Waking up in the morning my mind has been jumping straight to a countdown – previously it was how many days till my next school holidays (which comes nice and fast with mid-term breaks only resulting in 6 weeks teaching in a block). Now the deadlines I’m counting down are time left at school, time until I see my parents and time remaining till I leave London.
Obviously some deadlines are looked forward to – once school finishes I won’t have to do any more work for the whole of 2011! But leaving London is difficult to deal with as it approaches – trying to fit plenty in with friends during the time remaining and prioritising all the fun with the fact I’m not working or earning for the rest of 2011 is a bit of a balancing act.
Another deadline that has come up rather quickly is getting ready for the London to Paris bike ride. Doing a bit of training at the moment so it’s not a complete disaster of pain for the 4 days. If you were thinking about donating it would be fantastic if you could do that. Just a reminder – I’m riding for UNICEF and if you’re interested go to this website to donate:
I should also have a deadline for writing this blog – it’s been a bit of a break between updates but need to keep my own record of what I’ve been up to!
Northumberland Walk
Way back in Easter I joined some friends on a 4-day walk along England’s north coast. It was with a company that organises your B&B each night and then picks up your bags and takes them to the next place you’re walking to - very civilized hiking. Was quite a different holidays and were extremely lucky with the weather. Unfortunately the mind was willing but the body isn’t used to walking 25+ kms a day. Saw some great castles and some actual beaches that had sand. Still would have needed another 10 to 20 degrees warmer for me to think about swimming though.
(castles)
One historical location I visited was where St. Cuthbert’s bones were hidden during some upheaval thingo – was a cave with this written on the overhang. Little bit heretical but I laughed a bit.
(jump here)
The food was amazing on the most part except one place I never, ever want to return to called Spittal… even the name sounds bad. Was a beachside town with a pretty cheap café – I ordered a chicken burger and all I got was the bun and the chicken patty. No salad, sauce or anything else. Worst meal ever. However the other meals at other places were impressive but it’s just the bad ones you remember the most.
Royal Wedding
Yay for a royal wedding public holiday! Wasn’t that excited about it all but joined up late with friends who had gone in really early on the Mall to watch them drive past – had to bribe my way into the group with morning breakfast since they’d been there since 3am or something ridiculous. Had a pretty good view but unfortunately my camera isn’t fantastic and this was the best photo I managed to get. Also got another chance to see the Queen.
(best photo I got)
4 countries in 3 days
There were two extra long weekends in a row in UK and for the 2nd one went for a European road adventure.
Day 1 – London to Paris via Luxembourg
Woke up and managed to drive through 5 countries in the day. Left home and boarded a ferry – drove to Luxembourg (quite a nice little country – saw some castles) for tea and then after getting lost and entering Germany, Belgium and France and back into Luxembourg way too many times (stupid roadworks sending us in loops) got on the right road and ended up on the outskirts of Paris for the night. Some crazy number of kilometres we covered that day…
Day 2 – Paris to Rouen
Was a day with fantastic weather but I was having issues with my contact lenses so the bright sun was painful – hadn’t put my sunglasses in since they’ve been in hibernation over the winter. After the massively late night driving we slept in and arrived late to Versailles. Certainly not a place to arrive late to on a long weekend. The queue was massive so just wandered around the front but it certainly looked impressive. Some crazy statistic like 7.6 million visit Versailles but only 4.5 million actually make it inside. Going to organise this much better when I visit later with family.
(As close as we got to Versailles)
After this excitement headed off to the French coast around the location where the Allies invaded/liberated France at the beginning of the end of World War II. Ordered a meal with my non-existent French and repeated finger-pointing and pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
Day 3 – Back through Paris
Had to catch the ferry back to the UK so followed the coast north through some interesting and artsy towns. Got to the ferry just as the bad weather starting rolling in and got put in the same area of the car park on the ferry that resulted in us being just about last again off the ferry. Certainly not lucky on that front…
Others
I’m sure I’ve done other exciting things but didn’t take photos myself so rather then a wall of text might just do the bullet point list at the end – much like a 6th form student running close to the deadline in their exam. (no prizes for guessing who’s had to mark too many practice essays recently…)
- School got OFSTED inspected (2nd time for me now) Managed to teach in two officially ‘good’ schools.
- Was involved in a London to Paris Fundraising Murder Mystery which was lots of fun again – Tip of the Event: “Always ask to inspect the body”
- Tasted ice-cream made with Nitrogen – best ever! If I had to open a restaurant or café I would either make it like Wahaca (street Mexican food) or this nitrogen ice-cream place.
- Got into Lords Cricket Ground to watch a university match. It wasn’t very busy so we were 2 rows from the fence at the amazing ground.
