Getting away from it all

One reason for my silence over the past few weeks is that Keith and I decided to 'get away from it all' and take ourselves off to France for 10 days over Christmas and New Year. So we booked a little 'gite' in Normandy and off we went. We left on Sunday 23rd, when I was well into a bad cold and feeling rather like death warmed up. Keith, however was fine - until Christmas Eve, when he picked up my germs, ran with them and turned them into man-flu.

Still, we managed to get out and about for most of the holiday, although photos are not very numerous as we were confronted by thick fog every single day for at least part of the day. Sometimes it was in our area and we were able to drive out of it into glorious sunshine, other days we drove into it but probably our best days were our visits to Mont St Michel and a lovely little beach on Brittany's south coast.

Would we do it again? Probably not but it was a change and a chance to chill out for a while and that can't be bad.

Stroke awareness

This came to my inbox today from TK so I decided to put it here. Everyone reading this will know of someone whose quality of life has been severely curtailed as a result of a stroke, so please take the time to read through this information. Who knows, some day it may enable you to help a stroke victim by getting them the medical attention they need in time.

My good friend sent this and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree.
If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously.. Please read:
STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) .....she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die.... they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. It only takes a minute to read this...
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough. RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke . Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today)
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke.

New start

Is it really a month since I last posted? After my last post end of term/Christmas/New Year kicked in and life became even more hectic. But more of that in future posts. Today I am off to do 5 hours of counselling (voluntary). It's raining and blowing a gale here but, hey, I don't have to worry about wet playtimes any more... not till I need to go back to supply teaching for some money, anyway.

Advent calendars and Nativity plays

Today was our first practice in church of our impending Nativity play. Doing it in the school hall is too easy. It's far more challenging to erect the stage in the hall to practice for two weeks, then to dismantle it and take it down the road to the church, walk the children down there each day to practice further, dismantle it again for the week-end's services before setting it up again next Monday morning for our first performance in the afternoon.
However, I digress. My job is the music, which entails manipulating a console which makes Dr Who's Tardis look like childsplay, so I spent most of my time getting to grips with that. "See, you're enjoying it!" says the 33 year old PPA teacher. "Imagine - learning something new at your age," he continued before hopping around in howls of agony as I stamped on his foot. (No, not really - not in front of the children.)
In addition, I was darting out to the front to ensure that the children sang the right verses in the right order, rather than following their natural inclination to repeat the first verse each time.
Where it did get slightly challenging, however, was when the Reception teacher suddenly announced in my ear that one of her children had had an 'accident' and she would have to take him back to school to change him, so would I mind assembling the shepherds and then the wise men in the right order ready to make their entrance? - with my second pair of hands, of course.
By this time, having lost the will to live, I just nodded silently and hoped that enough of them would remember of their own accord.
Oh what fun we had!
Back at school, the children were just getting ready to go home when one of the boys noticed that some little so and so had attacked our Advent calendars (two as it's a large class), ripped open several of the flaps and made off with the chocolates.
A job for Sherlock Holmes tomorrow...

Really demob happy

A couple of weeks ago, having looked into the finances of it, I decided to take the plunge and opt for retirement from teaching at the end of this month instead of slogging it out until summer. So, this time, I'm doing it properly. When I finish my current contract in three weeks time, I shall say good-bye to teaching and concentrate on counselling as well as having time for all the other things I really want to do but don't have time for at the moment.
I have already taken a pile of books into school to be adopted by anyone who wants to give them a good home - what a good feeling that was!
There is still a degree of sadness that I feel so pleased at the prospect of finally leaving teaching but I've given it my best shot. When yet another new initiative, the Primary strategy, officially comes on board next September, this time, I shan't be worrying about it.

Christmas Spirit

Friday afternoon and one of my regular tasks at that time is to do the regular food shopping, which, I must confess, I find boring in the extreme. I am one of those people who is really not interested in food or cooking at all. Left to myself, I would quite happily exist on cheese on toast every day. However, as Keith is definitely not of the same persuasion, I find a weekly trip to Sainsbury's or some local equivalent is expected.
So, this Friday, off I went to Sainsbury's. The cashier at the check-out asked me if I would like help with packing and, as I said I would, began to pack my bags. Half way through, she lost interest (as they often do) and by the time the last few items had been scanned, I was on my own.
Thus it was that the total was announced and I was left to juggle my credit card payment and finish packing simultaneously. Card, retrieved, I moved to the end of the checkout and finished sorting out last lot of shopping, replacing credit card in purse and folding up receipt, whilst also moving trolley out of the way (so I thought) of next shopper. This (foreign) 'gentleman', however, was unimpressed by my efforts to get out of his way and, after glaring at me, suddenly used his trolley to ram mine out of his way.
"If you could just give me a minute..." I said.
"I've given you five minutes," was the reply. "You could see we were waiting."
"Rubbish!" I replied (Deputy Head mode asserting itself automatically.)
"You are rubbish," came the ripost.
"No," I replied, thoroughly nettled by this time, "Actually, you are rubbish!"
By this time, heads were turning and I was almost out through the door, to do battle with the endless queues snaking out of the carpark, hooting at each other in exasperation.
Christmas spirit comes early round these parts.

New Horizons

After a week in which we had two parents' evenings to add to an already busy schedule, which now includes regular practices for the Christmas play (I know - the C word should not be uttered before November is finished), I am confirmed in my decision that my retirement from teaching will be at the end of this term rather than struggling on with supply work until the summer. The difference in pension and lump sum for the extra two terms is negligible and more than compensates for being able to have my life back again and start doing what I want to do.
This evening I have just finished designing my leaflet for potential clients for my counselling practice and I have also been approached with a view to teaching part of the basic counselling course and the Gestalt certificate from next September, so with luck, I shall be able to keep the wolf from the door.
I suppose you have reach what the French politely refer to as 'a certain age' to appreciate more fully the desire to make the most of the time and opportunities still available. There are so many things I would still like to do and I don't suppose I'll manage more than a fraction of them, but I'm going to do my best - and being stuck in classrooms is not one of them!
PS
My counselling website, still in embryo state, is now live.