Day 286 August 28, 2008

So this working for a living thing is tough…to-day was filled with too many work related, stress inducing occurrences to document here. I’m not convinced that the realisation that my own lax attitude lands me in this mess is a 365 moment…

Tomorrow I have to ‘chair’ a meeting nobody wants to go to…

Today’s moment of grace? Will have to be a bubble bath with candles, a little late night DVD watching and the small feeling of satisfaction that comes from striking something of my encyclopedic ‘To Do’ list.

Day 285 August 27, 2008

For those of you who’ve suffered (definitely the verb of choice) through a school INSET day; or the equivalent mind-numbing, soul destroying, physically painful staff  ‘in house’ training will realise that it is the little things that make it bearable…

Today’s highlights: a geography lesson in German, sitting with the acerbic S, as he made his way around the room making cutting jibes about various staff members (I too made the hit-list: he is an equal-opportunity offender) and then laughing and laughing at  JC’s ‘How to teach Shakespeare by song’ (the premise of which is too deathly boring to explain): it was the obscene swearing that made it ‘poetry’.

Day 283 and 284: Back to school August 26, 2008

As a teacher I know better than to complain about the end of our extended holidays and expect little sympathy for back to work blues and yet moan I do.

#283

A productive day; a flurry of activity; mostly domestic (professional would have been a better use of my rapidly fleeting time) to ‘get ready for school’. Refused to wallow in the reality of the calendar and these final moments of summer; instead choosing to realise that I’ve had a great summer and a challenging school year to gear up for.

#284

A surreal day. It was an almost out of body experience to get up with the alarm and put my semi-professional face on (the pupils don’t start until Monday; so I get to go to work in my jeans). The ‘How was your summer conversations?’ seemed more adventure filled than usual; although EVERYONE moaned about the rain…

The PANIC didn’t hit until I was back home. I finally unloaded my many files and dusted off the My Documents part of this trusty laptop (who remembered you can do other things rather than Blog and shop??)  and that ‘project’ that I hoped would take me an hour had already taken three and I’m cancelling social engagements as I type…

So here’s to the summer of 2008: FUN while it lasted…

And here’s to the academic year 2008/09; may I get my lazy and procrastinating ass in gear and get organised. This is my Everest.

Days 280- 282: Highlights of London August 26, 2008

A great end to a fabulous summer…Auntie V, Auntie S and Auntie G; Mum, Cousin H, Cousin J (we met Cousin S there) and little old me made for London for Auntie V’s 50th birthday. This could easily have been the stuff of nightmares; a Greek epic for the new millennium; this was a group of very different women; each with her own personal holiday agenda, the potential for hormone fuelled disaster was high… and yet the trip was highlight filled; and may in fact induce a ‘proper’ Carrie blog in its own right.

Here are the highlights:

#280

• Spotting Jeremy Edwards (of Hollyoaks and Holby City fame) in the Tube.
• Lusting after a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes and perfect Joseph dress in Selfridges, Oxford Street.
• A giggle filled dinner in a ‘only the locals know it’ Italian.

#281

• Re-discovering London from the top of a tour bus
• Getting time on my own to explore the hidden delights of Covent Garden and making too, too many purchases in the same location.
• A phenonmenal show Jersey Boys in the heart of SoHo and dancing to the music of Frankie Vialli in the lobby of the theatre (expect much too much gushing praise in blogs to come; the CD has been my constant soundtrack ever since)
• Drinking cocktails and debating life in the hotel bar.

#282

• The shopping heaven that is Harrods and the opera singing girls that entertained us from the exquisite stairwells.

And yet this list fails to capture the essence of the trip: that we,  the ‘girls’ of part of bigger, and at times, difficult family came together to celebrate a birthday of an Aunt who is generosity personified; I got to (through Cousin H; who I used to babysit for and Cousin J) remember the fear and hope attached to those post-results/ pre-starting university weeks, and a chance to have actual conversations with these women who I love and yet all too often exist only at the edges of my life and my on theirs.

 Despite my fears, we found  spaces in our togetherness to discover a little corner of this amazing city to delight and entertain us and to bring us together again.

Days 278 and 279 August 21, 2008

#278

A breakfast out (how very NYC of me) with a very good friend who was finally ready to ‘announce’ the pregnancy her fellow wine drinkers suspected a while ago. I’m delighted for her; another Yummy Mummy to add to the world-altering collection…

#279

A shaky and vomiting start (I’d escaped a GCSE results nightmare the night before but am convinced this morning’s ‘episode’ was stress induced) GCSE results were not too terrible: as deserved from the highly meritorious to the ‘what did you expect when you didn’t listen to a thing/ open a book/ actually come to class’ disasters. An impromptu shopping trip earned me a a bright pink handbag I’m very looking forward to carrying around the big city…London awaits….

Days 273, 274, 275, 276 and 277 August 19, 2008

And in these, the dying days of summer….

#273

A wedding party at the Slieve Donard: a gorgeous hotel, lots of catching up with great people and lots of dancing. It was good to drunkenly bond with an old friend while singing ‘Songs from the Musicals’; each progressively less tuneless than the one before.

#274

My hotel stay was something of an opulent waste: I had big plans that included a spa trip and a walk along the beach but my late night before and the gale force weather eliminated such dreams. Instead I broke up the surprisingly very long drive from Newcastle to Donaghadee with a lovely lunch with Mum.

My night was spent babysitting a blissfully sleeping two year old and her almost 3 months baby sister. I loved the bottle feeding, the rocking her to sleep and the heartbreaking smile. This did more for my soul than a month of reading self-help books/ Americanised/aromthearpy filled therapy sessions could ever do.

#275

A very lazy Sunday; an unexpected highlight, G (who I had babysat for) arriving at my door with flowers to say thank you. I should have been paying her.

#276

Finally got to see Mamma Mia (the movie) with Mum and Big Sis; at an admittedly rather empty cinema in Ards and while I still don’t ‘get’ Meryl Street and felt that the delectable Mr Brosnan was actually courageous to sing SO badly on screen I loved it! I loved that it doesn’t take itself seriously, I loved that Julie Walters never disappoints and falling back in love with a cinematically breathtaking Greece made for an early holdiay suggestion for next summer.

I’d forgotten how much fun Mum, T and I could have just the three of us….

#277

A theatre trip with a few of the people involved in the school musical…the show itself Joseph  at the Grand Opera House was diabolical (I’m resisting the urge to write to Lee Mead and apologise for sullying the very name of musical theatre by witnessing such mediocrity; and the urge to write a fully throated criticism of the show) but the company was wonderful:it was great to get excited and enthusiastic about the huge task ahead of us.

Day 272: a lesson in humility August 14, 2008

So I lay in bed: Queen of Procrastination hoping that the A-level results would disappear. I waited until I thought pupils and staff would be gone; selfishly unwilling to face either demographic. I knew the news wouldn’t be good, didn’t think it would be just so disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing about today’s results that was out of the ordinary  or even unexpected: and from the general chatter I think school is pleased overall… but I just know the the staff naysayers now scrutinising ‘the specialist subjects’ will be delighted by to-day’s exam misfortunes (it is easy to criticise when you are on the sidelines). Perhaps I’ve spent too long listening to our own departmental hype…

Reality bites: I’ve so much to do before work begins and simply have to get cracking…

Today’s moment though happened just after midnight; P was away so S couldn’t deal with his ‘in-bed all alone loneliness’ and rang for a giggle filled conversation.

Days 269, 270 and 271 August 13, 2008

#269

A trip to George and Mel’s that I was grateful to complete unscathed: torrential rain, an infamous road black spot and my nervous driving make for a potentially terrible situation and ‘out-loud’ praying.

True highlight though was the dinner in a little no-frills Italian with to do for food and of course two of my most favourite people.

#270

Another day, another rain shower. We three went to Ballymena baby-shopping, G and M have reached that point where they have to be ‘ready’ for Bump’s arrival: I was absolutely gleeful to be part of this. It is mad to think that the next time I see them both, they will be parents and Bump will be a baby!!

#271

A chance meeting of an ex-pupil in Tesco reminded me that sometimes what I do does benefit somebody somewhere: Rachel has just graduated and is now in auditions for TV and taking a Graduate Television Actors’ course,  I needed the boost; tomorrow is the first of the dreaded results day; yet another sleepless night awaits pupils, parents, and teacher/blog writers everywhere; the rational part of me realises the deed is done and no wakeful worrying will change it and yet worry we do…

Days 264, 265, 266, 267 and 268 August 10, 2008

My few days spent at ‘home’…

#264

Bless what was once Cafe Rankin in Bangor and is now the same place with a different name. Why there aren’t more coffee shops that have a creche facility is entirely beyond my admittedly mediocre understanding? This brilliant idea allowed the elusive Lily Todd and myself to have good food, great coffee and a long conversation. Lily then got her long overdue tour of the much talked about ‘new school building’: I think she was suitably impressed; I felt vomitous at being back at work.

I love that Lily and I stood, in the rain,  and giggled about her suggestion of romance between me and a colleague I’ve zero interest in. Somehow helped the memories of our early teaching days on Castle Campus travel the short distance to lodge themselves in the growing heart of this new building.

#265

A coffee with a friend from work that expanded to include not only me (the ultimate hanger-on) but two more work ‘girls’ and three of their respective offspring; I got to drink coffee while a beautiful baby fell blissfully asleep on my knee. While I don’t hurry back to work with enthusiasm it was good to remember that another academic year of craic and real life is about to begin with these truly fabulous ladies.

#266

A long overdue catch-up with one of the few friends I still see from school. A Cafe Vaudeville lunch and a this time ‘proper’ look around Victoria Square was punctuated by ‘this is what I would buy with my dream credit card’ lustful looks at the Jimmy Choos and D&G dresses; and by side splitting laughter at the ridiculous things that existed in Urban Outfitters. I used to panic that this was a friendship I didn’t do enough to maintain; that I’d suddenly realise L had disappeared from my life. But fear not the giggling of almost two decades may stretch into many years to come…

#267

I made a mad dash from home this morning; glad that I didn’t have to rise at what is a ‘normal’ get out of bed time to feed Mum’s Zoo; I slept too late and worried that I would miss a lunch that was planned but not confirmed. Mum and Big Sis (who should have got a mention yesterday for a fabulous dinner) watched as I whirlwinded through my ‘packing’: both deserved a coffee and conversation…

Lunch was Grace Neills finest and with wonderful company: a sisterly double act who will be their loving yet clashing selves forever: makes for an entertaining afternoon.

#268

Walking through the increasingly muddy Castleward on a rain filled Sunday leaves a lot to be desired if the company is less than right: but today it was perfect: a much needed crepe and coffee helped steer away the cold and after the shower we got to walk in a garden that was truly intoxicating with a heady mix of scents. We did laugh that our ‘days out’ are filled with less cider and more conversation but plans for a summer villa in Tuscany and a 30th birthday in London helped us see the fun that’s still to be had.

Rupert Penry Jones and a Spooks repeat I haven’t seen awaits.

 A heavenly Sunday.

Day 263: Optical Illusions? August 6, 2008

Yeah, yeah, yeah…she of the BIG talk…so NO there was no school work completed today..but there is still time people…stop with the pressure.

Did however FINALLY get my Washer/Drier fixed (Why do mechanically-minded/ engineer type men always look at me as if I’m bordering on the truly simple?), packed the car, drove to Newtownards, unpacked the car, dorve to Bangor, and went to the Opticians (my friend Mel was apalled when I told her I hadn’t had a sight test since school), turns out I’m slightly short-sighted, this news was actually alarming (the Op guy was very cute though, and had on glorious aftershave…yet I digress).

I’ve always quite liked the imagining of myself with ‘Amy Gardner from the West Wing’ glasses in addition to my killer heels, sharp business suit, designer scarf look; but as I typically wear flats to work, the wearing of the suit so rare that EVERYONE/ staff/ pupils/ visiting randoms feel the need to comment upon it and that none of my MANY, MANY scarves are designer; I made like an ostrich and decided that the hearing aid come specs combination was simply too much for my inflated sense of vanity to bear.

But it is lovely to be ‘back home’ and to prowl around on my own; I love that my Mum has various treats in for me and that both she and Big Sis have checked in (in saying that: while at my own ‘home’ I could go days without hearing from either of them; I worry that their concern is aimed at the dog and not me at all!)