Woo, exciting! Which big band is it? Have a great evening.

Also, do you know anything about the Mean Time jazz orchestra at Blackheath Halls? (Sorry, this is off topic but maybe PM me if you do? Thanks.)

The band is called Any Swing Goes

and yes, I do know quite a lot about Mean Time - I have played with them for years, although if the big band comes off I won't be in the future because of a date clash. I'll PM you further details.

Wow! Great name! Hope you have a lovely evening.

Back at work today after a few days off getting over the flu...and finding that the food I had left in the fridge at work last week was still fine and I didn't have to run to the shops (when I really didn't feel like running around) for my lunch!

My diploma result!!

Yeay! Huge congratulations, Dawnmc71!!!

Teaching pupils again! Whole evening done tonight.....

My son has been offered a graduate traineeship for next Autumn. He has to get a 2.1 for his MMath, but it takes so much pressure off to have a job lined up. We are chuffed to bits!

Finally going back to college and seeing my friends

edit - this should be tomorrow's happy

Ditto

Fantastic news, and yes, it does take the pressure off in the current climate!!


Thank you - and loved the cake!!

Congratulations! Hope your smile muscles recover quickly!!

I'm happy because a delivery just arrived - a HUGE bouquet of flowers from OH (who is still off on his Mammoth Cycle Expedition) for our wedding anniversary today.

Many congratulations Dawn! great news.

I have just been informed by a nuisance cold- caller that I'm wasting his time.

Happy anniversary, Misterioso! Hope you have a lovely deferred celebration when OH returns.

Setting some new pieces for a pupil to learn

Playing the piano .... as seems is always the case at the moment

I've worked out what to wear for the wedding on Saturday, and the only thing I need to buy is tights.

I get my $810 back! Thank goodness some people in this world forgive blatant stupidity like mine...

Yay! It works at last. The $$$$$ symbol works.

Congratualtions on getting your money back Lily.

I wonder if the ? symbol works now. Or even the ? ?

Doesn't look like it.

SB

Seems rather unfortunate considering that this is an English forum Oh well, I'm not complaining. I have my $$$! (to whatever extent any student can have $$$ anyway...)

First day back at school and believe it or not, no problems, everyone had done at least some of their holiday work and one father paid me for the term before I even sent the bill!

wow that's good! Not many of my pupils have practiced- I did see one last week who had made masses of progress!

I am happy as my OH is returning today after 3 weeks in Zambia.

Had an email unexpectedly last night from my teacher - back in the country, ready to start work, would you like a lesson tomorrow? So I said yes, meaning I am resuming tonight, rather than next Thursday as expected.
Of course, this means I haven't had the final week to cram in all the practice I was supposed to do over the holidays. I will be one of those bad children who teachers talk about on the scream thread

This is the first day in months that I have not felt at work like the pile of, um, "stuff" to shovel isn't increasing faster than I am shoveling

I discovered how liquorice allsorts are made. Amazing.

Yum! I love liquorice allsorts. Did you get to try the finished product?

I didn't want to... I've eaten so much bad-for-me-stuff over the last week. A week of eating out for lunch and dinner, with many yummy freebies on offer as well, is not good for ones weight!

played 1st clari at band last night

Well done!

Tried out for a local wind band last night and played 3rd clarinet. Very humbling, but still fun!

Thank you Really, really enjoyed it, hopefully I can stay there......





Excellent, I play 3rd at York Concert Band, still feel rather at times

New timetable for the coming year. Thursdays: 2 lessons, break, free period, college choir rehearsal during lunchtime, 2 free periods

My new vacuum cleaner. Much as I usually dislike vacuuming, the place was beginning to look a bit of a mess having not been done for ten days or so. It's the most expensive cleaner I've ever bought, so I'm expecting great things of it - so far, so good!

I felt like that when I bought my Dyson!!

However, , my advice now is definitely DO buy a Dyson if you live in a tiny flat with nice carpets, no pets and you take your shoes off at the door and never have visitors....

Definitely DO NOT buy a Dyson if you live in a country cottage with multiple dogs, open fires, a gravel drive and occasionally walk through the house in your walking boots/wellies carrying large baskets of dusty logs!!!



Oh and my 'HAPPY' is that we're going shopping for a new, bigger fishtank this morning for Mr. Fishy (who may be acquiring a companion). At least HE doesn't have muddy paws

It's the weekend So therefore I have extra time to play the piano and clarinet

Hoping it'll be Proms in the Park...

Hope you all have fun one day I WILL get to this

Was accused of having a "mid-life crisis"

If that is true I can expect to live to be 110

Well, they do say that our generation has a good chance of doing this. If the cap fits, wear it! If it doesn't, laugh it off.

Yayyy new tank!! And Mr. Fish has been re-named Sheldon.. and his new pal is called Leonard. We're going to get three tiny fish to go with them called Penny, Penny, Penny......



(any other Big Bang Theory fans out there? )

I LOVE this!!!!!!! and sorry I didn't reply to your pm not been good at keeping in touch recently! Will reply tomorrow, but would love to meet up if you came down to Glasgow on a Fri!!

Is this year 12? That sounds a great day Mind you, we're currently trying to convince certain family members and friends that although they are marked as 'free periods' on the timetable, at least some of them should be used as extra study time! Not having much success , but when they've been told they're expected to do an extra hour a day per subject, it just seems to make sense to us boring old adults that they use some of the time at school rather than trying to squeeze it all in in the evening (which just isn't going to happen ) But at the same time a part of me thinks that the year 12s should still be enjoying the same sort of lower 6th form that we enjoyed - no AS levels, A levels a long way off, just studying subjects you like and enjoying lounging around in the 6th form common room and having time to do other things you want to do

26 hours of sleep within the last 48



You've hit the nail on the head both ways Free periods are for gossiping in the canteen (we didn't have a 6th form common room) or band room

Oh how i second what crotchetymum and cofenfa have said - and even more so when I hear my lyc?e pupils complaining that there is no teacher for one of their languages, and that the timetable is spread out from eight in the morning until six thirty in the evening with large gaps during the day.

Anyway, what made me happy was yesterday evening - invited to dinner at the home of two of my ex-pupils.
They are two sisters and we were invited to see the wedding photos of the younger girl and to meet her husband. We had a really lovely evening with the two girls and their mother and grandmother - father sadly died while I was still teaching them. One of those really nice moments!

That was the nice thing about the IB... my first year was exactly as you've all described: Stress free and lots of socialising and lounging around in coffee shops.

Second year though... *shudder* It matched my final year at uni, for stress, thats for sure!

I'm happy that I have an amazing boyfriend. Finding all the dashing about the country at the moment rather hard going. I don't want to spend another Sunday afternoon travelling to a hotel, so that I can be at work on time tomorrow morning, only to then have to travel home, to travel to yet another place for Tuesday.

Really looking forward to starting my proper job, at my actual workplace: Getting fed up of gallivanting and messing about now!

Well, with 3 instruments which need practising, along with cadets, orchestra, church and youth drama group, I know I'll need them for studying! In fact on the on-line timetable they are marked 'study period'.
4 hours per subject per week is the suggested amount of homework/extra study, but as that's the same amount of actual lesson hours, perhaps Double Maths should increase to 6 hours to match? And I've also joined various student societies, and am planning to continue teaching myself German since I'm not taking it at A level. I don't know when I'm going to eat or sleep Speaking of double maths, it means exams in January as well as in June

What's made me happy? - sunshine and picking blackberries.

Playing my cornet, didn't realise just how much I've missed having one.

1) My little sis winning a Forums award for the first time



2) Hearing that I've got some freebie tickets for the Bootleg Beatles' gig in Bromley in October, courtesy of 'George Harrison' .

Woo! The Everly Sisters are off to see the Bootlegs, staggering under the weight of their forums awards...

Filling in my diary for my first week of teaching and realising I have no teaching commitments on the right hand page.

(I have a week-to-two-pages diary and am no longer teaching on Fridays.)

A new viola shoulder rest...

W

Friends in high places 'n' all that