Misc.

Many of my students have started "Work Experience". In most schools, work experience is usually held over the two weeks leading up to the summer mid-term break. That means teachers and problematic 15 year-olds can be rid of each other for a whole month, and this, for both, must be bliss. Better yet for those students who bunk off work experience (I bet it happens) and spend all that time lounging at home or at the malls. Bliss for me took the form of having a bit more time than usual to re-grout the bathroom tiles, fix the washing machine and do other DIY jobs. I find grouting frustrating - it looks alright when it's dried up, but while I'm doing it, it always looks rubbish and I always end up thinking "I've spent three or four hours stripping it off the walls only to put up something more inferior".

At one particular school where I'm a visiting tutor (thankfully just for a day), the new headteacher has decided to get rid of school bells. I suppose he wants to instill responsibility in the students. The way he explained it to the students was, "Prisons have bells, we aren't a prison, so we won't have bells." Great. I suppose methods like these can work in schools where students have that sort of motivation and discipline, but this school happens to be, shall we say nicely, the "armpit of the district". Now the students that previously sauntered in to lessons ten minutes late after the bells rang have an excuse to be even later. Now, I know I'm a bit of a Whiney the Pooh-Pooh, a wet blanket; but surely Mr Headteacher's just handed control of the prison over to the inmates?

We are having more Sprinter (part-Spring, part-Winter) weather these days. The last time the in-laws were here it was almost like summer and the media was doing its "climate change" reporting rounds again. This time round it's been cold the past few days, but at least we get light for until half-past eight in the evening, which is good. Today it was sunny and muggy (must have drifted over from Philly) so I hit the trails for a bit. I ran a bit of my old usual loop and some new parts. The first 25 minutes were run at 7:36 pace, then I jogged for about 15 minutes and was so wiped out after that I had to walk all the way home.

So yes! Just for today I was a semi-trail runner. But I felt so out-of-shape, I wasn't Rob the Runner "trail" material, but more "trail" as in "lagging behind". Wait for me at the finish line please.