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Sunday, September 13, 2009

Time ticks on



My knee now looks as though it is trying to produce a version of the Mallan Streak with a flash of repaired white skin showing up clearly against the brown. In spite of my lying in a most uncomfortable position in the garden with my knee thrust up towards the sun the new skin refuses to take on the tint of its surroundings. I hope that we have an extended sunny period well into October to ensure the matching of the epidermis with that level of russet brown which is my natural sun enhanced colour.

I suppose that one good thing is that during my working day I will be wearing long trousers so the mark of a colder climate will not be seen!

The water in the pool gets colder by the day and the shower is not working. Toni has suggested that this is part of the ‘end of season’ entropy. We will watch what happens in our area as I suspect that the restaurants on the paseo will all close soon and we will soon be left with the Maritime Club restaurant – not a bad last resort!

We are now waiting for the rest of the family so that we can go out to lunch or get chicken from the restaurant around the corner (and on a bit) which caters for passing trade and the large camp site on the opposite side of the road.

The bridge that connects the two sides of the motorway has steps and also a slope so it is possible (in theory) to ride a bike across. I have done this. In a way. At each turn in the slope I had to put a foot on the ‘ground.’ This was especially galling when I passed the bridge on our way to get the chicken for lunch and had to watch a gentleman manage to keep on cycling up the whole twisting slope. Something I will have to work on or remember my father’s dictum about cycling, “If it’s easier to walk with the bike then walk with the bike.” Good advice as long as you can get over the shame factor that walking your bike rather than riding it entails!

Our visitors now have left and the nightmare is over. I truly and sincerely cannot imagine what having a four year old and a one year old as your own children and having to look after both of them day after day can possibly be like. Toni and I are totally exhausted, drained and our tension levels are tuned to that pitch which only dogs can hear. And these are two relatively pleasant children!

Roll on the professional relationship with kids tomorrow where, after an hour they are gone!

Tomorrow will be the first real start of year that I have had for a few years. The tension in the staff room last Thursday (Friday was a Bank Holiday) was palpable and, although I would like to adopt a slightly patronising attitude given the number of times that I have started a year in teaching, this time it is different.

I cannot pretend that the sort of teaching that I am being asked to do is in the centre of my comfort zone. In many ways ending up teaching what is, to all intents and purposes, English Grammar seems like a much delayed revenge for all the copying I did in the fourth and fifth forms when the scientists suddenly got top marks in all the clause analysis questions! Luckily I do not have to teach Grammar (it deserved the capital letter when we were taught it) in anything like the same anal detail thank god. I’m not sure how many English teachers not only here but also in the United Kingdom would be able to teach it!

I have lost one year and gained another. Year 4 (last year’s Year 3) was a good class and I am sad that I will not be taking them again. I have gained another ‘Sixth Form’ class which, I am told is more my metier. We’ll see.

I suppose that I ought to prepare some material for tomorrow on the ‘Plan B’ system just in case the books which we have placed in rooms suddenly evaporate and leave us with nothing for the kids! The really cunning thing is to produce something which, according to the way that you teach it, can be used with any class and at any age. I have an idea for something with my choice of cartoons vide. Thurber and Giles which can be linked to a short fable by one of a number of writers. I know what I want to do, but it does depend on my finding the requisite books which, at the moment, I have not managed.

Time to Make an Effort and justify the derisory salary that I am paid.

Happy hunting!

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