Climbing to the skies - and then off to the Manor.

Here I am, on the cusp of leaving my Manchester life behind (if only for a while).

Hold on whilst I light some candles - prime atmosphere for blogging.
*lights candles*
Sorted. Now, where am I up to with leaving?

Today we got rid of my bed.
The tree bed will be sorely missed, some fond memories of clambering up into the vast skylike ceiling of my room to curl up for a quick daytime nap. One 'great' moment when a rather LARGE moth entrapped itself in my room, this obviously led to much screaming and panicking from me. It was flapping and making terrifying moth noises right next to what felt like my head, so, I called a usually supportive friend, they kindly began to calm me down and asked if it look like the type that might bite, the vampire moth. Which led to more screaming and panicking from me. Thanks Pete.

Anyway, I'm here till the 2nd of Jan. Without a bed.

I am just packing all my things together and it's not remotely logical.
There are clothes in each bag I'm taking - even the bag of shoes (because I will unDOUBTedly need more than one pair of shoes right?!) and then there's everything else. What else? Everything.
I just DON'T KNOW what I'm going to need - so I've got hoodies, jeans, t-shirts, dresses, trackies, jumpers - literally, what do I even need?

Either way, given that I've only got another couple of days - interspersed with New Years Celebrations ... so I should probably decide.

Whatever happens I'm sure it will be fine and I will have lots of great tales to tell you this time next week when I will have been at the Holmsted for a week!! (you want to check out the Holmsted - it is stun.)

Holmsted Manor. Austen: bite me.

Onwards, upwards and be strong in the strength of His might.

'That's one really big cake!'

Just thinking about how smashing this group was.
What a genuine blessing to be surrounded by such characters. Great questions, great opinions, great quotes.

So much love.

Marriage, Beatboxing, Tequila and Poached Fish

What a weekend.

Saturday
Under the large Oak tree at Holmsted Manor, Sussex, I witnessed my wonderful friend Adam marry his beautiful bride Victoria. It was a stunning wedding and the weather held up it's side of things by remaining dry and bright, on the occasion a little chilly.
Beautifully presented cream tea awaited the eager guests after a variety of photographic manoeuvres - women, heels and grass.

This was also an excellent evening for GB's Athletics team. In between Athletics, I definitely dipped into a casual episode of Miss Marple and had a cheeky debate with the lad in the chippy about battered sausages (that sounds rude, but it wasn't).
A most excellent evening.

Sunday
Woods, Dens, Mask-making, Tree Houses and flat tyres.
So Mel's boi is a proper lad. He builds dens and sleeps in the forest and runs adventure days in the woods. It's pretty awesome / exciting / wish I'd had something like that when I was young ...
Mel and I gave Tom a hand with a group of young people that came along - we made masks out of green/brown/orange paints, ferns, sticks, pine cones (the conical fruit of the pine tree - thanks Dad) etc - things that the kids could find in the woods around them.
Then we went hunting for 'the nasty king' - Mel and I went 'blind' and the kids had to find us bilberries to help protect our sight. It was most wonderful.
Then.
Mel.
New car - Frank.
Alloy Wheels.

Driving round the corner, Natasha Bedingfield blaring, Mel was faced with a stand off against another car - an Audi. The Audi refused to move.
Mel had to swerve up onto the kerb. The tyre could not handle it.
*Tsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss......*

Thankfully, God sent a cheeky angelic presence in the form of a middle aged man called Nigel, who used to be a mechanic.
I mean, obviously, we could have handled it. But Nige was more than competent. Legend.

TO LONDON.
*Boom, Phe, Te, Boom, Boom, Phe, Khe, Chi* (It's not easy to beatbox in words)
On route to the Beatboxing Championships in Islington, we swung by Camden for some delicious Mexican food - which went all over my white dress. Thanks - great work.
Anyway, much dancing, beatboxing and showing off later - a massive group of people, both skilled with beats and not so, were hanging out around Spoons in Islington till around 12.20 in the morning.
When finally Mel and Tom realised we needed to leave so as not to miss the last train, we had definitely missed the last train. So got a train to Woking and then had to taxi. Home by 2. Mental.

Taxi driver, swine ... When Tom paid him, another note had snuck its way within the note he handed him. And he didn't say anything. Rude.

Monday
After the train mishap, we had what should have been a delightful lie-in, except for the living alarm-clock that belongs to the neighbours. Cockerel.
Garage, Town, Cream Tea, Sainsbury's ... HOME to BAKE cookies.

Turns out, although I know I can't cook, I've known for a long time. I, however, continue to believe that I will be able to at some point - and seek the wise teachings of others. Unhelpful to my cooking journey, Mel's ability to bake cookies is as shot as mine. I ended up with cherry and almond 'cookies' ... and sort of lemon cake/cookies. I mean, they tasted delish, obv. But turns out I need to do some work on my skills.
Hannah, Mel's housemate, introduced me to her blog and twitter - she is flipping hilarious: http://braingoround.blogspot.co.uk/ we debated about the quality of Rhyming poetry ... and told stories.
Pub Quiz - TEQUILA.

Tuesday
Oxford. 
So, drove to Sam's for about 2 - where we chilled out with some Olympics and played some Basketball. I say we ... I definitely chilled out with some Olympics - but not so sure how much of the Basketball I actually took part in. I sort of stood there and caught the ball and passed it back ... tried to mark Sam, but I am 5'2 and he's 6'1 ... 'nuf said.
A dinner of poached fish, curried rice, raisins and egg ... it has a name apparently, I don't know what it was. It was the most unusual dish I might have ever eaten - and I've been around (lolz). Really nice though.
Casual stroll to the nearby pub where beer was drank and conversations were had.
Rain. I love the rain.

Wednesday
After a morning of great conversation and coffee - I stole Bon Iver's album, Sam moved the bird in my car (a  hilarious in-joke from Easter) and I drove home. WITHOUT NAVIGATION. Check me. I drove home. Without. Help.
Freaking YES.

I want to write about how lucky I am, what a great time I had, but these seem so cliche and not even close to how I would want to say it.
So, I will leave this post here. Happy and contented with my 4 day southern excursion. 

Society's contradiction towards young people 'doing well' in school.

GCSE exams are in a few weeks - GCE exams are already taking place ...
So, how soon is it that the media will tell our youth that the exams they studied so hard for; the exams that they missed out on their holidays for; the exams that they struggled to prepare for were "too easy".

Every year the newspapers print articles saying how much easier the examinations are getting - how much easier 'kids today' have it. As a teacher, I am fully aware of the pressure over children to perform at a high level. I hear teachers from schools nearby talk about their children in regards to what they will achieve and the pressure on them as a teacher, them as a school, to get such a percentage of above C's. The government's expectations of schools are that of a very high standard and if they are not performing at a high standard that action is taken to change this. And yet, we still hear the question, 'Are exams getting easier?'
Surely the excellent results should reflect the state of the school's teaching?

What about other negative effects that this question poses?
Are we pushing our non-academic children to a state of disillusionment? Where believing in themselves will find them face first in the mud?
Do 'they', these intellectuals that decide our children are getting an 'easy ride', ever wonder why some young people worry themselves into stress disorders, sleeping disorders, eating disorders? Could the pressure that the media places on our youth be - forgive me - unhelpful even, harmful in the growth of the younger generation?
An article in the 'Telegraph' stated that a charity 'YoungMinds' had said that "Every year we get calls from parents asking for advice on how to help their children cope with exam stress". They recieved 884 calls about young people, 39% in relation to exam stress.

We hear stories about children at school who cannot control their levels of stress; the pressure that they are under to perform pushes some to resort to self-harm to deal with their depression/anxiety or frustration. Where does this pressure to perform come from? Yes, I believe we want children to do the best that they can do, achieve the best they can achieve - but what if the best they can achieve at GCSE is an E and all their friends are getting A's and B's? I hear people say that it's ok, each person is different - but I know that feeling...I've seen children experience that longing to do really well, above and beyond their ability level.

Do we want a society filled with people who believe that doing their best isn't good enough and so resort to settling for below average, the safety zone - or do we want to raise young people to do their best and to always aim for things that regardless of whether they achieve it, that they tried and they were brave and strong and continued to be strong? Pupils, children, people should know their self-worth ... not question it based on academic ability.

There are so many people sitting in luke warm water - too afraid to turn up the temperature for fear of getting burnt, yet bored and dissatisfied with where they are at.

If we are not careful, and we keep leading our children to believe that performing at their best is not good enough and or that when they do perform excellently it's because someone else made a mistake (easier exam papers...), they will settle for less than average. They will settle.

Let's be brave and get uncomfortable...

Hate much?

"Have you ever hated anyone?" the IT teacher just asked the two Y10 girls, who didn't know what to blog ...

What is hate?
One of the girls said she could never hate anyone because she just couldn't. What does that even mean? She did say that she'd probably only hate someone if they killed someone she loved.
But is that hating a person or a deed?
God hates Sin - that's an action - but He loves people. Hating what someone does is different to hating who they are. Are we built to not be able to hate?

Where is the line - I dislike Rhianna, close to hating her - but I don't hate her. When does dislike turn into hate?


Mess of thoughts on the matter. I may revisit this. Who knows.

Just saying

New POST!!

This is because year 10 are checking out the 'blog scene' ... sweet!