Sunday 20 November 2011

A Few Nice Things

I had something deep and meaningful to share...

I thought of it when I was doing the washing up earlier.


It was some sort of metaphorical thought - terribly profound, that sort of thing.


But I've forgotten it...


Oh well.


Today I went on a walk. On my own. In the fog.

I loved it.


I went to Brixworth Park, which is well equipped with play area, café and reservoir, amongst other attractions. It was chilly, but beautiful - all the slightly clichéd sights, like gently bobbing sailing boats, and misty water-laden spider webs, and the distant hills rising from the mist above a still stretch of water, and tiny water droplets suspended from red berried bushes... Clichéd, perhaps; beautiful, definitely.

It made me feel very peaceful and also a bit happy, and also a bit sad.


But mostly peaceful, which was nice.


Then I watched possibly my new favourite film. It's called (I think) "Nativity", and stars Martin Freeman as a primary school teacher in Coventry. There are some farcical moments (one of the main themes of the film is an ongoing feud between two ex-best-friend teachers in two different schools in the same area, trying to out-do each other with their respective nativities, which inevitably leads to some hilarious mishaps and japes and shenanigans etc etc...), but there are some really lovely moments, and some really real moments too.

I think my favourite scene is just after a 'naughty boy' auditions for Joseph - he really wants to get the part, but gets into a fight with another boy, when the other boy says he'll never be Joseph because he's not good enough, and he'll only let the school down. I won't go into it too much, but the favourite scene bit is when Martin Freeman explains to the boy that if he carries on behaving like a naughty boy, people will treat him like a naughty boy, and he'll be expected to be a naughty boy, instead of the not-naughty boy he could be (and wants to be, really).

Anyway, it was more effective in the film.

But it was so great, and the dedication at the end read something like "to all inspirational teachers", which made me smile probably a bit more than was necessary.


Anyway! This is a long post about not very much, really. Just a few nice things that happened today.

Other nice things include:

- meeting a new(-ish) girl at church this morning
- being reminded of Zephaniah 3:17, and the fact He rejoices over ME with singing
- drinking hot chocolate after my walk
- lunching chez parentals
- driving home in the fog, and noticing how fairyland-ish the lights on the A14 become when it's foggy
- finally getting round to dyeing my faded work trousers black, so they're smart again


And now it's time for me to sleep. My lessons tomorrow are all planned, as they are re-workings of lessons previously taught last week, and I think I even have a child-free lunchbreak tomorrow. Maybe. How exciting!


(I think the bit about the Nativity film was my profound washing-up thought. Not as profound as I remembered it being...)

Sunday 13 November 2011

Temptations and Revelations

This weekend I have learnt:

- I am able to resist buying beautiful cashmere jumpers from Cath Kidston. This was made far easier by the £105 price tag.

- Effectively maintaining one's car leads to a better functioning vehicle. Who knew?! (I added oil to my angry-sounding engine, and now it purrs like a satisfied tabby)

- Cambridge still feels familiar and homely, even though I haven't lived there since 2009, and only really lived there for 9 months. Weird. But nice weird.

- "Flight of the Conchords" makes me laugh.

- Singing ridiculously loudly in my car is hugely satisfying.

- Adding a few ground almonds, mixed spices and an extra ounce of butter creates quite a delicious mince pie pastry.

- People are complex and occasionally unfathomable. And that's ok. I don't have to fathom them all the time.



Also: so far, I have bought no items of clothing, jewellery or shoes. Cambridge market had a LOT to tempt me (for example the Banksy balloon girl on a t-shirt, and beautiful ceramic jewellery imprinted with images of dragonflies and/or flowers), but I was not tempted. Well, I was, but I didn't give in to the temptation.


Also (also): someone read out this verse this morning. I needed to hear it, and consequently wrote a song based on it. So, thanks, Someone:

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord"
Psalm 27:14