It's a hard life

HW Bear and friend



The secondary school on Hoy, with Mabel, lovely classroom assistant and famed Scottish dancing teacher extraordinaire, hiding in background

Over the seas to Hoy

The ferry to Hoy (jes' kidding) Actually the wreck at the side of the jetty leading to the ferry.



Greetings from the land of the under-employed. I have had a great week of doing not a lot. Feel guilty ("all my friends are toiling away") and elated ("Yes! semi-retirement and being paid for it.")


Lots of students away on leadership training, early holidays, flying (literally) visits to opticians etc, so Tuesday saw me on Hoy with 5 students. I only teach 2 periods on a Tuesday and leave on the 2 o'clock ferry. It was a glorious day and for the first time I was able to sit out on deck and read my book and imagine what it was like to be a Viking sailing into harbour on a glassy sea. (Actually, I guess that should read 'rowing' then.) I didn't have my camera so have attached a photo of a more typical ferry trip.


Wednesday I taught one and a half lessons then the RAF turned up to do activities with the Stronsay kids and I finished my Of Mice and Men display, an artistic arrangement of '30s pinups of Jean Harlow, Claudette Colbert etc juxtaposed with grainy images of breadlines and the Dustbowl.


Thursday - Drama supply at local comp. - was the first there that left me feeling mildly adequate. All went well, possible because B., Chav-in-Chief, was on holiday, which left her posse (I really wish I could tell you these 3 girls' names, but it's not blog etiquette, I believe) strangely subdued. I have not found B. easy to teach (read: I have taught her nothing whatever) but last week was, if anything, even worse than before, as she had had her bellybutton pierced, something she wished to share with me. "Miss, it's infected. Am I going to die?" I gave her some motherly advice on the necessity of hygiene and the efficacy of saltwater, while quelling the desire to throw up in her navel.

Friday - the best yet. Didn't have to go to Hoy; met the class in Stromness and we had a lovely day of taking photos and visiting the new Pier Arts Centre. This is amazing. I was expecting some little village art gallery, instead I found a fantastic place with stuff by Anish Kapoor, Patrick Heron, Barbara Hepworth etc. They provide art materials and we all sat happily on the floor and drew pictures. I get paid for this, bear in mind.

Further joy this week came in the form of a fantastic present from Lisa and Stewart. I had tried to buy a hotwater bottle earlier but the woman in Boots looked at me as if I'd tried to buy Easter eggs in July and said "They've no come in yet." It was the same thing with warm gloves. So last Saturday I'd invested in a sheepskin rug, handknitted woolly gloves and sheepskin slippers ('invested' being the operative word) and then picked up the mystery parcel from the Post Office and there he was. HW Bear. I haven't had a hotty in the shape of a teddy since I was 4. I'm so happy.

Emma, my house-mate, left today. She's off on a volleyball training course for week in Largs, a seaside resort near Glasgow. I took her to the airport at lunchtime and she just rang from the beach. "Gorgeous sunshine, nice buildings, TREES." All the things we don't got here. Happy as I am, I am really looking forward to going home next Friday. And I hope I'll see some of you, so that'll be even better.