Plans

Things rarely go to plan – that’s when I bother to make plans. I much prefer spontaneity. Sometimes though, plans are a necessity. Christmas is quite possibly my busiest time at work. It’s very tense there at the moment. Everyone is running round like headless chickens. There was a massive argument over some purple soap. The staff room is full of bin-sacks of toys and books and Tombola drums, and you can’t move for tinsel. I’ve spent most of this week making calendars, painting a giant mixing bowl, making an online advent calendar, and creating an old-fashioned sign that says “The Bethlehem Inn”. All typical pre-Christmas primary school stuff, and the stresses that come from organising a Christmas fair and nativity plays at the same time as some virus takes out the angels and shepherds one by one.

Knowing the deadline for my End of Course Assessment came right in the middle of all this, I thought I’d get on top of it and get it sent off early. I finally whittled my photographs down to the required 10 chosen ones (no doubt rejecting any that were any good in the process). I had just started on the written work when my son rang me up to tell me he is joining the army. This was a bit unexpected to say the least, and quite distracting. No sooner had I got over that shock, and my twins had the type of argument you only usually witness on Tricia or Jeremy Kyle, or sometimes at weddings. Suddenly I was living in a war zone – but one where I couldn’t take sides. In the middle of that, my daughter’s puppy decided to remove his harness by chewing through it. I then had to go and buy a new harness.

Eventually though, somehow the End of Course Assessment got written and sent off, and I now find myself in ‘course limbo’ where I am wandering around looking for something to do. I am really going to have to find another course after Christmas. If not, I might have to tackle the ironing.