Test your observation skills... Whodunnit?!

The holidays have started and I'm feeling very Christmassy. I've already caught up with one or two friends I haven't seen in a long time, and over the next few days I'm really looking forward to catching up with some more. There have been cosy Christmas gatherings round friends' houses and lots of carol singing... I love this time of year! And it wouldn't be complete without one of these:

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Does that make up for the lack of posting, Matt?

Meh

So, the last couple of weeks have been reeeeeeally busy. And so are the next couple of weeks. I'm becoming one of those people who have to make appointments in order to catch up with old friends. And nobody likes that person. So if you're reading this and I've been a rubbish friend lately, I'm sorry...

Starting with the most recent and working backwards, here's a brief update on what's been going on in my life right now:

> I've finished writing my reports. That's the main task that's been occupying me over the last two or three weeks. But now they're done and dusted. Whoop!

> Actually, that previous statement is a lie. The main task that's been occupying me is my shiny brand new Wii and Wii Fit. It was supposed to be a Christmas present from my parents but it arrived through the post after a particularly bad day at work and I figured I would treat myself. Totally worth it... It's amazing! (Apart from when it tells me that I've been snacking too much this afternoon, or that I'm a couch potato because I can't hold 'the plank' position for more than 10 seconds.)

> I went to Cambridge on Saturday with Matt, Christina and Glyn. It was full of people saying things like 'I like to think that if music hadn't existed, then I could have invented it,' and 'To me, this clock represents time being eaten away by our mundane daily routine.' Or something like that. I was just mesmorised by the little blue lights on the clock.

> We recorded our very own Christmas single at the last Straight Ahead rehearsal of 2008. It was a lot of fun. We did a cover of 'Feed the World'- Here's us shouting 'Happy Christmas!' at the end (apparently you had to shout to the ceiling instead of into the microphones...):

> Hadleigh band visited Belfast the weekend before last, and Heather and I tagged along as talented 2nd Horn players. It was great! Although I'm fairly certain that over the entire weekend, I managed to eat more than I could lift. Here's us on the plane:

There are only 6 and a half school days left til we break up from school! I am VERY excited about the buildup to Christmas and catching up with lots of old friends- roll on the end of term!

Boysie

We've been up since 6am as my cocker spaniel, Boysie, was yelping and seemed really confused. He was slipping all over the place and bumping into everything. So my whole family took him to the emergency vet- it turned out he had some kind of tumor and needed to be put down. It was very emotional. I've had Boysie since he was a puppy (14 years ago- he was very old!). My dad got him for me after my mum passed away, so we've been through quite a lot together.

He was a lovely dog- he had the sweetest temperament and was very soppy. He was also afraid of EVERYTHING (lightning, strangers, cars, the little squeakers inside dog toys...). Whenever I was upset as a kid I used to sit under the table with him and and hug him- it was the only thing that made me feel better! It was really sad coming home and not hear his feet padding through the kitchen coming to greet us. Still, at least he's not in pain now.

Boysie 1994-2008

Yes, he really wasn't the bravest of dogs. But we loved him very, very much.

This is my wish for you...

"Comfort on difficult days,

Smiles when sadness intrudes,

Rainbows to follow the clouds,

Laughter to kiss your lips,

Sunsets to warm your heart,

Hugs when spirits sag,

Beauty for your eyes to see,

Friendships to brighten your being,

Faith so that you can believe,

Confidence for when you doubt,

Courage to know yourself,

Patience to accept the truth,

Love to complete your life.” - Anonymous

A close friend of mine from uni gave this quote to me (as part of a photo in a frame) on our last day at Durham, and I just found it under my bed. I thought it would be nice to share it.

So, last weekend at Carus we looked at influences, and how we influence the people around us. We took it in turns to share with each other a person or group of people we have influence on. Then somebody from the group would pray for that person. Now, I chose my place of work as somewhere where I feel I should have influence, but find it hard with so many restrictions in place to really talk about my faith and what I believe in. So somebody else prayed about that for me, and then we moved onto the next person and I kinda forgot about it all. Until the very next day, when I got to work and found a very excited little girl from my class and her mum waiting for me. "WE SAW YOU IN THE LORD MAYOR'S SHOW!" they exclaimed as I got there, and they proceeded to ask me all sorts of questions about the army. Her mum then passed the headmaster and mentioned to him about seeing me, and he came up to me asking if I'd do a whole school assembly about the Salvation Army and what it was all about! Which took me completely by surprise, as our assemblies are nothing like that usually. And although my close friends at work know where I go every Sunday, most of the school certainly don't. So I'm really looking forward to that.

It was only on the way home that I started thinking about the day before and remembered that prayer. And it made me wonder whether sometimes prayers are answered in such unexpected ways that it completely goes unnoticed. Maybe I need to open my eyes more to what's going on around me...

Drenched

So, I eventually got hold of a proper hat. Which is just as well, as yesterday was the Lord Mayor's show. And the weather forecast?

Saturday





heavy rain

Great. Still, not to be put off, the Household Troops and the Hadleigh Timbrels (guess which group I belong to...) set off at 6.30am (seriously, who DOES that?!) and made our way to London. We had an hour of waiting around in a damp, underground car park, followed by an hour of waiting in the rain, but once the parade got going it was really good! Despite the torrential downpours there was an excellent turnout and the crowd were brilliant, cheering and clapping and encouraging us on through the rain. I felt so proud to be part of it all, especially hearing people saying things like 'Oh, look! It's the Salvation Army! HOORAY!!!'

However, there's only so much freezing, heavy rain you can take before your morale starts to go slightly, and as we made our way to Embankment to recommence the march after lunch, some soldiers (of the non-Salvation Army variety) stopped a couple of us and said 'You've lost it. You've lost it, haven't you...' before proceeding with a beautiful rendition of 'You've lost that loving feeling, woooah that lovin' feelin'...'. On spotting our tambourines, this was then followed by various chants of 'GO ON, SHAKE IT! SHAKE IT BABY!' (I did threaten them with 'I'm gonna shake you in a minute', but I'm not sure they heard it, as I said it in my head.) Heather and I just ignored them and carried on with our little game 'See Who Can Hold The Most Rain In Their Hat Without Spilling Any'. I won.

Oh, by the way, if you're reading this and don't have a clue what a timbrel is, then click here. I probably should have explained that at the beginning.

Anyway, imagine how excited we were when somebody sent a text saying they saw us on television! Fantastic. Totally worth getting soaked. Then imagine the slight disappointment when I got home, eagerly put the recording on and saw this (skip to 0:47):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fh4xq

I was just off to the left. Still, we got a mention and everything- pretty cool, eh?

I'm still not a fan of the navy felt hats though. I ended up with navy dye running all down my face for the duration of the parade. Did I mention it rained?

My New Hat (A blog topic suggested by John...)

Yesterday, I was supposed to go to Trade to buy myself a new one of these for the Lord Mayor's Show:

I hate these hats. With a passion.

Anyway, by the time I got to London it was closed, so I bought myself this hat instead:

But now I'm not sure how I feel about it. And I'm pretty sure it doesn't go with my uniform.

And that is the story of my new hat.

Don't worry, I'm still here...

Half term is pretty much over. Rubbish. I know I haven't posted for a little while, but there have been lots of things going on, such as...

Fajita night- My teacher friends and I had a little dinner party. Here's a lovely photo of my friend Claire after a couple of glasses of Diet Coke:

A trip to Bristol to visit Glyn's brother- They have the poshest cinema and shopping complex there I've ever seen. Check this out... (The cinema has a bar and a restaurant!)

(Next time, if we save up, we might even be able to see a film there.)

Day in London with people from uni- Always great to catch up with these girls. We don't do it enough...

Reading about the Lego man who was washed up on Brighton beach:

How funny was that? If you haven't heard about it, read here.

Attending the annual Festival of Remembrance- If I haven't dragged you along to one of these, count yourself lucky. This ceremony is a good three hours long without a break... (Think how you felt after watching Titanic at the cinema. But with less popcorn.) Although I have to say, the actual ceremony and the RAF band and the international solo violinist and the singing company and the band AND the songsters were all very good in their own right, and the whole thing was very well done. But an interval would be nice. Especially when you're stuck outside in the foyer because there's no room for you in the main hall. Heather was very impressed by Winston Churchill's words of wisdom (somehow she hadn't heard them before), and felt very proud to be British:

So that's what's been going on in my life lately. Next weekend I'll be doing my first ever Lord Mayor's show- watch this space!

6 days til Half Term!

I'm about to enter the 8th week of the first half of this term. It's a significant week. I have never, ever had to work for 8 weeks in a row without a break. Not during school, uni or certainly not during the last three years as a teacher. Yes, it's been an especially long half term and I am tired- I think it may even be the reason why I haven't blogged as regularly as usual! It's not been the easiest of starts either- my class can be quite hard work, but am slowly beginning to see a change in them. So that's good. One of my lessons in particular had a real impact on my class this week- one mum came to see me after school yesterday to relay the following conversation she had in the car with her son on the way home the day before:

Mum: How was your day at school?
Ethan: Ok. But isn't it terrible about Louis.
Mum: Which Louis? In Year 3?
Ethan: (ignoring question) It's so sad that he had that accident.
Mum: Oh no! Is he ok?
Ethan: He went blind.
Mum: (horrified) Oh my goodness! What happened? Is he back at school?
Ethan: (looks at her like she's an idiot) No mum, he's dead now.
Mum: WHAT?!

As you may have guessed, Ethan was talking about Louis Braille, who we're currently studying in History.

In other news...

-Ben, Heather, Rich and I went to see Wicked last week- it was brilliant! Due to increased workloads, being part of a bigger community with the Wickford and Chelmsford guys (although that's great!) and Rich living in London, the four of us don't get to spend as much time together as we used to, so it was really nice to spend some quality time catching up and seeing a show.

-I've seen 3 films at the cinema recently- How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Mirrors and Burn After Reading. All three were quite good, but Mirrors was a mistake, as I keep having nightmares about it. It's basically about this guy who works in a derelict, run-down department store, and starts seeing things in the mirrors there, as well as at home and in his car. His own reflection starts making him do things. Not nice when you have drive home late at night afterwards along the A130 with only your rear view mirror and reflection for company.

-Flight of the Conchords has appeared in the On Demand section on BT Vision, so I've finally been able to check out what everyone else has been raving on about for ages. It's hilarious. I've only watched a couple of episodes so far but this song really made me laugh (for the few who haven't seen it, it's a comedy about two guys from New Zealand who are in a band, and each episode has a couple of funny songs in it). Enjoy:

- Finally, I've been researching the Salvation Army initiative Journey, and would really like to go on some kind of 'Encounter' as it's something I've wanted to do for ages. However, I've asked for more information, I've emailed them, I tried ringing them (no answer)... I even tried sending a message to one of the guys in charge of it on Facebook, but received nothing back. So if anybody knows anything about it or where I could get some more information about how to apply (I've been to the website but the application it tells you to download already assumes you know about the dates and different expeditons), could you let me know? Cheers :)

What goes up...

At my murder mystery party way back in January, we attempted to construct a human pyramid. It wasn't easy. A good few attempts were made in order to achieve as many layers as possible... but in the end we succeeded. And it felt really good. Here's a little reminder of the end result:

However, when I saw the news today, I realised that we weren't the first people to come up with the idea of a human pyramid. In Spain, it's like a professional sport. And a dangerous one at that... (although the news reporter said nobody gets seriously injured). Check these guys out:

Makes our pyramid attempt seem kind of pathetic, doesn't it?

My favourite part was in another video where the news reporter stated (as it collapsed):

'At this point, any pain was swept away by the joy of success!'

Really. I'm not totally convinced...

A Pro-Active Post

I have lots of little jobs to do this weekend. Being a natural procrastinator, I'm not looking forward to getting any of them done. So instead of cracking on and attempting to decrease my To Do list, I decided to create a procrastination pyramid. I'd read about them awhile back (when I was writing my dissertation I looked up 'procrastination' on the internet, and found this...) Basically, you write down all the things you need to do, with the most important near the top. Then you get to work on the less important tasks to put off doing the tasks at the top of the pyramid. By the time you've done a couple of the tasks near the bottom, other stuff has come along to be placed at the top, so everything can be shunted down on the pyramid. Get it? It's called Structured Procrastination. I'll let you know if it works...

Hmm. Creating the pyramid took longer than I thought. Still, I've made a start as I am currently updating the ol' blog.

In other news:

- I had to play in the annual Staff vs. Parents netball match today. We beat them 10-6, a much better result than our 18-8 thrashing last year! Everyone took it incredibly seriously though, and have sustained minor injuries because of it. Meh.

- We had a great time at the Wickford Curry & Quiz night yesterday. Our team came second, pipped to the post by some team who knew what a baby whale was called. (It's a calf, in case you're interested.) Well done to everyone who organised it! :)

- Heather and Chris, who were both showing signs of becoming great bloggers, appear to have lost motivation slightly. A temporary lapse, I'm sure...

- Tim has disappeared off the face of the earth completely. As has Richard's actual blog. Idiot.

- Graeme is long overdue for an update. As is Andy.

- However, on a more positive note, John has uploaded some interesting travel vlogs. You'd be fooled for thinking was in Australia, as something odd has happened to his voice since he's been away. Still, it's worth a look. Glyn is also back, attempting to blog every single day for a month. Never gonna happen...

Farm Limericks

(Inspired by today's visit to Jimmy's Farm.)

I once met a sweet little pig,
Who looked so cute when trying to dig
But the problem I'd get,
(If said pig were my pet)
Is the fact he'd turn ugly and big.















There once lived a cow on the farm,
Who seemed to have plenty of charm
But when his praises were sung
He would stick out his tongue
Causing kids to leap back in alarm.

It should've been me...

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Dancing through life...

It's been a really busy couple of weeks. I'm back at school, my new class are hard work (I even managed to lose one today on the way to assembly, just because he felt like going somewhere else... got him back eventually though!) and I'm constantly really tired. Nothing has really happened worth mentioning, but I thought I'd guide you through some of my emotions over the last few days.

I've laughed at this:

(Courtesy of a boy in my class...)

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Wooden shoe
Wooden shoe who?

Wooden shoe like to know...

Haha. Gets me every time.

I've cried at this:

It really is one to go and see, although I think it's best to read the book first. I won't say anything else as the blurb on the back of the book says: "The story of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the jacket, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about." Effective, non? It sucked me in anyway.

And I've spent most of the week singing along to this:

Dancing Through Life- Wicked OBC

I also happen to quite like the Disney video (some people have way, way too much time on their hands... )


Finally, I've been quite annoyed at this:

I'm having trouble adjusting to the new Facebook. Why mess with perfection?! Argh.

Ok, so I'm aware that this is a bit of a nothing post. But I felt I should entertain you with something whilst I figure out something interesting and worthwhile to say. I'm sure it will come.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not

For my friend Meghan's birthday, I treated her to a day of fun at Ripley's Believe It Or Not, a new attraction in London. It's a museum with all kinds of weird and wonderful exhibits- here are a few photos from our day:

Here is the biggest rocking chair ever! The staff were really nice too- they tried to take your photo so you'd pay £8 to buy it, but when you said no they offered to take a photo with your camera instead. (Also, when I said I wasn't a student at the entrance and didn't have any vouchers, the woman whispered, 'Oh, that's ok, I have some here...' How nice.)

Hang on a cotton picking minute... Where are Meg's legs?!

This photograph didn't come out too well, but there were thousands of multicoloured dots rotating round the tunnel, and it looked fine as you stepped onto the walkway... but as soon as you do all sense of balance is lost and it makes you really dizzy! (My dad went a couple of days later and actually fell over.)

There were lots of funny tricks and surprises as you make your way round, but I don't want to spoil it for you in case you plan to go. And you should, because it's excellent! A great family day out. Oh, and guess who I bumped into...?

Remember him?

Yes, it was none other than my mate Robert Wadlow, the world's tallest man, who I'd last visited in Copenhagen in February. I complimented him on his new suit. He showed me his family album. Good times!

****BLOG UPDATE****

Heather Orford now has a blog. She said she'd start one if I could think of a really good name for it, so I did.

That is all.

Dancing around the world

Ok, so I didn't find this by myself (credit to Estelle Blake at Summer School) but here is a really cool video of a guy who thought he'd travel all around the world and video himself doing the same ridiculous dance in each place. So simple, yet brilliant.



(He also recently created a 2008 version, where loads of people from each country dance with him...)

On a completely different note (although just as ridiculous), I have had two extremely dappy moments this week that I would like to share with you. The first occurred when I scraped together just enough change to buy a car park ticket and stuck it to my side window. Then I got back in the car to make a quick phonecall, and promptly wound down said window. The car park ticket was immediately lost somewhere in the door. So that was Idiot Moment Number One. Idiot Moment Number Two occurred when my parents prepared a lovely roast dinner on Wednesday, giving me the one job of making the gravy. However, I must have been talking and/or distracted by a shiny object, as I made the classic Uncle Albert mistake of pouring coffee over everyone's dinner. Fool.

Summer School 2008

I'm not really sure where to start with this one. This year's summer school (the first one I'd attended since 2004) was exhausting, challenging, exciting and lots of fun. So I shall write under those headings:

Exhausting

I have really grown old since 2004. Back then, I went the whole week without a single nap. This year, at exactly 2pm every day (apart from Wednesday, when some friends came up for Oscars night- more on that later) I would retire to my room for a sleep. For a good hour. And even then, I ended up looking like this after the week had finished:

Challenging

Now, there are two kinds of challenging. There's the 'fun' challenging, for example trying to get a Jaffa Cake from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands (it will come as no surprise to you that I failed this particular challenge...):

And then there's the 'challenging' challenging. And in a lot of ways I found the week really tough. There was my cell group of 16 year olds, who I initially really struggled to connect with but by the end of the week felt like we'd all come a long way, learnt a LOT about each other and that it had been the making of me as a cell group leader- a learning curve indeed!

Also, I'd chosen the Social Action option this year. Our leader, Jo Taylor, was excellent- so passionate about social justice and determined to instill that same passion in us. And she did a very good job. I came away from the week with a real drive to Do Something- we'd spent some of the week helping a charity called 'Re-Cycle' prepare old bikes to be shipped off to Africa (where bikes are life-changing), and would like to carry on helping those guys in some way. One quote that really stuck in my head was:

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little."- Edmund Burke

So will keep you posted on that one!

Exciting

The entire summer school was split into 8 tribes (I was the leader of The Flowerpot Tribe). Each tribe had to make a short film in preparation for Oscars Night. Ours was called 'Overfield', (a variation on 'Cloverfield'), where the students get a little too curious about what was beyond our field boundaries at the University of Essex... Anyway, we won the much coveted 'Best Film' award, at which point I couldn't even imagine winning an actual Oscar, the feeling was that good! I think we look a little famous in this photo, like we've just been snapped by the papparazi (although I think that was the idea):

However, whereas all the other award winners when home with actual Oscars (well, garden gnome shaped Oscars), Chell hadn't bought quite enough, so I was handed a bit of playdough instead. Rubbish.

Fun

We had a really, really fun week. There were lots of silly games, running jokes (who knew that holding a banana to someone's ear and making them pretend to have a conversation would never, ever get old, no matter how many times you did it...) and late nights where we would literally cry with laughter over the most ridiculous things. I made plenty of new friendships, rekindled one or two old ones and had a brilliant time. Roll on next year...

Yes, that is toilet paper wrapped round my head.

Top of the mornin' to ya!

It HAS been a while, hasn't it? I haven't been really been at home for the last couple of weeks, hence the lack of blogging. But don't worry, all that is about to change. However, because I've done a few different things (and would like to blog about them all) I shall blog in bitesize chunks. Starting from the most recent event... DUBLIN.

Yes, John and I recently visited Dublin. When we go abroad the places tend to be rather random (Kaunas, Riga and Bratislava to name a few) but for once I got to choose. So Dublin it was! And we had a great time. After a lie-in (we left at 5.30am instead of 3am) we went to the airport and managed to get to Ireland without any real hassle (apart from nearly missing our flight waiting on a bacon sandwich and scrambled eggs... luckily John has the superhuman ability to inhale his food). And the whole visit was kinda like that- no hassle, no rushing around, no transport issues. Naturally, much of the time was spent doing things we could have done in London- for example Wagamama's and shopping in HMV and H&M- but it was nice to do it in a different place. Dublin is a really good city for walking (and man, did we walk...) as everything is fairly close together. I was a little disappointed that there didn't seem to be many actual Irish people around, but it was fun trying to copy the accents of all the American/Geordie/Scottish tourists there too. Here are a few of the places we visited:

Ok, so I can't actually remember what this is, but it reminded John and I of two completely different historical buildings from other countries we've visited. 'Seen one, seen them all' springs to mind...

The grandest post office in the world EVER. A significant part of Irish heritage. Go look it up on Wikipedia.

A rather cute Salvation Army corps building. There are only one or two left in the whole of Ireland, apparently...

Dublin Castle. A little oddly designed, but quite cool all the same.

Not really sure what this is either, but an American guy offered to take our photo here as we walked past. I think it's part of the castle...

We were extremely lucky with the weather too. It was fine the whole time we were there, but as we left the view from the plane window looked a little bleak:

Lovely.

A rollercoaster of a weekend...

This weekend has been crazy busy. But in a good way. It started off on Friday, when I FINALLY got to see Mamma Mia! This made me very happy:

I was really excited by this point (probably to the point of irritating), as not only were we about to see the film I been going on about for months, but we were going to the Odeon in Leicester Square to see it! I was very impressed by the free souvenir programme, but not so much by the leopard print seats. Nevertheless, I absoloutely loved it...

On Saturday the Hadleigh youth (with a bit of Southend and Wickford mixed in) went on a day trip to the big, enormous, giant, humongous, GREAT Thorpe park! And it really lived up to its name. I felt a little sorry for Rich, as I convinced him to come by telling him we could visit Thorpe Farm. But when we got there it turned out they'd got rid of the farm a couple of years ago. Cue a slightly subdued Richard... until he discovered the wonder of the Rumba Rapids. See if you can spot in this video:

a) Richard comparing the whole experience to a high budget action film

b) Heather getting increasingly irritated with the video camera/the fact she was getting wet... we had a conversation prior to the ride along the lines of:

Heather: Will I get wet? I'm not going on it if I'm gonna get wet.

Katie: You won't get wet.

This was Heather after Rumba Rapids:

And here's a little slice of the fun:

It was a great day out, although some of us got wetter than others (as some chose to queue up for Stealth instead, which terrified the living daylights out of me):

Finally, it was Farewell Sunday today, which meant saying goodbye to our corps officers at Hadleigh Temple and Richard. Ben and I wrote an 'Ode to Richard' and shared it with the rest of the corps during the meeting... but I'll leave him to blog about that. It was really sad saying goodbye to the Wrights- they've been excellent officers and will be missed very much! I spent most of the afternoon feeling like I was in 'Challenge Anneka', running round Basildon trying to find a photo processing shop and suitable photo frame for Richard's leaving present before the shops closed at 4. It was worth it though. You'll just have to imagine this photo in a frame, wrapped in Indiana Jones wrapping paper:

Boxes

Every month, a worship event called CARUS is held at Mashbury. Last night's event was really good- it was given the theme 'Dreamtime' and involved us writing down our dreams for ourselves and dreams for the community on two sides of a large cardboard box. After that, we rebuilt a massive 'house' of boxes and it looked quite impressive. Until, that is, someone came up with the idea of playing Jenga... and taking one box out at a time. Here was the eventual outcome of that game:

I think Ben was pretending he was in some kind of disaster movie where he was trapped under rubble. I then tried to get an action shot of Glyn jumping mid air into the boxes, but all I managed to get was an action shot of a box:

I think Christina got more than she bargained for when she tried to join in the fun:

And it wasn't all playing with boxes, there was some worship and thought-provoking stuff in there too. One thing I realised is that I don't really have any 'crazy dreams', dreams that are very unlikely to come true but are an ambition anyway. I'd like to have a few of those.

It was a great evening- if you've not been to CARUS before, come along next time!

Happy Half Birthday to me!

I've been looking for an excuse to wear my new birthday hat for ages. I'm officially 23 and a half! And also happy half birthday to Stacey, who is 21 and a half today. Hooray! :-D

(It also happens to be Glyn's actual 25th birthday today- happy birthday Glyn- but as that's not quite as important, it can go in brackets.)

The children in my class all bought me John Lewis vouchers and expensive gifts, which was very generous of them... (although there's a slight chance this was due to the fact today was the last day of term-a happy co-incidence). Today was rather emotional, they've been a lovely class this year and I didn't want to let them go- there were lots of tears all round! It's so frustrating moving them on just when you're starting to see them really improve. It's always my favourite time of the year though- it's so rewarding to see how much the children have matured and how grateful their parents are. I'm very lucky that, for all its faults, teaching certainly isn't a thankless job. (Not at my school, anyway!)

Right, as a little half birthday treat to myself, I'm off to buy a Sat Nav. (I should've invested in one ages ago, I spend most of my life being lost...)

(Oh, I meant to add a Quote of the Day- our headteacher retired today and everyone in the class wrote a little message in his leaving card. Good thing I checked them though, as one boy had made a slight spelling error: 'Dear Mr. Chandler, I am very sorry you're living.' Oops.)

New Blogger!

Chris Carter (the one in the middle that's not me or Charlotte) now has a blog. Hooray! The blog world isn't dying after all...

Three facts about Chris:

- He can play the Euphonium . Very, very well.

- He recently auditioned to play bass guitar for the ISS (International Staff Songsters). And it went rather well... watch this space!

- He doesn't like parsnips. Not even a little bit.

For more information about Chris, you'll have to check out his blog :-D

You know you're a teacher when...

(Courtesy of a teacher friend...)

-You realise there are never enough pencils/gluesticks/scissors in the world.

-You see a child misbehaving in the supermarket you automatically give them "the look".

-You've programmed yourself to say "oh my goodness" when something goes wrong.

-You get excited in Hobbycraft!

-You can maintain a straight face in ANY situation.

-Stupid names of children in your class become the norm to you. (Don't even get me started...)

-You want to choke a person when they say "Oh, you must have such FUN everyday. This must be like playtime for you." (John, Andy... take note!)

-You also want to stab any person who says the following with a compass "Teaching? That's just about learning how to write on a whiteboard right?"

-You can sense misbehaviour without actually seeing it.

-When a lunchtime supervisor/helper/TA comes into your class to complain openly about them, you find yourself saying "OH dear, how sad" in an overly dramatic way! (I hadn't even realised I did this- but I do. All the time.)

-You say things once, then repeat them, then ask if everyone understands what you are saying, before repeating again.

-The people you work with (aka the children) are obsessed with finding out what your first name is.

-You secretly love it when a child in your class has a birthday- CAKE! (Woo hoo!)

To avoid writing reports today, I have:

- Watched 'Smalltalk Diaries', a series of 15 minute 'documentaries' through the eyes of minibeasts from all parts of the UK, and an insight into what they would say if they could talk. Brilliant. My favourite is the Geordie cockroach. (We are studying Minibeasts as our Science topic at the moment though, so that makes it kind of ok...)

- Made my own Shelfari bookshelf- see side column. I'm quite a big reader and there are a few good ones in there, especially The Book Thief. If anyone else can recommend a good summer read or two, let me know! After putting all these books on my virtual shelf, I then decided it was necessary to locate exactly where each book was in the house and re-read a chapter of each.

- Written two blog posts in two days. When was the last time that happened?

- Re-read every single birthday card I've received over the last three years. It brought back lots of memories and some of them really made me chuckle! I can't believe how we all thought turning 21 was old. Reading old cards has also spurred me to get back into contact with a few friends I haven't spoken to for ages (partly because I'd like to receive a card from them next year...)

- Researched 'Knock knock' jokes on the web. My personal favourite is still:

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Little Old Lady.
Little Old Lady who?
I didn't know you could yodel!

HAHAHA.

- Finally got around to writing down favourite children's quotes/excuses from the last year or so in a little book. This was just after I'd asked a child why he was holding someone else's toy, to be greeted with the reply, 'I didn't steal it, I just found it in my hand...'

- Looked up the theme tune for Greenclaws on YouTube. I figured this might not trigger any memories, so here's a brief description of the programme: Greenclaws was a big green monster who lived in a greenhouse. Every week, Iris would visit Greenclaws. They would put a seed in a plant pot, put the plant pot inside a tree, wait for Owlma (a mechanical owl) to alert them that the plant was ready, answer three riddles/questions from Owlma (which were always along the lines of "Twit twoo, twoo, twit twit twoo?" and then translated into English by Greenclaws for him and Iris to solve), then open the tree to find the plant had grown in to something bearing unusual fruit. Amazing stuff. Now do you remember...?

Right, back to reports. I can hear you all getting your violins out...