Friday 26 June 2015

I'm on holiday!!



As much as I love my job I am so glad we're now on holiday!  Until the 17th of August, 7 whole weeks of unwinding.  And boy do I need it!!  Unusually for me I'm actually away for a week starting tomorrow.  OH and I are off to Ireland in the camper van with 1 teenogre.  Weather is to be mixed but I don't care.  The Teenager is dog and house sitting.

In other news this week,  The Teenager has left school.  I now have no children in the education system. Feels weird but I'm pleased I don't have to go to any more parents evenings!

Oh and last night I dyed my hair pink.  As you do ;-)

Monday 22 June 2015

Tomorrow


I didn't get the job.  To say I'm devastated after all the hard work I've put in over the past year is an understatement.  I actually had a good interview and the feedback was good.  There's a whole lot more I could say but what's the point?  I think this school isn't my future so need to keep working on getting that permanent post elsewhere.

Tomorrow I will go into work and give 100% to my pupils because it's all about them, not me.

Sunday 21 June 2015

Eeek! Interview time

 
Easier said than done! 
 
Any positive vibes you can spare tomorrow (Monday) at 9am will be greatly appreciated.

Friday 19 June 2015

A great big hole


This is the current view from my window.  Last Saturday afternoon we had a massive power cut.  It lasted about 6 hours.  A power cable exploded apparently.  The surge in power knocked out my router and so I've had no internet for a week.  Very annoying especially as BT sent a replacement router that somehow was delivered to the wrong address.  When I got home tonight from work a second replacement had arrived and I managed to get us reconnected.

Clearly the power problem has not been completely sorted out yet hence the large hole in my neighbour's garden and half the road sectioned off.  It's making getting in and out of my driveway a bit tricky!  Every night I come home from work and have to reset clocks etc as the power gets switched off when they're working on it.

In other news , my job interview is on Monday at 9am.  If you can send any positive vibes my way I'd be hugely grateful.  Even thinking about it makes my stomach lurch.

I'm off to support OH and his daughter in the Tough Mudder challenge this weekend.  Basically a half marathon run through mud, water and electricity.  They're mad!!

Friday 12 June 2015

Everything's back to normal


Our wee school had a revisit from HMI this week.  Anyone in education or who loves someone who is, knows just how stressful it can be.  We have worked our butts off for the last year putting right the previous 7 years of dreadful leadership and bad management (that's what last year's report found so I'm not speaking out of turn)  Officially all I'm allowed to say is that it was "an overall positive experience" :-) :-) :-)

So it's back to normal, whatever that is.  No more working at home all weekend or arriving at work before 8am and leaving at 7pm.  Whoever said teachers work shorter hours than other people don't know enough good teachers!

And we've only got 2 weeks until the end of term.  HOORAY!!!

Oh, and I've got a job interview for a permanent post in my school.  Fingers crossed!

Thursday 4 June 2015

ATM Dispute

 
Ever had a disagreement with an ATM/autobank/hole in the wall?  Grrr!!

On Tuesday night I tried to withdraw £130.  I was being organised and had planned ahead how much cash I needed for the next wee while.  So when the machine whirred and whirred and nothing came out I started to panic.  The slot where the cash comes out didn't open.  At all!  My card and receipt came out but no cash. Without thinking I put my card back in for a balance statement and it said that I had withdrawn the £130.

So one phone call later to my bank and I was advised to wait 24 hours to "see if it credits itself" *rolls eyes*

A quick dash from school just after 3pm today meant I got to a branch just before it closed (my bank is only open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday!!!)  and was able to talk to a real person.  Long story short, I'm one of the 1 in 10 people whose money didn't "credit itself" and had to raise an official ATM Dispute.  If I'm "lucky" it'll only take a few days to check the figures and verify my dispute.  Or I might be unlucky and it'll take a few weeks.

Seriously???  A few weeks to give me back MY OWN MONEY.  And no, I'm not entitled to an explanation or compensation either.  That's a lot of money to just disappear into the system.

Fortunately I have some savings and will be able to cover my bills once I transfer some money.  But what if I didn't?  What about all those people who live pay check to pay check, carefully budgeting every penny and don't have the luxury of savings?

Technology is a wonderful thing, when it works.  Computers rule the world and we're far too reliant on them especially when it comes to money.  A timely reminder for me on a few things

Tuesday 2 June 2015

Bread and butter pickles

 
I got 8 reduced cucumber halves. You can't go wrong with 9p!  I also had some of my chive flower vinegar left so I was able to make a batch of bread and butter pickles.

 
I sliced them, put them in a colander and sprinkled them with salt.  I sat them in a shallow dish to catch the liquid and left them overnight.  There was a lot of liquid in the dish by morning.  This helps the pickles stay crunchy.


I rinsed them and patted them dry between 2 tea towels.

 
I then brought the vinegar and some sugar to the boil and added the slices of cucumber.  I brought it back up to the boil for 1 min.
 
I drained the cucumber and let it cool briefly before adding it to a hot sterilised jar.  Then I topped the jar up with some of the vinegar.


 
They're well packed in!

 
Can't beat good old Sarson's for vinegar! And their big jars are ideal to store your pickled stuff.
 
I love these pickles.  I have no idea why they're called bread and butter pickles. They taste like gherkins/dill pickles.  Good in salads and on burgers ;-)
 
 
ETA- Did some research and found this explanation