Builder - where?

I have been happy to bore anyone who will listen with praise of the new conservatory. For a start, it has been very well built, proper foundations, brick colour and pattern carefully matched to the house brick and there is certainly a lovely sense of peace, calm and escapism when I sit in there; perfect ambiance for counselling clients.
We asked the builder who did it to give us an estimate for a downstairs toilet. He came to measure up and told us he would be in touch within the week. That was over two weeks ago. I gave him the cheque for the conservatory at the same time and he mentioned that he was anxious to bank it as soon as possible. Keith asked him if he was interested in doing some work at his Dad's house, which is currently being renovated and he said he was.
So we waited patiently until the end of last week and then Keith tried ringing his mobile number but it was always switched off. Finally, he did get through but it was Mrs Builder who answered. Keith asked her if the builder would please ring him back. "Yes," she said, and that was it.
Also, when I checked my bank account, I discovered that, over two weeks after he had taken the cheque, it had still not been paid in.
Curiouser and curiouser!
So, readers, what do you think?
The butler ... in the library... with the candlestick?

Arachnophobe tip

Replace carpets with laminate or wood flooring. Spiders move more slowly across its smooth surface, making it easier to stamp on them. Either that or the one I killed the other night was in its dotage. I'm just proud of myself for being able to get close enough to do the necessary. A gold star for that, I think!

Half term

Half term, the week I have looked forward to for the past seven.
Programme so far:
Saturday - course in the morning, mowing the lawn and tidying the garden in the afternoon, followed by vigorous hoovering, cleaning, washing etc. Followed by falling asleep at 8 in the evening!
Sunday - lots of tidying, sorting, throwing out, relocating (mostly Keith's stuff, but we won't dwell on that) and dispatching of several, nay lots of full black bin bags to the tip. (Today I managed to stay awake for the evening and if Craigybaby makes an ageist comment about that - he's dead!)
This is because we want to have a downstairs lavatory installed under the stairs but to do that we need to find other homes for the stuff that's already there. This means a ruthless cull of all the stuff that's in the cuboard in the small bedroom. Some of this has gone to the tip, some will go in the shed. However, before I put any more stuff in the shed, we need some shelves in there...and so it goes on.
All this has been instigated by the building of the conservatory - but it is a lovely conservatory - definitely one of my more inspirational ideas.

Puppets

My class has been doing Design and Technology (D&T) with the PPA teacher this term but today was to be devoted to finally making the glove puppets they have been designing, practising sewing for etc. The PPA teacher had asked me to change my PPA time to this morning instead of this afternoon for this week, so I didn't arrive in class until just before the afternoon session. I had had a couple of frantic texts at break-time from my teaching assistant, which I replied to in lighthearted vein - after all, she couldn't really mean that she was nearly bald from tearing her hair out, or that, at lunchtime, I would find her hanging over the railings in a desperate attempt to escape...
Suffice it to say that we got through the afternoon, although hysteria did threaten at times. Had these children EVER held a sewing needle in their tiny hands before?
So we had L. who had obviously decided that he didn't actually want to make a puppet anyway and so reported that his embryo puppet had gone AWOL during lunchtime. The sum total of his day's work was to stick the eyes on the front piece of felt.
C.'s idea of sewing seemed to be to close his eyes, point the needle at whatever part of the puppet it touched first and stick it through - no neat sewing round (or even anywhere near) the edges of the felt for him!
A. thought that decorating the face of his was infinitely preferable to doing battle with needle and thread, so he spent most of his time carefully placing the features on the face of his puppet, although he somehow failed to notice that he had ended up with about 6 eyes, 3 mouths and a couple of noses. I sewed his myself.
Then there was S. who must have used half a pint of glue sticking the eyes on his puppet's face. I disposed of the sodden felt and cut out a new outline for him.
Still, it's half term now. Freedom for a week!
And, you know what? I'll actually miss that class when I leave at Christmas.

Arachnophobes unite!

Morning registration, children (finally) sitting on the carpet at my feet, when suddenly a shriek pierces the air from one of the girls. There is an enormous spider on the carpet. 30 children are immediately evacuated to their chairs while 'Miss' attempts to continue calling the register, having bravely resisted the impulse to stand on her chair or or sprint from the room, and the trusty TA (Teaching Assistant) dives in to do battle with the intruder.
Unfortunately, she lost it and, as luck would have it, was not around at the beginning of the afternoon session when it suddenly reappeared, right by my feet (Wouldn't you know it?). This time, however, 'Miss' was made of sterling stuff and, grabbing courage with both hands, throwing caution to the winds etc etc, I quickly stamped on it and dispatched it to the Great Cobweb of the hereafter. Brave, innit!
And it was REALLY, REALLY ENORMOUS!!!

That Monday feeling

So, I'm sitting here, having just watched the update on Strictly Come Dancing (Come on, it's got to be ageism that Stephanie was voted out first!) and paying some overdue visits to the blogs on my sidebar. The pace of life is pleasant at the weekend - I actually manage to have time to relax and think, but now it's Sunday evening and I am about to step back onto that mad carousel that is the week (Poetic, that, don't you think, YP?)
Still, keeps me out of mischief, I suppose....

Le weekend

OK, I know I've been neglecting my blog recently, but life continues to be frantic. However, I did take the day off today to go to Chester to do the 'ladies who lunch' thing with last year's head teacher and secretary. We had a lovely afternoon, talked the proverbial legs off several donkeys and parted with a date agreed for our next get-together.

Half term is the week after next and we will be having a visitor for the week. Yes, it's the little white fellow in the photo - Jake, who currently belongs to Keith's son, Giles, but is coming to us for a week with a view to possible permanent residence after Christmas when I am no longer teaching full time. He could never replace Lucy, but he is such a little sweetie.