YouYour Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “lid.” Use it in the literal sense, use it in the metaphorical sense, use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
Shhhhh! Can you keep a secret? Can you keep a lid on it? Lips shut? Schtum?
Well, my little secret is that I am writing this whilst a little tiddly, to say the least! I haven’t had a drink for quite a while, and tonight, I have consumed a whole bottle of Gin Fizz… Oops! A WHOLE BOTTLE!
Now, it’s not often that I indulge.
To be honest, we teachers may say we are going to drown our troubles on a Friday night, but I know that I, for one, am so shattered, that a drink would just send me to sleep, early, and I can do that without the liquid assistance!
However, tonight, I felt the need to. It’s been five weeks since we went back to school. I have a wonderful, but very challenging, class. Three children who require one to one support, but who don’t have it, yet, because of resource. Another who has medical needs on top of other needs, too. All of them are loveable children, who need specialist provision, but the world around us thinks they need to be part of an inclusive education.
I’m all for inclusion, but sometimes, it isn’t the right thing for those kids.
I find my inputs interrupted, every time, as one of my lovelies walks through the rest of the class, like a bulldozer – no spatial awareness – to come and sit on my lap, or to take my hand and lead me to whatever they want, at the time. Or, in groupwork, my group is left unattended, for a few moments, as I deal with a meltdown, or an issue with one of the children who have these needs.
You see, these kids find it hard to conform to what the rest of the class are doing. They dance to the beat of their own drums, right now. They are still exploring the environment, and can’t follow instructions. Yet, in their own way, they show their own brilliance.
It’s not easy, but the rest of the class have been angels.
They are aware, already, at the age of four, or five, that there are children who have very specific needs, and there is barely any fussing. They just let those children get on with whatever they do, whilst waiting for Mrs B to get back to them.
These kids are superstars, seriously.
All of them.
With needs or not.
All children are blessings.
Did you know that the Cockney rhyming slang for kids is saucepan lids? See, my ramble did have something to do with the prompt, I promise!
And now, I shall sign off, as the words are starting to swim in front of my eyes!
Well,hello, my lovely Peeps! Can I start by saying thank you for all the lovely wishes. Though I am still tired, I am feeling, healthwise, much, much better!
Now, is your beverage of choice ready? I have my chai here, piping hot, and filled with wonderful spices to keep germs at bay!
If we were having chai I’d tell you though I felt better and managed okay at school, there were plenty of sniffles and coughs around me. In fact, I had to send one of my colleagues home, as she was really unwell on one day, and, as most teachers will, she struggled in, and insisted on staying. but, as I have learned the hard way, our health is our first priority, and if we work ourselves to the bone, what do we have left to give to those children, who we want to teach? As always, the team was just amazing. Everyone rallied around to make sure that we were covered in all areas, and it helped that one of my little lovelies that has high need, was off, as well, meaning there was more manpower to deal with the rest of the class. (Obviously, I was not happy that he was unwell, bless him. I hope he gets better, soon!)
If we were having chai I’d say that on Friday, Lil Princess and Lil Man had an INSET day at school, so they were off. Lil Princess came into school with me. She hasn’t been able to do that for over a year, due to the pandemic, and even though she can be a moody teen, she genuinely loves to come into school with me, helping withthe children, and putting faces to names, after hearing my stories of the tays gone by. In fact whe was truly initiated to my lovelies, what with our first ever changing clothes, for P.E., and one of my higher need children took a fancy to her, and sat on her lap, unattended, and even showed her love by farting on her! It made her giggle, thankfully. I had visions of teen girl storming out!
If we were having chai I’d mention that I had actually been dreading the P.E. malarky, since we had a year of no dchanging, with children coming in, on their sports clothes, on the day of P.E., plus, with so many of these children, they ahve been at home more than at Nursery, so the level of independence has been lacking. However, and it’s a big, however, they surprised me! Out of 27 there were 4 who we didnt change, due to severe needs and risk of melt downs, and all the others, bar 3 were pretty good, needing minimal help or guidance, to follow instructions, and get ready for P.E., then change back, after! It will be interesting to see if any of them managed to swap clothes, though. I will find out today, no doubt, if a parent comes up with randomitems that their child came home in, that wasn’t theirs! Still, I have reiterated, many times, the need for names in all clothes, and shoes, so if there is a swap that can’t be traced… it’s not our fault!
If we were having chai I’d say we finally had our first Cricket free week for the first time since April, and it was bliss! Mind you, had there been a match, it would have been cancelled as on Saturday, the heavens opened, and boy, did it pour!
If we were having chai I’d tell you that we are well on the way to getting those last bits and bobs ordered for the house. We were due to get carpets cleaned, on Saturday, and the guy turned up, but his machinery was too high voltage for our fusebox! Apparently an issue with newer fuse boxes… but, he is coming in a week with a slightly smaller machine, which will still do the job, fingers crossed! We have a coffee table ordered, too, and looked at wardrobes for the kids rooms, and the spare room, too. It’s getting there, Peeps!
If we were having chai I’d say that if you read my blog over the last few days, you’d konw that the whoe petrol fiasco is still going, but hopefully this week, will ease off. Also there is that small matter of my blog reaching 500K views! Taht is half a million of them! It has really fired me up, and I want to get back in the writing saddle, 100% as soon as I can! Thank you, everyone!
If we were having chai I’d leave you, again with an image of Sonu Singh, as he tried to convince me that it is time to stop reading, and start stroking him!
This week, it’s a busy, but hopefully productive one. Monday sees the fitted wardrobes being installed in our bedroom, and on Wednesday, new carpets in our room, and Lil Man’s one. And on Thursday, oh, I am so excited, because my favourte author, and all round wonderful soul, Amanda Prowse is coming to my school to read her newes release, which is a picture book, illustrated by her brother, Paul Ward Hall, to three year groups in my school! I can’t wait to share some photos!
And while you’re here, did you sign up for my mailing list? I am in the middle of writing an exclusive Chickpea Curry Lit story for my subscribers, and there will be news, tips and even recipes! You know you want to join… go on! Click the pic below to sign up!
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”
Mahatma Gandhi
I apowerful quote, there, Spidey. Thank you, so much for that.
So, for those of you, not in the UK, I’ll just reiterate the state of affairs here. We are in the midst of a fuel buying panic.
Fantastic.
That’s to add to last year’s Toilet Roll Shortage, the pasta wipe out, and precedes, what I just know will be coming soon… the Turkey disappearing act.
I know I ranted a little in my Chai post, on Monday, but the hope was, honestly, that by this weekend, things would be more or less normal. Panic would have died down. People would have begun to take notice of those in power, who were desperately trying to reassure the Brit public that there is NO shortage of fuel, simply a lack of drivers. The fuel is coming, a little slower than usual, but it’s there.
No need to top up constantly, when and where you can. Just take what you need, and go about your usual business, they say.
Is anyone listening?
I don’t think so.
I had, just by chance, filled my tank prior to this craziness, so knew that I would be okay for the next week, at least. So, even as I saw the needle slowly moving towards the emptier side, I ignored the queues of motorists at the stations that were lucky enough to have fuel. I didn’t need it, desperately. I could still get to work, and home. I could still ensure my own children were able to get to their school.
I thought, by mid week, things would be calming down, but no. Every garage either had blockades and signs saying no fuel, or queues stretching back a while, which also meant that traffic was heavier than ever. That also meant more idling around in a car with an engine running, in traffic, using more precious fuel.
So, on Friday, I had to join the queue to fill up my tank, too. Because I really needed it. Not because I thought I should, ‘just in case’.
You see, on top of the stupidity of the panic buyers, who really need to get a life, and stop following false news, then spreading it, causing panic, we have a very real issue, which is the effects of BREXIT.
See.
This was what so many of us were attempting to vote against, but those pro Brexit lot got a bit too big for their boots.
Now, we see our grocery bills begin to soar, as the prices of food we are used to seeing go up, since we aren’t part of Europe. Visas are needed for every trip we wish to take, even if it is just to hop over the channel to France. Honest workers who were keeping certain parts of our economy going, were forced to leave. Many of them the same drivers who were keeping the fuel coming…
Yeah. Thanks BREXIT-ers.
In a round about way, it’s all thanks to some of you and your skewed views that these people were taking our jobs, and houses, and even our benefits, that we are in this mess. Because, let’s be honest. It’s not like you’ve tried to take those jobs up, now they are available… even though unemployment is sky high.
(Though, I know there are some who voted to Brexit for their own reasons, there were, unfortunately, far too many who were misinformed, thinking it was all about immigration…)
Linda’s (or, actually, Dan’s) prompt for SoCS this week:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “inspire/aspire/expire.” Use them in any form you like. Use one, use two or use them all if you want. If you use two, you get bonus points! If you use all three, Cheryl will put your next drink on David’s tab. Enjoy!
I aspire to inspire as many of my pupils and readers as I can, before I expire!
There.
Got em all out in one sentence! Surely there should be another bonus point for that…? Or, maybe a visit to Dan, Cheryl and David!
Anywho, about that sentence. It’s filled with truth.
Ever since I can remember, that has been my hope and dream. To teach, to inspire children to love learning, and books. To know that words hold may meanings. And, the same hope is there with the words I write, on here, my blog, as well as in my poems and stories.
Yesterday, I received a notification that my blog had hit 500K views. That is Half A Million clicks to my little baby blog.
It did make me wonder, though. What makes people come to visit my blog… or what makes readers keep coming back?
I am so grateful to everyone who does come on over to my little space, and I do hope that a little smile is spread whenever you read.
I hope Spidey inspires someone, along the way. I hope my book reviews point you towards a next read. I hope my Chai and Chats are a little glimmer of the real life of a mum, wife, teacher and aspiring author… I hope your interest in my blog never expires.
Right, so it’s the month we head back to school. Highly unlikely that I’ll hit the giddy heights of twenty books, like last month, but, then again, I am hoping that when I have spare time that I might just write, too, this month!
A new Lindsey Kelk book? Er, yes please! I’ve been a fan since the early Shopaholic days, and Kelk truly doesn’t disappoint with her latest, On A Night Like This. Fran Cooper is kinda stuck in a rut. On the outside, things look fine with her life. She’s engaged, they have a house, family and friends around her. But, inside, she’s feeling a little unfulfilled. Having put all her career aspirations to one side, to concentrate on her life with her fiancee, she loses sight of her own dreams. Until an opportunity falls into her lap. Something she’d be a fool to turn down. And, despite what her c0mmon sense tells her, she takes it. Thrust into the whirlwind life of celebrity, Fran finds herself as the PA for an extremely famous person, for a short while, and the few days she is with this individual, changes her thinking. But it’s that one night that truly changes everything. I loved it. Like, literally every little bit of the book! I have to admit, there were times I wanted to shake Fran, as she refused to admit her relationship was floundering. But, oh, the chemistry Kelk builds, between Fran and Evan was amazing. It just goes to show that you don’t need all over the top explicit scenes to create steam… and I loved the end! Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.
Releasing 11th November, 2021
Review to follow on 20th Oct during Blog Tour, but here’s the blurb!
April 18, 1906 – A devastating earthquake rocks San Francisco and Templeton Morehouse fears her husband is lost forever. A powerful and compelling story from USA Today bestselling author Bette Lee Crosby
Chances were a million to one that a girl born and raised in Philadelphia would encounter a stranger from California on the trolley and fall madly in love, but that’s what happened. Templeton was not only taken with John Morehouse, but also with his tales of life in San Francisco. As an aspiring fashion designer, the dazzle of a city called the Paris of the West, with its towering department stores and European couture was too much to resist.
Despite her family’s objections, she and John are married and, on their way back to California, before the month is out. To ease the heartbreak of such a move, Templeton promises her family that they will return for a visit every summer. She fully intends to keep that promise, but as her fashions gain popularity, the business grows increasingly more demanding. The trips back to Philadelphia become less frequent and she makes foolish choices she will come to regret.
Now, when she is on the verge of having everything she’s ever wanted, a devastating earthquake has torn across San Francisco and she awakes to discover the father of her baby is missing.
With the city in flames, Templeton’s daddy leaves Philadelphia and sets out in search of his son-in-law. He’s too old for such a trip and ill-equipped for the challenges he will encounter, but he’s the only hope of saving his daughter’s happiness. Lines of communication are down and the city in shambles, so the only thing Templeton can do is pray she doesn’t lose both her daddy and her husband.
Releasing 11th November, 2021
Review to follow on 14th October for part of the Blog Tour
Here’s the blurb!
From bestselling author Hannah Beckerman comes a moving story about memory, secrets, and what it really means to feel that you’re one of the family.
When Nell’s father makes a deathbed declaration that hints at a long-held secret, it reignites feelings of isolation that have plagued her for years. Her suspicions about the family’s past only deepen when her mother, Annie, who is losing her memories to dementia, starts making cryptic comments of her own.
Thirty-five years earlier, Annie’s life was upended by a series of traumas—one shock after another that she buried deep in her heart. The decisions she made at the time were motivated by love, but she knew even then that nobody could ever understand—let alone forgive—what she did.
As the two women’s stories unravel, a generation apart, Nell finally discovers the devastating truth about her mother’s past, and her own.
In this beautifully observed and emotionally powerful story of identity, memory and the nature of family, Hannah Beckerman asks: To what lengths would you go to protect the ones you love?
I’ve read a couple of Karen Swan books, and have thoroughly enjoyed them, so when I saw this, I was compelled to read, purely on previous experience. Midnight In The Snow is filled with the adrenalin highs and lows that come with the sports it features, heavily, Surfing and snowboarding. I’m not a sports junkie, but the story that carries the book was compelling. Clover Phippils makes films. She’s just finished one where accolades have been showered upon her, covering the story of a talented surfer, Cory, whose career was ruined by the actions of a competitor in one of the championships. Having got herself extremely close to the family, she feels a need to try and find out why things happened as they did, ultimately leading to the loss of life. Managing to get an all-access pass to the life of surfing champion, Kit Foley, the surfer responsible, she heads off to Austria, where he has now come, having changed his life path from surfing to snowboarding, hoping to find out why he did what he did to Cory. It was a fantastic build-up of tension between Kit and Clover, seeing as he holds her responsible for ruining his professional life, whereas she lays the blame for the ultimate loss of Cory’s life at Kit’s feet. Things are never that simple, though, and the way we learn snippets of the truth, throughout the book, alongside the chemistry that steps up a notch, between the interviewer and the interviewee, was fantastic, Thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it! Many thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I have seen the hype about this book in Social Media for a while now and knowing the critical acclaim author Jessie Burton has already amassed with her previous books such as The Miniaturist, I was extremely excited to read Medusa. I’ve always had a thing about Medusa. I’ll let you in on a secret – at college, due to my long curly locks, there was a lad who used to call me Medusa the Seducer! (I am not, in any way, shape or form, a seducer, but still… it was his thing!) So, to find this book, written from the perspective of this character who has been much maligned within Greek mythology, was absolutely fantastic. We are put in the shoes of Medusa, a young woman who has been transformed into this creature, feared by many, but how, and why was she made to look this way? I finished this book with a newfound sympathy for her. And the illustrations were just the icing on the cake, for me. I think I will need a physical copy of this one! Many thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I loved Melanie Golding’s previous book, Little Darlings, so was equally excited to be given chance to read The Replacement, upon reading the blurb. Oh, what a twisted, tangled web she has woven within this story! A little child found alone. A man found, left for dead, in a bathtub, miles away. And two women, missing, who the police are desperate to speak to. Seemingly distinct separate situations, however, inexplicably linked, as the police find out more and more. And what a joy to find a familiar character, within these pages, DI Joanne Harper, who ends up with stakes, far more personal, than in her last appearance, in Little Darlings. Folklore and mythology, interspersed within a complicated criminal case… it sure kept my brain ticking over, the whole way through, and I more or less finished it within a day! I was hooked! Many thanks to NetGalley and HQ for an ARC, in exchange for an honest review.
Having read the first in the Ferry Lane Market series, I was pretty excited to be able to visit again, especially since the author, Nicola May has created a fantastic cast of memorable characters, and I wanted to find out more about what was going on, This book is centred around Steren, or Star to her friends and family, a single mother, with several layers to her own story, as well as her background. Being the product of a single-parent family, herself, and one which wasn’t the best, she has been determined to be the opposite to her own daughter, Skye, though, she, like her own mother, has been hesitant to let Skye know the identity of her father. Skye is now older, with a life of her own, and it’s time for Star to think about herself more. Two prospective partners on the horizon; one unavailable, one she’s not sure of, though he’s a loveable Irish hunk… Across the market, other stories unravel, bringing the community together in ways they never imagined. I loved how this story ended, and can’t wait for book three, now! Many thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.
What a wonderful gift author Jessica Ryn has, for creating those wonderful, hapless characters, who you can’t help but fall in love with. Dawn Brightside was a highlight of my year last year, and I was extremely excited to be able to read her newest offering, The Imperfect Art of Caring. Within these pages, we are, again, introduced to a main character who has a lot going on, in her mind. Violet Strong is a woman who has learned to keep everyone at a distance from her – for good reason, She is Bad News. Ever since she can remember, bad things happen, and they always come back to her. Estranging herself from her family and friends, she ends up near Manchester, with a cleaning job, and a wonderful blog where she reviews books. Things are fine until her sister drops a bombshell on her: She’s leaving the country, and Violet has to come back home, to help look after her mother, and facilitate a house sale, so her mother can be put into care. My heart went out to Violet, especially as I got to know her, and realised exactly how wrong her own opinion of herself was. She only wants to help, and sheer coincidence meant that so many awful things happened in her life, that really had nothing to do with her, yet, she had carried the burden of guilt on her own shoulders. The cast of characters introduced through the story are wonderful, including Tammy, one of the residents in the flats her mother’s house have been turned into, who has a learning disability, but no one to help her learn how to live independently, to Mrs R, the grumpy resident, who is, in fact, a rather lonely woman. To top it off, there is Adam, Violet’s childhood best friend, and first love, who makes up half of the occupants in the third flat, alongside his father, Bill. The book looks at the often lonely job of carers. What is expected of them, what they have to deal with on a regular basis, as well as the lives of those being cared for. I was truly touched when reading this beautiful book. Many thanks to NetGalley and HQ for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
A lovely debut novel, bringing together the heat of spice with the chill of the Arctic! Maya has accompanied her boyfriend, Ryan out to the Arctic, to help him follow his dream. Though it’s not hers, by any stretch of the imagination. Shrouded in anxiety at every step, the story uncovers different layers of Maya’s own story and the reasons for her deep-rooted anxieties, as the inky black nights of the Arctic begin to shed their darkness, revealing new layers of colour along the way. Maya’s Anglo Indian background gives her a reason to stay in a place she would never have chosen to be, once her relationship crumbles, as she picks up the reins of her own love, cooking, and slowly begins to experiment with the flavours connected to her childhood. Her mother’s handwritten recipes, in an old book, help Maya to create something the Arctic wasn’t expecting, and the memories that surface, with every new mouthful of food she creates, helps Maya to discover more and more about a past she had learned to block out. I truly enjoyed this story, with a little hint of romance, but, ultimately, a book filled with self-discovery. It was a tad slow at the start, but as revelations kept popping up, the faster my pages turned. Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Releasing 9th December, 2021
So, 9 books – not bad for the first term of the year, and with illness thrown into the mix! And an eclectic selection, at that!
But I Smile Anyway... 