DaveAtherall's Xanga

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:53:45 GMT

My newfound commitment to blogging has waned slightly but I'm still here chucking my words upon this blank canvas for you to peruse at your delight. Evenings out doing stuff have prevented me from quite as much football as I had been watching but I'm pleased to see the Dutch masters thrashing everyone.

This weekend seven of the CCK team travelled up to Croydon to take part in a badly organised five-aside tournament. After going ahead in every single game, we managed to come away having failed to win whatsoever. I returned home with a raging headache that could only be solved by watching Russia beat Greece. It lingered till Monday and I had to spend the day in bed tending the sore throat that had come to join the party. I watched a slightly amusing film called 'The Darjeeling (something)' and pottered around wasting time.

I've returned to work with wily stubble since.

Panther in the Woods

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:02:54 GMT

Apparently a panther has been spotted in Bevendean Woods. A dog has been attacked and the Argus is in a truth-fabricating frenzy. The relevance of all this is that this is my favourite spot to go badger-watching. Kids at school who have seen me wandering in the woods searching about the black and white beauties have been warning of the dangers and encouraging me to embrace them. It seems pretty unlikely that a panther is indeed wandering the woods - it is only a tiny patch of woodland but you never know. I shall keep you posted.

Communism and Badgers

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:18:15 GMT

Monday has come away, following Sunday like an unwanted and slightly snotty younger brother when you want to play football down the park. The snotty younger brother - Jethro, this is an imaginary younger brother by the way, not your fine self who managed to generally keep the snot within your snout - didn't treat me too badly. I spent most of the day researching poems from different cultures that are featured in the GCSE anthology. It is genuinely fascinating stuff. My investigations into 'What Were They Like?' by Denise Levertov led me to learn about the Vietnam War and communism.

Before the snot dribbled into today - I think the metaphor is going a little far now and getting slightly confusing - I had a nicey-nice Sunday. After church I wandered to Stanmer Park for the Springwatch Festival. There were copious stalls about various environmental stuff like birds of prey, plants and badgers. The badger stall is one I have manned in the past and due to my lack of attendance at the Mid-Sussex Badger Protection Group I felt slightly nervous about going to greet my fellow badger-loving beings. When I was behind the Badger Stall the head honcho of the MSBPG grudgingly admitted that there was more to life than badgers. Indeed there is but badgers to make a fine part of life; that cannot be denied.

Football has continued to be watched and we are now approaching game 6 - so far they haven't been crackers but I'll stick with it and no doubt the first match I miss will be a goalfest.

The Football Has Begun

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:05:58 GMT

The European Championships have begun. I've been sitting on my sofa since 5pm watching two only very slightly entertaining football matches. Without England to support I have a number of different interests in this summer's tournament. I support the individuals in my Fantasy Football team, support the Dutch of which I am a quarter of, support the Croatians because I got them in the work sweepstake and support the predictions I have made which will win me my bet with Gary. It all gets quite complicated because quite often you seem to want conflicting things to happen. Sometimes I want it to have the simplicity of yesteryear when I just wanted the underdog to win each match but these other interests do liven things up a little.

Other then watching the football I have spent the day eating breakfast with Mr Rose, mowing the lawn, going to Christine Liddiard's leaving do at an incredibly beautiful place called Banks Farm and breathing. The room has started to darken now and it is probably time to go to bed as I have no interest in watching 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider', 'The Minotaur: Part 2', 'Gone in 60 Seconds' or 'Team America: World Police'.

The battery is also hobbling towards redness and my bed is beckoning so I shall pay heed to these hints and retire until tomorrow comes.

Back to Back Bloggeration

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:33:24 GMT

I have just been spending the last fifteen minutes trying to work out how to make the font size bigger on my page but amongst the many many options that are available to me, font size changing is not making itself apparent to me. Oh well, you will have to continue to get the binoculars out to check out my blog.

Today was another day at school - the first Friday in fact that I have worked this year. The downside of qualifying is that I have to work on Fridays as well now. My year 7s have been writing film reviews for me. My favourite line is: "Watching 'Stardust' was like doing a poo when you've got constipation". I thought that was quite an apt description of watching a painfully long film. Most similes they produce are boringly cliched but this young feller's got a crude flair that will probably do him no good whatsoever.

After three lessons and a bit of marking the weekend finally arrived and now I get to watch two football games a day for the next few weeks.

Perhaps

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:10:19 GMT

It has been so long since I have popped in to say hello to my Xanga site that it has taken me a while to even work out how to post a blog but I have worked it out and here I am and I'm unsure if anyone is listening although I think a lot of people get e-mailed my entries and perhaps a trickle of people may read my entry and their lives will be enriched by what they read or alternatively their valuable time will have been wasted.

As it has been such a long time (almost a year) it is hard to pin down what exactly to say. Two of the big bits of news in my life are that Helen is pregnant with twins and I have just qualified as a teacher. The pregnancy is fifteen weeks in or thereabouts and Helen's belly is growing and she is getting increasingly tired and hungry and I am unaffected physically but excited about the prospect of our family doubling. I have been thinking of lots of wonderful names, most of which are quickly vetoed by the Mrs. My vetoed favourites include Marvelous, Zerubabbel (Zeb or Bubble for short) and Badger. Perhaps one of them will sneak into one of the middle names.

On the teaching front, I have stumbled and strolled and then stumbled and strolled through a year of attempting to help 11-16 year olds become better writers. It has been fun, stressful, hard, painful, pleasing - a whole host of emotions but the qualification part of it is done and all that remains is six more weeks at Patcham High School before I move to Heathfield Community College to begin my Newly Qualified Teacher Year.

I feel I'm better at expressing my thoughts when I'm discussing the minutiae of life rather than the big things so let's look at today and see what it has brought forth. The day started with my year 9 class being sent off for a Careers lesson which meant I was to check my Fantasy Football team on the internet but I chose unwisely with location of time-wasting - the library - because 55 German students and 55 Patcham students were about to arrive and I was persuaded to photograph this coming together of nationalities. Mini flapjacks and cheap cola were my reward for holding the camera.

The rest of the day was spent watching a DVD, eating a Chinese meal, ordering stuff on Amazon and oh yes, teaching a year 7 lesson. I was rewarding myself with a somewhat lazy day after the exertion of becoming a teacher yesterday.

When I got home I watched last night's 'Apprentice'. Lucinda was kicked out for being 'a little bit too zany' while Helene stayed in for being utterly useless and Alex stayed in for being toady toadatoad. Lee stayed in for lying on his CV although I do quite like him and Clare, who seems impressive but I would hate to ever work with her, stayed in also. It's been going downhill ever since posh Rafe left. There is my analysis.

Anyway, I've said enough. Perhaps I will frequent again. Perhaps Xanga will rise from the ashes. Perhaps Facebook will crumble into oblivion. Perhaps badgers will take over the world.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:07:25 GMT

Hello.

Jarvis and I are currently recording 'My Love is a Badger', a song that has been yearning to be taken into the studio ever since its inception in the Clarendon Villas basement many moons ago. That naughty badger is still on the loose cajoling people into parting company with 40p when all he needs is 20p. If he asks you for 40p there is something sinister going on.

I notice that Jon Lyndon has rejoined the blogging world and has gone over to blogspot to talk about Shebert Fountains, changeable sweat, losing at Scrabble and Calvin and Hobbes. That Heskey-loving freak doesn't know how to use a capital letter but his contributions have driven me back to the much-neglected blog.

Since last time a bloggeried I have got my degree and been accepted to train to be an English teacher from this September. I have been having a relaxing summer off reading books, playing tennis and losing and finding my rabbit. My rabbit Bootylicious got stolen while Helen and I were on holiday but after a bit of investigation I tracked her down to the local RSPCA and recovered her.

Next week I'm off to Skiathos (I think) for a week of reading, swimming and eating before I enter the arena of educating the youth of today.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Wed, 30 May 2007 11:23:41 GMT

The rain is drizzling down and preventing me from sitting in my garden. So far today, I have been trying to prepare my talk for the coming Identity meeting although I have been sidetracked in my preparation by trying to start a campaign to exchange the word 'Brian' for multiplication when one cell group becomes two. It seems logical to me. Multiplication is used because split has negative connotations yet multiplication doesn't seem to quite make sense to me because what two numbers are we multiplying in this circumstance. For a cell to Brian makes alot more sense clearly because my guinea-pig is called Brian and is largely marginalised by cell groups because we can't fit many people in his hutch.

Yesterday I was in the garden (that was when the sun was out) and I my hand came across something that felt like a cork lying in the grass. I wondered what it was so picked it up and on closer inspection it was a piece of cat poo - nice. On better garden news, my vegetables have sprouted before Helen's. I can't actually remember what it is I planted buy I have definitely got some greenery poking through the soil.

I reckon it is about time for lunch. I am going to watch Andrew Marr's History of England programme while I munch through whatever I can find. I fear I won't find much.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Thu, 24 May 2007 14:57:18 GMT

My claim of spurning Facebook was short-lived as I soon fell for its charms and have been spending far too long on it ever since. I have even started a little group which excites me. It is a secret group and you will have to research it for yourself if you wish to join.

Anyway, back to bloggeration. I have been working at school this week, looking forward to half-term and trying to wear contact lenses. I have currently had them in for 9 hours today and I need to take them out. During my contact lense initiation I severely tested the patience of the initiator by taking 50 minutes to put two contact lenses into my eye. I was getting increasingly frustrated at my inability not to destroy them by blinking but I finally managed to apply them to my pupils. What a thrilling story.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Mon, 14 May 2007 07:21:47 GMT

It has been a while, but I have returned.

Last night, I was reading a passage from the Bible for Stephen Dawson. While reading I noticed a few sniggers from the audience but I ploughed on and got through the passage. On returning to my seat my wife informed me that my flies were gaping and when glanced down, the fact was confirmed as I beheld the jaws of a crocodile ready to pounce. I started laughing and couldn't stop; Dan next to me also found it highly amusing and had to leave the meeting to have a good hearty laugh on the steps outside. My childish giggling continued to the point where I accidentally stamped on and broke my glasses. It was all very amusing, humbling and slightly embarrassing.

I have now finished my degree by the way. Last week I handed in 26,000 words and now I just have to wait until 22nd June to find out how good my choice of words were. I have also done my first bit of teaching, taking on a year 9 class for 25 minutes, and it went pretty well - no-one threw any chairs, swore at me, or set fire to anything, and they even called me Mr Dave which was slightly surreal.

The football season is also over for both CCK and the British nation at large. CCK had its end of season do at the weekend and I was honoured and given a DVD football quiz game and some signed Liverpool stuff, which was unexpected and nice.

I shall return soon (spurn Facebook).