The end of an era

Today is the end of an era with Lawrence Dallaglio playing his last game of rugby today. Lawrence broke into the England team ion 1995 just after I started watching and was in the forefront of the game going from amateur to professional. This change has seen an vast improvement in the skills and fitness of the players and helped the game become more watchable and increase its popularity. He was the only player to play every minute of the 2003 World Cup win by England and was one of the best back row trios England have ever had with Neil Back and Richard Hill. In his career he has won all he is capable (85 caps for England, 3 Lions Tours, World, Cup, European Cup, 6 Nations Grand Slam, English League and English Cup whilst staying loyal to one club (London Wasps). Today he goes for one last league title against Leicester Tigers and I hope he gets it. I include a video of him scoring one of my favourite tries with the Welsh powerless to resist.

On Tues day I took my glasses to the optician as a weld had gone apart. They ordered a new pairs of frames and told me to come back on Thursday. At the same time I booked a check with the contact lens specialist for Thursday. The assistant commented that I could do both at the same time. I returned on Thursday, picked up my glasses but found that the appointment is next Thursday. Yesterday evening I took out my lenses and found that they had put the wrong lens in the wrong side so I couldn't see anything. Today I returned to the optician for the third time this week and asked them to swap the lenses over. Unfortunately they had a real struggle to get the lenses in and had damaged the screw so it took about 45 minutes. Odd how a straight forward job has escalated into four separate visits.

Not a great day

Today I have combined three of the activities that I hate the most to get them all out of the way in one go.

1. Car servicing and the quote that will tell me how much it cost to get the car through the MOT for another year or whether it is time to part exchange. It could almost nothing it could be expensive. The uncertainty hovers over me all day.
2. Sorting out a new mortgage as the old ones comes to the end of the 3 year introductory offer. I can't thing of many things worse that going through your finances in detail with a stranger
3 Watch shopping. I need a watch with a big face, good looking, analogue, relatively cheap as it is for day to day wear, that shows the data and has a long strap as I have inherited the trait of not having a wrist. They are almost impossible to find and takes forever in jewellers or department stores that are crowded with people. Grrrrr

Half Term and a Bank Holiday

Well it is a bank holiday and I wrote down a list of all the things that I wanted to achieve but stopped when I got to 35 from eye tests to sorting out the mortgage, replanting the hanging baskets to recycling all the old paint tins that have built up. Its going to be busy and I might need a holiday to recover when this holiday is finished

UEA

Tomorrow I have to go to UEA for a meeting and the way that they treat visitors in terms of parking is shocking. It takes forever as there are no spaces, the porters in charge of the site are monsyllabic at best and done right unhelpful. Grrrrr

Old Buckenham

I did one of my teaching placements at Old Buckenham High School. They had Ofsted in this week and some of the students decided to bring in a piglet and release it for a prank. As pranks go it is fairly harmless but it makes me laugh as it is the type of place that students could get a piglet. My only surprise is that it was not a chicken as most of the students who don't do A levels end up at Banham Poultry.

It is time for a celebratory jaffa cake and a cup of warm lemonade.

The last week or so have been very busy but now it is done. Yr 11 left on Friday and while I was disappointed to see David, Oliver, Becky, Sarah and Tomasz leave my form I can honestly say that the Yr11 in my Leisure and Tourism weren't that nice and I am not that bothered to see them go. To aid my memory I will put their names so that in future I will cherish the good classes. So it is goodbye to Heather, Kyrie, Ellen, Melissa, Danielle, Conor. Ryan, Harry, Becky, Sarah, Jade, Kayleigh, Hannah, James, Jacob, Aaron, Liam and of course Leon. So after a small celebration it is time to move on. I think and hope I will be more sad about the Yr13's leaving next Friday as I taught some of them for four years and as a group they have a much better personality.

River Glaven

THe Glaven valley near Holt is one of my favourite spots and I have been there many times doing feidlwork. On Monday I took a group of Yr9's there and let a field tutor take them to do a river study. Here are some photos of some areas along its stretch







It is really nice when it is sunny and warm.

If

If I can get to next Friday life will get easier as the Yr11, 12 and 13 go on study leave but before then.

1. All the coursework needs marking
2. I have about 100 5 minute interviews to complete
3. I need to write a report on why I should be paid more next year
4, I need to write a report on the student teacher
5. I have to plan and teach all of my lessons
6. I need to go to Cambridge for a day to meet mum
7. 10 things that have not happened yet.

It has to be done

Happy Star Wars Day

May the Fourth be with you

Vote Buffoon

It has often been said that countries end up with a style of politics that they deserve. Looking at what drives a person to vote for you shapes the way the message is presented. When I was in the US i noted that it feels like you are being shouted at all the time (especially in the big cities) so a large amount of money is needed to advertise loudly and attract attention to your campaign. The main criticisms of Blair was that he was style without substance. That he used a cottery of advisers rather than an elected cabinet of ministers or members of parliament. That the speeches and comments had to come through his office rather than letting ministers operate under any freedom. People were constantly critical of the "presidential" style of government and the wish for change. Gordon Brown was seen as the opposite - the message is not always clear or focused with too many trying to be in control. There is no one single vision resulted in u-turns and changes in mind and stance. In many ways having more input into decisions should make for better decision making but it creates a lack of leadership. The idea of removing the 10p rate of tax and altering other tax changes to benefit more people was a good idea but no-one thought about how it looked or was presented.

The latest twist is the election of Boris Johnson to be Major of London. Not polished but not very good and likely to offend anyone at a moments notice. It should be noted that Johnson was the racist British National Parties preferred second candidate. It will be interesting to see if Johnston's incompetence has a negative effect on David Cameron trying to become Prime Minister.

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