Tag: school

Bunting, Books and Bungle

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 3 Comments

The final week of the first term is finally over and since it has been one whole week since the last blog entry *bows head in shame* I feel I should write something, even if very little has actually happened.

My classroom is now the owner of beautiful new energy efficient lighting. Fitted after school on Thursday to enable a day's trial, before a decision was made to fit them throughout the block late on Friday. Although this is great news, being able to see students in the classroom I feel is an essential part of teaching, it did threaten our chances for winning a tin of chocolates. Earlier on in the week my tutor group had completely decorated the room in Union Jack bunting to celebrate 'Red, White and Blue Day' to bag said chocolates in a school competition. I had, of course, completely forgotten that the engineer would appear on Thursday to fit lights, bunting was taken down, as was our chances of winning the competition.

A visit to the school library meant a collection of teenage fiction to read over the holiday….

Not that I'd actually get round to reading them because of the MASSIVE stack of marking I have to do….

Friday evening came to a close with a walk into town to partake in a few pints of the black stuff in a local hostelry. Who should be at the bar when I arrived? One of my neighbours, already slightly the worse for wear. It was quite easy to recognise this due to the fact that despite being neighbours for three and a half years he didn't seem to know who I was, he shook my hand and said, “I know you from somewhere”. After giving him a couple of clues the penny finally dropped, before he began to introduce me to all his equally drunk mates. The next half hour was spent discussing such subjects as: literature, education, darts, beer and….. the 80s TV show Rainbow…mainly because one of them had the nickname 'Bungle', and did look surprisingly like him…

 

Failure. Blood. Running.

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

Failure. I hate to admit defeat, but for one reason or another I am officially announcing that September's challenge has been extended into October. I'm slightly disappointed that I've had to take such drastic action but with a two week half-term coming up, together with the fact that my body is finally starting to feel better, I feel it is the best option. The challenge of learning to ride a unicycle was always going to be difficult fully fit, but with various aches and pains appearing (none I think directly related to unicycling) completing the challenge in one month was near impossible.

Blood. It has been a busy week at school. Various assessments taking place and an ever increasing pile of marking that needs completing. Thursday saw the school's open evening, and the annual 'teach the parents' classes I put on. All was going well early on, I was doing the old descriptive writing session using sweets to encourage the use of senses in our writing. We had got through the sight, sound, touch, smell parts without any problems. At this stage I did the old comedy healthy and safety speech before tasting sweets, “please don't eat sweets if you are allergic to anything that could possibly be contained within the sweet”. I should also have mentioned loose teeth! Before I knew it I had a prospective student in front of me in tears, blood flowing down her chin and tissues being stuffed in her mouth by her mother. She was quickly whisked out of the room passed other prospective parents and students, leaving a trail of blood from the English classroom. Not the 'English is Fun' look I was going for. Needless to say that could be one less student joining us next September.

Running. Today I went for a run, the first for three weeks, and although my back was a tad sore it felt good to be finally running again. So I'll be partaking in the first Frostbite run tomorrow morning at St Neots. The Frostbite Races are a great little series of six races held throughout the winter (hence the name) for local club runners to enter. I'll use tomorrow's race as a nice training run and take it pretty steady. That should put me in good stead for next weekend's Great Eastern Run, a half-marathon run around the picturesque streets of Peterborough. Followed, of course, by the Zombie Run later in the month.

 

Unicycle Day 7

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 1 Comment

This week has been a difficult week in the September Challenge. First full week at school full of teaching, meetings and information overload has had a negative effect on the unicycling.

There has been far too much of this….

And not enough of this….

The forecast for the weekend is dry, warm and sunny so my plan is to practice, practice, practice! I desperately need to lose the fear and get back on track.

So here's to a successful weekend of unicycling!

 

Bits and Bobs

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 1 Comment

Its been a while since a blog post, so here goes……

On the work front it has been a crazy last couple of weeks at school which has meant that I have a fairly long ‘to do’ list over half-term: marking, reading, marking, planning, marking….and….yeah….more marking.

On the running front the weather has meant that it has been a bit touch and go lately. The last two weekends I had planned to run a couple of races:

  • Last Sunday – Bourne Frostbite – cancelled ‘snow and ice’
  • This morning – Stamford St. Valentines 30K – cancelled ‘snow and ice’

Although in both cases, unlike the France/Wales rugby, they made a decision 24hrs before the start. I’m gutted the 30K has been cancelled, with all the miles I ran in janathon I felt like it would be a good way to finish it all. I have managed to do a few runs, although I hate the thought of starting a run in the cold, once I get going I think it’s fantastic. It’s great to fill the cold air in your lungs, very invigarationg! Since janathon came to an end I have had no problem settling back into the old ‘run when I fancy it’ routine. The dog joined me this morning for a gentle 4 mile jog through woods and over fields on the outskirts of town.

We also have some good and bad news on the music front…..firstly bad news….

Frank Turner has released another 150 standing tickets for his Wembley gig in April. Which is bloody typical since the only tickets I could get a couple of months ago were seating. I thought back then to hang-on and wait for some more standing tickets to be released, but began to panic as it was near sold out, so bought seating tickets. Damn! Damn! Damn!

And the good news….

It has been announced that Beans on Toast will be opening at the gig. Which is fantastic news!  So full line-up:

…nice! Also on the music front….I am loving The Vaccines and Bombay Bicycle Club at the moment….

Finally, my February challenge of learning to play the ukulele is not going particularly smoothly…..enough said.