Day 345 - Super Sub

Saturday March 27th

Busy day today as Mrs N goes off and runs a very muddy and hilly 10k while Ted and I go up to Basingstoke and his team wins the U13 Hampshire Cup Final. The only down side to the whole thing is that he only gets on for 5 minutes at the end. A medal is a medal.

Mum and Dad are home from South Africa so we go out for a splendid meal at Brasserie Blanc to celebrate my birthday. There is much to catch up on.

Day 310 - Mud Rider

Saturday February 20th

Ted and I went on an AWEsome bike ride up to Farley Mount in the mud. It was uphill all the way which he struggled with a bit...he kept stopping in the mud and falling off. We got up there and then it was downhill all the way back. We made plans to go biking more often. I took my distinctive Bulleit Bourbon...finally it gets out in the hills it was designed by. Thank you Moose.

Spent the afternoon perched up a long ladder attempting to cut down the wisteria that has wound its way around our four storey drainpipe and threatens to rip it off. I got most of it down but there is a 5 foot section that is beyond me.

Day 303 - You Can Take The Boy Out Of Essex

Saturday February 13th

What do do this weekend? Kicked it off with a weezy run and tentative linesman's duties at Ted's football match. The first half was uneventful but it kicked off with a couple of parents in the 2nd half. I was in the clubhouse drinking tea at the time.

Headed off to see the Boardmans in their cottage in West Sussex. Not too bad a drive  and very good to see them all, as well as Carolyn and Mike. Hadn't seen Carolyn for 8 years. Everyone is so grown up and it's a marvel to watch Mark in his waxed jacket, battered Land Rover in a quaint Sussex village. He's from Wickford in Essex. Whenever I see anyone from Uni, we all revert to being 19 again. Except I had to drive.

Day 276 - Snowbirds

Sunday January 17th

Mum & Dad are off to South Africa for 2 months of sun, surf and golf so we headed down to Brockenhurst to see them before they left and for a belated birthday meal for Ted. A massive portion of chicken pot pie later we returned. They are renting an apartment and then going on safari in Namibia. I tried to persuade Dad to subscribe to Twitter so he could give us daily updates on what they were up to. Not going to happen but we may get some FB postings from them with photos as they have Mum's iPod Touch with them.

We have been looking at summer holidays and have narrowed it down to Spain, Italy or maybe even Greece. It is looking unlikely that we will return to the States although Ellen may go if she can get through a week without being vile to us. I am not holding my breath.

Day 241 - Ted In Mid Season Transfer Shocker

Sunday December 13th

A day of rest....went for a really good run this afternoon, just before Ted's final game for Wyvern. Managed a solid 7 miles in the bitter cold. I got a bit lost on the back roads but eventually made it back.

Unfortunately the game was more of the same and I ended up sitting in the car towards the end. Some comedy defending and too few boys willing to stand up and be counted when it mattered. They lost 1-7, not a great way to go out although Ted got the man of the match. In the land of blind men......the transfer is going ahead, with large amounts of cash changing hands and a bung for his agent. In January he'll be a Compton player.

Day 223 - Gifted & Talented

Wednesday November 25th

Helped BYS escort a small group of gifted Maths Year 10 pupils to Portsmouth this afternoon. We went to the Dockyards for a very short afternoon workshop. The kids were all from Ellen's class so I was very interested in what constitutes gifted and talented. As befits the state sector, there are specific definitions. "Able" means that the child has scored 120 or more on 1 or more of the three CAT tests every child takes. Ellen and Ted both scored 120+ in all three putting them in the top 2% of the population. "Gifted" means a child has a specific ability in an academic subject. "Talented" means a child has a specific ability in a sport or art. There is meant to be a register in every school.

Back to Portsmouth. it was short, interesting and not a whole lot to do with Maths. The kids seemed to enjoy it, partly because they were out of school and partly because they got to see a 60 pound cannonball smash a thick piece of wood in half

Day 206 - Poppy Fields and Graves

Sunday November 8th

Attempted to run a swift 10k this morning and it went OK, 41 minutes or so. Full pancake breakfast and then off to the Farmers Market. I found out it was Remembrance Sunday this week rather than next week so a little miffed as I wanted to go to a service. We did the 2 minutes silence next to the hogs' ears bucket. A nice touch.

Took Ann off to Ted's game and almost witnessed their first points. 3 minutes to play, 0-0 and they let in a soft own goal. Poor team has had no luck this season but they played with a lot of spirit and Ted was a lock for the Man of the Match but somehow lost out to.....the coach's son.

Back home for roast pork and all the trimmings, a bottle of wine and general goodwill to all man. Another trip to Uni tomorrow so did not have to plan a lesson. Bliss

Day 204 - Mollusc Pace

Friday November 6th

Thank God Mrs N comes home from Paris tonight.

Today was a good day - my GCSE revision class went well and they all sat relatively quietly and worked on past papers. I attempted a group activity with 922 in recognition of their inability to focus on a Friday afternoon. This went quite well except for a couple of the groups, one of which was slow to the point of mollusc paced and another where two of them would have cheerfully strangled each other if allowed to do so. Finally, 813 was fun to finish with although that classroom is very small and claustrophobic.

I watched Ted's team lose on penalties in the national cup in the pouring rain. He soon cheered up and went out to a party. I stayed in and waited for Mrs N to come home late on the train from London. Knackered

Day 199 - Lordshill 10m

Sunday November 1st

Ran the Lordshill 10m in howling gales and torrential rain. Appalling weather but my first outing in the WADAC vest so I worked hard and managed 68:18. Really pleased with the time and how good my legs felt. If I run that well in Gosport the 90 minute half marathon is within my grasp.

However, I did feel tired for the rest of the day! Ted played in goal for the first time and Wyvern scored their first goal of the season and almost got a result. They eventually lost 2-1 to the league leaders and restored a little pride

Day 197 - St Edmunds Pot Luck

Friday October 30th

Guy came over for a run. We did about 10 miles and had a great chat. He used to work at Diageo and jacked it all in and is doing GTP in Slough. He's also a very accomplished runner and triathlete. We shared experiences and they are quite similar. He doesn't care for the lack of management competence he fins in his school and enjoys the "thinking on your feet" challenge of the classroom. I worry less about that aspect but do worry about my subject knowledge. It's there but a little rusty.

Spent all afternoon trying to bring some order to my portfolio and had some success and then we had the long anticipated St Edmunds pot luck. Unfortunately, Simon at Number 1 suffered a heart attack this week so we were down to 3 but we had a good time and will do it again when he is back at full strength - appetizers at Number 3, main at Number 4 and dessert at ours where once again, Ted's magnificent key lime pie stole the show.

Day 196 - The V&A

Thursday October 29th

Trip up to London en famille and what fun we had. Walked across the bridge from Waterloo and had lunch with Benj in Covent Garden so he could see his Goddaughter. Then we got the tube to South Ken and had a speed tour of the V&A. A strange museum but Ted and Alice really enjoyed the architecture and glass exhibit.

Got the bus along the Brompton Rd, past Harrods and Marble Arch as far as Oxford St. Visited the food hall in Selfridges which was very tempting and instead spent a fortune on furniture in John Lewis

Train back and I can honestly say that the Nichols family got on with each other the whole day.

Day 192 - Farmers Market

Sunday October 25th

A glorious, glorious autumn day and we walked into Winchester to visit the farmers' market. Wow! the scale and variety was astonishing, especially compared to Hastings. Meat, dairy, veg, fish, baking, beer, wine, craft, garden.....there was loads to enjoy. We bought a piece of pork with crackling for later.

I then watched Ted play against Littleton and he had a very good game. They lost 0-3 and are still searching for that elusive goal but were desperately unlucky. Two of the team have now stormed off so this would not be a great time for Ted to leave. The Compton manager was there to watch him and definitely wants him to join.

I think we may have turned the corner with Ellen. She had 9 friends over today, 3 girls and 6 boys, all very presentable. She has the whole week planned out and not much mention of Hastings at all. Fingers crossed

Long run (10 miles) with Neil, roast pork and then relaxed in the glow of no school tomorrow.

Day 186 - Transfer Speculation

Monday October 19th

Mixed bag this morning. Announced to 10.2.2 that they were having a test tomorrow and they were not happy. One happy lad grumbled that it was against his statutory rights to only have 24 hours notice to revise. Followed up with a poor lesson with 9.2.2. Can't seem to pitch this one right as we started on algebra. I gave them an easy set up with BODMAS, which went really well, lulling me into a false sense of security, and then they came crashing down with algebra. Who would have thought the simple substitution of letters for numbers would stump them so much?It's really hard for me to crack this as I find it so obvious.

Took Ted up to Compton to train with a different team on a bitterly cold night. He enjoyed it and I discussed terms with the manager. Ha Ha.

Day 184 - Voluntary Work

Saturday October 17th

Sat and marked books during Ted's practice while the Mums discussed childbirth, bullying and bad teachers. I kept my head well down.

Headed into town with Ellen as she signed up for voluntary work at the Cancer Research shop. She's doing her Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award and seems genuinely interested in it. I hope it lasts beyond the 10 mile walk they have tomorrow. I sense that she is reaching the point where new friends and interests replace the old. We are waiting for the day

Philippa's cousin Graham came for tea with his wife, Jayne. He's an interesting character and you can certainly see certain family traits between him and his cousins.

Day 180 - Treasure Hunt

Tuesday October 13th

Busy day today but prospect of a day at University to look forward to tomorrow so can enjoy it.

Had a good session with BYS and discussed my GTP assignment. This requires a 3,000 word paper on exploring an issue or opportunity in education. She rejected my first few ideas as being too philosophical and impossible to test or apply simply in the classroom. I think I have a good title with some excellent buzz words incorporated.

Had 10.2.2 in the computer room today and set them a task to plot Olympic medals on an Excel scatter graph. It ended up working very well and while very warm in the room, we almost finished on time. I followed that with a 7.2.1 Treasure Hunt around the corridors of Kings. I briefed them and sent them on their way only to find out that the Head and her team were walking the corridors. Fortunately they were all well behaved.

Ted had a Cup game for the school and won. What a contrast with his club team. He is now a regular starter so very proud of him for that. I went off for some hill work and mile repeats with WADAC. Hills felt good, miles less so

Day 178 - Butcher's Dog

Sunday October 11th

So, my new running buddy, Neil is running the Solent half marathon and I'm a little jealous as he is going for sub 90 minutes and if he does it and I haven't I will be very miffed. I decide to run a half as a training run and do it semi seriously. I do a warm up first mile and then run it relatively hard. I end up with 1:33, A PB by almost 3 minutes from Tucson last year....on a training run. I am VERY HAPPY with this and conclude I must be in very good shape. Neil narrowly missed sub 90 so we are all set for Gosport.

Legs felt tired but full of beans because of the run AND that Monday was a test for 9.2.2 so no lesson plan required. Took Ted to his Cup game and it looked ominous when the opposition's captain stepped up, all 6 foot and facial hair of him. They kept it to 1-0 in the first half and then wilted in the 2nd half, losing 6-0. A respectable performance and let's hope they carry that into next week.

Day 177 - Transfer Speculation

Saturday October 10th

Cycled over to Bar End for a morning of Alice football. She played U10 and U11, scoring a goal and playing her heart out. Meanwhile back in the States her old team mates were winning a penalty shootout to get to a final in a Columbus Day tournament. The standard is significantly better in depth here. Ted came back from practice and we watched some of his friends playing for Winchester FC....he wants to switch from Wyvern as they've lost all their games and not scored a goal yet. We shall see.

Alice got her new training top with initials but no logo. She's waited so long for it and now this. Turns out she will keep this one AND get a new one

Day 174 - Winging It

Wednesday October 7th

Didn't go to track last night so punished myself with 5 quick miles today. Really enjoyed school today for some reason...just felt calm, relaxed and in control. Fun lesson with 7.2.1 and then a really good lesson with 8.2.4. They were pretty engaged in the lesson and learnt a bit I think.

Very strange the last few days as I've felt very calm and serene, very different to the same time last week. I think it's partly down to decent organisation and getting lessons planned when I have the time. It's also down to a little more confidence - you can plan so much and then you need to deal with what they throw at you. As I say to everyone, I used to do "winging it" as a full time career so should be pretty good at it.

Worked late and then met up with Ted on his way back from a school match. It was tipping down and he was shivering and soaking wet. Poor boy had a hot bath and then headed back out to another practice

Day 164 - 14-0

Sunday September 27th

My Dad turns 75 today. No way he looks or acts 75. Couldn't get hold of him as they are off in Spain playing golf. Hope I get to enjoy my retirement like he has.

Long run today and managed 6 miles at goal pace (allowing for low bridges and tree roots). That got me in a good state of mind for the day and finished off a couple of lesson plans before watching Ted get annihilated 14-0. Poor Ted, he worked hard but the other team just ran rings round them all. The defence was nowhere to be seen and at this rate, they're not going to score a goal let alone win a game. Need to start looking for a team close to home.

Day 156 - That Big Girl

Saturday September 19th

We'd never heard our tiny little daughter described as big but given the ferocity of her tackling in both U10 and U11 teams this morning, it made me stop and realise that our baby is almost 10. The year breaks are different in the UK and she has gone from being one of the youngest in her year (December cut off) to the oldest (September cut off). We never noticed this when she played in Hastings as she always played up a year. Ellen and Ted are the same, especially Ted who has adopted a little bit of a swagger since coming home, partly because he senses he's a little bit older and more worldly wise than his class mates.

N&G paid us a surprise visit on their way back from Wales. Dad has been researching his family tree and went back to visit Mumbles, where his parents came from originally. Some fascinating stories emerging about the black leather Baptist bible, bakers, shotgun weddings and pirates....who would have known? I am particularly excited about being related to Captain Henry Morgan