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… and its over

Pic of the week 23/2/20

I’m not sure whether to say the half term break has been blown away by the gales, or washed away in the rain and floods, but either way, the week draws to a close.

Its been a wet and windy week with very little “usable weather” so most of the time has been spent indoors. My Spanish has, therefore, improved enormously and I have taken the brave step to begin spoken lessons, via iTalki. My first lesson with Luisely was OK, but not what I’d hoped it would be. So then I tried another tutor, Daniel, and he’s great. Its difficult, trying to speak and listen to Spanish for 30 minutes, but so worth it – I feel I am making real strides in my studies.

And speaking of studies, it seems the penny might have finally dropped with Sam and he does seemed to have upped his application in preparation for his A levels. I think it is a combination of many things – having a tutor (John) to help him with his physics has given him a real boost, as, I think, has passing his driving test, and I think he finally begins to see a future beyond school. Let’s just hope he maintains his efforts, and they are enough to open the doors he wants opening.

Its been lovely having Sophie back for the week, she returned to Reading on Saturday. Its hard to think that she is a significant way through her second year of university.

On Tuesday, Becky & I went to see 1917 at Strode Studio cinema – an excellent, if not easy to watch, film. Glad I’ve seen it, but feel its to be watched more out of duty than for entertainment.

On Thursday we had a tracker fitted in the car, which is generating a lot of interest and competition to see who can get the best score; and on Friday we took delivery of our new fridge freezer.

So, a busy week. Wet and windy, but enjoyed. Five weeks ’till the next hols!

Manana, voy a volver a trabajo a mi escuela.

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Half-Term has arrived

Pic of the week, 16/2/20

Friday brought both Valentine’s Day and the start of half-term. Clearly a bit of a theme in the cards that Becky & I exchanged!

February half-term is always an important milestone with, possibly, one of the toughest periods of the school year completed and life seems to improve from here on in. The longer days and (hopefully) improving weather, coupled with the blooming of early spring bulbs is a part of it – a significant part – but not the whole.  With GCSE and A level classes reaching the conclusion of their syllabus, teaching tends to get easier as one begins to regularly reach for those past papers. Plus, the last half term was the last six+ week-er of the school year: its now two fives and a four – much more manageable timescales that the seemingly interminable Autumn term.

But the weather is yet to do its bit. After a battering from storm Ciara last week, we had a brief respite on Wednesday and Thursday, before storm Denis barreled into our lives, delivering a maelstrom of wind and rain from Saturday morning. I had a game on Saturday afternoon, which survived due to being on astro (but, annoyingly, my observer who was due to come and do the final assessment of my promotion year didn’t make it to the game) which I enjoyed despite the wind and rain. My game this morning was cancelled so it was another 50 lengths of Strode pool to start my day today. After a brief couple of hours late this afternoon when the rain stopped and the sun shined, as I write the wind and rain are back. Looks like a wet week ahead.

Sophie is back home for the week, on a reading week from Reading University, and Sam should be knuckling down to do some work. I think it has finally dawned on him that time is beginning to run out – the intentions are there, but the actions have yet to match.

And my experiments with my longer hair continue. Still undecided, so have to spend much time looking in the mirror to help me make up my mind …

Manana, tengo mi primer clase por hablar espanol con mi maestra de italki. Yo estoy un poco de nervioso, pero seguro que voy a disfrutalo.

Hasta luego!

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Passed!

Pic of the week 9/2/20

He passed!

On Friday, Sam successfully passed his driving test. Today he has proudly pootled off to work, behind the wheel on his own for the first time, ever.

Very proud of him and, unsurprisingly, he’s as pleased as punch.

Not the best day today for driving though: we’ve been battered by Storm Ciara and the wind and rain has – at times – been pretty immense although (touch wood) we’ve escaped anything more damaging than our garden furniture being blown about a bit on the deck. My game today was a victim of the weather, so, after receiving the cancellation text at 8.05 am, I headed down to the pool and swam 50 lengths. I’m enjoying swimming again, and will do more of it this year, but this week I have signed up for the Glastonbury 10K in May, so can’t abandon the running entirely!  But with half term now just five short days away, I’m looking forward to being able to do a bit of both.

The original flower from my cactus (blog-post of a couple of weeks ago) didn’t last, but has now been replaced by three new flowers, with more on the way. Outside, too, there is plant life beginning to emerge from the winter slumber. In the front corner of the drive, a number of daffodils, buffeted in the gale force winds, bravely sport their yellow flowers and in the back garden, the peony roots I planted last autumn are now poking through, suggesting the promising of a summer yet to come, and a self-seeded sweet-pea plant has hung on over the cold, wet winter and is now beginning to put on a growth spurt.

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Adi-EU

Pic of the week 2/2/20

And so time marches inexorably onwards, and January has become February – normally a minor milepost to celebrate passing and, indeed, the weather is, perhaps, improving (certainly better than 12 months ago when we lay under a blanket of snow) and the evenings are noticeably lighter but, this year, the transition from January to February has left a hole in my heart and a heaviness on my soul.

I – we – are no longer Europeans, and that saddens me.

OK, so we are now in a 12 month transition period so we’ll not notice much different just yet, but we will. Perhaps not perceptively, perhaps the sky won’t come crashing down, but we will be poorer, we will be more insular, we will be more restricted in what we can do. We, as a nation, have done ourselves enormous and lasting self-harm.

But, in the words of that great soul song smith Marvin Gaye, change what you can, but what you can’t leave it alone and have the sense to know the difference between the two.

So upwards and onwards in to the Spring sunshine. Today did feel warm and there were times as I refereed on a very muddy Pawlett Pavilion pitch today that the sun shone that one got the sense that back of winter has been broken. Brave clumps of daffodils are beginning to burst into bloom, including a handful in our front garden.

But one must note that February has arrived and I’ve still to shed all my Christmas excess weight. Although the scales have been inching downwards, they still sit stubbornly above the 13 stone mark and that does need to be addressed – I can’t march into March still carrying winter fat.