General Ramblings

Week 6 of 7 in the summer school was a busy week, largely because we had a British Council inspection. I hate inspections, not because I have anything to hide, but the whole process of making things beautiful and cosmetically perfect is so time-wasting. I spent more time tarting up one day's teaching plans (that's "Lesson Porn" for you, Runner Susan) than I did planning one week's work. The niggling thought at the back of my mind, too, was inspectors being inspectors, even if everything was so wonderfully perfect, they'd still find (or have to find) a cup of tea to stir their finger in, and make ripples - just to have something to say; to have some sense of existence by leaving a mark, not unlike We Wuz 'Ere graffiti artists. No matter how good it is, it's never going to be good enough. Not quite the thinking one should adopt.

Yet by the sounds of it, the inspection went really well. The owner of the summer school came down on Friday morning and was gushing with pride. Maybe it's because we didn't let the inspectors see sights like these.

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I am out of sync with time. I sleep late and I'm up when it starts to get light - typical of my Solarman tendencies. I don't really want to go running because it means having to rush to get ready for school afterward. Why not get up even earlier to have enough time to run and change? Uh... I'm lazy. Why not run after work? Because I want to watch the European Championships on TV - the Stanley Cup of Athletics, as far as I'm concerned. The women's high jump and triple jump competitions had us on the edge of our seats. The triple jump medals had such drama - the top three leapfrogging each other on the final jumps - it was unbelievably exciting. The high jump competition was like Russian Roulette.

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Went running early this morning, finally. Can't remember the last time I ran properly - it's all been a hodge podge of weights and walking - but I was pleased to do 5 miles in 36:30, averaging 7:18 mins/mile. If that's the case, I should lie on the couch more often, and gorge on the cakes Wifey bakes. Massoman was right - channel surfing counts as exercise. The best part of the run was at the end of it - while walking to cool down, it started to drizzle lightly, the sky was starting to brighten up, and I realised it was only 6:30 and I still had the whole day ahead of me. Excellent!

Happy running and have a good weekend, folks!