Lost it at the photocopier

Well, my plan to make life better at work, obviously hasn't worked! Today, I lost it at the photocopier in the main staff room and began to cry inconsolably. When I look back on it, I have snap shots in my mind of a lot a very shocked people. I can laugh about it now but at the time I couldn't stop crying and I didn't care where I was. I have no idea where it all came from. Oh yes you do, I hear someone say! And you are right! But I just want it all to go away. I hate confrontation and I know that that is where this is all leading. I will have to confront my line manager, the head of school and human resources about their treatment of me and I can't face going through it all!

Yes, I did! And no, I won't!

Yes, I did swim 10 kilometers. Someone was wondering. I tried to keep it up this week but it was just too difficult to swim 80 laps in the hour I have in the mornings. I takes me about 50 to 60 minutes so I would have no chance to shower and get changed. I did however do it again this morning. And I will again tomorrow. If I could spend a bit more time at the pool each day I could do it. I may try to go to the pool from 6:30 till 7:45. I think that would be enough time. Well, I'm sure that you are all glad that I have worked that out!

Now for other matters! I have had a really hard week at work. I thought that if I had a week off school I would go back more able to cope with it all but I was wrong. I am being abused by my administrators, both my direct line manager and hers. My contract sets out my hours for supervision and teaching and I am doing 10 hours a week more than I should. Furthermore, the work that I am expect to do in that time is at least 1/3rd to 1/2 more than I am able to do. I have the classic symptoms of stress: I feel constantly on edge, I am having problems sleeping, I have started having anxiety attacks again. How stupid am I to let this continue! I won't! This has been the last week of me being nice about it all. On Monday I am going to lay out to my line manager exactly what I will and will not do from now on.

Stay tuned!

10 kilometers!

If I swim 80 lengths tomorrow, I will have swum 10 kilometer during this holiday. I'm rather proud of that!

Holidays!

In England there are holidays about every 6 weeks during the school year. Right now we are on the half term holiday, almost 6 weeks from the Christmas and 6 weeks or so before Easter. I can't imagine going back to the North American way of having so few breaks during the school year. I know that we only have a short summer holiday but I would rather it this way.

I am enjoying my break even though I haven't done much of what I intended to. I have been swimming, I have read, and am painting my dining room. However, I haven't been to London yet and I don't think that Cliff and I will make it down to see our daughter, her husband and our grand-son in Swansea. Cliff is still having breathing difficulties and suffering from some side effects of his medication!

I have managed to redesign my library wiki and complete my library newsletter on the databases subscribed to by the school and websites of interest to teachers. It wasn't something that I set out to do but I found myself pottering with them both and finished today. I'm hoping to blow my line manager away with the wonderful things I do and persuade her that I should go to the ALA convention in Washington this summer!

Tomorrow I am going to try and finish the work I have started in the dining room. I'm hoping to completely finish the room before I go back to school on Monday. On Saturday, I would like to go to Kew Gardens or up to London. Here's hoping!