Interim

I have been having a good few days.  There is lots to be kept up on.  I have been thinking every so often about the blog and what I must remember to write about.  I have been on half-term this week and loving the fact. 
Posts to get around to:

• Week one of the photos of the year
• Musicals x2
• Kiwi friends

Just back from a night out with ex-pgce folks - quite an experience and makes me feel good about where i am.  Currently missing someone but think am ready to sleep now.

Random Act Of Kindness

It was a delight today when I got back to the Infants after badminton club, I went into the staffroom and there was a package in my pigeon hole.  I thought it might be to do with the Scottish Dancing club I am starting (vague momentary thought that it had been so popular that I was inundated with responses that they had to be put in an envelope - bless!).  The message on the front:

Catherine
Happy half-term
If you have these then you can be really naughty - according to the TV advert (although it sounds rather odd now!)
V x
Have a great week!!

How super special and unexpected.  The package was from one of the 1:1 teaching assistants that works with one of the children in my class.  And inside...

 

I had obviously spoken enough in the lessons about how much I like chocolate!!  And I do really love malteasers and will certainly enjoy them over half-term.  I do like random acts of kindness and this was quite out of the blue.  Leads me on to think about GivesMeHope but I will try save that for another blog.  

Still related to this post, I realised with this photo I took with photobooth (love it love it - deserves its own post too!), that it takes the mirror image.  So how I look in photobooth is how I see myself in the mirror, but not how others see me or how I look in photos.  I took this one too, to try to show the point:

Photo a day

As well as entertaining all at my school, Sarah spoke to me about a project she was inspired to start this year:  to take a photo each day of the year to represent that day.  I thought this was a pretty cool idea and vaguely thought about starting it next year.  She showed me some of the photos she has taken recently and there were some real fancy and exciting ones, but others were like a bowl of cereal at 10 o'clock at night when she realised she hadn't taken one that day.  I thought about it and realised they were all valid in their way.  This morning I went for a walk along the river up to Godstow (am really proud of that btw!) and was taking some photos of a swan, when I made the decision to give it a go starting my year now.  And then I thought that the blog would be an excellent spot to record my photos of the year on.

Am currently debating whether to officially start it today when I made the decision, or last Friday when I heard about it as I have photos taken then, but they weren't taken with that express purpose.  I reckon I will put them up, but will count today as the official start date.

Am also currently concerned about the photos I take at school.  I don't want to put photos of children up, even from behind, but that's where I spend most of my week life.  I wonder if I can somehow haze out the parts of the photos with children on?

I think I might aim to do a weekly post of the photos to keep it manageable.  We'll see how it goes.

Sunday 7th February 2010

Swan on the river on the way up to Port Meadow, Oxford.

Saturday 6th February 2010

New haircut

 

Friday 5th February 2010

Class 2G, visit by Sarah Outen

Hairdressers

So, I got my haircut today.

I have thought before, and thought again today though not to quite the same extent, that it is truly a depression inducing experience.   To have to sit for an hour or so staring at your face in the mirror at a close proximity is hard to take.  However you may have felt going in to the hairdressers, it is far too easy to slump into a pit of woe.  Or at least for me.    The first time when i realised it just wasn't kind to have to stay in this situation surrounded by people and images that say your looks are what's important, was in Southampton last year at the uni hairdressers.  Don't get me wrong, I have subsequently managed not to spiral, but I would say it's a close call.  I can go through so many emotions as I try to fight it off.  There's generally a stage where I hate the fact that I have a really small head, hopefully followed by a stage where I try to convince myself that I don't have a small head, and then it's the saggy cheeks or the sallow complexion or the ... or ....

But sometimes I come away liking the look.  Here are a few picks from recent haircuts.

February 2010

To the left is the first photo I took.  And to the right is my expression on seeing the first photo.

May 2009

September 2008

Another thing I thought about during the session in relation to the blog (I admit, I was mentally planning a blog entry while I was there - I don't really like to admit that to myself, it reminds me of Mr Collins saying he prepared his 'sucking up' speeches in advance in Pride and Prejudice - am sure Miss Harvey used a better word than 'sucking up' when she was teaching us at GSCE!) was the virtual versus the hand held diary.  As snippets of my hair were falling onto the cloak thing you wear (proper name??) I was remembering how mum had the clippings from my haircuts in my baby book.  I was looking how dark my hair was compared to when I was younger and thinking about keeping some from then to look at in years to come.  I thought that it would be the sort of thing I could tape into a hand held diary, but the blogging world lets me down...   I left the hair to be swept up.

Seasons watch

Had the first taste of sunnier times yesterday and I really liked it!  First inkling was children coming in at lunchtime to take off their coats.  And then I had PPA in the afternoon and was going back and forth to the Juniors and was having to shade my eyes and realised I wasn't needing my coat and the brightness actually had some heat with it.  I was sat in the Juniors staffroom and really feeling like I was beginning to roast in the greenhouse effect of the room.

I'd been thinking recently about warmer times, but when you're in the midst of the cold I find it really hard to imagine and really feel it.  But with yesterday I felt I was really whisked there and am looking forward to it.  There were lots of great warm times last spring that I think I shall record now to as happy days.

March 2009 - Southampton Common.  Spring Times.  This was in the middle of SBT2.  My placement partner and I even spent some after school planning meetings on the common.

April on the common.  This was an amazing week of sun - it was one of those moments when you can fool yourself that it will be like this until about September!  Although it wasn't quite, we sure made the most of it  while it was there.



By the end of the school day yesterday it was raining again and I have just heard on the radio that there will be another cold snap next week with potential snow.  But I have had the glimpse :-)

Also last night, when I got back home it was still light enough for me to look up at the tree where the bird was screeching again.  And I identified it as far a black bird, possibly a blackbird!

Sarah Outen

I have had a very proud day as my friend, Sarah, came to school.

I have mentioned her before - she is the amazing one that rowed across the Indian Ocean solo last year - (she has a great website).  I told my kids on Monday that she was coming and they have been getting more and more excited all week at the thought of her coming.  Am not quite sure how the excitement started building - it was genuinely more them than me!!  One girl emailed Sarah on the first evening and I shared that in school and put her in the special book for it which was a snowball effect!

Anyway, needless to say she was amazing.  I was there for the talk she did to the infants which was such fun, and then she went over to do a talk to the Juniors which sounds to have been fantastic then she came back to chat to my class which they loved and loads were crowding round her at the end of the lesson when they should have been going to lunch!

Here is the email of appreciation that I sent Sarah this evening.  I hope it conveys the amazement and the thanks:


I can't really begin to thank you enough for coming to school today and how amazed everybody was and the impact that you had on staff and pupils.  I don't think i had done a good enough job bigging you up before, as to me you are still my friend Sarah who has happened to have done this amazing thing.   But now they really know just how incredible you are! I know you must get a lot of praise all the time, but i just wanted you to know what our School thought, so here you go:


Mr, the head, spoke to me several times this afternoon saying what a great job you had done and how amazed the kids were and how we have to get your visit on the school website and how we have to follow your next adventure.  the head of the juniors said in passing what a great job you had done.  all three year three teachers spoke to me (on separate occasions) about how fab you had been for the year three children all the way up to the year 6 children.  one of the teaching assistants who had been in the assembly stopped me and was talking for ages about how fascinated she was and was asking me loads of questions and i came across her later on discussing you again with someone else!  On the infant side, it was the head of the infants, one of the most senior teachers (and my mentor) who gave you the work just before you left from her class so that's a really high opinion to have!  Also the lady who said you were the best guest assembly speaker and possibly the best assembly ever, was the head of the reception year and really pretty senior!  Another reception teacher said how enthralled both the children and the adults were.  Lots of these people talked about what a good speaker you were, it wasn't just that you had a great story but it was how you told it!   And loads of my kids were saying how excited they were because it had been such a good day because you had visited them.   I think more members of staff have talked to me today than ever before - if nothing else you have definitely put me on the map at  school!!!


Also i got this text from one of the year 3 teachers at the end of the day:
Hi! Just wanted to thank u and Sarah.  It was just fantastic!  Wondered if Sarah was around as i wanted to say thanks and let her read some of the letters the class wrote.  Thanks and happy friday!


I have brought the letters home with me so if you wanted to stop by tomorrow morning you are most welcome to look at them, but i know you will be busy. 

Wow and thank you, Sarah!

DC!!!

Wow - I have just had a mega exciting experience for me!  I went to the Oxford Union to see David Coulthard as speaker!

My poor proof of it is this photo on the right taken on my phone as he was leaving!
More recognisable photos of him on the left taken from a google images search!

I couldn't quite bring myself to get too excited but when he walked in through the door I couldn't stop grinning :-)  I thought he looked mighty suave in his dark suit. I really felt he had a petite waist.  And when he started speaking I was just totally in love with his lilting scottish accent.  For more so I feel than I have ever been hearing him on television.

He spoke briefly on from a prepared speech.  I wonder now how much of it he had written himself as to be honest the tone of it was pretty different to when he was answering questions (which was the vast majority of the time - over an hour versus 10 minutes).  The speech was making comparisons with the Union (which I'm not a big fan of) and motor racing with a lot of tabloid type references to supermodels and the such.  He did start off by saying that he had been up ill all the previous night and was rather running on empty during the evening but he had wanted to fulfil his commitment (certainly something I admire).

The questions were the good bit.  I thought of two questions that I would have asked.  I never even put my hand up (being far too chicken) but I was getting closer to having my muscles respond to the messgae form my brain but then someone asked a similar question.   And then someone asked my other question later. Mine were:

• Which were your favourite circuits to go to as a driver and have they changed now you're a pundit? (he mentioned the word pundit now as being what he is on the BBC, but said he didn't really like the word as he didn't understand it)  His answer (paraphrased) was Monaco as it was a short walk home and major challenge to win - only the best can win there.  And Spa, because it's such a long circuit and because of Eau-Rouge - the change in altitude is greater than the height of the debating chamber and you come out of the corner blind.
• Do you regret letting Hakkinen past in Australia.  Yes, see his book for further details on why he did it.

The other thing I had been wondering about was team orders.  He answered a question about Nelson Piquet Junior and answered pretty much as my thinking was: there are too many variables to be able to stage a crash that would help your team mate to win.  Especially as (I didn't know this) there was no radio transmission telling Piquet to crash at that moment.  The only conversation had been before the race.

Some other interesting points that I happen to remember:

• The team mate he least got on with is Damon Hill.  He's not sure why but there was never much connection.  He has swapped helmets with all his other team mates and has helmets of all the world champions from his driving era except Damon.  He talked about the effect that Graham Hill's death had on the family and his belief that that had some effect on the way Damon was as a team mate.
• He said he got on with his other team mates and mentioned in particular Mika Hakkinen and having a drink with him now - he said Mika liked his vodka.
• He spoke highly of the Williams Team and Frank Williams.  When asked about his days at Williams he mentioned a time as a young driver when he wasn't sure whether to laugh or keep a dead pan expression.  Frank had been wheeling around the room where they had been meeting then came up to David and said 'Look at my shoes'; David did; then Frank said 'I've worn these same shoes for 20 years'.  When David looked rather scared, Frank explained that it was meant as a joke, because being a quadriplegic his shoes didnt get anywhere and he thought as a Scotsman David would like the thrift!

Am rather tired now, trying to fight off my second cold in a week and am going to head to bed.  Well, I am actually on bed but I will get in it!  Hopefully I will add more as it comes to me.

• update 11/2/10 He spoke about risk and safety.  He mentioned how the closest he came to death was in the plane crash.  He was knocked unconscious in testing in the early days of his career when a nut or bolt was loose and he lost steering and headed straight into the barriers.  He was pleased when he came round that his final thoughts before the crash weren't 'oh no i'm scared that i'm going to die', but he was trying to rectify the problem and work it out.  He told his mum this so that if he was ever to die in a race she was to know that his final moments hadn't been regrets or anything.  He also spoke about how he drove because he took steps to minimise the risk.  He then went on to talk about the children's cycle helmet company he set up and how he tried to get parliament to pass law for under 16s to wear cycle helmets as they do not necessarily have the ability to choose to minimise the risk.

 The evening also got me thinking about the season I kept a formula 1 diary.  Think it may have been 2002 - wow crazy to think it could have been 8 years ago.  I really enjoyed doing it and it got me properly involved in the race and was a snapshot of my life.  I wondered about starting it up again for this season.  Subsequently I wondered about doing it on the blog...  get's me thinking about the handwritten word versus the virtual.