Lent

Ok, well, this is a little late, as we are now over a week into Lent.
In an attempt to become a more reliable blogger, however, I am going to write about it anyway.
This year, I have become more aware of Lent than I have in previous years. That may be connected to attending a 'higher' church this year (full bells & smells). Last Wednesday, we attended an Ashing Service. This was a normal communion service (except it was Wednesday) but it also included the vicar/priest putting ashes on our foreheads in the sign of the cross. This was to remind us that 'from dust you came and to dust you shall return' and as an outward sign of inward penitence/repentence (I think!).
The church is running a series of weekly Lent talks entitled 'Walk the Walk', focussing on different aspects of the Christian journey. This week's was by Margaret Sentamu (wife of John, Archbishop of York... the one who cut up his dog collar in protest against Mugabe). She spoke on 'Excess Baggage' and on the things that are holding us back from a fuller walk with God/Jesus. Her main quotation was 'Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives us something to do, but doesn't get us anywhere'.

In terms of what I've given up for lent... I have given up chewing my fingernails and have taken up having a proper breakfast everyday. So far, it's going well.

I have a couple of other posts planned... Watch this Space!

Temporary outtage

Well, as you can see, I didn't get those pictures taken. Sorry! I did get essentially all my Christmas shopping done that day though.

The Christmas break was good. For once, I had managed to book my ticket early enough that it was significantly cheaper to go 1st class than I was expecting it to be to standard class, so I treated myself (although it was actually a Rail Replacement bus after about half way!).
Christmas Day was spent at home with 8 of us round the table and was very nice. Lots of silly games and quizzes, as well as much enjoyment of giving and unwrapping.
Boxing Day was at Nan's house for tea with 12 adults and 2 tinies. Here's Nan with her most recent (5th) great-grandchild. She's 81 in this pic, but she turned 82 last week. Jonathan is 4 months here.


I then spent a few days at home before travelling 250 miles north to the Lake District for the New Year.
As last year, we did something of a whistle-stop tour, taking in Kendal, Threlkeld, Keswick, Derwentwater, Coniston and Ambleside, before dropping in to visit Michael's mum's Godmother in Grange-over-Sands on the way back home. All apart from Threlkeld were in YHA hostels and were all excellent. If you haven't stayed in one for a long time or haven't ever, then I would recommend them.

Highlights:

1. Seeing a real, live, wild Red Squirrel on the birdfeeder outside while having breakfast at Derwentwater YHA.
   
   (No, I didn't take the picture - it came from Wikipedia).
2. Feeding crackers to several quite brave chaffinches before our walk on Jan 2nd. They came within 5 feet of us, but then would realise it and scoot off. They did come back though.
3. Getting to the top of Latrigg on Jan 1st and managing to see the views of Keswick just before the mists came down.

Lowlights (is that a word?):

1. Not managing to take any decent pictures from the top of Latrigg before the mists came down:
   
2. Sliding a short distance down Latrigg on my behind in the mud.
3. Realising (as we were getting off the once-an-hour train from Kendal to Oxenholme) that we had left a bag of walking boots on the back seat of the car when we dropped it back at the hire-car place. We then had to wait 20 minutes or so for the train to go back, walk back to the car place, collect the bag and then sit back on the station platform in the pouring rain for the train to come back and once again get to Oxenholme. Thankfully, the tickets we had for the rest of the journey were still valid and we actually travelled on a nicer train (albeit probably a lot more crowded!).

In other news:
My 24th birthday was 9th Jan, which I celebrated with a lovely meal out with Michael and my brother, Tim. We went to the Punch Bowl on Stonegate (not to be confused with the Wetherspoon's on Blossom St, also called the Punch Bowl!), which is a really lovely pub/restaurant. Not too pricey with decent-sized, delicious, quite simple meals. We then came home via the Three-legged Mare (aka Wonky Donkey) where we got ID'd. Harumph.

Since then, not a lot has happened, although on Friday I did have my first sick day off from work/school in nearly 8 years. I managed half an hour, before concluding that I really wasn't well and came home again, suffering toothache and severe nausea. I spent most of Friday in bed feeling sorry for myself (Michael came over to my house and looked after me, which was nice). By Friday night, I was still in a lot of pain, so Michael suggested I call NHS Direct to find a dentist who was open on Saturdays. They were very helpful and this morning I had an appointment with a very nice dentist (yes, really!) who told me I had an infection under my gum where my wisdom tooth is coming through, so I'm now on amoxycillin 3 times a day for the next few days.

Work at the hospital continues. I screwed up on the closing date for a job I really wanted, but at least I now have a good personal statement prepared and have updated my CV, so when I find something else it won't take as long to fill in the forms.

I think that's all for now. Once again, I'll try to be more prompt with my next update!

The sights, the sounds...

For the time being, I'm still working at the hospital (well, not right now, because it's Saturday...) and it's getting slowly more interesting as I'm shown how to do things other than filing. Still not overly brain-taxing though.

Other than work, we seem to have very effectively filled up our evenings, including 2 pub quizzes a week - one at 'the Three-Legged Mare' (aka the Wonky Donkey)... which we won last week and came second this week... and the other at 'The 'ole in t'Wall', where the third member of our team asked if he could join us a few weeks ago and we have been a team ever since!
Also, we have been going to the 4-part choir at church and performed on Wednesday at the York FC Carol Service (where John Sentamu was preaching) and that went well. Next Sunday is the St.Luke's Carol Service and on Christmas Eve, there is a Crib Service with Christingles, but I won't be there for that one, as I'm going home! (woo!).

In other news, Michael and I spent last weekend in S.London with his paternal grandparents. I also met several of his aunts, uncles, cousins, a great-aunt and several of his grandparents neighbours and other acquaintances, who were all very nice and welcoming, but there were, well, quite a lot of them!
We also went to see Mary Poppins on stage at the Prince Edward Theatre. The show was amaaaaazin! Aside from the amazing singing and truly astonishing dance routines (not a tap out of place when the chimney sweeps are dancing on the roof), the set was spectacular. A typical Cameron Macintosh, with bit of set sliding on and off sideways, up and down... and I still don't really know how they did the 'taking-stuff-out-of-a-bag-that's-clearly-too-small' scene!
I did have a stinky cold for that weekend too (my third in 3 weeks), but it seems to have gone now. Woo!

Also, finally, I have finished the website for my home church (Hatfield Road Methodist Church), and it can be found at http://www.hatfieldroadmc.greenisp.org/. If anyone finds anything wrong with it, please do let me know - I'm aware of several typos, but I haven't got as far as fixing them yet.

Anyway, I really ought to go, as I need to do all my Christmas shopping today! Not so good.

(And, Cakes, I haven't forgotten the pictures - I will tidy up when I get back from shopping, take pictures and post them, or at least that's the plan!)

Pastures new

Well, having finished in Scarborough and spending the summer crossing the country repeatedly. Greenbelt was FANTASTIC! I will try and blog on that soon.
Anyway, the big news is that I have a new place to live. I'm moving in the next couple of weeks to a room in a 3-bed house in York. (email for address, if you want it). I don't quite have a job yet, but I am working on finding a temping position, learning to drive and then taking it from there.

Will try to blog again soon!

My past month...

Well, I did pass my PGCE. So I'm now a qualified teacher. Yeep! That's a little bit scary. And before you ask, no, I don't have a job yet. If anyone knows of a school near York wanting an Infant Teacher, please let me know. ;-)

Other than that, I've spent the past month covering across significant distances across the country, largely by train. Between June 29th and July 28th, I will have travelled 2,167.9 miles (according to Google Maps).

This includes Dave & Marie's wedding (pic taken at CU Ball last year),

Chris & Rebecca's Wedding

Dave & Zoe's Wedding
(Don't have any pictures)
Tim's graduation
(Don't have any pictures)

Also, I will be helping at holiday clubs in Macclesfield and York, as well as attending Sam & Rosie's Wedding.

I have got to learn to drive!

Just to say that, barring throwing a child out of a window or something,...

I HAVE PASSED MY PGCE!!!

Where did May go?

Last time I looked, it was April. May has disappeared and now it's June. Yeep!

Well, this week was half term and I've done a fair bit of work and a reasonable amount of sleeping. It's been rather nice. I've written half term plans, weekly evaluations for the past three weeks (backdated - shhh!). I've been shopping a few times. And tried to figure out where I have to be when at the end of June and throughout July. It is a complicated process, including finishing school placement, going to 4 weddings in 4 different places in the space of 5 weekends, helping out at a holiday club in Macclesfield for a week, plus perhaps finding a job and maybe even a flat. Oh, and eating/sleeping/etc, might feature in there somewhere. Maybe.

In other news, my old laptop has been gradually going senile over the past couple of months and finally got to the point where it would not reliably charge or indeed stay on, it was getting slower by the day and various other features were falling by the wayside. So, I used some of my TDA bursary and bought myself a shiny new one (Dell Inspiron 640m). After a few hiccups, it has arrived and I've just about installed everything that I need at the moment. It's very shiny and light. It's also got Windows Vista, which is proving fun now I've got used to it. Still need to get a few things (photos, music, etc) off the old one, but I'll do that when I've received the replacement for the faulty (2 month old) power cable that I've sent back, when the old laptop might stay on for more than 10 minutes. When I've done that, I will set about 'refurbishing' it so that it's in a fit state to pass on. :o)

Anyway, ought to get back to work. Lesson plans don't write themselves, ya know. Nor do formative assessment records, schemes of work, task analyses, ...

I'm hiding...

from my lesson plans! (I've got 2 to write for tomorrow, plus 4 to write evaluations for from Friday and today).

I've been on placement for a week now. It seems to be going well. I've got used to the class, learned their names, and mostly figured out what happens when. There are only 21 of them, which is nice, although a couple of them are quite capable of making it feel like a fair few more than that!
I've taught a few activities this past week, including teaching Year 1 (age 5-6) to subtract by counting back and to recognise & name 3-D shapes from pictures, plus teaching the whole class about symmetry and how to use the shift key and space bar when typing.

This past week or so, the theme has been Minibeasts... Creepy-crawlies or bugs to most people. Thus, we've been learning all about bees, snails, worms, beetles, ladybirds and goodness knows what else. Tomorrow, as a special treat, I'm going to be taking in my housemate's giant African land snails (~6-8 inches long!) to show them.
Last week, we went on a minibeast hunt in the playground and came back with 3 ladybirds, 6 snails, a dead bee, 3 slugs, 2 worms and 4,000 woodlice (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but they're slow and easy to catch!). The children were unable to catch the pigeon or the crow!

The week before (May 4th), I wrote 4 essays in a week (2 x 2,000 and 2 x 1,000) which in total amounted to 6,140 words. I was rather proud of myself for that, although it might have been a good idea to have started a little earlier. Never mind, it'll be a while before I have to write another one, if ever. Maybe if/when I do a Masters?

Anyway, my lesson plans are calling... Will post soon.

Check this out...?

Life has generally been ok for the past few weeks. I had a good break over Easter, including a day in Reading including visiting the Chaplaincy (of course), followed by a couple of days when Michael, Chris & Rebecca came to visit St.Albans and 'did' a City Tour that I got from the Tourist Information office for free. It was really good, incorporating St.Peter's church, the Clock Tower, the Abbey, Verulamium Park, the Watermill, Fishpool Street and then back into the centre. The weather was perfect for us. After the tour, we then came back home and had tea & cake in the new garden room, which was very fun and really rather twee too. They also came to both the Maundy Thursday Communion and also the Good Friday Reflection, which was lovely too.

Since then, I've not done a whole lot of anything remarkable. Went for a curry at the Spice Hut with Mum, Dad & Tim last Thursday and had my first ever biriani.
Came back to Scarborough on the train last weekend. It was busy, but quite an easy run.

This week's been ok. I've been in lectures everyday. Some of them have been interesting and a few have been useful.

Next week, I go into my next placement school for visits (Hilderthorpe Infants, Bridlington). Until Tuesday, I was under the impression that I would have a Year 1 class (age 5-6yrs), but on phoning the school the three of us who are going to that school discovered that we actually have mixed Year 1/2 classes (ie. age 5-7yrs in each class)! Not that it really makes much of a difference, but it would have been nice to know. I have 'Pink' class (all the classes are named as colours).

This weekend, Chris & Michael are coming to visit. Chris is staying with Michael tonight, and then they're both heading over here tomorrow night. We're going to Whitby on Saturday, including a Kate Rusby concert, which I'm really quite looking forward to. :o)
As part of this, though, I decided I really ought to get some food in to feed them, so after lectures, I walked down to Tesco (a mile or two). I did lots of shopping, buying packed lunch things for next week, as well as dinner for tomorrow night. I decidd to treat the guys and selected a bottle of Thatcher's Katy, plus a bottle of local ale (forgot the name). When I got to the till, however, the woman asked for ID. Well, I don't have any. She wouldn't believe me (citing 'company policy'). So, no ale/cider for me. That might be a good thing in some ways thought, because I then realised quite home much I'd bought. I had my backpack, but it still had in it everything from college, so I put a few things in there, but also 4 carrier bags. Which I had to get to the bus stop. The bags had better ideas, and the bottom of one of the bags started to split and a bottle of squash made a solid attempt at a bit for freedom (failed). God bless the angel who walked past and offered me her carrier bag (which I declined, but only because I'd got to the bus stop). I got it all home and have been trying to do some work ever since. Getting there, but very slowly. Should get some more reading done, before I go to bed soon-ish.

Generally, life is ok though. God bless. /Out/

Whatcha lookin' at?

I was just looking at the list of things that people were searching for when they ended up here looking at my blog.

Here are a few of the things that led here:

• story books enid blytons collection for 6 or 7 class
• nick baines+easter friday
• strawberry font
• Nativity-cross-stitch
• sally bridgstock
• jibe productions
• "jibe productions"
• Nocturnal animals Lesson plans
• bill bryson notes from a small island car petrol station commentary about
• bridgstock
• presentation it's not grim up north

Now, some of those make sense, but some of them are really quite odd!

Anyway, I'd better get on with something more constructive now...