Category: Pic of the week

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Frosty

Pic of the week 19/1/20

After seemingly endless wet, occasionally winding, and unseasonably warm weather, the last two days have been cold. Crisp, clear, cold, and its been wonderful.

This morning we woke to a thick covering of white frost, offset by the clean sharpness of blue skies. Definitely a day to lift the spirits.

I was due to referee today, but the game was called off before the end of the week due to the pitch being too wet. I do enjoy refereeing, but it did feel like a bonus  to have the morning off. I was going to go for a run, but I picked up a niggling calf injury last week and I was still noticing when refereeing yesterday’s 5th XI* game v Sherborne, so I decided to go for a swim instead.

And I’m so glad I did.

I didn’t swim much last year, I think I just fell out of the habit of going to the pool, and there was/is a danger that that would continue into this year.

It was a lot less busy than I’d feared this morning – a good handful in the water, but for most of the time I was able to have a lane to myself.  Was originally only going to do 30 lengths, then thought I could add another six. Then, if doing 36, you may as well do 40. Anyway, I ended up doing 50 lengths, really enjoyed it, it was quite calming and therapeutic – certainly more so than running seven or ten K.

Anyway, I’ve determined to swim more this year than last.

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A false dawn?

Pic of the week 12/1/20

Its not been a cold autumn & winter, but its been a wet one and its only mid January so there is still much bleak weather to come.

But I can’t help but sense Spring may be on its way. Its 4.30 pm as I type and its still not dark – what a difference that makes. And there are lots of bulbs poking their heads up already. Still a while ’til they’ll flower, but they provide a sense of hope, of better days to come. I often think it is these green shoots that are the main joy of the daffodil, rather than their yellow flowers (but I like them too.)

Its been a busy first week back at school, and I’m back in on dining room duty in 45 mins, so not a long post today. Sophie went back to Reading on Thursday, I received the report from my referee assessment last Saturday (all good – “above standard expected”) and the luxury of time is a distant and ever fading memory. I hope the week coming won’t be so busy for me (last week I had a pensions meeting and was involved in three interviews for the Director of Football) and I do like the rhythm and routine of school life, but I can’t help but feel the balance isn’t right: either full on (term time) or full off (holiday time.) Oh well, nothing I can do about that, so no point dwelling on it.

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2020

Pic of the week 5/1/20

A new month, a new year, a new decade has dawned.

I must do a “Goal, Aims and Targets” post, but a first, and pressing, need is to bring my weight back down to pre-Christmas levels. My festive indulgences have seen my weight climb to 13 stone 5 pounds + and I now need to swiftly address that. Each day on the scales since December 25th has seen the dial sticking stubbornly to that figure, although today, for the first time, suggested a hint of a move in the right direction.

Refereed my first couple of games of the season, including an observed/assessed game yesterday (Strode v Manor) which went well. Achieving/completing my promotion to level six will be one of my goals for the year.

Term starts back tomorrow – now it is nearly upon me, I’m quite keen for the routine to commence.

Although the rest of the family claim not to notice, I am starting the new year with a new hair style – gone is the quiff, I’m now swooping my hair in the other direction and slapping on some gel. I’m liking the results so far.

Aprendo espanol ahoy, lo disfruto.

Adios!

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2019 – A year of music and travel

Pic of the week 29/12/19

And so Christmas (pictured above – the the four of us at home, a lovely day) marks the beginning of the end of another year.

Thinking back across the last twelve months, and reading my blog posts for the year, I think 2019 can be best characterised as a year of music, and perhaps the start of a new decade (OK, so a little early) of travel.

We’ve been to see a fair few musical acts this year, listed in chronological order:

  • The Specials
  • James Taylor Quartet
  • Take That (with Rick Astley supporting)
  • Paul Young
  • Scouting for Girls
  • New Order
  • Lisa Stansfield
  • OMD
  • Scouting for Girls (for a second time)

and each one, brilliant.

I have several times tried to rank them in order of preference, but have failed.  I think I can just about come up with a top three of JTQ, New Order & OMD, but not necessary in that order, and it can change with the weather.

Travel: we had a wonderful family holiday in Soller, Mallorca in July. The villa was great, the town wonderful, the time fantastic. And then in October, Becky and I headed of to Girona. I think those few days were the highlight of my year.

The city is great, the coast an achievable hour or so away by bus – swimming in the sea in late October is a real treat. Just to be in a different land, enjoying a different culture, language and – yes – climate was something special. I think an appetite for travel has been whetted.

Other notable events of the year – I turned 50, and had a fantastic day. I was made to feel truly special and loved. I’ve begun to learn Spanish – it started with me downloading the Duolingo app to see what it was like and maybe pick up the odd word before we headed to Mallorca, but I’ve really enjoyed it and am continuing to teach myself.

This term (ie September onwards) work has been dominated by my role as Common Room Chair and the consultation to withdraw from TPS.  At least the outcome from that should come within the first month or two of the new year.  Politically, its not been a good year – following a disastrous general election earlier this month, Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party ( a more right wing incarnation than either May’s or Cameron’s) gained a significant majority. It looks like Brexit will happen, and lying, misogynistic racism has been vindicated.

But on a positive front – I have been relatively injury free this year. I finish the year at a frightening post Christmas weight of 13 stone 4 pounds, but I’m putting that down to Xmas excess. For the rest of the year I’ve been sub 13 stone – oscillating around 12. 9 and 12.11 – and I’m quietly confident I’ll soon be back under the 13 stone mark.

2019 has been a good year – I’ve loved the music and travel, but its not been a stellar year, so I shan’t cling on to it, happy to wave it good bye and look forward to what 2020 has to offer.

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18th December

Pic of the week 22/12/19

It was a fateful night, the 18th December 1992, the night I won at the lottery of life.

27 years ago this week, I met Becky at Joe Bananas night club in Bath, and my life has been complete ever since. (And, on the evidence of the photo above, I don’t think we’ve aged badly, either!)

This week has seen the rain continue to fall – sometimes in biblical proportions. On Wednesday we went to Cornwall for the day to visit Becky’s M&D and her Granny. The rain began as we entered Cornwall, but rose to a crescendo for our drive home – it was horrendous. Sam drove the first hour, in preparation for his test the next day, and then I took over as darkness fell before we reached the motorway. Conditions were horrific.

Sadly, Sam failed his test the next day (again, driving in torrential rain) – he did well, but failed to check over his shoulder as he merged into the third lane at the “Asda” roundabout in Yeovil.

Saw Dad, Rog & his bambinos yesterday – was good to see him. We ate at the Fosso lounge in Wells and chewed the cud as well as a rather tasty chilly beef dish.

I’ve been running a few times this week – did a 10K today, my first since August and I was pleased to get round the distance in respectable 47 min 46 seconds. As I’ve been referee-ing on most Sundays, I haven’t run much since the summer. I think I’ve retained my fitness, but once again, it is surprising how the fitness is so “task” specific – some of my splits have been slow, and whilst I could cruise round 10K without thinking about it in the summer, I’ve had to work up to the distance I completed today.

I’ve also been using quite a bit of my holiday time to continue with my Spanish, and I do think I am beginning to make inroads.

Feliz Navidad y prespero ano.

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A busy week

Pic of the week 15/12/19

Its been a busy week.

On Tuesday, Becky & I ventured out to Bristol to see Scouting for Girls. As ever, they were excellent.

On Thursday I  had a dental check up – all good.

Friday morning I ran my 400th Km of the year (have just looked back at last year – ran 424 Km in the year, so will hit a similar amount this year.

Also on Friday we went to Reading to collect Sophie. She had an exam in the afternoon, so Becky & went shopping before meeting Sophie “for tea” in “The Real Greek” (v. nice food) and then heading home through the dark and rain. Always nice to have the whole family back under one roof for Christmas.

On Saturday I refereed my last game of the (calendar) year – Wells City U16 v Saints South West. Cold & windy, but stayed dry. Was due to ref today (Sunday) but game was off due to a wet pitch. With the Y&DL and Bridgwater Sunday league both now on their Christmas breaks, I think I can now rest my whistle until January.

Oh, and Thursday was General Election day. The Tory’s romped home with a massive majority. Looks like we’ll be out of Europe by the end of January. Whilst a Conservative victory was expected, no-one expected it to be by so much.

I crunched some data and wrote a blog post on my maths teacher writes site but here’s a chart that shows the seats won.

 

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All wrapped up

Pic of the week

Its only the second year its happened, but I can see it becoming a tradition.

On Thursday, whilst on the bus to school, Sam excitedly messaged the family about his listening history for the year – Spotify had released there 2019 – Wrapped, whereby they share with your what you’ve listened to over the year.

It does make interesting reading.

Deacon Blue were my most listened to artist – we went to see them in Nov 18 and I then spent much of the first couple of months of the new year listening to them.

… and in positions 2, 3, & 4 were The Specials, OMD & New Order, all of whom I saw this year.  Aztec Camera were a slightly surprising entry as my 5th most listened to artist, but I have, on more than one occasion, listened to their “Love” album in its entirety.

I was a little surprised to see “Big Country” was my most listened to song, but then I realised most (all?) of my most listened to songs are on my running playlist, so get a disproportionate amount of plays. Perhaps its time to come up with a new running playlist for 2020?

One of the things I like about Spotify is the way it reminds you of long forgotten songs and artists. As a result of the above, I did listen to the whole of the Cocteau Twins “Treasure” album today – beautiful, powerful, fragile all at the same time, I suspect I will listen to them a lot in the months to come.

And, although it didn’t feature in my 2019 – Wrapped, Spotify was responsible for my best musical discovery of the year (first released in 1981, so I’m a little behind the times!): The Church – The Unguarded Moment.

 


 

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A tough week

Pic of the week 1/12/19

Its been a tough week.

I didn’t get the Head of Department post – that’s not what has grated, but the way in which the process was done. Having each been through a lesson obs, 3 interviews, and a presentation, none of the four candidates was offered the job. Instead CCF – the former HoD, but now Assistant Head, Teaching and Learning – decided she want to do the job again. She was part of the “process” – in fact, in my feedback from the Head, the only negative was about my lesson (lacked pace, and an error/confusion towards the end – I had got a minus sign in the wrong place) could only have come from her. Who then got the job.

And there’s more. She’s going to make the department nationally and internationally known – the central plank of my presentation. I can’t help but feel as though I’ve been mugged.

There has been quite a bit of back-peddling – “Oh, you are an excellent teacher, who does so much. We must find a roll for you etc.”  But a lot of damage has been done and it will take time to rebuild my trust in the school. I shall be interested to observe how my numerous leaders lead me over the next weeks and months.

Anyway, December has dawned. The pic above is Becky’s montage of November. A few more days to limp through, and then its hols.

And I say limp both metaphorically and literally.

On Friday morning I woke with a sore toe, the soreness disappointing fairly quickly, but I awoke on Saturday with it much worse. Dr Google diagnosed gout – all the symptoms are there, but I don’t think I’d be in the at risk group: I don’t (rarely) drink, don’t eat much red meat, am fit, not overweight …  But I have been stressed this week, and Wednesday evening I refereed a game 7.30 – 9.15pm and Thursday evening did my spinning – I probably did get a bit dehydrated over those two days, so this is probably the cause. It hurt a bit this morning – both yesterday & today I took ibuprofen which has helped. Let’s hope it cures itself with rest,  plenty of fluids and a calmer week to come.

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O.N.S

Pic of the week 24/11/19

Well, what a busy week that was.

On Wednesday Sophie had an interview at the Bank of England (right in the pic above) She says it went well, but won’t hear for a while.

But not to worry as on Thursday she was offered a placement year job at the Office for National Statistics (O.N.S) (above left in the pic) which needless to say she is delighted about. For some time this has been her number one target, and she’ll be spending next year working in Newport.

Still on the job front, on Thursday I interviewed for the Head of Maths post at Millfield. (A little annoyingly) I’m still waiting on hearing whether or not I’ve been succsesful. They say they are not sure about the structure of the department, and need to get that right before offering any posts.

On Wednesday (great interview preparation!) I fixed the Micra wiper blades which had stopped working (on the way back from Sophie’s interview at the ONS last week.) Once a special tool had arrived for removing the wiper arms, it was all fairly straight forward. Took about an hour to remove wipers & scuttle panel to access the wiper mechanism. Was instantly obvious that my diagnosis was correct that a linkage had popped off a ball joint. Remove the whole mechanism, fit a retaining clip and put it all back together. Rather enjoyed the job.

On Friday I failed to get Killers tickets, but Becky was successful, so in June we are off to see them (Manic Street Preachers supporting) at Ashton Gate.

And on Saturday, I refereed our 2nd XI v Marlborough in front of quite a big crowd, including a certain someone …

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Looking ahead

Pic of the week

Ok, so this blog is supposed to be an online diary where I record events of the past week for future posterity, but Becky put together the above montage of what we’ve got to look forward to in 2020.

This week I booked two tickets for Deacon Blue on Nov 14th 2020 in Plymouth and three tickets (one for Sophie!) to the Bath Festival in May to see McFly, supported by Scouting for Girls.

This evening I’ve booked two EasyJet flights to Barcelona (total cira £180)

We’ve also got Glastonbury Festival and a week in Pollensa to look forward to, along with Becky’s 50th, Sophie’s 21st and Sam’s 18th. A busy year ahead!

This has been another busy – and wet – working week. Sophie cam home on Wednesday and then went of to Newport on Thursday for an interview for a placement year at the ONS.

(On the way home, the Micra windscreen wipers stopped working. Tried to fix them today, but can’t get the wipers off.  Need a special pulling tool – ordered one today from Amazon, should be here tomorrow … hopefully this time next week I’ll be writing of my successful motor mechanic skills …)