Day 1 in the big brother school of life and we're all back in the workplace again. Already not really feeling like we ever had a holiday.
To be fair the H went back for 2 days last week - but he was only playing at being at work because before we knew it he was 'working from home'...... mmmm - yes playing on the PS3 with T1 and T2.
Now before I go all depressed on life - and reflect on whether this really is it? It's been a strange coming back to the surface in the school world. We lost a student over the holiday - not lost as in left lying around and forgot where we put him. No - lost as in he was stabbed. Honestly I didn't know him very well - he joined me in September. But suddenly the real world hits into the cocoon that you create around your school and your kids don't feel quite as at ease as they did before.
Today was day 1 of talking to kids about the loss. They've all known for a week - and so that initial 'hit' of grief wasn't there. More a calm acceptance that he just won't be with us now. And a realisation that they're not invincible. Because, well normally they are, aren't they? Teenagers - they're invincible - none of that normal death ray stuff can penetrate their sultry armours. Sadly this time it did.
And so whilst normal service has resumed for most of us - for one family normal service will never resume. To them my love goes out. Normal service may be boring a lot of the time - but at least it's there. And if this really is it - then hadn't we better make it a good 'it'. Let normal service resume and rejoice once again.
Monday, 16 April 2012
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
10 favourite things about holidays
Look - frankly - everyone seems to do one of these in the blogging world. If you visit the websites which advise you on what to blog and when they even suggest that you carry a notebook around with you to jot down those moments that strike you as being appropriate for sharing..... so here goes - my favourite aspects of holidays:
1. Reading
Nothing earth shattering- just reading anything that hasn't been devoured on the kindle already. And that's the beauty of the kindle - that there will always be something to read!
N.b. currently reading 'A Tiny Bit Marvellous' by Dawn French. I'm not that far into it - so I will come back and amend my thoughts once I have read some more, well if they change - but this strikes me as a really angry book so far. The family depicted don't actually seem to like one another very much - with a very angry teenage daughter, and a son who thinks that he is channelling Oscar Wilde it certainly promises to show me a side of life that I don't get to experience. I know my greatest fear is that this is a boring life that I lead.... but in all of the teenage girls that I interact with on a daily basis in my day job no-one seems to be quite as angry as this young woman. Maybe I'm lucky? (Or blissfully ignorant....)
2. Catching up on TV.
Don't get a lot of quality TV time during the whirl of a term. So holidays can be great for just vegging out on the sofa and watching whatever interiors show happens to be on! Shame you can't access the Sky + player at home here in France - surely life would be complete then?
3. Learning how to blog
So why start this? Simply because my daughter and her friends have been blogging and actually it got me thinking that this might be quite a creative way to interact with the internet.
4. Thinking about all of the house projects that I would/could be doing if I was at home.
But knowing that I am safe - I won't be carrying them out whilst I'm here - and by the time I get home I will no longer want to do them / have time to do them / remember what they were (e.g. clean out kitchen cupboards (ooooh yeah baby!!), paint the kitchen chairs a really pretty colour (and all will be different.... n.b. I am useless at wielding a paint brush and the H is too busy / cheesed off to do it for me - and no amount of nagging would get that started!), do the garden, clear out the shed to make a fortune on EBay (like that's ever going to happen - I'm no business woman either!!)... you know the usual sort of stuff...
5. Trying really hard not to buy stuff I don't need on EBay...
See item no.2 - catching up on TV, as these two items are linked by the lack of time which normally fills my days. When I have too much time on my hands there is a risk that I will spend money on Ebay on stuff that I don't really need/want/can afford - simply because I was looking. Always best not to look I find!
6. Playing board games with the H and small people.
What's not to love about an endless game of Monopoly, Cluedo.... or this holiday's obsessions.... Bingo!
7. Coca Cola Light.
Ok, if we were at home this would be like drinking Pepsi, which I don't like. But here it's delicious. Why? Who can say.... perhaps because it was bought in Le Clerc? (Note to self, am beginning to think that this blog should be sponsored by 'Eric' as he is known around here. I don't think he really is called Eric, but from the first time that we came to France and I developed my love of M. Le Clerc's hyper emporium of loveliness he has been known as Eric..... more about my thoughts on Eric in another blog I suspect!).
8. Being older and so somewhat wiser on the packing front.
It took the D quite some time to pack her stuff. Why? Because she couldn't decide what to leave behind. If she had her way we would bring a trailer so that she could drag her wardrobe along behind us - you just never know when you are going to need those shorts / that dress / that denim shirt - as she blogs about her love of fashion it's easy to understand why though..... but now that I have reached the ripe old age of 40 I'm not ashamed to admit that I don't need my wardrobe and I'm happy to stay in my converse all day. In fact just as there are no life shattering decisions to make on the work front up there at the top of list for me is not having to make a decision about which work outfit to wear (including whether I feel fat in it or not) - but that I can just live in jeans and converse all week. Now I come to reflect on this list making malarky should I have plotted these in order of preference.... aaaaargh - this is a blogging decision... ok - calm down I will just go with 'as the mood takes me' mode of blogging.
9. Eating chocolate.
Particularly the type that has marzipan in it. Mmmmmm. I've never managed to find the exact same brand in the UK.
10. Having a holiday house with internet access.
Days gone by we would have been literally hiding out without access to the big wide world. Now - the world comes on holiday with me - when I choose to allow it in.
PS No notebooks were used in the preparation of this list. Just in case you were worried. Notebooks are for work - or alternatively haven't yet been purchased from Eric. But you know that they will be - I'm just waiting for the perfect notebook.
1. Reading
Nothing earth shattering- just reading anything that hasn't been devoured on the kindle already. And that's the beauty of the kindle - that there will always be something to read!
N.b. currently reading 'A Tiny Bit Marvellous' by Dawn French. I'm not that far into it - so I will come back and amend my thoughts once I have read some more, well if they change - but this strikes me as a really angry book so far. The family depicted don't actually seem to like one another very much - with a very angry teenage daughter, and a son who thinks that he is channelling Oscar Wilde it certainly promises to show me a side of life that I don't get to experience. I know my greatest fear is that this is a boring life that I lead.... but in all of the teenage girls that I interact with on a daily basis in my day job no-one seems to be quite as angry as this young woman. Maybe I'm lucky? (Or blissfully ignorant....)
2. Catching up on TV.
Don't get a lot of quality TV time during the whirl of a term. So holidays can be great for just vegging out on the sofa and watching whatever interiors show happens to be on! Shame you can't access the Sky + player at home here in France - surely life would be complete then?
3. Learning how to blog
So why start this? Simply because my daughter and her friends have been blogging and actually it got me thinking that this might be quite a creative way to interact with the internet.
4. Thinking about all of the house projects that I would/could be doing if I was at home.
But knowing that I am safe - I won't be carrying them out whilst I'm here - and by the time I get home I will no longer want to do them / have time to do them / remember what they were (e.g. clean out kitchen cupboards (ooooh yeah baby!!), paint the kitchen chairs a really pretty colour (and all will be different.... n.b. I am useless at wielding a paint brush and the H is too busy / cheesed off to do it for me - and no amount of nagging would get that started!), do the garden, clear out the shed to make a fortune on EBay (like that's ever going to happen - I'm no business woman either!!)... you know the usual sort of stuff...
5. Trying really hard not to buy stuff I don't need on EBay...
See item no.2 - catching up on TV, as these two items are linked by the lack of time which normally fills my days. When I have too much time on my hands there is a risk that I will spend money on Ebay on stuff that I don't really need/want/can afford - simply because I was looking. Always best not to look I find!
6. Playing board games with the H and small people.
What's not to love about an endless game of Monopoly, Cluedo.... or this holiday's obsessions.... Bingo!
7. Coca Cola Light.
Ok, if we were at home this would be like drinking Pepsi, which I don't like. But here it's delicious. Why? Who can say.... perhaps because it was bought in Le Clerc? (Note to self, am beginning to think that this blog should be sponsored by 'Eric' as he is known around here. I don't think he really is called Eric, but from the first time that we came to France and I developed my love of M. Le Clerc's hyper emporium of loveliness he has been known as Eric..... more about my thoughts on Eric in another blog I suspect!).
8. Being older and so somewhat wiser on the packing front.
It took the D quite some time to pack her stuff. Why? Because she couldn't decide what to leave behind. If she had her way we would bring a trailer so that she could drag her wardrobe along behind us - you just never know when you are going to need those shorts / that dress / that denim shirt - as she blogs about her love of fashion it's easy to understand why though..... but now that I have reached the ripe old age of 40 I'm not ashamed to admit that I don't need my wardrobe and I'm happy to stay in my converse all day. In fact just as there are no life shattering decisions to make on the work front up there at the top of list for me is not having to make a decision about which work outfit to wear (including whether I feel fat in it or not) - but that I can just live in jeans and converse all week. Now I come to reflect on this list making malarky should I have plotted these in order of preference.... aaaaargh - this is a blogging decision... ok - calm down I will just go with 'as the mood takes me' mode of blogging.
9. Eating chocolate.
Particularly the type that has marzipan in it. Mmmmmm. I've never managed to find the exact same brand in the UK.
10. Having a holiday house with internet access.
Days gone by we would have been literally hiding out without access to the big wide world. Now - the world comes on holiday with me - when I choose to allow it in.
PS No notebooks were used in the preparation of this list. Just in case you were worried. Notebooks are for work - or alternatively haven't yet been purchased from Eric. But you know that they will be - I'm just waiting for the perfect notebook.
Hiding out in deepest France
Arrived. Unpacked. Fed children, and visited Le Clerc. It is a well known fact that the height of excitement for me is the opportunity to visit a French hypermarket, and it has to be said that the closet one to us on this holiday is certainly worth a visit.
What is it that makes this more exciting than the average visit to Sainsbury's? To start off with is there anything that you can't buy in a French hypermarket? Stationary to die for... who knew that there were so many fountain pens that you needed to buy in this world? Kitchenware which is just that little bit more unique than we will find in the UK.... more chocolate than I will ever be able to eat in one hit - and of course the best selection of saucisson (sp?) ever. Fact. And for some reason when we are in France the H is prepared to come with me. Why? Who can say? Maybe secretly he finds French supermarkets just as exciting as me.
What makes the holiday? Just being with the H and small people. There are no rules. You can pretty much eat what you want, when you want, you can laze around and read books all day - in your pyjamas if you want to - and best of all? No-one will want you to make a decision. Bliss.
What is it that makes this more exciting than the average visit to Sainsbury's? To start off with is there anything that you can't buy in a French hypermarket? Stationary to die for... who knew that there were so many fountain pens that you needed to buy in this world? Kitchenware which is just that little bit more unique than we will find in the UK.... more chocolate than I will ever be able to eat in one hit - and of course the best selection of saucisson (sp?) ever. Fact. And for some reason when we are in France the H is prepared to come with me. Why? Who can say? Maybe secretly he finds French supermarkets just as exciting as me.
What makes the holiday? Just being with the H and small people. There are no rules. You can pretty much eat what you want, when you want, you can laze around and read books all day - in your pyjamas if you want to - and best of all? No-one will want you to make a decision. Bliss.
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