Since last Sunday, I have been admitting to myself that I have only one more year in which to use my ‘fifty-something’ tag-line on this blog. On my birthday, I wake up to snow – I read this as a metaphorical warning – and decide to make the most of things for another 12 months…
Trail Blazing
As an antidote to property acquisition (do not even go there – I have crashed, I am burnt and I will need the scabs to heal over before I can face blogging about it again), I am coaxed out of my pity party to run my first trail half marathon. Coming off tarmac for the…
A slow burner
Phew. I have just completed a quiz in a national newspaper, the results of which promise to tell me if I have mid-life burn out. It turns out that I do not. In fact I scored only 18 out of 75 which may mean that I am a liar, but also earns me the encouraging…
A marathon finish
This time last year I promised I would never run another marathon. 0n hearing this news, my small and perfectly formed readership sighed collectively in relief, believing my, ‘I am a marathoner’ running blogs would cease. Although I have kept my promise, they were wrong about the marathon blogs. Stay with me, this time I…
Small Talk
This week Paddy breaks the news to me that he has not read this blog in months because he never seems to get a name check. He feels I have been distracted from my boot camp blogs of old. In point of fact I feel obliged to remind him that we do not attend a…
Quietly quitting
It is not in my DNA to quit, but I confess a fascination in some silly season media interest in the coined phrase, ‘quiet quitter’ to define someone who appears to be mentally checking out from work. I have had time to stumble over this phrase because, as a teacher, I am gifted permission to…
Term of engagement
Speaking to Favourite Daughter (also a teacher) we decide that only teachers can understand the end of term collapse which has to be disguised to anyone outside the world of education for it is unlikely to find a sympathetic audience. ‘Yeah, right, you are feeling tired and emotional because you have got a six week…
Nothing going on
I am here to report on the most luxurious of days, a day when I was tethered to the house – grounded if you will – in order to greet the arrival of a lovely man scheduled to fit a new hob. It is the least that I can do for the lovely friends who…
I’m still standing
I realise that there has been silence on the blog front recently. In truth it has been a challenging time, but the remit of this blog is to chase the dragonflies when they show themselves and to trust that they will return when they are hiding. Sad songs can say so much but it feels…
Swelling up
It is not unheard of for a teacher to be on their knees at the end of term. We soldier on, knowing that the WFH crew has no time – or inclination – to cry our pity party. In the words of Favourite Man, ‘You are a tired – and quite frankly, grouchy and unlikeable…
The Dragonfly Jar 