My New Year's Challenge

Well it's that time of year where it is traditional to reflect on the year that has passed; what we have learnt, seen, done etc. However, I have really not had time for any of that yet as having just returned from Bournemouth I am immediately faced with the same quandry that has been challenging me for months.

Where on earth is all my underwear?

Now the thing is I live on my own, so wherever it is, it MUST be where I put it but can I find any?

I always seem to be putting stuff in the wash, hanging it up to dry and taking it off the drier but somewhere between the drier and the drawers in my bedroom there must be the equivalent of the bermuda triangle for underwear (or perhaps I should call it the "bermuda shorts" triangle - although I can assure you I have never worn or owned a pair bermuda shorts. To be honest I'm not even sure what they are!)

In an attempt to rectify the problem I have found myself in the past doing what one should never do; buying new stuff. Unfortunately it appears this is analagous to buying a starving man a fish when one should really be buying him a fishing rod. It is only a sticking plaster solution. And more to the point the new stuff goes missing as well! Honestly, there are people starving in the world and I am spending large proportions of my salary on pants! So I am determined that before this year is out I will seek out all my underwear. I will leave no stone unturned (although I really hope they aren't in the garden - ew) until we are reunited. Think of me: I may be gone some time.

Woo Hoo and Ooh Noo!

My new ipod has arrived! I ordered it from the lovely Amazon.co.uk at 5.30 pm last night and it arrived in my classroom at 11.40 this morning! Hurrah! Unfortunately for my class I was rather over excited about the whole thing and made them track the ipod's progress across the country on the internet all morning! (I did also let them watch "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" though)

The Christmas preparations aren't quite going to plan as I have not written a single card and, as last night was going to be the last time I saw some people before Christmas, I took my box of cards to the pub with me to write in front of them (classy eh?). Anyway, I totally forgot the cards were in the bag, gave the bag of presents away; the final result being that I am in Lichfield and my Christmas cards are in Great Barr. Grrr. Not fancying a 16 mile round journey so have had to go out and buy more cards which I probably still won't get round to writing. Hmm, at least am well prepared for next year.

Anyway don't know what I'm doing hanging about on here when I should be spending quality time with my ipod. Ahem, I mean of course, wrapping presents, writing cards marking assessments and finding something to wear for our staff Christmas party tomorrow night!

And the results are...

Most people seem to want me to have a party, which is fine. You can have one. I am going somewhere else. Not sure why I put party as an option really as I can't bear them! Well, that's not strictly true. I don't mind other people's parties too much but not my own.

Sorry for lack of posting. Lots to do. 2 performances of Christmas Production and the school Christmas party out of the way. Once the cabarets and services are over I should have more time. Oh, except there is that little matter of Christmas too.

I'll meet you on the other side!

oh and p.s. I suspect someone has been multiple voting on the poll, mentioning no names...

Reasons to love Dublin #1

Why is it that more funny things seem to happen when one is on holiday than when one is going about your normal daily business? Is it that you are more relaxed and therefore notice the funny things? Is it because people abroad are funnier than English people? Is it because the English abroad do such ridiculous things that they would never do at home? I don't know but I keep a book of amusing things that have happened on my (limited) travels over the years and a quick browse through it rarely fails to cheer me up. Anyway, thinking about my forthcoming significant birthday and how to celebrate it reminded me of something that happened on a trip to Dublin a couple of years ago.

The Vicar of Wibbly (who was not a vicar then, so shall, for the purposes of this anecdote be called "Wibbly") and I were in Dublin for a long weekend and were very kindly invited to go and visit Gizmo and his wife. He told us which bus to get and where to get off it so that he could meet us and take us back to his house. The instructions were fairly simple; get on the bus outside Trinity College, get off at the Swan Centre.

So Wibbly and I dutifully got on the bus and bought our tickets. I then had the following conversation with the bus driver.

Amy: We've been told we need to get off the bus at the Swan Centre. How will we know when we are there?
Bus Driver: (thinking) ummm
Amy: Is it quite a big shopping centre?
Bus Driver: It's about ten minutes down the road
Amy: Will it be obvious when we are there?
Bus Driver: We'll be there in about 10 minutes
Amy: (getting frustrated now and speaking with a hint of desperation in her voice) So am I supposed to just get off the bus in ten minutes time and hope for the best?!
Bus Driver: Yep, ten minutes is about right.

Honestly! The man had so much faith in his timetable that he couldn't conceive we could possibly be slightly delayed or ahead of schedule and therefore we might get off in the wrong place! Fortunately a local woman overheard the conversation and agreed to tell us when we were nearly there (after only about 7 and a half minutes actually so it was a jolly good job we didn't just get off after 10 as we'd have had a long walk ahead of us!)

'Tis the season to have no time to blog

Well as you have probably guessed by the lack of blogs in the past few weeks, not a lot has been going on here. Well, actually loads of stuff has been going on but nothing that was interesting enough to blog about (and I know you're all thinking "You mean she doesn't just write down any old drivel that comes into her head?" Well I don't, so stop that!)

Anyway here are the main points of the last couple of weeks:

• went to church
• went to work
• practised the Christmas play
• shouted at children for lack lustre singing
• laughed at some of the "coolest" year 6 lads learning a chicken dance
• laughed at Mrs Joint demonstrating aforementioned chicken dance
• got ill
• was hot
• was hotter
• was hotter still
• slept lots
• got better
• saw a James Bond film I actually liked (and contemplated a holiday in Montenegro)
• went to church
• went to work
• practised the Christmas play
• shouted at children for lack lustre singing
• laughed at some of the "coolest" year 6 girls learning a Bollywood dance
• laughed at Mrs Joint demonstrating aforementioned
  Bollywood dance
• had a party

So that's it and it has saved you a fortnight's worth of reading! Thanks to everyone who came to the party, it was really good to see you all and thank you for eating as much as you did; leaving me with fairly minimal clearing up!

Some photos will follow when Blogger gets its act together and will allow me to upload them (and perhaps it will display the bullet points I have added too). For now I have put them in Flickr over on the right there. I have kept the dodgier photos back for strategic purposes - yes folks, these are the less dodgy ones!)