better out than in

spring flowers
Originally uploaded by etcher67

1) Happy dogs in the park.
2) Eavesdropping.
3) Uncomfortable benches.
4) Free chocolate in the paper (this is much much better than a DVD IMO.)
5) BST (though I shall curse it tomorrow morning.)
6)Toad in the hole.
7) Garden plans.

minutae

I have bought a new belt. Brown. Leather. Longer than the last (and therefore strangely less accusing).

I thought you should know.

hold onto your hats

Weather a bit miserable.
Car insurance renewed, and price cut by £140.
15 minutes on phone to bank over possible fraud embarrassingly resolved by faulty memory kicking in.
Need a haircut.
Desperately need a different cardigan.
Two knitting projects underway, neither near completion.
Dithering about cutting down bush for vegetable patch due to guilt over where sparrows will perch.
Bins need putting out.

Oh, the glamour!

I keep wondering why I am still blogging. I just don't seem to be able to stop, really. I am hoping that at some point it'll all become purposeful again (I am hoping that at some point I will become purposeful again....)

I am an island

sitting
Originally uploaded by etcher67

There was a point shortly after this picture was taken when I achieved a completely relaxed state for the first time in about six weeks. It was really, really, lovely.

Sadly by 9.30 am yesterday I had gone back to the the place close to the end of my tether which seems to be my more normal home right now. Fortunately it turns out that there is quite a lot of chocolate near the end of tethers. Slimming can wait: I am eating my troubles away.

Five working days until my holiday. New headteacher April 21st. Pray for a miracle worker.

I am the beat

When I stood in front of a mirror this lunchtime I realised that at some point in the last few weeks I have morphed into a middle-aged mod. When and how did this happen, and why did no-one let me know?

I tried to go dancing last night: I honestly did. I really felt like going, and lord knows I need the exercise. I got as far as finding suitable clothes and doing make up and putting on my dance shoes but sat in front of Ashes-to-Ashes (the show with the irritating and Wrong All Wrong bra strap) I lost the will to actually leave the house. It was OK though: I ate two pieces of gingerbread cake instead which is the same as going out and getting some exercise, isn't it?

The gingerbread is bloody delicious, by the way. I thoroughly recommend Nigella's recipe.

the wrong jumper

I should have known today when I put on the red and purple striped jumper that I would smash a plate into the staffroom bin in the middle of a rant about why nobody cares enough to wash up the odd teaspoon until they are piling up in the sink like spillikins thrown by a spoilt child I should have known today when I put on the red and purple striped jumper that I would end up in voicemail hell and shout at Vishal that I'd rather buy my curtains from John Lewis even if I don't like their fabrics because then at least I would be able to order a sample without going through a tortuous process involving three different departments and being told that there was no problem when there was a bloody problem or why would I be calling them I should have known today when I put on the red and purple jumper that I would shout at Graham to Give It A Break!! when he was mumbling and muttering that he was on strike no more homework no more school the yogic breathing is not really working the red and purple striped jumper is evil and I have eaten five yes five chocolate biscuits one right after the other bugger

climb every mountain

Some days, the need for a day off is more pronounced than others. Thank goodness for days off. Every now and again I contemplate the 20% pay rise that working five days a week would bring, but generally some kind soul reminds me that teaching five days a week is a fast track to personal bad temper and general insanity. Given my current level of personal bad temper and general insanity this would definitely not be wise. Work continues to be...challenging. Still no Ofsted publication, still no new headteacher, still lots of teachers hiding behind things crying. Not ideal.

A man in a long sparkly coat covered in appliqué elephants tried to persuade me to become a storyteller this week. I confess that I was tempted. I have been wishing for a door to open recently, and wonder whether that might be it. Even though I have virtually no intention of following up this opportunity it's nice to think that it exists.

I had a bunch of other things to say about London and books and stuff like that but I have decided to keep it to myself. Not blogging is the new blogging. Writing about not blogging is web2 (er, three?) meta for a new millennium! I shall go and sit on the sofa and think inside my head instead.

operation trouser: this time it's serious

industrial landscape
Originally uploaded by etcher67

I went out on my bike to see if my legs still worked, as I don't seem to have bothered using them much for the last year or so and I got puffed walking up a hill the other day. Not even a very big hill. I was ashamed, so Something Must be Done.

When I got home my legs wobbled for a good 15 minutes, but today they are fine. My neck aches, though. I must've hunched my way along the Thames path.

I am still puzzling slightly over the boy playing golf. A river path does not seem the obvious place; even one as bucolic as this. Perhaps he was trying to stun fish?