The Honeymoon is over...

Will & I had a fabulous week in The Gambia, we got back in the wee small hours yesterday. The hotel was fantastic, & we spent our days eating, drinking, swimming, & lounging by the pool. I wasn't even tempted to go into the internet cafe once, which is quite a big achievement for me! We also had a telly in our room which didn't get any use at all. Our room was very nice, we ended up getting a free upgrade to a 'superior deluxe'. Ours is the upstairs one in the picture below, & we had nice views over the swimming pool & ocean. Note the monkeys in the background on the bottom right!

The funny thing was, because I had booked the hotel under my name, & because I had told them it was our honeymoon, they not surprisingly assumed that we were already married. This meant we spent the whole week as 'Mr & Mrs Baumberg' which was very amusing! Will took it in his stride, to the point of signing for the pool towels as Will Baumberg! It was lovely having a proper relaxing beach holiday, as so much of my travelling is full-on & quite hard work, staying at dingy cheap little hostels. You could say we were both VERY chilled...

A short walk from the hotel was a forest reserve full of monkeys. We took a big bag of peanuts, & they would eat them from our hands. Their touch was incredibly gentle.Monkeys also roamed freely around the extensive hotel grounds, & the bird life was something else. Loads of exotic, brightly coloured species, as well as several peacocks which aren't native to Gambia, but seemed quite happy with their new home. All in all it was a magical week. If I ever feel the need for another week of total rest & relaxation, it isn't a bad option. After all the sunshine however, I did spend most of yesterday freezing!

Last night we had a lovely dinner at Steve & Kate's, then went into town to meet up with others to celebrate Ben's birthday. It was a good night, but with arriving back from Gambia that morning, plus losing an hour due to daylight savings, I did wake up this morning pretty shattered!

Today was a glorious day, very mild with loads of sunshine. In the morning cousin Renee & Jeremy arrived to pick up some of their stuff they had been storing here. It was nice to catch up & hear about Renee's trip to NZ & her sisters wedding. I had rugby in the afternoon & we bet Portsmouth 19-15. I didn't feel too bad during the match, considering I hadn't done any training for 2 weeks...

The next 2 weeks before the wedding is pretty manic. Tomorrow evening we are going into London to see 'Spamalot' which is the stage version of Monty Python's Holy Grail. I bought the tickets ages ago as a birthday present for Will. On Friday Rik & I have to go to York for a 2-day overnight conference for world challenge school leaders. We get back Saturday evening, then on Sunday I have rugby against Richmond away. That same day my mum & dad & nana fly in, so Will is in charge of looking after them! Next Wednesday I leave for our world challenge practice expedition in Buxton, getting back on Friday evening, just in time to get married on Saturday!

I'll finish below with a couple more happy holiday pics...

3 days of school left...

I break up on Wednesday afternoon for a 3 & a half week Easter holiday. Early Friday morning Will & I are off to Gambia for a week for our 'honeymoon'. I've been keeping a close eye on the weather over there, not that I really need to, it's fairly consistent! Bring on the sunshine!!!

The photo below is our neighbours, Steve & Kate's cat Sawyer. That window is actually 2-storeys high, & he climbs down off the roof to sit on the window-sill.We are separated from Steve & Kate's by a horse paddock which the stables use to give their steads a bit of 'free time'. I'm not a huge horse fan, but there are a few nice ones which will eat grass out of my hand.

This weekend was good. I had a form 1 parents evening on Friday night which went well. I teach top set form 1, & they are a lovely class, so it was all very positive. On Saturday I had a big day out with the rugby girls. We were having bit of a farewell for Taff, our brilliant backs coach who is leaving us at the end of this season. He is in the army & is being posted away. The plan was to meet in the pub that sponsors us at midday, ready to watch the first of 3 six nation rugby games. We were all wearing red t-shirts with Taff's photo on the back, & we also had Taff masks. He was very surprised to say the least, & a bit overcome. He was presented with a t-shirt with our team on the back & 'once a lady always a lady' written on it. They also took the opportunity to put me through a bit of ritual humiliation by making me wear a wedding dress & veil for the day. The dress is bit of a Reading ladies institution & everyone who has gotten married over the years (& there has been a few!) has had to do a stint in it. I'm not quite sure why I thought I'd get away without it... I might put a few pics up once I get some off the girls. We watched all 3 rugby games & consumed our fair share of beverages. Will came & picked me up at 7pm & I was shattered! We were supposed to go to Scott & Sarah's engagement party that night, but Will went by himself. I wasn't up to it... Today I did my usual weekly top-up of all the bird-feeders. You can see in the picture above taken mid-week that they were getting a bit low. They do love my feeding stations, it's not unusual to have up to a dozen various birds in the garden at one time. The latest visitor is a beautiful pheasant. The pictures are a bit blurry because they were taken through our dining room window.

1 & a half weeks till holidays!

I know, I really do spend a good proportion of my life counting down till the next holiday! This time in 2 weeks we'll be in Gambia on our 'honeymoon before the wedding'. It's all coming up a bit quickly, we both still need to get our malaria tablets sorted out.

The week at school also went very quickly, partly because I've been so busy. On Thursday night was the 'Spring spectacular' at school which is basically a variety show with the winning house singing entries, various different bands performing, solo singers, acting & comedy. It was an enjoyable night, finished off by the 'Bearwood Admirals' who are our cheerleading squad who recently won their division at a national competition. Rik & I ran the bar before the show & during the interval to raise funds for our Borneo trip in the summer.

It was exeat this weekend meaning a nice long sleep-in, instead of having to get up to coach my rugby boys. On Saturday afternoon my friend Nicola came to visit from Kent, & bought with her a lovely guy she has been seeing a bit of recently. I cooked a nice Thai green curry, which we washed down with a fair quantity of Montana Sauv Blanc. We were just testing the wedding wine to make sure it was up to standard! I think it passed the test... On Saturday I also potted my squash/courgette/pumpkin/sweetcorn seedlings which were all about 10-15cm tall! It's pretty impressive considering I only planted them from seed last Saturday! Every available inch of window space is taken up with seedlings at the moment. After I write this I might get a few more things underway in the propagator.

Today I had rugby & we lost 10-7, which was frustrating. We did OK though because due to injuries & unavailability we played the whole match with only 14 players. I got player of the day for the forwards, which I'm not convinced I deserved. I played OK, but am still a bit broke with my knee & shoulder not quite right... We have a couple of weeks off now which will be nice, it should give me a chance to get back to full fitness.

The return of MOF

It was great getting my car back, it finally managed to pass its MOT (WOF equivalent for you kiwis out there). Touch wood it will keep going for another year, the mechanic did say the engine was starting to rust pretty badly...

I've survived the first week back at school, but it has been pretty manic. It's all very well only having a 3 & a half week second half-term, & believe me, I AM excited about it, but you do need to fit in the same amount of work that you would in the usual 6 weeks... Luckily my classes are all on track, my GCSE exam class (year 11) have already finished their 2-year course, so we are doing revision in preparation for their June exams. In fact I've spent most of this evening marking some revision chapters for them, so thought I'd write this as a bit of light relief before bed...

Will & I had a very nice weekend. On Friday night we spontaneously decided to go to the 'George and Dragon' for dinner. It is a lovely pub in the countryside a few miles from school that serves fantastic food. We went with Steve & Kate & Annabel from school & had a really nice evening, even if the taxi driver on the way home ripped us off! After coaching my boys' rugby Saturday morning I had a productive day around the house/garden. I finally got some of our seeds for the vege garden underway. I've got squash, pumpkin, courgette & sweetcorn going in my propagator, & Will is doing the rest in his. Things like the carrots, lettuce, rocket etc we'll sow straight outdoors. I've already had sweetcorn shoots appear in the propagator which is pretty impressive after 3 days! I also potted some geraniums that Will had given me for Valentines day. They were 12 tiny little plugs when I got them, but they are now big enough for small individual pots (well, yogurt containers actually!)

Saturday night we went to Allan & Wendy's engagement party in the common room which was another very good night. Wendy teaches maths with me, & has the distinction of being the only English person in the department! They are looking at a winter wedding this Christmas.

Sunday I had rugby, & we had another loss. This time it was to Wimbledon, away, & we lost 10-0. Bit of a bugger really because we beat them quite comfortably at home. They wanted (needed) it more than us though, as they are in danger of being relegated to the division below, whereas we are comfortably mid-table. They were very fired up, & came at us hard. Today I feel like I've been run over by a truck! My back/neck/shoulders are killing. My thumb is currently a lovely shade of black, but I can move both joints so don't think I've broken anything. Don't worry mum, I am fine, really...

The nights here are starting to get noticeably longer, & it really feels like spring is on its way. I took the photo below walking home from school at around 5:30pm, whereas it wasn't that long ago that I was walking home in pitch-black.

Right, bed calls before I turn into a pumpkin.