Category: Pic of the week

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Poorly

Pic of the week 11/10/20

I’ve been a little bit poorly this week.

Not Covid – I have checked the symptons carefully, I had a sore throat that then became a bit “sinusy”, leaving me feeling tired and with the occasional headache. My temperature has remained normal, I’ve only coughed on occasion (certainly not a new or persistent cough) and my sense of taste and smell has remained undimmed. Just a seasonal bug, probably due to tiredness (and dehydration? Ran on Sunday, spun on Monday, sore throat began on Monday night)

Feel a lot better now, although I did curtail this morning’s run at 7Km, my legs ached, it was hard work (despite lovely weather), I was slow, and I wasn’t really enjoying it.

Have then spent much of the rest of the day pottering in the garden – mowing the lawn, removing the runner beans and their support and planting some daffodils in their place, and general tidying. The sun has shone, and it has been a pleasant temperature – I fell I’ve had a really peaceful day today, which is probably just what I needed.

And the pic of the week?

Well that’s Farrington Gurney Church were we got married nearly 25 years ago. Becky met her sister at the farm shop there (FG) yesterday for coffee and took this pic.

 

 

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Wet, wet, wet

Pic of the week 4/10/20

It feels like it hasn’t stopped raining since Wednesday.

Wednesday afternoon I refereed at school (1st XI v Filton College, good game) and I got soaked, Saturday I ref-ed another school game (3rd XI v Taunton, a bit agricultural) and got soaked, this morning I ran, and got soaked …

The rain has been relentless, with some localised flooding, but does, at least for now, seem to have stopped.

The picture above was a (double) rainbow on Wednesday evening, shortly before my Spanish lesson, and gave me the opportunity to find out from Daniel that a rainbow is “un acroiris” and I took the chance to practice my colours:
roja, naranja, amarillo, verde,  azul, violeta.

He was less sure about indigo – can’t find it in my dictionary and google translate merely offers “indigo” as a translation, perhaps its not really a spanish word? Maybe azul profundo  (deep blue) might be  a better translation?

El cielo estaba gris oscuro, pero el arcoiris estaba muy bonito, muy linda.

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Full time?

Pic of the week 27/9/20

So Covid’s making a comeback and, consequently, I’ve made a big decision.

I’ve blown full-time on my refereeing, at least for the time being.

I don’t fear contracting the virus whilst taking charge of a fixture – its quite easy to keep oneself socially distanced and being outdoors I feel pretty safe, but what concerns me is getting a subsequent call from track and trace to say that someone at a game I have refereed has tested positive and that therefore I need to self-isolate for 14 days.

I don’t want to have to do that as it would drive me mad, plus I would feel I was letting down everyone at school. So I fulfilled my commitment to referee today, but other than school games, that’s it for the time being. I’m limiting my exposure to the world to work and home.  I think that is now how things will be until Spring.

On a more cheery note, the pic above shows my pumpkins nicely turning orange. The leaves are  (have!) turning into crisps, it’ll soon be time to harvest them. I have enjoyed watching them grow. With the leaves now a shadow of their former magnificence, the chard plants are once again beginning to thrive, it will be interesting to see how long they last through winter.

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Life rolls on …

Pic of the week 20/9/20

Nothing major to report this week, but nevertheless an important week, a week in which work (sort of) got back to normal.

By the end of the teaching week I think I had come to grips with the “new normal” way of teaching. I’d got my classes all set up on One Note and we (both students and I) were beginning to become familiar with how we will work from now on.  Normally, by the end of week one in September some semblance of normality has returned, this year it took an extra week, but I’d go as far as to say that I am now enjoying work again.  I’m even beginning to “see” more people (colleagues) at work and enjoying a chat with them. This does remain a challenge – one of the great things about working at Millfield is the huge range of people I work with, and now we are all bubbled (I think, for staff, silo-ed might be a better word) those daily random encounters just aren’t happening. To help overcome this, at break time and lunch time, when I can, I’m leaving my room and just going for a wander around campus to see who I bump into.

On Wednesday evening, after my Spanish lesson, Becky, Sam & I raced up to Windmill Hill to try and grab a glimpse of the setting sun. It was lovely to go back up there – but did make us question how we found the time for our Boris walks during lock down.

 

 

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Back to school!

Pic of the week 6/9/20

So the long summer holidays are over and its back to (physical) school for the first time since late March.

This last week has been INSET week and I’ve been in on most days, but it was Thursday and Friday that were the official INSET days. It was good to be back and see so many people in one day! On Thursday evening, sat on my sofa, I felt exhausted, in part because I’d “done” a full day, but I suspect it was also because of the many social interactions I had during the day.

However, things are very different from September ’19, staff wise we are “bubbling” in the department which is fine, and understandable, but it will be a shame to not so easily see friends and colleagues from other deprtments. We’ll also be teaching much more “electronically” (rather than using paper), and lunch times etc will be different.

The picture above shows me “suited and booted” as on Friday I had to record a short piece to camera for the Year 10 assembly, no more physical assemblies for now. I’ve enjoyed loafing around in shorts and a T-Shirt for six months, but it was good to be “looking good” in suit and tie again.

As predicted, I didn’t run as much in August, as I have done plenty of refereeing, and have swum 4 times, but still managed 115 Kms

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New Car

Pic of the week 30/8/20

Picked up our “new” (old) car on Friday, a 56 plate Vauxhall Corsa (D) 1.4 Design, with 90K miles for £995.

I’m pleased with it. It looks good and drives well.

Fixed the dripping kitchen tap today, having finally figured out how to remove the collar/shroud around the head gear (bodge tape on said collar, and the mole grips …)

I also ran a 10K pb today, 46 min 32 secs. Before this week, I had a week were I didn’t run at all (referee-ing, swimming) etc. and then ran on Tues, Thurs, Fri & today. I do feel very fit at the moment, so a PB was probably a just reward. I do find having a few days off from running does then boost my pace on my return. But, I fear, my running will soon start to diminish as term begins and the football season kicks off.

Weather – its a bit chilly! Yesterday & today have been bright but cool, but earlier in the week we’ve had a lot of rain and thunder and lightening, including one bolt that i’m sure was almost directly overhead – the loudest rumble of thunder!

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Aloha!

Pic of the week 23/8/20

A rare sighting of Sam in a shirt.

He was off to a semi-formal party on Saturday, so wore his “smart” trousers and an old pink shirt of mine.

Oh, and never one to fully conform (aka do as he’s told), he decided to give his appearance an Hawaiian feel with some leis he bought on e-bay, and sun glasses.

He did have something to celebrate, earlier this week the government caved to public pressure and U-turned on A level results, giving students their Centre (ie teacher) assessed grades. So he now has BBC (maths, chem, physics) and he still intends to retake his physics in October (all the weeks are passing swiftly …)

Other news, the Mini failed its MOT and with the repair bill to be at or around £600, I decided its days were numbered, and we sold it for scrap/trade (got £175 for it) and after much family debate & discussion, we are replacing it with a 2006 red Corsa (6 months MOT) for £995. Pick it up later this week, so will probably feature in next week’s blog.

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Results Day

Pic of the week 16/8/20

Thursday was A level results day, when Sam got his grades from his non-exams.

He came away with a B (maths), C (chemistry) & D (physics) and he has been done over by “the algorithm.”  His teachers had given him a B in Chemistry and C in Physics but, in a scandal that is rocking the country, many students, Sam included, have had their grades reduced by a computer algorithm to standardise results.

He’s stoic – he would have got better had he sat the exams, he was just beginning to ramp up his work rate when lock down came and he is a victim of a year’s idleness (which he recognises and admits.) The chemistry was a particular blow as he has been on course for a B in it for some time, long before Covid reared its head.

He’s going to resit (or, more accurately, sit) Chemistry and Physics in October in an attempt to improve upon these grades – he has promised that work starts tomorrow.

In other news, it is worth noting that the first half of this week was hot, mega hot – into the thirties for a prolonged period. Although I do enjoy the heat, this was too much and the rain that came to clear the air at the end of the week was a welcome relief.

 

 

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Birthday Boy

Pic of the week 9/8/20

Hard to believe, but Sam is now 18!

It was his birthday on Friday – he mainly got money (which is what he really wanted) but also 18 bottles of Corona, a microphone, a couple of T-shirts …

I think he had a good day, the sun shone, we ate, we ate again, and then he headed of to his pal’s (Tom) house, only to return two days later!

So no children in the house now, just four adults all living together in perfect harmony! Next week we get his A level results …

Saturday was set to be the hottest day of the year and, although when we first got up at 6.45 am the Tor could not be seen for low cloud, it didn’t disappoint as Becky and I headed off for another lovely day at Burton Bradstock. We arrived by 9am, with the tide still coming in, and the beach relatively empty, although this didn’t last for long.

The sea was deliciously refreshing – I do think that swimming in the sea of Burton Bradstock has been the best thing I have done since lockdown. The day was hot, hot, hot and by about 2pm we upped sticks and headed home topless in the mini. A lovely day.

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Back in Black

Pic of the week 2/8/20

So Saturday saw lock down conditions ease a little, and grassroots football to begin. Since the government announced the easing, my phone has been pinging through with requests for me to ref and, at high noon yesterday, 1st of August, I blew the whistle to begin my new season of refereeing, taking charge of a friendly between Ashcott reserves and Victoria Sports. It was good to get back in the saddle and I enjoyed the afternoon – something different after months of groundhog day. And today I did another game, New Forresters v Woolavington – the standard of football was pretty low, but again, good to be out and about once again.

With refereeing starting again, my running stats will begin to fall again, but here they are for the end of July:

So not quite the heights of April, but still a fair few k’s covered in July: 189 Kms to be exact, taking my total so far this year to 777 Km.

Friday was the hottest day of the year (so far!) and Becky, Sam and I headed to Burton Bradstock beach for the day – another lovely day out at the seaside, the sea was a little waveyer than before, and as ever, swimming in the sea was a highlight of a lovely day out.

Sophie didn’t come with us, she had an (virtual) induction day for her ONS work experience year, and she also heard her exam results for the year, scoring 82% – a First (the threshold was 70%).  Some great news to cap a great day.