Apologies may be needed for not telling the full story the other week, but back then it wasn’t time to worry, and I still refuse to believe that worrying will help now. Sadly there is an unwelcome guest in our midst and my friend’s husband has christened her Mildred*; she’s extremely thick skinned, has already…

In the last week of the holiday I’ve worked hard to maximise outside shenanigans, for tomorrow my sensible (inside) head needs to reemerge when I walk back into the classroom.  I’m not sure that you can bottle fresh air, but perhaps the memory of it will see me through that fetid after-lunch gas cloud that…

I’ve been in and out of school over the last two weeks and not spending as much time with Favourite Daughter as I’d like. She starts her new life in London in one week and will then become a teacher too. Two weeks of exam results remind me, however,  just how brilliant students are –…

Despite being a giddy kipper about meeting up in London with my oldest friend (not oldest in birthday cake candles, but the friend I have known since school days) I leave my flat feeling  frustrated; my soul-saving sea view is being obliterated by scaffolding which rapidly and noisily creeps across the front of the building…

The Japanese believe that when something has suffered damage or has a history it is more beautiful; broken objects are often repaired with gold to make a feature of the flaw.  I love this idea. It’s called kintsugi. This could be my 50+ alternative to getting a tattoo.  I could embroider my appendix scar, laughter…

Two months on from my last Italian jaunt, I find myself there again, this time with my sister and her husband – it’s only fair, they own the lakeside apartment after all and it would seem churlish to travel alone. Sometimes it’s good to go back somewhere you’ve been before because it throws down a marker…

I’ve jumped off term end straight into the long holiday with nowhere to hide from myself.  No deadlines, no students, no lessons to teach; the sun is out and yet I’m being a total fester face.  I like to have people to do things with and all the lovely people in my life, quite rightly…

I was reminded of an old joke this week and certainly needed the laugh.  A piece of string walks into a bar and is refused a pint.  ‘I’ve told you before we don’t serve pieces of string, and you are a piece of string, aren’t you? ‘ says the barman.  ‘No, I’m a frayed knot,’…

Weird being a teacher because when staff leave a school, instead of leaving at various pinch points throughout the year – as they do in the real world – they mostly all leave at the same time, at the end of the long Summer Term .  At this point everyone is wilting, emotional and distracted…

Last week I had a glimpse of the future when invited to a book launch at a local retirement home.  It was yet another blisteringly hot day and I melted into the residents’ lounge ready for a press junket and book signing. In reality I was invited to support my students as the local press…