Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “tip.” Use it as a noun or a verb. Have fun!
Top Tip for exhaustion: SLEEP!
Seriously, when your body is telling you to rest, take it at its word, and sleep.
I finally am on my Easter break for 2 weeks, and, boy, do I need it!
What with Covid, and the breathlessness (getting a little better) and fatigue (still very much there), coupled with the stresses of the last few weeks in school, I am done in.
And I am off to take my tip, and go back to bed!
(See, I practice what I preach… sometimes, at least!)
Troublesome body
Feeling done in, rest required
Please do not disturb!
Ritu 2022
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “rope.” Use it as a noun or a verb. Have fun!
Firstly, sorry for the lateness! Covid exhaustion means that O fall asleep at the drop of a hat, in the evenings, and I usually schedule this one on, on a Friday night, after work! But I slept. Then yesterday, after doing all the things that needed doing, I fell asleep again, as soon as sI thought I would have a moment to write my post!
To be honest, I was wondering what to write about, but the perfect opportunity arose, yesterday, as Hubby Dearest bought a whole heap of things for the garde, since the weather has turned its temperature dial up. We had lots of new colourful flowers, and a fire pit for the patio (advice on it hot smoking so much, and stinking out the place!)
A barbecue was meant to arrive, but it didn’t, as well as a new egg chair for me to sit and read on.
But he did order a hanging hammock chair, which should be suspended from a tree branch or a stand, if you haven’t got a tree.
We do, finally, in our new garden, have an apple tree, so in theory, perfect.
However, I think he overlooked the fact that you need a sturdy branch on which to hang it.
We do have a sturdy brance, but it it is a good 12 feet up in the air, and the rope that arrived with the chair is si short, that we would need a ladder to reach the chair, if we wished to sit on it!
So, now, we need to go and buy some strong rope. A long length of rope, so we can safely tie this hanging chair up, and enjoy the shady peace of our garden!
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “trip.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
The first thing that came to mind when I read this prompt was a trip I took with school.
I was lucky enough to go and visit a country I’d have no reason to, in my normal life.
Russia.
Back then, they were coming out of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
We were instructed to take certain things, like ladies’ tights and biro pens, with us to gift the chambermaids, and sweets for the children we might encounter.
I remember the cold as we arrived.
We were in St Petersburg, first.
And we were surrounded by people who were trying to bring themselves out of poverty and restrictions they’d lived with for years.
Moscow was the same.
But different.
Here, Mcdonald’s had just opened a few days before, for the first time, in Russia. Our coach drove past a queue that looked like it stretched nearly a mile, wrapped around a block. A queue filled with people wanting to taste a little bit of what felt like freedom to them.
Wherever we went, people were trying their hardest to make a living. And so many of them supplemented their honest jobs with sidelines of selling various souvenirs to tourists.
I remember a chambermaid coming up to us and asking us if we needed help, as we struggled to get a particularly stupid younger member of our troupe back to her room, after drinking something she purchased illegally. When we shook our heads, she pulled wooden spoons decorated like Babooshka dolls out from under her apron, and said “You vant to buy?”
Then there was the time the waiter in the hotel restaurant served us our drinks, looked around for any of his superiors, and then whisked away his tray to reveal some vinyl records. “You vant to buy?” Er, no thanks. They were Des O’Connor records, I kid you not!
We had been accosted outside by people selling bootleg vodka and even champagne, which we had avoided. However, when we arrived in Moscow and entered the lift to take us to our room, a man with a trench coat and the traditional Russian fur hat, carrying a metal briefcase, entered with us.
The doors closed and the four of us stepped uncomfortably to the rear of the lift, feeling a little intimidated by him. As the lift climbed upwards, he turned around, grinned at us and swung open his briefcase, which was filled with bottles of vodka and champagne, nestled in foam beds. “You vant to buy?” he asked.
Thankfully the lift reached our floor and we hastily escaped with a flurry of no thank yous!
We saw so much on this visit, including the Basilica, Lenin’s tomb. The beautiful buildings and the history of this place…
But what will stay with me are the haunted faces of so many people.
And my fear, now is, that, what with everything happening in Ukraine, and the way Russia is being sanctioned, those innocents in Russia, as well as all those affected in Ukraine, will be carrying those haunted faces for a long time to come.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “way to go.” Use it as a phrase or use it in its literal sense. Enjoy!
I’ve been harping on about being exhausted for the last couple of weeks, despite having had a week of half-term break.
It’s true. I am still shattered.
And I have no idea why.
Well, maybe I have an inkling.
I wrote a lot in the week I was off, more than I have for a long while. That was actually refreshing.
Then we started back. Now, the length of the rest of the terms at school are pretty standard, now, until the end of the year. Six weeks long, each, with two two-week breaks in between them.
But this one seems to be packed. And I mean literally. Every week is filled with meetings and visits. Deadlines and forms to fill in. On top of what am really there for, which is to teach my wonderfully special class.
A couple of days ago, I was especially nervous, since we had a school advisor visiting, and she was going to be chatting to me (grilling me!) about my department because, as the EYFS Phase Leader, the Nursery and Reception classes are my remit.
I needed to sell myself and my department, imagining it was an Ofsted Grilling.
It started late (not my fault, she also likes to talk!) and my 45-minute meeting ended up at nearly an hour-long (because I like to talk, too!)
But, the end result was she was really happy with whatever I had waffled on about, and she even took away details of my book!
The feedback to my Head was extremely positive, and I felt that all the work I and the team have put in, has been recognised.
Coupled with a great bit of feedback from my Deputy Head and Mentor, after his observation of one of my letters, and how he feels I have grown as a ‘leader’, it’s been a good, albeit tiring, week!
But I Smile Anyway... 