I am an English teacher as you know, so once I absorb the shock of each day’s new Corona headlines, my guilty secret is a fascination in our ability to quickly forge new words and sayings to deal with this pandemic – words and phrases that we didn’t have a few weeks ago. I take…
It’s a lock in
When I was at university, a ‘lock in’ was something to enjoy. In the 1980’s (prehistoric story coming up) Aberystwyth was still dry on a Sunday, so if you were invited to a ‘lock in’ at a hostelry before midnight on a Saturday, you were in for a very good weekend. This week, lock down,…
Every day’s a school day …
This particular week in teaching is summed up nicely in a thank you message from one of our Year 11 students, ‘I hope you stay safe in these uncertain times’: Student turns teacher – we weren’t needed after all. Perhaps young people don’t need a clutch of exam certificates if they can show such empathy…
A bubble run
I am so gutted to see the steady stream of event cancellations in response to Corona. If this news had come straight after Christmas – when we were all willing to hibernate after a frenzy of social contact (some enforced) – it may have seemed more palatable. Now that the evenings are getting lighter we…
Cleaning up social distance
I was too blasé about gliding easily through the January Glums; I can see that February and March are not exactly smoothing our way to a fiesta of Spring sap-rising. I spoke too soon about being through the worst, so I am determined to find some positives in these dark storm days of corona virus…
Are we there yet?
Being a fifty-something blogger, it may surprise you that I have never written about the Big M. Not the Big M in Marathon – obviously I have written far too much about that – no, the Menopause. My lack of noise on this subject is not because I think I should remain silent – indeed,…
A Beautiful Day
Thanks to Ofsted, the term ‘deep dive’ is being hijacked in Planet Teaching through frequent use. Bless Half Term then for allowing a gasp of air above water and a helicopter flight with family and friends to reframe the ‘big picture’ before swooping down to get in some surfing practice. You can’t stop those waves…
Madame Dragonfly
A pleasant happenstance to share is that this year’s Valentine’s Day crept up without me wanting to slap it in the face. Stepping over the rows of red rose buckets trip-wiring the entrance to Tesco’s the evening before, I acknowledge that it is impossible for any male to solve the Valentine riddle: how to acknowledge…
Stretcher Case
When I wrote last week about upping my marathon training, in my head I was actually thinking about slowing down. Over the last seven days there have certainly been plenty of opportunities to note that Life sometimes just puts a big road block in your path to ensure she has your full attention and that…
Spandex Speedypants
Confession time: I am out of self-inflicted retirement again and marathon training is mission-creeping my life. I spot my tell-tale anorak behaviours and the snarkiness which always accompanies the pyramid schedule of long distance runs. If you zoned out on reading the word ‘marathon’ I don’t blame you. I am even boring myself. I promised…
