commute fun

 The restorative joy of catching up with friends really does make such a difference. And I began my weekend with a hurt foot but a great day and evening with Chaz and Sharon. Women I have known and loved for years, many years we recalled, as we looked at pictures from before A was born. All looking so young. It was great too, to find a bit of London I hadn't been to before. Sharon is always very good at finding lovely places with character and style. We laughed and hugged and I think did a little bit of crying. Soup for the soul and a really lovely burger to boot. 

While I was out, BigA took the girls to a garden center, and they bought a lot of sedum plants for his bike shed creation. It looks really good, and now instead of a view of a dull fence and random stuff, when you look out of the kitchen window there is life and colour. Very impressive. Even more so when you know how disinterested he is in gardening. He's been getting practical in the week too, making the office a workable space and doing odd jobs. We have decided not to spend the money on the garden designers and landscaping but instead we will do a little bit at a time and see if I can ever truly get on top of those dandelions. I'm hoping we can move the path and dig up some beds, move the compost this weekend to change the space, ready for winter! But I have a COVID booster booked today, so let's see how I feel. 

My hurt foot was still very hurt on Sunday and so I hobbled about and did a bit of school work, happily spotting that my help sheet for the Ukrainian student in English didn't translate climax quite as intended and so i decided not to use the word 'orhazm' - looking for an alternative to explain the story structure. We had an unexpected parents evening at the girl's school, more information giving. As we had had a long day we treated ourselves to a take away. Really lovely food, which because we had ordered way too much also solved the 'what shall we have for lunch tomorrow?' question. 

The week did the usual trick of feeling long and flying by at the same time. A good chat and little cry with my mum was useful. I taught my first PSHE lesson and managed not to feel totally lost with some of the English lessons I taught. It is so hard sharing classes, it makes the task even harder than it already is. And I teach in a different classroom for every lesson. 

Friday was ok, there was a staff event to bring us together as a staff but it really didn't achieve that goal. I feel like the new Head is trying very hard and I have faith in her wanting to do good things but I'm not convinced the school have enough of the right people to do it. I don't think I'm the right person to help. I miss teaching A-Levels. I am enjoying the fact that I get in early and go home in time to be there to spend time with my family. 

I managed to get to school in under 30 minutes yesterday which was balanced with the over an hour commute back. Despite the long journey home I was greeted with the smell of delicious food as BigA was making dinner. We had a good debrief of our days and A joined in. BigA played computer games with Keith in Malawi while we waited for our guest to arrive. Wine, serious and less serious chats and great food. A lovely Friday night. 

Oh, the three of us girls went to live drawing this week. A very old man with an interesting body. 

I'm now thinking about my lessons next week and need to try and switch off. Garden and jigsaw should do it!