Beware the Crepes of March!

[QueenQueenie]

Well someone had to do it as my last post was number 999...

Ah, interesting, EA. I am re-training and trying to get back into teaching after a long time spent doing other things. I am now itching to know which schools you inspected.

Ha ha. Dorset was a long time ago now though, I left there in the late nineties. They were lovely schools to visit, but SatNav would have been helpful! You would quite often ask a local where the school was and end up where it had been in about 1925.

I last taught in the late 90s. But I went off on maternity leave just before Ofsted were due a visit.

Buggies done. Now smartphones for blind people. It would be hard to accuse my life of lacking variety.

My views of Dorset have never got beyond Thomas Hardy. Though I am very fond of Hardy.

Apparently DD2's mock French oral went fabulously - he told her so. I'm so relieved - this is a massive confidence boost for her.

I'm going to collapse in front of Masterchef this evening - you'd think it was me who had done the exam.

I do not like limoncella (nor can I spell it). I didn't have this in Venice BT did sample the Spritz Royals which involved Martini and champagne ( I felt rather sloshed afterwards). I have to confess I'm not overly fond of proscetto either.

Is Dorset not The French Lieutenant's Woman or have I got my counties muddled (do bear in mind I'm a Northerner).

Would I entirely theoretically need to get a cocktail shaker if I equally theoretically explored that 'breakfast' (ha!) martini?

Big congrats to Dd, Hatty. Phew!
Yes, French Lieutenant's Woman was filmed in Lyme Regis and John Fowles (?) lived in Lyme. I grew up in/near the village where much of Tess of the Durbervilles was set. Bloody miserable book, that. I read it when I was at boarding school because I was homesick. It did not cheer me up. As far as local authors go, I prefer John Cowper Powys.

MI, you are being mucho industrious. Surely you deserve a cocktail shaker?

MI, martinis don't want to be shaken (Bond was wrong, I have been told). You don't want the ice to melt into the drink, diluting the pretty well neat gin/vodka. The ice just goes in briefly (into the jug, say), enough to chill the drink, stirred with whatever else and then you sieve it so you get very cold, very strong cocktail. dh adds a tiny bit of triple sec along with a whisker of vermouth (he tends to make them as I lose my nerve at the absence of non-gin ingredients in any quantity). TMI? I do love my Friday night martini . Cocktail shakers are very good fun.

I am not sure that I have ever had a martini. Or been to Dorset

Well done to your DD on her French Oral. I have been attempting to correct DGodD's French speaking - she emailed photos of her writing!
DD is supposed to be learning her French written CA, but she is watching Home and Away instead!

I have been to Dorset, and in fact stood on the very spot where the French L Woman stared mournfully out to sea. And I have drunk a martini, or 12. Though not admittedly both at the same time.

I must ask for clarification - you've all been talking about CAs, ISAs, and the like, and I don't know what they all mean...

In other news, I did 'a very good lesson' today, and my mentor was 'very pleased with me'. I think she's just marvellous, so was very pleased. It was fairly exhausting. Teaching adults how to spell 'bus' is surprisingly difficult.

If you have a moment my dear crepeys, take a moment to sign a petition to try and stop the tories cutting 24% from the FE budget. Yes, that's 24%. At the same time, they seem to want higher literacy levels, and for forreners to learn English. Link www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm

"d'Urbervilles". Oops.
CA = controlled assessment
ISA = sort of science practical thingy, forgotten what it stands for

Is 'controlled assessment' a new-fangled word for 'exam'?

Well, sort of. They are the ones that they do with access to materials to plan. For DD they form 25% of the final science marks and 60% (IIRC) for MFL, Art, ICT and Citizenship.

The MFL ones are the height of crapness.

Herbs, do you teach phonics?

I have been to Dorsetshire twice.Both times for funerals.

watching Materchef. It's weird what people think is a good idea for a signature dish. they obviously haven't got the Crepey Cookbook.

We have had the joys of Home and Away, Hollyoaks and now Two and a Half Men on a loop. But I can't stand Greg and the other one, so I guess I'm not missing much

Crem, is MC on now? Or are you catching up with yesterday's?

BTM - I don't teach phonics to this particular class, as they've all had such varied educational backgrounds, no-one is a 'clean slate', as it were. That's what my mentor says, anyway...

Oh Dorset is bootiful wherever you go
And the rain in the summertime makes the mangel-wurzels grow...
etc

Just checking in from Masterchef to say: Herbs - I stood on the Cobb in Lyme Regis trying to be moody like Meryl Streep as well

I am starting to feel quite peculiar. I think it might be time to step away from the computer. I did stop for supper: peanut sauce (organic peanut butter, sesame oil, bit of water from the noodles, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, sriracha sauce) was nice but quite filling!

Oh dear, MrsS. That doesn't sound good.

For heaven's sake, MI, step away from the screen. You'll get square eyes.

Poor MrsS