“Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.”
Victor Hugo
Thanks, Spidey, for another appropriate quote!
Last week we were all on tenterhooks, at school. One of the other schools in our academy received ‘The Call’ from Ofsted. Usually, this means that if you are due, too, there is a good chance they could call you, especially if they are in the area, and this other school is literally 10 minutes away from us.
And we are overdue, now…
Monday to Wednesday are the big days… if you haven’t heard by Wednesday, consider yourself safe, for that week, at least!
But, there is still a week of school to go, until the break And next week is a Christmas filled week. There is no way that we are on the curriculum timetable, in the same way as usual.
The kids, for one, are high as kites, thinking of advent calendars, filled with chocolate, and high on the idea of a certain big fella in red coming to visit them, with sacks brimming with presents!
And we are in the midst of trying to practice nativity plays and making cards, etc., as well as trying to instill the true meaning of Christmas to them!
However, on Thursday, the heads of schools were sent a little missive from the DofE…
In light of the current situation, and with schools expected to put mitigations into place for the chance of a Covid wave, due to the Omicron variant, and what with Christmas leading everyone a merry tune, Ofsted inspection will be put on hold until the new year.
PHEW!
Now, that doesn’t mean we are safe. There is still going to be an inspection, however, at least we can enjoy our festive period without that hanging over our last few days at school, this term!
To say I am relieved is an understatement!
So, is there anything, like the threat of Ofsted, for me, that scares the living daylights out of you?
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “tree.” Use the word “tree” or write about a tree. Any kind of tree. Enjoy!
So, today I decided to do a bit of singing, and it happens to be about a certain festive tree…
Listen at your own peril! (Actually, it didn’t sound too bad, apart from a slightly flat note right at the end, when I was trying to stop my son from coming into my room, and ruining all my recording efforts!)
Hello, all! It’s me, and yet again, I am writing this with an air of some ailment or another lingering… (nausea and sore throat!) However, I cannot be unwell, now, we have two weeks of term left, and a nativity to get sorted!
Are you ready with your drink?
If we were having chai I’d tell you we still have the same issues at school, re: those SEN students. Until the system changes, nothing will change, but there have been at least 3 disruptions to learning due to them being unable to cope. I am just so proud of my team. With staffing shortages, and so much going on, they are just the best.
If we were having chai I’d tell you that we have started to practice the nativity we are perfomring (hopefully) for parents in the last week of term. We are doing one called ‘We’re going on a Baby Hunt’, written by a teacher who I came into contact with via Facebook! It’s short, and there are songs to the tunes of familiar nursery rhymes, so the children have found it easier to actually pick up the tunes and some songs are much easier to remember, than others, but they are doing fantastically! I do hope this new varient doesn’t end up messing things up. Fingers crossed we can have a covid secure performance with limited numbers!
If we were having chai I’d say that I tried to order presents for the class, being extra organised, and my colleague volunteered her mother to wrapp up the 60 gifts… only for the company to completely mess up the delivery, which shouldhave been next day! After over 45 minutes on the phone on Saturday, and a request that I wait 48 hours more (Really!), they suddenly turned up on Sunday. Well, at least they are here!
If we were having chai I’d mention that Friday couldn’t come soon enough! I was shattered, and knew it, seeing as I have been falling asleep every evening, way before my intended bedtime, then not sleeping all the way through the night! I ended up watching The Holiday with a huge bowl of Popcorn, and fell asleep at the end of that, too!
If we were having chai I’d breathe a huge sigh of relief and tell you that for me, cricket is done for the year, finally! Lil Man had his last evening nets on Thursday, so at least we can get home at a decent time, now!
If we were having chai I’d let you know that Lil Man had his second Covid jab, and it’s just Lil Princess who we are waiting for that second one for, now.
If we were having chai I’d tell you that Lil Princess and I went for a haircut, too. I am sticking with my no colour decision, and had it straightened for the day, (literally just the day – I woke up on Sunday with a halo of partial curls around my head!). She went for ‘curtain bangs’ and the rest long, and looks lovely!
If we were having chai I’d say that our handyman had his last visit out to us for the year. We now have an outside tap at the back of the property instead of at the front. (In the summer, when the kids wanted the pool filling, no word of a lie, we had to thread the hosepipe through bedroom windows, and Hubby Dearest’s office window, to fill it, as the hose wasn’t long enough to go around the house! That won;t be a problem nexgt summer, thankfully!) We also have some pretty smartbulbs in our hallway light fitting, and they are all multicoloured ones that I can change via an app on my phone! Very fancy! Also, old nail/screw holes have been filled/sanded and painted, so things are looking pretty rosy, right now! There are a few more bits and bobs to do, but we will leave them until the new year now. I think everyone would love a weekend with nothing like that pending! (I know I would! I never sleep well, the night before, and considering I’m not sleeping well every other night, either, that’s not a good thing!)
This week there was meant to be a visit from the heads of the other school in our academy, which was a little stress-inducing, however, that has been cancelled… phew! But we still have a nativity to get sorted, and still got some staff shortages too. In my personal life, I need to get more organised for Christmas! I got my Secret Santa gifts for school etc, and the odd present for the kids, but nothing else! Oh, and still waiting on a little nugget of news that I might be able to share!
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!
It’s not often that you get the chance to showcase the work of a writing LEGEND, and I am in that position, right now!
Writing powerhouse Marian Keyes had a book out, twenty five years ago, called Rachel’s Holiday. Now, it might sound like a bit of a fluffy read, a beach romance sort of thing, but no, Rachel’s Holiday is a much meatier read than that, and along with a bit of the comedic genius that Keyes always adds into her books, she delves into more serious issues.
Rachel and her experiences never left many readers, or Marian, herself, so, next year, a sequel is coming out, Rachel, Again.
However, before that, Rachel’s Holiday is being rereleased – a 25th Anniversary special – and I am honoured to be a part of the blog tour to celebrate this!
The Blurb…
Meet Rachel Walsh. She has a pair of size 8 feet and such a fondness for recreational drugs that her family has forked out the cash for a spell in Cloisters – Dublin’s answer to the Betty Ford Clinic. She’s only agreed to her incarceration because she’s heard that rehab is wall-to-wall jacuzzis, gymnasiums and rock stars going tepid turkey – and it’s about time she had a holiday.
But what Rachel doesn’t count on are the toe-curling embarrassments heaped on her by family and group therapy, the dearth of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll – and missing Luke, her ex. What kind of a new start in life is this?
Now, not having access to Goodreads, 25 years ago, what better time to post my review of a fantastic book, by a fabulous author, on the re-release of it? I treated myself to a re-read, as well, all almost 600 pages of it, in one weekend, too! This is quite a read, filled with comedic moments, however, the real subject is no laughing matter. We have Rachel Walsh, our hapless heroine, who finds herself back in Ireland, incarcerated in Cloisters, a clinic for addicts, after an accidental overdose in New York. Now, there’s nothing wrong with Rachel. Oh, no. It was all a misunderstanding. She can’t wait to get out. But, the eight weeks she stays there, end up being the most poignant years of her life. Rachel is the middle sister of five, in a loving Irish family. Well, as loving as you can get, with all that oestrogen running rife around the house. Many choices she makes in life are a direct result of how she felt, growing up. And some of those decisions led her to drugs. Addiction does a lot to you. You may feel you are gaining a lot, every time you feel that high from your chosen poison, but in reality, you are losing everything around you. And every one that really mattered. Rachel’s Holiday explores this whole scenario, including the stages of acceptance, that you might, indeed, be an addict. I loved this, and cannot wait for the sequel which is due out next year!
Can I say, I am a little excited at having read a teeny snippet of Rachel, Again, and I now can’t wait for that to be released, either!
A little bit about Marian Keyes
Marian Keyes is one of the most successful Irish novelists of all time. Though she was brought up in a home where a lot of oral story-telling went on, it never occurred to her that she could write. Instead she studied law and accountancy and finally started writing short stories in 1993 “out of the blue.” Though she had no intention of ever writing a novel (“It would take too long”) she sent her short stories to a publisher, with a letter saying she’d started work on a novel. The publishers replied, asking to see the novel, and once her panic had subsided, she began to write what subsequently became her first book Watermelon, published in 1995.
The books deal variously with modern ailments, including addiction, depression, domestic violence, the glass ceiling and serious illness, but always written with compassion, humour and hope.
In 2009, Marian experienced the start of a major depressive episode, and had to stop any work. Eventually she found that baking cakes helped her survive; and in 2012, she published Saved by Cake, which combines recipes with autobiography.
As well as novels she has written short stories, and articles for various magazines and other publications. She has published three collections of her journalism, titled Under the Duvet and Further Under the Duvet, now collected in one volume under the title Under the Duvet: Deluxe Edition, and donated all royalties from Irish sales to the Simon Community, a charity which works with the homeless. In 2016 Marian published a new collection of essays, Making It Up As I Go Along.
She was born in Limerick in 1963, and brought up in Cavan, Cork, Galway and Dublin; she spent her twenties in London, but is now living in Dún Laoghaire with her husband Tony. She includes among her hobbies reading, movies, shoes, handbags and feminism.
“In a world full of Grinches, be a Cindy Lou Who.”
ANONs
Thanks, Spidey, for that festive one!
It’s the first Sunday of December, which means that the craziness of Christmas is finally upon us.
I usually put the tree up on the 1st of December, but this year we succumbed a few days early, as I felt like we all needed the little boost that the tree always gives.
But, in school, the tree went up in the classroom, interestingly, and lopsidedly, decorated by my class. Elfis the elf is firmly ensconced in there, too, watching the girls and boys so he can send his reports to Santa. We’ve started practising the songs for our little nativity, too.
Yes, Christmas is definitely on its way!
But, I appear to be living with a modern version of the Grinch!
Lil Man has embraced his mid-teen years by becoming a 16-year-old misery guts when it comes to the festive season! When the tree went up, he refused to enter the living room for a day! Lil Princess and I love a good Christmas song, and have the radio on, in the car, excitedly singing along (well, I do, anyway!) to the festive tunes playing. Lil Grinch? He sits and either asks us to change the station or stuffs his own earphones into his ears!
How did I give birth to something so against Christmas???
I’m still working on him. I wonder if he’ll be happy to wear a Christmas jumper this year?
So, do you know any Grinches? How do you handle them?
