Natasha carrying Maisie
Monday, June 13, 2005
Disaster
An unusual day at school today with three separate occasions on which I was thanked. It doesn’t happen often, and certainly not as frequently as being aware that others are not happy with what has been happening, so I thought it worth a mention.
Library pay scales resolved at last. Several years ago, at least 4, the jobs done by staff with the local authority were regarded. No one lost out in school in respect of less money but the differentials between some staff were eroded and in the process some people felt that they should be reclassified anyway so that they were on a higher scale. Appeals to the council, to the Governors etc have followed and now we have finally reached a point where everyone is happy. I have had to work so long to get to this point it would have been far cheaper to have given the scale requested four years ago.
The school office – a very difficult situation here with people’s livelihoods at stake but now also resolved. I can’t say too much more about that other than it is another big worry out of the way.
Progress in the English Department and clearer understanding of the steps needed to progress further.
Cricket catastrophe
Glen’s bad knee prevented him from cricket practice in the morning and he and Tom had the opportunity to continue playing Pro Evolution Soccer etc. That meant I got the new shredder out again and helped compost some prunings from the garden. Alison had got two enormous compost bins delivered and by the end of the weekend they are almost full.
The shredder works fine now, needs patience to take time over putting the thing in, but it does a good job. The best thing was that it was actually hot and I was able to look forward to the cricket hoping we’d build on last week’s improvement.
We played over at Bashley Rydal and were missing three players from the previous week. The all weather surface offered little to the bowlers despite good opening figures from Dan and myself. They were scoring slowly but not losing wickets. On a fast outfield and with little assistance from the conditions they ended up on 187 off their 42 overs but with only 4 wickets down, all taken by Mike.
Feeling quite pleased with this we started our reply quite optimistically but what followed was truly awful. We were all out for 54 which was pitiful. Nigel went after a huge slog in the first over and set the tone being bowled through the huge gap he left. Five of the team got a duck including me although I am going to excuse myself. My first ball was guided to fine leg for an easy single but it was refused by the other batsman. I felt a little annoyed at that as he ought to have confidence in my ability to hold up an end. He then ran me out in the next over with a stupid call especially given the match position. I should have stayed where I was and not run but there you go, I did and was comprehensively out.
There was a long inquest after the game with everyone given the chance to talk about what they saw as the problems and why this was happening. Perhaps it will help but until we start batting properly, our bowling which is good, will have nothing to aim at. On the plus side the spirit in the team is good and everyone felt they would prefer to play for our side than the opposition who were bullied at almost every turn by their captain. However, that discipline and sense of purpose could be useful to us as a team unless it is simply going to be a social thing. Very, very depressing. Lets see how football goes on Monday.
Alison was at car boot sale with Sandra on Sunday. They made quite a bit of money while I got on with cutting the hedges and shredding in the bright sunshine. I’d already cleaned out Glen’s fish which are doing well. He was with Tom and had made off to go fishing but that doesn’t start at Moors Valley for another few weeks so he spent the day with Tom and friends down at Potterne Park.
His fish, pictured on the site, are made up of: -
6 neon tetra
4 black widow tetra
2 rainbow tetra
a rainbow shark
Nobby
I’m not sure what Nobby is but he is the biggest fish in the aquarium now and feeds at the bottom. He is fairly quiet most of the time just getting excited by the other fish rushing around at feeding time.
Monday.
After teaching Year 8 I have spent the remainder of the day in the inclusion room. Including break and lunch that is from 9.30 to 2.30 and it has become very boring. You can only do so much marking and preparation. I’ve got most of them reading now which they enjoy. Two are reading Beowulf: Dragonslayer by Rosemary Sutcliffe, one is reading Abomination by Robert Swindells and the other The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler by Gene Kemp .
Library pay scales resolved at last. Several years ago, at least 4, the jobs done by staff with the local authority were regarded. No one lost out in school in respect of less money but the differentials between some staff were eroded and in the process some people felt that they should be reclassified anyway so that they were on a higher scale. Appeals to the council, to the Governors etc have followed and now we have finally reached a point where everyone is happy. I have had to work so long to get to this point it would have been far cheaper to have given the scale requested four years ago.
The school office – a very difficult situation here with people’s livelihoods at stake but now also resolved. I can’t say too much more about that other than it is another big worry out of the way.
Progress in the English Department and clearer understanding of the steps needed to progress further.
Cricket catastrophe
Glen’s bad knee prevented him from cricket practice in the morning and he and Tom had the opportunity to continue playing Pro Evolution Soccer etc. That meant I got the new shredder out again and helped compost some prunings from the garden. Alison had got two enormous compost bins delivered and by the end of the weekend they are almost full.
The shredder works fine now, needs patience to take time over putting the thing in, but it does a good job. The best thing was that it was actually hot and I was able to look forward to the cricket hoping we’d build on last week’s improvement.
We played over at Bashley Rydal and were missing three players from the previous week. The all weather surface offered little to the bowlers despite good opening figures from Dan and myself. They were scoring slowly but not losing wickets. On a fast outfield and with little assistance from the conditions they ended up on 187 off their 42 overs but with only 4 wickets down, all taken by Mike.
Feeling quite pleased with this we started our reply quite optimistically but what followed was truly awful. We were all out for 54 which was pitiful. Nigel went after a huge slog in the first over and set the tone being bowled through the huge gap he left. Five of the team got a duck including me although I am going to excuse myself. My first ball was guided to fine leg for an easy single but it was refused by the other batsman. I felt a little annoyed at that as he ought to have confidence in my ability to hold up an end. He then ran me out in the next over with a stupid call especially given the match position. I should have stayed where I was and not run but there you go, I did and was comprehensively out.
There was a long inquest after the game with everyone given the chance to talk about what they saw as the problems and why this was happening. Perhaps it will help but until we start batting properly, our bowling which is good, will have nothing to aim at. On the plus side the spirit in the team is good and everyone felt they would prefer to play for our side than the opposition who were bullied at almost every turn by their captain. However, that discipline and sense of purpose could be useful to us as a team unless it is simply going to be a social thing. Very, very depressing. Lets see how football goes on Monday.
Alison was at car boot sale with Sandra on Sunday. They made quite a bit of money while I got on with cutting the hedges and shredding in the bright sunshine. I’d already cleaned out Glen’s fish which are doing well. He was with Tom and had made off to go fishing but that doesn’t start at Moors Valley for another few weeks so he spent the day with Tom and friends down at Potterne Park.
His fish, pictured on the site, are made up of: -
6 neon tetra
4 black widow tetra
2 rainbow tetra
a rainbow shark
Nobby
I’m not sure what Nobby is but he is the biggest fish in the aquarium now and feeds at the bottom. He is fairly quiet most of the time just getting excited by the other fish rushing around at feeding time.
Monday.
After teaching Year 8 I have spent the remainder of the day in the inclusion room. Including break and lunch that is from 9.30 to 2.30 and it has become very boring. You can only do so much marking and preparation. I’ve got most of them reading now which they enjoy. Two are reading Beowulf: Dragonslayer by Rosemary Sutcliffe, one is reading Abomination by Robert Swindells and the other The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler by Gene Kemp .
Sunday, June 12, 2005
This week
This week I have mostly been doing…
Back to school today and straight back into the exams. There are another two days until the first of the English Papers which means, if you are some of the Year 11 students, plenty of time to go before any revision might be required. We took up reading ‘Abomination’ from where we had left off before half-term and the Year 8 class continued to thoroughly enjoy it. Having done so much work on reading and writing this year, we are taking this imply as an opportunity to read for pleasure although it does lead to some work on corporal punishment and the like. We certainly aren’t stopping every two pages to do some skills based work other than to check understanding through questions and brief discussion. It is so much more enjoyable.
The meeting with a parent after school brought much amusement although I shouldn’t say as much. The father of a girl came in to discuss her poor behaviour and bullying of others and made me smile several times although when he said that she’d been hit and wouldn’t be coming for a while I was shocked as it was a middle aged man who had hit her. I asked if he had any suggestions and received the news that sanctions certainly didn’t work. After that nothing for some time. Just a silence which, to use a cliché, spoke volumes. However, he offered the hope of T’ai Chi. Perhaps 20 minutes of that each day would help as it did in China he believed. He doesn’t take his daughter to T’ai Chi himself but perhaps it’s something we could do. I wonder where it would fit on the National Curriculum and how readers of certain newspapers would react if they heard this was our new behaviour management strategy.
Football in the evening set new standards in excitement with flowing skills, stamina and teamwork in evidence on the pitch. Unfortunately it was on the pitch next to us where Thirty Plus went down 7 – 4 in our first proper league game. The referee got in the way right from kick off and allowed the ball to hit him, rebound to their striker who scored and left us with a psychological mountain to climb. We were doomed from that point (you see the other 6 goals had nothing to do with us or our hopeless defending) and it fell to Kevin Trill to lead us to some degree of respectability with a hat trick.
Back to school today and straight back into the exams. There are another two days until the first of the English Papers which means, if you are some of the Year 11 students, plenty of time to go before any revision might be required. We took up reading ‘Abomination’ from where we had left off before half-term and the Year 8 class continued to thoroughly enjoy it. Having done so much work on reading and writing this year, we are taking this imply as an opportunity to read for pleasure although it does lead to some work on corporal punishment and the like. We certainly aren’t stopping every two pages to do some skills based work other than to check understanding through questions and brief discussion. It is so much more enjoyable.
The meeting with a parent after school brought much amusement although I shouldn’t say as much. The father of a girl came in to discuss her poor behaviour and bullying of others and made me smile several times although when he said that she’d been hit and wouldn’t be coming for a while I was shocked as it was a middle aged man who had hit her. I asked if he had any suggestions and received the news that sanctions certainly didn’t work. After that nothing for some time. Just a silence which, to use a cliché, spoke volumes. However, he offered the hope of T’ai Chi. Perhaps 20 minutes of that each day would help as it did in China he believed. He doesn’t take his daughter to T’ai Chi himself but perhaps it’s something we could do. I wonder where it would fit on the National Curriculum and how readers of certain newspapers would react if they heard this was our new behaviour management strategy.
Football in the evening set new standards in excitement with flowing skills, stamina and teamwork in evidence on the pitch. Unfortunately it was on the pitch next to us where Thirty Plus went down 7 – 4 in our first proper league game. The referee got in the way right from kick off and allowed the ball to hit him, rebound to their striker who scored and left us with a psychological mountain to climb. We were doomed from that point (you see the other 6 goals had nothing to do with us or our hopeless defending) and it fell to Kevin Trill to lead us to some degree of respectability with a hat trick.
Monday, June 06, 2005
Paignton Zoo and Christening
Our trip to Paignton was great and we arrived right on opening time to a forecast of clearing showers with sunny intervals by the afternoon which explains why we all got soaked in the afternoon. We saw lots of different animals as you will have seen from the photos with the highlights including the baboons and the elephants. The reptile house was great too but mainly because it was warm and dry.
The zoo is no longer a traditional zoo with the concerns rightly raised by visitors about the welfare of the animals but is looking well cared for, thoughtfully laid out and with an emphasis on education and conservation.
Glen and I got on with the cricket on Saturday and there 15 youngsters there for practice in the morning. The training included slip catching and that was to come in useful later in the day. I know the weather seems an obsession at the moment but 5 minutes before the end of the session the heavens opened and we found ourselves soaked again. Despite that the match in the afternoon went on with Verwood playing the top of the table side. They won by three wickets which meant a much better performance from Verwood. Adam and Dan batted superbly to give us a respectable total on a difficult pitch with just 4 not out from me as I went in at the very end.
The bowling was good all round and I took 3 wickets for 27 from my 12 overs. That was easily surpassed by the slip catch I took though. The nick was fast and low and I managed to dive to my left to hold it for a great catch although I say it myself. I was very pleased.
Today Alison, Joe and myself have been to church, first time for many years apart from a funeral. It was the christening of Joe’s friend’s baby, Tommy and Joe was Godfather and looked very smart in his suit, Joe not the baby. Interestingly the service was conducted via Powerpoint! The songs were all on overhead projector as was the reading from the bible and the vicar’s sermon was accompanied by slides outlining the main points. I imagine you can already watch church services on the internet but it was fascinating to see new technology being used in this way. You may be able to pray using MSN one day, talking a ‘God’ one to one with emoticons indicating the depth of his fury at your sinful nature. I was pleased that everyone at the service denounced the devil and his works as part of the baptism service although the guy with the goatee beard and horns looked like he had his fingers crossed to me. Perhaps the services will be available as a listen again option or video conferencing would leave you free to enjoy religion from your own home without the need to dress up or wear a hat. The possibilities are endless.
Back to school tomorrow. It’s raining again by the way.
http://www.paigntonzoo.org.uk/
http://www.beaulieu.co.uk/
The zoo is no longer a traditional zoo with the concerns rightly raised by visitors about the welfare of the animals but is looking well cared for, thoughtfully laid out and with an emphasis on education and conservation.
Glen and I got on with the cricket on Saturday and there 15 youngsters there for practice in the morning. The training included slip catching and that was to come in useful later in the day. I know the weather seems an obsession at the moment but 5 minutes before the end of the session the heavens opened and we found ourselves soaked again. Despite that the match in the afternoon went on with Verwood playing the top of the table side. They won by three wickets which meant a much better performance from Verwood. Adam and Dan batted superbly to give us a respectable total on a difficult pitch with just 4 not out from me as I went in at the very end.
The bowling was good all round and I took 3 wickets for 27 from my 12 overs. That was easily surpassed by the slip catch I took though. The nick was fast and low and I managed to dive to my left to hold it for a great catch although I say it myself. I was very pleased.
Today Alison, Joe and myself have been to church, first time for many years apart from a funeral. It was the christening of Joe’s friend’s baby, Tommy and Joe was Godfather and looked very smart in his suit, Joe not the baby. Interestingly the service was conducted via Powerpoint! The songs were all on overhead projector as was the reading from the bible and the vicar’s sermon was accompanied by slides outlining the main points. I imagine you can already watch church services on the internet but it was fascinating to see new technology being used in this way. You may be able to pray using MSN one day, talking a ‘God’ one to one with emoticons indicating the depth of his fury at your sinful nature. I was pleased that everyone at the service denounced the devil and his works as part of the baptism service although the guy with the goatee beard and horns looked like he had his fingers crossed to me. Perhaps the services will be available as a listen again option or video conferencing would leave you free to enjoy religion from your own home without the need to dress up or wear a hat. The possibilities are endless.
Back to school tomorrow. It’s raining again by the way.
http://www.paigntonzoo.org.uk/
http://www.beaulieu.co.uk/
Friday, June 03, 2005
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Beaulieu
Glen and I spent most of Weds afternoon watching the weather as it had rained almost all day and there was a midweek game of cricket scheduled for 6.30. It being half term meant I could play for once and the rain looked likely to spoil things. As it turned out the all weather pitch was fine and the rain had stopped in mid afternoon. Glen considers himself the team mascot and was determined that he would not miss out on a trip to Bransgore and a possible first win.
On my part, after three defeats with him watching I was hoping he’d stay at home! However, the match was very exciting, at least at the end when with two four needed off the last ball Dan skied the ball upwards which is generally the direction of the sky. He and John raced a single but the umpire called no ball! We hadn’t expected that. It gave another run along with the single to leave us needing one to draw and two to win. John thumped a shot to the off side and the fielder fumbled in the gloom leaving both players safely home for two runs. What a game, especially as I had taken 4 for 14 in my four overs.
Today has seen myself, Glen and Robin visiting Beaulieu. This was a trip meant for last summer but cancelled due to rain. Not being much a fan of cars I wasn’t sure about the trip in some ways but it turned out great. The cars were interesting with some famous ones alongside the various models of development. Glen’s pictured alongside Mr Bean’s mini and the Lady Penelope car from Thunderbirds. Nearby is the three-wheeler belonging to the Trotter’s. It’s strange how these people take on a sense of reality. I should say it was one of the props from the series.
Alongside these were several examples of formula one cars and land speed record holders. All very interesting. The monorail gave a great view of the estate and some lovely pictures. The house or is it a castle, is impressive but most pleasing of all was the fact that so much of the grounds had been given over to meadow which was full of clover and buttercups. It looked stunning.
Tomorrow sees Glen and I off to Paignton Zoo to meet with my sisters from Plymouth. I hope to get lots of pictures to share and post.
On my part, after three defeats with him watching I was hoping he’d stay at home! However, the match was very exciting, at least at the end when with two four needed off the last ball Dan skied the ball upwards which is generally the direction of the sky. He and John raced a single but the umpire called no ball! We hadn’t expected that. It gave another run along with the single to leave us needing one to draw and two to win. John thumped a shot to the off side and the fielder fumbled in the gloom leaving both players safely home for two runs. What a game, especially as I had taken 4 for 14 in my four overs.
Today has seen myself, Glen and Robin visiting Beaulieu. This was a trip meant for last summer but cancelled due to rain. Not being much a fan of cars I wasn’t sure about the trip in some ways but it turned out great. The cars were interesting with some famous ones alongside the various models of development. Glen’s pictured alongside Mr Bean’s mini and the Lady Penelope car from Thunderbirds. Nearby is the three-wheeler belonging to the Trotter’s. It’s strange how these people take on a sense of reality. I should say it was one of the props from the series.
Alongside these were several examples of formula one cars and land speed record holders. All very interesting. The monorail gave a great view of the estate and some lovely pictures. The house or is it a castle, is impressive but most pleasing of all was the fact that so much of the grounds had been given over to meadow which was full of clover and buttercups. It looked stunning.
Tomorrow sees Glen and I off to Paignton Zoo to meet with my sisters from Plymouth. I hope to get lots of pictures to share and post.
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