Blog o'clock!

Ooh long past time for a blog post!

Life's been so busy and tiring, I have spent what seems like every waking minute either working or thinking about work, and quite a lot of sleeping time dreaming about it too.

In September I took on a one term supply teaching assignment at a Secondary School entailing a 60 mile a day round commute.

Now I don't know if it's me getting older, the commute (beautiful but over desolate moorland roads), or the stressful nature of the job (imminent OFSTED - that actually happened this week) but I have never felt so utterley shattered by a job in my life. Maybe it's the combination of all three.

What it has done is made me take stock of what I want at this stage in my life. Up till now I have still been looking for another permanent full time teaching job, maybe another head of department role. 

No more.

These words "At the time I earnt more money than anyone else I knew but hated every minute of my existence and was a nightmare to be around. The bravest and best thing I ever did was to admit enough was enough, clear my desk, resign and reclaim my life." in this post by Vix really struck a chord and her follow up post where she said "Every morning I wake up I still thank whoever's up there for giving me the guts to escape that life and just be me." even more so.

I have made my decision that this will be the last full time, long term supply I will take on, come Christmas I will be free and will only accept short term or daily work. We have never remortgaged so our monthly repayment is a pittance and we have no outstanding debts. The children are all grown and have fled the nest so now it's time for me and what I want to do, and I want to start living my life and escape the life of a wage slave.

When the dreaded OFSTED call came earlier this week (for those of you not in the field of education, the school is informed at lunch time the day before the OFSTED visit). Lunch was immediately cut short and I was at school until 10:40 that night and back again at 7am the next morning with a sleepless night in between. As it happened I was observed by the lead inspector and received glowing feedback which prompted the head of department to ask if I would reconsider applying for the job on a permanent basis...

... no way!!!!

I have made my decision - I want my life back. I am increasingly disenchanted with our education system, I find myself feeling that like in the Pink Floyd song I am expected to put bricks in the wall - that's not what I went into teaching to do. I hate this culture of league tables and "corporate" teaching - stop the (education) world, I want to get off!

Hopefully I will soon have time for the things I want to enjoy in life - the simple things ...

... more blogging,

lunch with old friends,

picking my granddaughter up from school and making tea together,

crafting,

charity shopping,

walking,

spending time on my allotment...

and

living!!!

Orkney Part 2 - (Peedie Bits)

Well almost autumn now, there is a definite nip in the air morning and evening and the nights are beginning to close in. I'm consoling myself with memories of my week in Orkney and thought I'd share a few of them with you.

In Kirkwall...

Britain’s most northerly Cathedral

St Magnus Cathedral known as the 'Light in the North' was founded in 1137 by the Viking, Earl Rognvald, in honour of his uncle St Magnus.

The Earl's Palace

Built by Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney, one of the most tyrannical noblemen in Scottish history using forced labour to quarry and ship in the stone. 

The earlier Bishop's Palace.

 Both a little less than palatial now!

In Stromness where we stayed...

...fishing boats in the harbour.

 At the Brough of Birsay an uninhabited tidal island off the north west coast of The Mainland of Orkney...

Flic exploring the remains of a Norse settlement.

Flic and her granddad exploring scarily high clifftops.

I hate heights and wouldn't go within 100 yards of the edge of the cliffs, just watching from a distance gave me the jitters!

And elsewhere in Orkney ...

One of the houses at Skara Brae.

Skara Brae is the best preserved group of prehistoric houses in Western Europe.

Uncovered by a storm in 1850, it is older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids and provides a remarkable picture of life around 5,000 years ago. 

The Ring of Brodgar.

The stone ring was built in a true circle, almost 104 metres wide. Although it is thought to have originally contained 60 megaliths, today, only 27 stones remain.

In Orkney "peedie" means "small" or "little" and I've only shown you a fraction of the places we visited, to be honest we visited far to many places to mention, hence the "peedie bits" in the title of this post. My memories of our holiday though will stay with me for a long time and are sure to cheer me up as the days grow shorter.

Linda xxx

Orkney Odyssey - The Journey

Here I am to bore enthrall you with tales of our recent Orkney Adventure.

Once again we were lucky enough to be accompanied by middle daughter and our lovely granddaughter Felicity (Flic).

Although we live in the North of England the drive to Gills Bay for the ferry to Orkney is just over 400 miles and especially with a little one in tow, it is just not possible to drive the whole distance in one day and meet the ferry deadline.

So we set off early Friday morning, driving up to Jedburgh for a stop at the Tollhouse Cafe for breakfast. Then it was onwards and upwards for a lunchtime comfort break at Pitlochry before the final push to our overnight B & B at Netherton Farm just north of Inverness.

I can't recommend this B & B highly enough. The lady who owns the farm, Romay was so kind and helpful. We were greeted with a tour of her lovely home, then tea outside overlooking beautiful countryside. There were free range hens running about and beautiful old breed pigs for Flic to greet. We had an evening meal in the Culbokie Inn, a short stroll from the B & B, then back for some relaxation and reading before bed time.

The view at sunset from our bedroom window.

Next morning after a hearty breakfast, we set off for the last leg of the journey to the Ferry. We stopped a couple of times along the way including a very interesting visit to the Laidhay Croft Museum and the lovely little cafe next door for fantastic home made cake.

Onwards and upwards we climbed, right up to John O'Groats. I would like to be kind to John O'Groats, really I would, but truth to be told, if you had traveled there specifically, you might be left wondering if it was worth the effort. Despite new building work, most of the places are empty and there is a rather sad, dejected feeling about the whole place. We however were only there to pass a little time until we were due at the ferry terminal a few miles along the road.

Our ferry journey was on the Pentalina a purpose built catamaran. 

The MV Pentalina moored at St Margaret's Hope.

Whilst waiting for the ferry we were enthralled by a group of seals basking on nearby rocks.

Seals at Gill's Bay.

Then just before the ferry appeared there was a bit of a commotion with people looking out to sea and pointing. We trained the binoculars towards a black spot in the water and there was what looked like a shark! Once we were on the ferry itself one of the seasoned ferry workers told us that indeed it was a basking shark - Flic was so excited, not only had she seen real seals but also a shark!

After what did indeed seem like an epic journey we finally arrived in Orkney a mere 34 hours after leaving home!

To be continued...

Linda xxx