OFSTED cometh

I popped in to a local primary school this afternoon to deliver leaflets and letters promoting a forthcoming computer software fair we are going to hold there next week. The headteacher, a very pleasant man, mentioned that the school would be having an OFSTED inspection in January and detailed all the paperwork which had already been requested. I mentioned a neighbouring school which I knew had recently been inspected, one of the first to be on the receiving end of the new, so-called 'light touch' inspections, the object of which is to be more user-friendly to the schools and be less disruptive to the daily routine.
"Oh, yes," said the Head, "I was talking to the Head there the other day. He said he was grilled in depth for 15 hours altogether."
Bearing in mind that a new-style inspection in a small primary school, such as we were talking about, would last only 2-3 days, that means the 'grilling' would have lasted about 5 hours each day, and that's before they started on the co-ordinators, deputy, support staff, lesson obserations etc. How on earth was that Headteacher supposed to do his normal work with 5 hours being taken out of his day? Light touch, eh?
Oh, and the Head I was talking to, obviously very committed to the pupils in his school, is eagerly looking forward to being able to retire.
I wonder why???

Welsh wildlife

We had a quick spin around the local countryside yesterday afternoon and came across at least half a dozen pheasants. For once, I managed to get a reasonable photo of one of them, but only a rear view!

A squirrel

I quite often catch a glimpse of a squirrel when I take Lucy for a walk around the lake and now that the leaves are falling, it's a little easier to see them. Today, I had my camera at the ready and, after a few unsuccessful attempts, managed to get this one. Although it's a bit dark (I haven't had time to doctor it at all), it's my best effort - trust me, look carefully, there really is a squirrel up there in that tree. Only a grey one, I'm afraid, but you can't have everything!
If you want to bore yourself silly with more autumn pics, have a look at my Webshots page.
There's a new autumn album there, which I will add to as and when.

Pulling teeth

Whilst practising my usual task avoidance strategy (blog-surfing instead of working!) I came across this fascinating post from Justitia. I wonder how far this goes towards explaining loss of short term memory in the elderly. In the past, people often had all their teeth pulled once they started having trouble with them, rather than having endless dental treatment which they didn't want or couldn't afford.
Anyway, I should be all-right. I'll be keeping all my teeth for the foreseeable future unless the government gets its act together and improves access to dental care in North Wales, which at present, for new patients, is non-existent. (See here for my previous rant on this subject). So I should live on into a wise old age - right?

Voyage autour du lac!

One of my favourite walks with Lucy is around the lake at the back of our house.
This is the view across the lake at the moment. The leaves are glowing with their autumn colours and on the morning I took this, it wasn't raining! (It made up for that later on, of course!)

You knew this already, didn't you?

Some very sensible, worthwhile and true comments from my friend, T.K. Enjoy!!

Men are like... Laxatives... They irritate the shit out of you.

Men are like... Bananas... The older they get, the less firm they are.

Men are like... Weather... Nothing can be done to change them.

Men are like... Blenders... You need One, but you're not quite sure why.

Men are like... Chocolate Bars... Sweet, smooth, and they usually head right for your hips.

Men are like... Commercials... You can't believe a word they say.

Men are like... Department Stores... Their clothes are always 1/2 off.

Men are like... Government Bonds... They take soooooooo long to mature.

Men are like... Mascara... They usually run at the first sign of emotion.

Men are like... Popcorn... They satisfy you, but only for a little while.

Men are like... Snowstorms... You never know when they're coming, how many inches you'll get or how long it will last.

Men are like... Lava Lamps... Fun to look at, but not very bright.

Men are like... Parking Spots... All the good ones are taken, the rest are handicapped.

Diet? Moi?

I have the morning off but I have been very good and not spent all morning on the computer! I have taken Lucy for a walk and done the domestic goddess bit - hoovering, dusting, tidying, the washing has washed and is now drying as I write and I have even sorted out my wordrobe and 'rationalised' it, as one erstwhile colleague was fond of saying when she was throwing out folders of out of date National Curriculum stuff. That brought me to the realisation of a long-held suspicion - I need to diet! No, correct that- we need to diet. At work it's all too easy to nip out for fish and chips with curry sauce or large portions of chicken and mushroom or steak and kidney pie accompanied by chicken nuggets or spicy chicken wings, followed by cakes.
But, hang on - I don't do that! I don't even eat meat and avoid any processed food as far as possible. I use skimmed or soya milk, never take sugar, never eat chips or crisps or butter. So what am I doing wrong???
It just ain't fair!
Correction! Keith needs to diet! He's the one eating all that junk food, not me. Maybe he could diet for both of us!