sunny Sunday afternoon when tennis racquets were half price in Tesco and there were no free tennis courts in all the land (i.e. Chalkwell and Hadleigh). It was founded by myself, Ben, Charlotte and Gareth, after we were forced to play in the park instead. Many arguments ensued as rules were made up and contested, and so the game of Not Tennis was born.

The rules of Not Tennis

1) The court must be around twice the size of a normal tennis court, both in width and length (in other words, HUGE). Serves must be taken on the back line.

2) There is no actual net, only a boundary which is referred to as the net.

3) The ball is allowed to bounce a total of twice on each side of the court, allowing time for running.

4) If you hit the ball and it does not go over, you may not have another go... instead it is up to your partner to rescue the situation.

These rules are set in stone. It all sounds rather ridiculous in written form, but it really is a lot of fun to play, especially for people who are awful at actual tennis, as you can just whack it and there is no net to stop it! We have recruited a number of people over the last couple of weeks, including Chris Carter, Will Still, Faye Ivory (not quite so enthusiastic, but it was raining) and Heather Orford, and our aim is to get everyone involved at some point over the summer! So if you fancy a game, come on down...

Hamburg

Yesterday, John and I went to Hamburg for the day. This may seem a little silly, but it cost less time and money to go there then to visit most places in England, and we'd already travelled to Riga for the day in February, so we kinda knew what to expect. Here is a brief recap of some of the exciting moments of our day:

1) It was really, really hot. There wasn't a cloud in the sky for the whole day and the temperature soared to around 36 degrees. This meant that it took three times as much effort to walk to places, but it also gave the day a real 'holiday' feel! Which is always nice.

2) Hamburg is a beautiful city. It almost doesn't feel like a city as everything seemed so much more laid back than in London! It's very green and has two amazing lakes right in the middle of it.

3) Cyclists take priority over everything in Hamburg. The cycle lane takes up around half of the pavement, and woe betide if you dared cross their path. They stopped for no-one... (we witnessed one girl run into this poor man without any mercy, she didn't swerve or anything, or even apologise!)

4) People don't apologise or say thank you in Hamburg. Just as a rule.

5) We ate in a really nice restaurant which was situated on a river (not beside it, on it) and the food was lovely. It was really handy having John there, as he speaks fluent German and so could order food, ask for directions, get people to take photos etc, whilst I just looked at him in a blind panic every time someone spoke German to me.

6) The real highlight of my day was when I used the bathroom at said restaurant... you have to pay for the privilege and when I was in there the friendly toilet lady said to John 'Your wife is very beautiful' (it was the beautiful part that was the highlight, not the wife bit). Hamburg people are very observant.

7) We had our very own stalker! On the way home, the man behind us in the airport queue introduced himself to us and somehow involved himself in our conversation, before telling us that he was moving to London and didn't have any contacts. From then on in he decided he was our friend and kept trying to find us (which, in the smallest airport in the world ever, wasn't too difficult). I'd like to think that had we not been awake for almost 24 hours, we would've been a little more accomodating and friendly, but as it was we ended up hiding for most of the journey. John didn't help with his constant German/Indian stalker impressions... 'John and Katie, where arrrreee you? I want to play... why you hide from me? I can see you...' etc etc. It was just like being in a horror movie.

We had a really great day, and it was fun to be shown around all the sights by someone who had lived there for 5 months and knew lots of interesting things about the place, as well as all the nice places to go. Even though we were only there for a day we saw everything we wanted to see without feeling at all harassed or rushed,and even though it was pretty tiring, it was well worth the visit!

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Little Miss Emotional

Today was a emotionally draining day. I finally finished school for the summer (hooray!) but this also meant saying goodbye to my first ever class. It's been a rollercoaster of a year and I wouldn't change a minute of it. For leaving presents I had bought each child a Mr. Men or Little Miss book according to their personality (Mr. Cheerful, Little Miss Giggles, Mr. Silly etc) it went down a storm. As the bell rang and it was time to go, I realised that I'd spent a year sorting out their problems, curing the slightest worry or anxiety, generally caring and looking after them and all of a sudden that was gone! They were no longer going to burst into my classroom bursting with news of things they had achieved, and I would no longer be the most important person to them at school. As I was dealing with these thoughts in my head some of them started to cling to me crying, and it took every ounce of strength to hold myself together!

Then I realised that I had £140 worth vouchers, a massive bouquet of flowers, and various other presents waiting for me in the classroom, so I cheered up. The perks of working in an independent school are pretty cool. Especially the seven and a half week summer holiday.

I'm now having trouble deciding what to spend the vouchers on (I know I know, some people have real problems), either an ipod or a digital camera, but I don't know which I would use more, having lived without either for the last 22 years. I'm so behind with the times...

It's official...

... I am now a fully fledged, non NQT teacher! Had my final ever observation by the headteacher today, and he said "That lesson was excellent. I really enjoyed it. The relationship you have with those children... I couldn't have wished for better." Which was quite nice.

(I'm not usually this boastful, but its been a long journey and I was quite proud of that!)

Bring on the pay rise.