Wobble

It felt strange to reach the end of the first school term of my teaching career with no date in the diary for a cheeky coffee with my mother, a catch up which would have allowed me to recalibrate, decompress and make sense of it all. Without indulging in a pity party (just a small…

No words

I have blogged about my mother many times; I always confessed to her afterwards and she always seemed chuffed to hear that she had been my muse. Mum never asked to read the published content – preferring paper I guess – but occasionally would say, ‘no doubt you can use this story in a future…

Otherwise engaged

If I have one complaint about grown up ‘kids’, it is that they sometimes take their time providing me with a shameless excuse to giggle hysterically and leak happy mother tears simultaneously. Some may call their approach selfish but because my children are practically perfect in every way I defend them with the excuse that…

Flying backwards

I have just arrived at my chap’s cottage ‘in the shire’. It is a blistering hot day; it has been a long drive and this flying visit comes at the end of a long teaching term and a testing few days at the start of the school holiday. I am a tad grumpy, a tad…

Tour de force

Something weird has been going on with my algorithms; despite being a runner, I find myself incessantly nudged by ads and pop-ups about cycling. First I am insulted – I am age-aware but have no need to be niche-marketed by a company called ‘Granny Gear’ – then I find myself strangely intrigued to discover that…

A victory dance

The week begins with the first Year 10 mock examination, and it is not long until I am called out to the girls’ toilets to extricate a student; she has stormed out of her Biology exam in a purple haze after twenty minutes of multiple guess, telling the invigilator to ‘go and do one’. Sadly…

Long term gains

Far be it for me to offer updates on my latest foray into the world of ultra-running, for last year I promised retirement once completing anything over 26.2 miles. (I achieved this ‘first’ last May – proving something to myself in the process and ruining a perfectly adequate body and running vest by falling over…

Tequila little time

Since writing about the art of spectating in my last blog, the world has opened up to me in a pleasing fashion; I now have a guilt-free and legitimate reason to watch life pass me by, and some friends have invited me in from the cold to come inside and watch ‘interesting things’ with them….

A gift

I break silence after many months of blog absence to update you that I have finally arisen (albeit dragging myself up in a pitiful fashion) from the ashes of DIY and the depths of many, many removal boxes to publicise my soft launch into official cottage residency. When I say silence, in reality you may…

Branching out

I am back to report that reaching Level 60 in this game called Life is absolutely fab – I can only apologise for my curmudgeonly approach to the Big Day back in December. I am now older and wiser. ‘Reaching 60’ sounds ancient, whereas ‘Level 60’ in gaming terms infers that I have ‘levelled up’ and earned…