Day 290 - Glops of Mud

Sunday January 31st

A crisp January Sunday and not a care in the world except football, eating, lesson planning and resting. I did go for a big muddy run and arrived home with great bit glops of mud hanging off my legs. Cross country running at its best.

Trisha came to visit and we had a leisurely stroll into town. She grew up in Arlesford just up the road so knows Winchester well. We made use of the grown up living room and sat chatting, drinking tea and reading the Sunday papers. I marked some books.

Day 185 - 16 Miles

Sunday October 18th

I ran 16 miles with Neil today. Never done that before me and two things struck me. One, I can run 16 miles at a brisk pace and if I trained I could probably do a marathon in 3:10-3:20. Two, the countryside is beautiful around here. We ran out of Winchester towards Eastleigh, through Otterbourne and Shawford, along the River Test. Legs felt OK and we even picked up the pace a bit towards the end.

Cooked myself an outstanding bacon and egg sandwich with lashings of HP sauce and then sat on the sofa and watched the world go by.

Last week before half term coming up and I'm looking forward to the break. Teaching 10 lessons a week is only half a timetable but when you add a couple of hours either side for planning and marking per lesson, that's a minimum 30 hours a week.

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.