Photo of the year - week 24 - Cruise 1

As I kept a diary of my cruise, I realised I am not actually going to write all that much about the holiday on here.  But you will get the snapshot from it in the photo of the year style - it was hard just choosing one photo on a couple of occasions.  Also got to say a huge thank you to Lizzie who let me have full use of her camera while we were away.  Very generous of her and she never begrudged me it.  THANK YOU!  I did kinda miscalculate the whole last-post-in-July thing!

Sunday 18th July

 All aboard!  Slightly windy (!) setting sail from Harwich aboard the Jewel of the Seas.

Monday 19h July

 Caused Mum and Lizzie hysterics by trying napkin folding for beginners on my own.  Fortunately they turned up near the end and Lizzie happily (!) helped me out.

Tuesday 20th July

 Excited about to go on a ride at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.

Wednesday 21st July

First Art Auction on a day at sea, taking place in the Centrum.  Can you spot Ma and Lizzie?

Thursday 22nd July

 Line up, Line up, Seagulls!  Stockholm.

Friday 23rd July

Horray!  The Moomin purchases we'd been hoping for in Finland.

Saturday 24th July 

 Happy Birthday Moomin!!!  A rather surprise wet start to our time in St Petersburg.  But don't we look good in ponchos!

 

Photo of the year - week 23

Radical posting on a Saturday, only the six photos, but we are off on holiday tomorrow and I wanted to be up to date before going!  So this is the last entry for July - still more posts than January though!  I wonder when I will get bored blogging??

Monday 12th July

 After starting the journey home feeling a little down (despite excellent performance of Joseph by Year 6s) the sun started shining beautifully in the sky and chromatography started working and the mileage was all multiples of 3 and happy music came on!  It's the little things...

Tuesday 13th July

My bed was too covered in things to eat on and watch tv so I sat on the floor leaning against the book case and photographed with photobooth.

Wednesday 14th July

Totally radical - got the train to London on a school night!!!  Had a lovely time chatting and catching up with a mega friend.

Thursday 15th July

 Pick your own raspberries (or in this photo's case, try and reattach them to the bush!)

Friday 16th July

Stopping still on the way into house in the warmth of the sun, thinking (happy thoughts).

Saturday 17th July

Early morning holiday packing!  One of my OCD moments.

Journey

I was in such a happy mood this morning.  Despite being awake from 5.20am, I eventually managed to do my packing and get on the road back home ready for the holiday.  I spent a lot of the journey listening to the Glee CD I was given on Thursday.  Plenty of singing along and smiling.  It was also a fairly sunny day and I was amazed seeing all the fields looking so yellow as I drove through the Cotswolds.  Then I was happy as well as I finished the whole school year yesterday and I am off on holiday tomorrow.  Plus then I got some smiley news yesterday. 

My happiness reminded me of how I felt on my driving test - bizarre but true!

I was in such a good mood on the journey and there were lots of spots I fancied taking pictures at, including calves eating, campers camping, long long views.  But here are the few I did actually get.

Blog vs Diary

This post, which has been mentally been hanging round for a while, has latterly been really crying out to be written!  So here I am putting fingers to keys.

Yesterday I was showing someone some of my diary collection.  And it is true - I have over my time kept a lot of diaries, without really feeling it's something I do masses of.  It started with my '1999: last year of the millennium diary' which I had found to try and track down the giant inflatable slide story in.  Over the last week, I have read it all and do truely find it hilarious.  But also at times touching.  Most of it I remember writing, but others no recollection at all.  World Events is definitely the favourite bit.  If my scanner was working, it would be a good opportunity to show it.  Though I guess maybe photos might work.  I then kept the same sort of diary for the first year of the new millennium.  In 2002, I kept a little diary everyday - that's interesting too.  Somewhere around then is my year of the Formula 1 diary.  The two trips to New Zealand I kept very detailed journals of what we did everyday, and when I was in Africa too (how Meryl Streep!).  More latterly I havent kept such specific diaries.  I was given a lovely notebook when I left the Sunshine House School in 2003 and that became my diary when I started uni, but that didn't last long.  It became a txt msg record book.  There are of course the great Rumbly diaries, but I am not at liberty to share about those.  I did have notebooks which I kept sporadically during my uni years and especially on holidays.  I kept a Musicals notebook for several years - probs about 1999 till ...2003?  Am pleased this blog is resurrecting the idea.  And in 2006 I started my official book diary - which I am mega proud of and deserves its own post.  And last year I started my flower diary.  I started a general diary at Christmas for Crieff, but that didn't get past a day and then this blog took over...  Can you hear the dunn dunn duuuuunnnnn.

So that's really a history of my diaries, but I am yet to do the 'compare and contrast' element of this essay!  This entry finally took shape because it came time for me to pack for our HOLIDAY!!!!  Me and packing is probably a whole other story.  I like to know what I'm packing and not just throw everything in.  I hunted out the 2003 diary which I remembered had the packing lists in it from the last two cruises.  I should have started my packing ages ago, but I haven't because I think I was feeling I needed to make that new list before I started.  And because I don't have a diary at the moment I didn't know where to write it.  I tried back home last weekend starting on a piece of paper, but it just wasn't quite clicking (and I left it in Malvern!).  And making a packing list on the computer didn't seem right either - I wanted that pencil in my hand!

18/7/10 Fortunately come early Saturday morning, I picked up the diary I'd started at Christmas and never got past Christmas eve and started a new page with my packing lists on.  And the packing flowed beautifully!!

31/7/10 Back from holiday yesterday and I KEPT UP THE DIARY!  I am proud of myself for doing.  Although initially it wasn't a very interesting diary (not that much of a departure then some might say!) but it did come into it's diary ownness on a couple of occasions.  It did though take up quite a lot of my time to write, but nevertheless I am pleased to have it.

A Year

It's totally hard to believe, that this is the last day of the school year!!!!  I really did do it!  I taught for a whole year.  Had been saying for a while that we were nearly there, and even at 1 o'clock, with half an hour to go, I was still saying 'well, nearly'.  But now it's totally true and dusted.

I am very proud of myself.  I don't think I did the best job ever, and still often feel like a fraud, but people have been saying kind things to me and I am surely no where near as much of a fraud as I was at the beginning of the year.  Why wasn't I so much more nervous then, I was clueless!!!!  I got some lovely presents from the kids and really kind words from the parents which mean the moon to me!

I felt a little emotional, but only slightly.  We were trying to read the last two chapters of the Enchanted Wood in the last half hour, and initially I couldn't find the book which was fairly comical!  But in that they were saying good bye to each other and I did feel a little pull at the heartstrings thinking that would be me and them soon! 

But oddly, the most emotional I felt, was as I was taking my stuff to the car, having tidied my classroom and I was hanging up my badge and switching off the lights.

And the afternoon ended nicely too :-)

Driver Tracker!!

Last Sunday, 11th July, was the British Grand Prix.  I didn't write at the time, Martin obviously wasn't on full form!!  I was however excited about it and took quite a lot of screenshots.  There had been good build up to it on the radio and on Friday I heard Alan Cowey says many times on radion oxford about A43 being closed except to ticket holders!  Watched the race back at Mum's with a super duper roast - that's what sundays are all about! 

Mega excitedly, the BBC had introduced for the Driver Tracker for this race.  I can't decide which was a more momentous day: this, or the day I was introduced to livetimings.  I had heard about maps the teams had of the circuits showing where cars were on them and used them to know when to bring someone in for a pit stop.  And this was the day we got to see it too!!  Thank you BBC!  It was as fascinating as I had hoped, even watching the cars vanish off the screen when they went into the pits and then reappear at the moment further round the track.  It was interesting to see how long it took for the pack to spread out and how long it took to all bunch up again when the safety car came out.  Here are some screen shots (naturally, a static image isn't the best way to show how exciting this feature is!):

Photos of the year - week 22

This week wasn't one of the best for feeling well.  Ever since the party on Friday night I started to not feel well - mainly in my stomach.  I didn't really eat properly/much over the weekend and I'm not sure if that was cause or sympton.  And I didn't fancy eating a meal until the following Friday evening BBQ.  I felt mainly hungry or ill (always ill when it was meal time) until Wednesday, and then just ill at mealtimes till Friday.  Very strange, not really happened to me before.  It was kinda the motion sickness feeling I get.  Also it was really hot still all week and I wasn't sleeping great - same as rest of country.  Anyway - here's the week's recordings.

Monday 5th July

Shockingly empty state of the cupboard made finding food for a meal tricky, even had I been feeling like eating!

Tuesday 6th July

Quick snap of the wild flowers at the Botley Interchange lights on the way to school - I wasn't driving!

Wednesday 7th July

It was another reports induced trip to the pub after school.  We cycled along the river to the Trout and were joined for the meal by Mr Peacock.

Thursday 8th July

 Next after school trip - to the garden centre - with mini tractors!!  What more entertainment does one want...

Friday 9th July

 Class swaps day at school - first proper time of getting to meet Class 2CG.  We had a lovely time :-)  they drew me pictures about themselves.

Saturday 10th July

 Meeting the star of Whistle Down the Wind

Sunday 11th July

 An open Gardens afternoon in West Malvern.  Looking out over Herefordshire.