A Little Proud

Today has been long and work-filled, thanks to two of my employers being unable to meet the deadlines they set themselves/communicate effectively with plenty of notice. Frustrating is not the word. Possible alternative words muttered today include "Taking liberties", "Ridiculous" and "Moon on a stick". This leaves me with very minimal time for blogging, since I have missed my intended bedtime by 36 minutes and counting.

So, I thought I would share a little proud with you. Yesterday I pass a ski qualification. It doesn't really mean anything; I didn't desperately need it, or even a little bit need it if the rumours about the changes in trips policy are to be believed. I have managed to run several ski trips (six, actually) without it and nothing awful has occurred. When I took the course last October (here is a little mention of it in my blog), I really did think that I might not pass, but I wasn't too concerned because it was a formality.

In spite of thinking this, on the penultimate day, I overheard the course tutor chatting with his second on the chair lift behind me, saying that I was not good enough. It made me cry. So much so that I faked a painful knee so I had an excuse to hang back and bawl my eyes out as we went down the next slope. I mean, I think I had a bit of altitude sickness and I was over-tired, but I was properly sobbing.

I had worked quite hard to pass, you see. The whole point of seeing a personal trainer - who has now been a weekly fixture in my life for over two years - was to fitten myself up for the intense amount of skiing that needed to be done, and I'd taken a ski lesson here and there and made a point of really attacking the skiing on my previous trip. So, it was hurtful to know that I hadn't quite made the grade, however much of a brave and stoic face I put on it after that first dreadful hour.

Yesterday saw that work all, finally, come together - and in fact, it was almost better than passing it first time. I know my skiing improved massively last year when I was on the course, because we were working 2:1 with one of the most experienced coaches around and another teacher of many years' experience - under their tutelage I couldn't help but improve. However, there is something a lot more satisfying at knowing that I took their advice away and worked on it by myself for three more ski holidays and was able to make enough of an improvement to pass - with the same tutor, I note.

I've not ever seen myself as a sporty person. I was deeply unsporty as a child and teenager. My interest in exercise was minimal until I started skiing, since when I have been well and truly bitten, and today Cara actually scoffed when I said I didn't think I was sporty, so ridiculous did she find this statement. It all comes down to working hard for this course, I think. Without it I would never have started seeing Jenny the PT and that has made a big difference in my life.

So I am having a proud now, as the minutes tick closer to midnight. Very proud that I passed that course because it did not come naturally to me and I had to work really quite hard to be able to do it. 94% on the written test means nothing without the physical ability, which did not come naturally to me - but I was able to conquer it. Woop woop!

Normal service (less boasting) will be resumed tomorrow.

Weekword: Library

Biomouse tempted me back to Weekword this week with the word Library.

I have to admit that this played right into my hands, almost as if she had read my mind, because since I wrote this post about my local library as a child and how disappointed I was with the local library where I work, I have had cause to be extremely impressed with the local library where I live.

Shamefully, when I went there to look for a course book, my library card was so old it had to be replaced. And it turned out my gym membership card (local authority gym) doubles up as my library card. And they send me an email to remind me to renew my books so I don't incur late charges. AND I CAN DO THIS ONLINE.

Hellooooooo, sexy new library - where have you been all my life?

Online is the handiest bit. I can search the catalogue and reserve books, and request a book from any library in the surrounding counties to be delivered to my local library for the princely sum of 50p. And when I go and check it out, I can do it via a machine. A MACHINE! It doesn't even need a person to stamp it! Which means that the librarians are free to ring up parents and ask if they're bringing their offspring to the next reading circle, which seems like a much better use of their time. 

I realise none of this is probably news to the library-going population, but I am a fresh new convert and all prepared to be evangelical about my new discovery. Why would the government cut funding now when they've got so good?

I do have one bugbear, though, which is that when I went in last week, I perused the History section and saw there was a biography of Edward VI on the "Recommended" shelf. I rolled my eyes at the tagline which was something about the search for England's soul, thinking that it sounded like a vanity project for some bored historian. Then I realised it was penned by our local MP. I reckon he'd been in and put it up there himself.

Thanks, Carmen, for tempting me back! You're like a library, you are :p

Fave Friday

Autumn is looking particularly beautiful this year.
I don't know why I think it is better this year than previous years. It feels like usually the season changes quickly, during October, when I'm not driving to and from work, and then when the journey restarts all the trees are bare - but not this year. Maybe it's because we've had such a wet year. There is still plenty of foliage left to admire and the grass at work is carpeted with what is finally beginning to fall. I only wish I had more time to spend outside, the better to admire it - or that there were a few more golden blue days and less cloudy grey ones, because they look even better in good sunlight.
But I'll take whatever colour I can get as the grey deepens towards winter! I swear it was getting dark at 3.30 today....
Blogging via the official Android app today which doesn't get amazing reviews - wonder where the pictures will end up?

Today I wish I was...

...going to Malaysia next week.

Of course, I'd not want to be organising a trip involving nearly 20 students, but instead going to lie on this beach with my Kindle and a good shady beach parasol. I know I've blogged about this beach before but for me, on that day, it really was a little slice of paradise found. A 20 minute hike up and down in muddy, slippery jungle, in flip flops - but totally worth it.

I've been teaching a Geography unit about coasts recently and keep playing them this as background to their lesson activities. Had to stop when one of them told me it was making them desperate for the toilet - but I find it really soothing!

I died a bit inside

At Geneva airport, in the duty free.
It is LYCHEE AND RASPBERRY flavour vodka.The small print reads "For Women Only". I had a look around to see if there was a male equivalent that tasted of cigars, gunpowder and saddle leather, but there was nothing of that ilk. I can only assume this is aimed at the sort of delicate flowers that can't handle neat whiskey ... I don't like neat whiskey but I wouldn't drink this on principle.

Am I getting grouchier as I age? I find myself more appalled by things like this (which I think would be described on Twitter as #everydaysexism) than I ever used to be. I found this letter from Lady Curd today that I quite liked, for example. I do wonder what has happened to make me feel more strongly about topics like this over the years, but I can't pinpoint it.

Incidentally, and while on the topic of that blog, I also LOL'd a lot at the reader letter featured in this particular post. I have not read Lady Curd's reply because, tbh, it's late and I think I can probably guess what it's going to say. The letter is gold, though.

Tuesday Ten

The List It Tuesday topic is "Ideas for List It Tuesday topics" and I had the BEST of intentions - it involved being arty and maybe even some glitter, definite use of Sharpies at any rate - but time is short. I have 20 minutes to get this blog post done and I have a lesson to plan before bed (last week was very relaxing but now I realise all the work has been surreptitiously squashed into this week instead).

Here's what you get:

I do love a good spider diagram. This is how I do my to-do lists, so I can split them up into the different sections of my job. Helps me prioritise. And of course, it has to be in red pen....even though the new regime at work insists on green for marking, I'm rebelling. Sometimes. When I think nobody is watching.

Aimee Artsyville has the double whammy of killer red shoes and beautiful socks in that post I linked to, so go and see her and look at some other blogs while you're at it. Blog-graze, if you will. 

Weekend FO

Operation Nannyhat



In its unblocked state.

Pattern: Through the Woods
Yarn: Araucania Azapa (now, tragically, discontinued)
Needle: 3.75mm and 4mm
Mods: Knitted the rib with the smaller needle, as I did the first time I made it.



When I spoke to Mother Hand last weekend she told me Nanny Hand was in need of a hat. "She complained that her hair is getting thin and her head gets cold," related Mother Hand, "but that she thinks she needs a hat with a strap on it, because she hasn't got much of a neck anymore." (Nanny Hand suffers from osteoporosis...that thing with grandparents where they seem to be shrinking but in fact you're growing? No, she's actually shrinking.)

Mother Hand suggested a slouchy beret so I had a flick through my patterns and stash and remembered that Through the Woods had been nice and quick the last time I knitted it, and pretty to boot, and that last skein of Araucania would make a very snug hat and suit Nanny Hand's iron and black hair perfectly. I did consider adorning it with buttons and knitting a detachable strap but ... well, I might still. It will be meeting its recipient on Saturday so I still have time, potentially (second book proofs are back this week though so maybe not).

I decided whilst knitting this that Azapa is up there among my favourite yarns and that I should find a source of it now Get Knitted no longer stocks it. That was when I discovered that it appears to have been discontinued. #sadface. Luckily I found a few cream skeins left for sale so I have restocked; I marked this project as a stashbuster but I don't know if it counts when it inspires me to buy more yarn!