Back to the daily routine

Last Tuesday classes started in earnest and on the first morning I managed to nearly knock myself out. A good start for me! Let's hope that this isn't a sign of things to come. I don't think I'll go into how I did it, I feel rather foolish. Needless to say, my accident led to my line manager deciding that in deed, I did need a large monitor mounted on the wall in the library, as I had been asking for for nearly a year. I stayed home on the Tuesday and continued to have neck pains right through till Friday. As the high school secretary said, "No pain, no gain!"

The beginning of a new school year has prompted a certain amount of self examination and reflection. Did I manage to do all that I set out to do this summer? Well, yes, for the most part! I read a lot, I reorganzied the house, I gardened, I went to London on several occasions, and I swam almost everyday. However, I didn't write much at all, nor did I learn how to make a sour dough starter. I had hoped to do the Thames river trip from here to Hampton Court. I did go to the Hampton Court flower show but by rail, not boat. I had also wanted to paint the living room and my bedroom. Perhaps, I set myself too great a target.

Now that summer is almost over, what do I want to accomplish this fall and what do I want to avoid doing! Now that will be an interesting voyage of discovery.

A week later

So here I am again a week later. I have had a hard week since it was the first full week of pre-planning before school starts on Tuesday. I didn't get as much done as I should have for any number of reasons: lots of meeting, all day first aid training on Tuesday, a hospital appointment on Wednesday and two coffee mornings for staff in the library. I crawled home on Friday and went to bed at 8! Yesterday I should have gone into work but I just can't bring myself to do it until I have too. Instead I went to lunch with Emma at a lovely little Japanese restaurant in Staines and then went to see A-Team, a good time waster and just what I needed.

Today, I have a cake to make for Emma's last cricket game of the season. Chocolate Zucchini, I think. I made it for my coffee mornings and it was a huge success. At 1 Cliff and I are going out for lunch to celebrate his birthday, which was last Tuesday. At the moment, it is overcast and drizzling. Let's hope it passes!

I suppose there is a lot I could say about work, which is not all that positive. However, I will try to linger only on the good things. My goal for the year is not to end up on stress leave, so I must stay positive and not get too demoralized by what I can't do.

We have a new head of English who seems as determined as I am to get students reading more. I have spent a good portion of my budget on buying books for a Teen Book Week in October. All of the grade 9 and 10s will come in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the coming week to choose one of 26 titles to read. I bought 3 to 5 copies of each title but will get more if a student can't get the one he or she wants.

Tomorrow, I am taking part in a 'fair' in one of our gyms. Parents come to talk to various groups about the activities their children can participate in over the coming year. I have arranged for a librarian from the Surrey library system to be there with me and to hand out pre-ordered library cards and go give out information to anyone who might be interested. I will also have information from my library for parents. Something else to be excited about.

More another day!

I know!

I know, I know. I still haven't written anything here. I can't say that I'm lazy because I have accomplished a lot this summer. I just haven't written very much. I am going to do so today but you will have to have a look at my cooking blog if you want to read it.