pain

I'm watching the Leeds v Millwall play off semi final second leg. As I type 77 mins have gone and it's 1-1 on the night with Millwall leading 2-1 overall. Sorry if that's dull but context is everything. The TV people are delighting in frequent shots of gutted looking Leeds fans, the pain of another year in league division three (in old money) looming large. I just noticed that my neck is hurting and I realise that it's because I saw what I thought was a really nasty injury to a Millwall player. He got clattered and as the camera zoomed in all you could see was his motionless body and his wide open eyes staring blankly towards the screen. I honestly thought he was dead. It really did send both a metaphorical , and it would seem actual, chill down my spine and it's had a physical impact on my neck. He eventually got up and seemed fine but it hasn't made my neck any better. I'm beginning to see how Munchhausen's syndrome might work.

On another note, it's odd watching a game where you'd love both teams to lose.

A better class of vandal

I went for a walk up Stoodley Pike the other day. As I huffed and puffed my way up the hill that just got higher and steeper, trudging through the boggy, sheep-shite laden heather and peat I realised why it had been 2 years since I'd been there. I mentioned its history before (see here)and how impressed I was with the graffiti. I didn't notice this bit last time though so the second weekend stroll/ death march was worth it I guess. If you can't read it in the photo it says: Miss B Cowan July 1930. I just love the primness of it. There's even a full stop carved into the rock after Miss Cowan's initial. There's evidence that education standards were higher in those days. I wonder if she's still alive.

Precocious

I often read what this guy has to say about teaching. This one made me laugh out loud. a) because it's inherently funny and enough to make you squirm for him and b) it reminds me of similar experiences teaching 15 year olds at an all girls school even before I was fully qualified (and still looked quite young). They would deliberately drop pencils and rubbers on the floor and try to get my attention while they made a big deal about bending over and picking it up, all eye lashes and thrust out breasts (at least that what I figured as I was doing my best to make sure I looked at the ceiling or out the window). They would ask me to do things like sing a song or come round for dinner or take them out just to see how I would react (answer: bright red face, sweaty palms and a pathetic bumbling 'don't be so stupid').

I have to say that was pretty much the worst teaching experience I ever had (apart form the Mexican lad with the exploding face and no short term memory but I try not to think about that).

"Brilliant Tits"
by studentteacher83 @ Tuesday, 21. Apr, 2009 – 19:48:34
Working with teenage girls is all too frequently a terrifying experience. I find a policy of don't-go-within-three-yards-of-them works quite well most of the time.
As a teacher you have to use praise alot, though it takes a time to get it down to a fine art as when I praised one of my pupils for working so well they called me a suck-up, but that's another story. I have several stampers for giving my pupils messages of praise, one of which is personalised and reads 'Mr **** says Brilliant' with some stars in the middle. I'm quite pleased with it and my pupils love getting it stamped in their books, even great big year eleven boys.
I was going round stamping some books during my year ten lesson and one of the girls asked if she could stamp her own book. That's fine by me but after I turned my back for a second to check another pupil's work I soon regretted it. When I look at the girl again she's only gone and stamped her nipples, as in on her school shirt, not her actual nipples. At least I assume not, I wasn't about to check. To say I was horrified is an understatement on a par with standing at the South Pole and saying it's a bit chilly.
Imagine now - but not too much - how that must have looked, a girl walking around with 'Mr **** says Brilliant' on her tits.
My own, slightly paranoid, view is that it made it look like I was giving her breasts a seal of approval, kind of like a highly perverted version of a Quality Standard for meat. It wasn't like it was late in the day, there were still three lessons to go, plus break and lunchtimes. She didn't even have a jumper to put on over the top. So numerous other teachers would have seen it, and that's before she gets home. That'll give her mum a fright when she does the laundry. I wouldn't imagine stamper ink comes out too well either.
I'm sticking to using my smiley face stamper from now on.

bag lady

Normally I don't like the "funny" stuff I get emailed from colleagues, especially the ones that say 'forward this to 10 people or you will die". However, I could watch stuff like this all day. I want to be like her when I grow up.

Wilson Palacios

Just read this. Redknapp's comment at the end says it all really. Things like this are always very sad but the thing about him waiting with his suitcase because he didn't want to wake the manager hits such a poignant note it makes me want to cry.


Tottenham's goalless draw at Everton was overshadowed by the tragedy that has hit their midfielder Wilson Palacios, following the discovery of a body believed to be that of his kidnapped younger brother.
Spurs boss Harry Redknapp confirmed Palacios had flown home to Honduras following the apparent death of his teenage brother Edwin, who had been kidnapped in 2007 and held to ransom.
Palacios, a £14million signing from Wigan in January, left the Spurs team hotel in Liverpool at 7am ahead of their 0-0 draw with Everton, when news filtered through from his homeland that his brother's body had been found.
Redknapp said: "The lad had heard from his family at about one in the morning what had happened, and his brothers I believe have identified the body.
"But he sat around the hotel lobby with his case packed until 7am because he didn't want to wake me.
"I'm amazed with him. But we organised for him to be driven back to London so he could get a flight home.
"Things like that bring everything into focus. I believe the boy had been kidnapped and a ransom had been paid but he had not been released."
Spurs' point keeps them in the hunt for seventh place in the Premier League, but Redknapp was more concerned with Palacios.
He said: "You couldn't wish for a more calm and likeable lad, football is not really that important after this."

tribal chants

I haven't had time to comment on the 5-2 defeat at Old Trafford nor the limp win at the Lane against the Baggies nor today's even limper 0-0 versus the Toffees. Suffice to say that we'll just miss out on that Europa league spot and that's probably a good thing. I hope Fulham get it and we can finish above West Sham. As I said much earlier in the season, I'd have taken one place above the relegation zone after the start we had so wherever we finish will be a bonus. I could have gone on about Howard Webb's pathetic decision at Old Trafford or I could have ranted about Drogba's outburst on Wednesday night and the likelihood of his getting away without much punishment but, you know, it doesn't seem worth it. The season's over for me now and I'm already getting those close season blues. To try to cheer myself up I looked at some football chants and found this great video entitled Die besten Fangesänge der Welt. It's gratifying to see the Spurs in this random German top ten with the spine tingling 'Oh when the Spurs...' but the best is the first one from a bunch of nutty Japanese supporters who follow Yamagata. It's a shame they rip off a Chelski song but it's forgivable when you see the choreography and realise that the words are only a vague approximation of English.

I've been on a bit of a downer this week (and I am sorry for being moody and intolerable- this is my public apology honey) but things like this definitely help raise the spirits.


Yamagata are now my second club.

White Supremacist Lane

We're used to the odd Chelsea "fan" giving the Nazi salute at the Lane even now (My grandad didn't of course when he came with us a few months ago!). This is something else though. I've seen pics of the England team doing the Nazi salute in an international in germany but I had no idea this had happened. I think it speaks for itself and the various ironies don't really need spelling out.

You can read the match report here:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/englandfootball/story/0,9565,540784,00.html

an extract: "having seen several of the matches that England plays, as each December comes around, one inference may perhaps be advanced without harshness, and this is that football is a game more suited to the Anglo-Saxon and the Teuton than to the Latin race."