Wednesday 28 September 2016

Bedtime Stories: Cheap Thrill #8

Love being a Nanny!

Yesterday was my grandson’s second birthday. Technically he’s my step-grandson, but he’s always known me as “Nanny”, so it doesn't matter one bit!
My step son and his family live about an hour’s drive away, which means that a casual ‘drop-in’ is not really practical, so we look forward to seeing them when we can.
Yesterday was especially exciting, as we got to see our granddaughter arrive home from school too. She only started ‘big school’ this term, and it was lovely to hear her talking so positively about her teacher even though she’d only done ‘things’ yesterday, apparently!
After the mandatory present opening, fish and chip supper, candle blowing and cake eating, it was time for bed.
Luckily for me, other nanny (Nonna) was chosen for bath time, (only lucky because it involved lots of poo, I think!) but I was asked if I would read the bedtime story. What an honour! 

A Christmas story? In September?

The book was solemnly chosen - Angelina’s Christmas (!) - and both the soon-to-be five year old and the newbie two year old sat next to me on the bed and listened while I read, looking at the pictures, and not noticing the slight editing of the ‘wordy’ bits. It was so lovely, and even though its only September, reading the Christmas tale together meant that we were sharing in a little bit of joint anticipation. 

I wonder how it ended?

Reading stories to children is one of the simplest ways of sharing experience and bonding. I recall that when I was a newly single parent, and my children were about 11 and 14, I started to read ‘My Friend Walter’ to them. They were too old to listen to their silly Mum reading to them really, but they subconsciously recognised my need to revisit a safer and happier time, and humoured me by laying on the bed listening to me. I think the TV series based on the book got ahead of my reading, and sadly, I don't think we ever finished it, but I do remember how close it made us all feel, and how it reinforced our belief that, somehow, everything would be alright.

So if you have children available to you (please don't steal any) then share a story with them - it really is one of life’s most joyous experiences! 

Wednesday 21 September 2016

For One Month Only...Cheap Thrill #7


Oh how I love September days like this one

So this week’s cheap thrill is…September.  For years my love of this month has been overshadowed by back to school malaise, and the fact that the weather is usually nicer than it has been for the whole of the summer holidays, and I’m stuck inside!
But not this year. This year I can glory in beautiful September days, the subtle change in light, the air of Christmas excitement just around the corner (I can ignore the inherent stress that this brings for now) and just a clear sense of the changing seasons.

Mmmm. Jam

It is difficult to quantify why I love this month so. It’s something to do with crunching through leaves (almost as good as lime tree seeds, it appears), ripening blackberries, which my hubby turns into amazing jam, and the slight chill in the air that means we no longer feel driven to put salads with all our meals. Salads, in our house, are affectionately known as ‘green sh*t’, and while we do enjoy them, there is something so much more comforting about mashed potatoes, bright green cabbage and gravy! 
The other joy of course is that, because it is now getting cooler, we are able to cover up our less than svelte forms with baggy brushed cotton shirts and snuggly jumpers…what’s not to love!

I'm so lucky to live opposite here

For me October means the dreaded clock change, which brings a whole world of pain, but for now I am relishing September - it’s only here for a few more days, and it really is joyous!

A Different Kind of Hero

Paralympic Mascot Tom (if I'm honest I preferred Mandeville...)
I’m sure I’m not alone in having watched, open-mouthed, as Paralympians from around the World pushed themselves in sporting endeavours that defy belief.
How do you find the courage to sprint as fast as you can, trusting someone else to lead you safely because you have little or no vision?
How do you control a horse in a dressage routine, when you have such little control over your own body?
How do you swim without arms? Or legs?
And how on earth do you control a wheelchair with one hand and accurately wield a tennis racquet in the other?
It is a real testament to the human spirit, and a lesson to all of us who grumble about a minor ache or pain.
The Paralympians are justifiably lauded, successful or otherwise, and rightly proclaimed as heroes. They have all overcome significant difficulties or life changing events to strive to do their best in the field of sport, and should be admired. 
As the successful Team GB Paralympians have returned to Britain, it has sparked a debate on whether their success has raised enough awareness to have a positive impact on the daily lives of ordinary people living with disability. We need to remember that, for every Johnny Peacock or Dame Sarah Storey, there are thousands of others who live with disability, not on a World stage, but within the mundanity of daily life. Their struggle is not against the clock, but against a society that does not seem to make anything easy, and that doesn’t understand how to treat people that are different from the norm. 
So I am applauding a different kind of hero - the person who defies the odds to succeed in their career, despite visual impairment or living with cerebral palsy; the person who struggles to  recover from a life changing stroke in order to hold their grandchildren again; the student with autism who struggles to cope in a mainstream school, with some staff who understand their particular needs and some who simply can’t appreciate the dilemma of being told to hurry to class, and yet being told not to run! 
All of those people are striving to achieve against the odds, in a much less public arena. Not always recognised as such, they really are heroes too.



Tuesday 13 September 2016

Another Proper Freebie: Cheap Thrill #6

The Eden Project: amazing

I don't suppose I am alone in not being fond of Tesco. Over the years they seem to have become greedier and more unscrupulous, and just don't possess that 'feel good factor'. Nevertheless, I shop there most weeks, mainly because Lidl don't sell Horlicks...
Because I shop there, I collect club card points, and this brings me to today's cheap thrill. 
Before we came to Cornwall, I exchanged some of my vouchers for tickets to the Eden Project, making our day out very cheap (free, in fact) and boy was it thrilling. How anybody could look at an empty clay pit and have the vision to create what we experienced today amazes me. I loved everything about it: the biomes, the gardens outside, the walks. Incredible.

Inside the Rainforest Biome
Not only did we save the entrance fee (£22.50 for oldies) we also queue jumped because we had prepaid vouchers! Cue much glaring from lots of other people - most of whom qualified to live in the land of the blue rinse! 



A really fantastic day, that only cost what we spent in the cafe. So, swap your Tesco vouchers, don't just spend them. If we have to shop there, we may as well make them pay!

Sunday 11 September 2016

Help - I'm on Holiday!

Sometimes it has to be done!
I'm in Cornwall. On holiday. In term time. How strange. At this point I should remind you all that I am risk averse. Now a holiday in Cornwall may not seem particularly extreme in terms of risk, but I stress so much about things, that going away from home is quite nightmarish for me. Will the accommodation be okay? Will the journey be incident free and safe? Will it rain every day?
Logically I know that these are not things that should cause any sane person serious amounts of angst, but being away from home is not comfortable for me.
My husband says,'But you booked it!' And this is invariably the case. People expect you to like holidays. And I like the idea of holidays, and really want to embrace them. So I book cottages and gites, and look forward to seeing new places. And then it's time to go...
My family and friends love holidays - they all go off to exotic destinations without a second thought. And I really wish I could do the same, but the thought of an airport, let alone an aeroplane...ugh! I have just about learned to cope with a ferry terminal and a boat!
In the run up to my retirement, everyone asked what my plans were and talked about all the term time holidays I would be able to have. I joined in and discussed the endless possibilities, too embarrassed to be able to admit that I'd rather stay at home!
In my defence, it's in my genes - my lovely Mum was just the same. My Dad had travelled the world during the war, and wanted to share new places with her, but Mum was less than enamoured of this. She would always say that, given the choice, she would happily stay at home.

Once I am actually on holiday, and the accommodation is fine, we got there safely and it isn't raining everyday, I usually enjoy myself. After all, I do book some lovely places to visit!

Lovely place in Cornwall

But I do wish that I could be more adventurous. It feels ridiculous that I am limiting my experiences to such a degree. Maybe, as I get even older and there's absolutely no point in avoiding risk, I'll fly around the world in search of new adventures. Or maybe I'll satisfy myself with a Cornish Pasty and a cream tea!

Wednesday 7 September 2016

Cheap Thrill #5: Breakfast

Breakfast in Sheffield: Forge Bakehouse, yummy!
I love breakfast. I have never been the type of person who can survive on a cup of coffee until break or lunch. Even on days when I overslept, I still had to shovel something down my neck before I could leave the house. While I was working, breakfast was always a solitary affair, and usually consisted of a quick bowl of granola and yoghourt before I left for work. I would occasionally have porridge, but that would be cooked in the microwave while I made my packed lunch. 
Thank you Henrietta and Omelette for the eggs!
Now I have the time to indulge. At the weekend I sat at the table with my husband and enjoyed boiled eggs, laid by my nephew’s hens, with soldiers of home made bread! 

Better than a Bounty! Note the mug, in case I forget who I am!
This morning I made ‘Better than a Bounty’ porridge, courtesy of the Salted Tail (http://www.thesaltedtail.com/2016/08/recipe-better-than-bounty-porridge.html) which has to be tasted to be believed. And I didn't cook it in the microwave while I rushed around doing something else, I lovingly stirred it, watching it bubble and slowly thicken, taking the time to anticipate what I was about to enjoy.

Gotta love a new recipe book!
As part of my retirement goody basket, my daughter gave me a book of breakfasts, that I am looking forward to exploring - especially the family breakfasts that I will be able to make when our children come to stay, taking time to socialise over my favourite meal of the day! 

Can't wait to try!
And even if I am in a hurry, at least my granola will be home made! The joy, oh the joy!

Sunday 4 September 2016

Ten Things I Won't Miss...

Miscellaneous Cr*p!
So, this is strange. Until now, I felt as if I was on summer break, and I hadn't really thought about September. Now it’s here. My former colleagues have endured two training days, and parents are preparing their children for the new term starting in the morning (also stocking up on gin and cake in order to celebrate, I suspect!) On Thursday, I actually felt quite unwell. Nothing specific, but a general malaise. By the end of the day, I’d become convinced that my brain was telling my body that, if I wasn't going to work, then I must be ill! 

Time to get a grip, and remind myself of some of the things I won’t miss about work in general, and teaching in particular. I promise I’ll stop when I get to ten!

#1: The Alarm: Oh how lovely not to have to set my alarm at ridiculous o’clock unless I want to!

#2: The Sunday Night Groan: There is usually an archetypal mindless serial that I secretly enjoy, but my enjoyment has been always been tempered by the knowledge that it means it’s Sunday, which is inexorably followed by Monday…groan

#3: Weekend Activity Avoidance: I was always reluctant to commit to doing things at the weekend, because I needed the time to recoup from the previous week, and prepare for the following one. Now, I can happily enjoy having my grandchildren, visiting my daughter, even doing the housework, safe in the knowledge that I can recover on Monday, or even Tuesday for that matter!

#4: Wishing my Time Away: In common with most teachers, I marked my time according to how many weeks I had to plan for, and then ticking the weeks off until the next break. Now I can live for the moment, and am already losing track of the days - although that could be dementia, not sure

#5: Assembly: Apart from my legendary Red Nose Day Assemblies, which took months to plan, I hated delivering assemblies. They came around so quickly, and were always so difficult to make relevant to the pupils at my school. The only good thing about them was that they were on Friday afternoons…back to wishing my time away!

#6: Safeguarding: Part of my role was to deliver the legally required Safeguarding Training to staff. There is no way to sugar this particular pill and looking at staff faces as they grimaced their way through yet another serious case review is something that I am very glad I will no longer have to endure

#7: Work Clothes: The first thing I did at the end of term was bag up all my work clothes and take them to the clothing bank. Now I just have clothes!

#8: Planning: I actually enjoyed planning, and always tried to make learning for my pupils as relevant as possible. What I won’t miss though is all the times when my meticulous planning went horribly wrong - either due to technology failure, forgetting a key resource, not trying out an activity first or just because some days in my room were not conducive to learning!

#9: Playground Duty: Despite the fact that I was a Senior Manager, I never managed to avoid playground duty, and I never managed to not hate it either. If it was hot, there was no shade and the kids got tetchy, if it was cold, it was just cold! Runny noses, blue fingers…and that was just me. I had a hideous playground coat, the pockets of which slowly filled with miscellaneous cr*p. I could provide you with bubbles, twiddles, counters for your reward card or a strange cow finger puppet. Strangely I never, ever had a clean tissue, only a snotty one! Definitely will not miss that!

#10: Constant Stress: Those of you that know me, or have read my previous blog posts, will not be surprised to hear that I am prone to stressing out about many, no, most things. At work I constantly put pressure on myself to sort things out, be a support to other staff, do the best for my pupils and not make myself look a total idiot in the process. I lay awake worrying most nights, and had post-shingles itching for an entire year. My husband says that I am already noticeably less unsettled, and much calmer. I’m really hoping that, as time goes on, I can learn to relax and enjoy not having to be in control

So there you have it, ten things I will not miss about going to work. I could easily have written a longer list of the things I will miss, but the past few weeks have shown me that I can enjoy and embrace this new phase of my life, and the important bits - friends and family - will still be with me!