Exeat Weekend

I'm coming to the end of a very nice relaxing weekend. It's an exeat, meaning all the boarders at school have to go home for the weekend, & I didn't have to do my regular Saturday morning rugby coaching. I did have a 3rd form parents evening Friday night, but I teach a lovely class so it was mostly lots of positive feedback. Being a bottom set it's a nice small class so I was finished pretty quickly.

Saturday morning I used the opportunity to go to a winter touch-rugby training session that runs every week, but I usually have to miss due to my school commitments. It was really good, a hard fast game of 5 v 5, with another girl plus myself, then the rest guys. My knee was fine while I was playing, but since then I've had sharp stabbing pain on the opposite side to the ligament I strained 3 weeks ago at rugby. Maybe it was a bit ambitious & the knee wasn't quite ready for some serious touch... I might try & see a doctor this week & get it checked out.

I got back from touch & had a very domestic afternoon. I baked Will & I some savoury scones for lunch, filled up all my bird feeders, then cleaned the house & put on a couple of loads of washing. Will disappeared off to Volleyball late afternoon & I had a nice chicken Thai green curry waiting for his return, washed down with my favourite kiwi sauv blanc... We then watched 'Garden State' on DVD which we both enjoyed. We've had a pretty busy social life of late, so it was lovely having a chilled night in with just the two of us. I rang mum & dad & had a long chat which was lovely, as I hadn't spoken to them in a while.

Today was also very relaxed, it was a glorious sunny (but crisp!) winters day, & Will did some digging in the garden, then we've both been doing a bit of school work for most of the afternoon. I've been marking books (zzzzzzzzzzz) & Will has been playing around trying to get a piece of computer programming to work, & getting quite frustrated with it, which was amusing! I did find some time to book the Euro tunnel shuttle for a booze run to Calais on the last Saturday of half-term (23rd Feb). We're planning on getting all our wedding wine, as you can pick it up in France for half the price of the UK. In fact good kiwi sauv blanc is often cheaper than what you can get it for in NZ! Our mate Stevo is keen to come along as well & we'll make a day of it. We should be able to fit loads in the back of Will's car. You can pretty much bring back as much as you like, as long as it is for 'personal consumption'.

It is NOW 3 weeks until half-term... Unfortunately I was a week ahead of myself a couple of posts earlier...

Permission to marry

Under section 19(3)(b) or 23(3)(b) of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatments of Claimants, etc) Act 2004, the Home Office has decided to give me permission to marry Will. Yay!!! The certificate arrived in the post yesterday. I guess we'd better actually start to plan this wedding!

Wet Wet Wet

We've had SO much rain lately, although this week the weather is supposed to improve. I read about one place, whose name escapes me, who had their average weekly rainfall in just 3 hours!

I've had a busy but good weekend. I was shattered at the start of it after a very long day on Friday. It's the only day of the fortnightly timetable where I teach all 6 lessons without a non-contact. I then did my usual after-school session at the gym, & was showered & changed just in time to head back to school for a 5:45 5th form parents evening. I didn't get out of there until nearly 8. Others were going to the pub, but I went home & blobbed on the couch in front of a rugby game.

Saturday night we had a few people round at our place as bit of a welcome function for the new gappies. Each year starting in January we get a male & female on their gap year from Oz, & this year we have Annie & Alex. People bought along tapas-style finger food to share & we spent a very pleasant evening eating, drinking, & chatting.

Today was rugby, but my knee wasn't up to it. I can't run on it yet, which is a minor problem! We won 20-0 but it wasn't a great game. They turned up with only 13 players, & when we played their full team in the first round we won 24-0. We have a bye next week, then a friendly the week after, so I now have a bit of time to get back to full fitness. I managed 45 minutes of light cycling tonight, & it wasn't as sore afterwards as when I did similar on Friday. The steam-room & spa pool I enjoyed after my workout today probably helped. I really do love my gym.

Tomorrow Will & I are having dinner at his Auntie & Uncle's place. They only live 15 or so minutes away in Twyford, but I haven't actually met them yet. We thought we'd better get organized so I could meet them before the wedding! It is his mum's twin sister.

3 weeks until half-term & counting! Bring it on!!!

English weather...

It's pretty self-explanatory really, & just a tad depressing...

My mistake

I've just been informed by one of my readers with an interest in orthinology that whilst it is indeed very very small, the wren is not actually the smallest bird in Britain. That honour instead goes to the goldcrest which pips the wren by 0.5 of a cm. Cheers for setting the record straight Goody! To my knowledge, I haven't had the pleasure of a visit from one to our garden yet...

Didn't manage to survive my rugby game against Ealing today, I twisted my dodgy knee whilst making a tackle after about 20 minutes. It was a 0-0 draw which was actually a really good result for us, as they gave us bit of a thumping in the first round fixture. Hopefully if I take it easy for a few days the knee will be OK to play the home game against Footscray next Sunday. It's pretty frustrating, especially as I'm really motivated to train at the moment (for a change!).

I enjoyed the Golden Compass last night, I thought they did it really well. It was a very pleasant evening with a nice dinner at the George, the movie, then a few drinks at the Abery's place, & a 3-minute wander home afterwards. It's this social aspect I'll miss the most when we eventually leave Bearwood. With the majority of staff living on-site it is so nice to be able to have dinners/drinks/parties etc without having to worry about driving.

1 week down, 5 to go...

Will finds it very amusing that I'm already counting down to my next holiday. It's not that I don't enjoy my job -I do very much, it's just that I LOVE being on holiday. It was quite a major factor in deciding to become a teacher really... The term has started well, the kids seem to have returned from their Christmas break fairly well motivated to work, so long may it continue...

Last weekend we took advantage of a 'half-price on all seeds' offer at the garden centre. We are going to (hopefully) grow beans, carrots, pumpkin, squash, courgettes, salad leaves, tomatoes, sweetcorn and onions. I also picked up a very nice New Zealand flax for half-price, so that is looking good in the garden. My flower bulbs are all coming up, hopefully they'll see off the worst of the winter weather & put on a good show in the spring.

This weekend is nice & relaxed, last night we blobbed on the couch, drank red wine & watched some Heineken cup rugby. Cardiff had a good win over Harlequins. There was plenty of NZ interest with Xavier Rush, Paul Tito, Jason Spice & Ben Blair all turning out for Cardiff. Quins also had a couple of kiwis playing. Today I coached my rugby boys in the morning. We then did a pretty major grocery shop as the cupboards were pretty bare! I also filled up all my bird feeders, they are going through vast quantities of nuts, seed & fat balls at the moment, as well as any scraps we put out on the bird table. We regularly get great tits, blue tits & coal tits in our garden, as well as nut hatches, starlings, blackbirds & woodpeckers. Once or twice we've seen a wren, which is England's smallest bird, & today I had a visit from a beautiful big falcon. I'm a bit worried about the falcon, hopefully it isn't eying up some of the other garden visitors for its next supper...

This evening a group from school are going to watch 'The Golden Compass'. I loved the books, but the general consensus is that the movie doesn't quite live up to the hype. There is a pub right next to our local cinema so the plan is to buy our tickets, wander next door for a pub dinner, watch the movie, then come back to some one's house on site for a few drinks. I won't be drinking much as I have a tough rugby match on Sunday. Being my first game for a few weeks I'm probably going to hurt like hell on Monday, but at least I've been training pretty well lately which should help.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year to you all, I hope you saw it in in style... Our barn dance was really good fun, it was quite a tame night really, we were home by 1am. It's hard to find time to drink that much amongst all the dancing. I did wake up on new year's day with sore legs, it's a great workout... I had a couple of the rugby girls stay the night at ours. One of them had arrived from holidaying in Australia that night! She landed at Heathrow, got the railair bus to Reading, took a cab from there to Bearwood & turned up at the dance with all her stuff. How's that for commitment!!!

As I write this, Will has just delivered me a cup of tea. He is very good at making tea for me exactly as I like it... A very important quality in a future husband!

Speaking of marriage stuff, in case anybody has missed the news, we are all-go for the 12th April. We managed to get the very last slot at the registry office for that morning, so it's obviously meant to be... The plan is a very small service in the morning, then a big hog-roast party at Bearwood that evening. That is of course if the Home Office gives me permission to marry... Being a foreigner I need to apply to them for a £300 'Certificate of Approval for marriage' so they can be happy that I'm legit & not marrying Will just to stay in the country. We are both straight back to work after the wedding, so won't have a chance to go away anywhere. Instead we've booked a 1 week 'honeymoon' at a very nice resort in Gambia a couple of weeks before the wedding.

Not much other news, I've just been chilling out & enjoying my last few days of holiday. Last night we had a few of my colleagues over for dinner which was most enjoyable. I cooked fajitas, one of my favourite foods in the world. Today I hit the gym for the first time in 2008. Hopefully the first of many training sessions this year... I know I probably think that at the start of every new year, but this year I have my world challenge expedition to Borneo in July to train towards. I need to get seriously fit, we are climbing Mt Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South-East Asia at just over 4000m. It's a great looking mountain, I'm trying to motivate myself with the picture below...