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.