London goodness

On Sunday afternoon Ant and I went out to see The Dark Knight with two of our friends. It was a really good movie, although perhaps a bit scary for its 12A rating. Afterwards we headed across the street to a restaurant called Blue Hawaii. We ate all you can eat BBQ: first you collect an empty bowl and fill it with your choice of vegetables. Then you add some raw meat on top (beef, pork, chicken, gammon, calamari, and prawns to choose from). Then add a ladle of one of several types of oil and two ladles of sauce (there were about about fifteen choices!). Finally you add spices and take the bowl to the BBQ chef. He is cooking on a massive dome-shaped hot plate. He takes your bowl and spreads it over the cooking surface, catching any drips in the bowl and then tossing with the sauces. It cooks for a few minutes, while he arranges it with his big sticks. Then he collects it all up for you into a new bowl--voila, a perfect bowl of BBQ veg and meat.


Yesterday I spent the day with Jennifer shopping and enjoying London. We headed over to Camden market first. There are so many stalls along the high street and the canal and in maze-like market areas. We saw so many interesting things and smelled lots of delicious food. Jennifer wanted to buy some little gifts for her friends before she leaves. We visited lots of jewellery stalls to find the perfect earrings. In the end of the stall holders gave us each a free pair of studs. I loved one particular stall that was selling loads of costume jewellery in bins.


Here are the three small things I bought. My free studs are in the middle--aren't they tiny! The ring on the left cost me 49p. The moisturiser is from Lush, an amazing cosmetics company.


Jennifer and I went to Covent Garden after lunch and we also stopped by the National Gallery to see a few paintings. My favourites there are a Vermeer painting of a woman playing music and the Impressionist rooms. I have always loved the Monet paintings of water-lilies, the most beautiful paintings of which are in Paris, which I saw with my family when we were travelling in Europe when I was a teenager. Yesterday we also saw the Coastal Scene by Seurat, which is a beautiful pointillist painting, and Van Gogh's Sunflowers, an essential stop for Jennifer's only visit to the National Gallery. The colours are incredible and the online images don't really do it justice, in particular the background yellow is a lovely bright, clean lemon yellow that seems hard to reproduce.

with Tawnya in London

It was really nice yesterday to have Tawnya visiting. We were close friends in high school; last month was our ten year high school reunion! Neither of us felt like we missed anything by not going.

She arrived early yesterday morning (flying overnight from Canada) and so to fight off the jet lag we headed straight out for a day of sightseeing. Tawnya really wanted to go on the London Eye. It is something I have never done before and was looking forward to. It is more than 400 feet tall and rotates once per half hour. We paid to take a "flight" in a capsule (along with other tourists) and see London from overhead. The views were stunning. The London Eye is on the south bank of the Thames, near Waterloo station. In this picture, Buckingham Palace is surrounded by gardens of St James's Park.


Just across Westminster Bridge the Houses of Parliament can be seen in all their grandeur. Just to the right and the back of them is Westminster Abbey.


Tawnya making a face for me. :)


In the picture below I am looking down to the capsule in front of us as we rotate downwards at the end of our "flight"; the Thames stretches upstream past the Houses of Parliament.


After the London Eye we walked over Westminster Bridge and around the cabinet war rooms. We headed through St James's Park. It a royal park and beautifully maintained.


The changing of the guard was happening at Buckingham Palace when we arrived there. Unfortunately there was a large crowd already gathered there and we found it hard to see. But we listened to the band (they were playing selections from Grease of all things!). We saw a bit of moving and marching before we headed onwards.


Our London Eye tickets got us discounted entry to Madame Tussauds wax work museums. There are so many realistic models of famous people there. You can walk right up to them and pose with them. Tawnya took loads of pictures there, which I can post when she sends them to me, including one of me kissing Shrek. For now you will have to see the one picture I took with my phone, of Nelson Mandela.


After a short nap at home, we headed back in to meet Tawnya's friend Andrea and go to a Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall.


The concert we saw was excellent. Tawnya and I had tickets and Andrea did the actually "promming": she got a standing ticket available half an hour before the concert. Prom 11 featured Debussy's Noctures, which are musical impressionism, trying to describe a scene. The first movement is called "Nuages" (Clouds) was originally described as depicting "the unchanging aspect of the sky and the slow, melancholy passing of the clouds, ending in a grey colour softly tinged with white."

The second piece played was a world premier of a composition called Troubled Light by Simon Holt. I was glad for the programme notes again and I felt better able to appreciate the five sketches about colours. I was highly amused by the composer's comment on movement three, "Ellsworth": "I have taken as a starting point his [Ellsworth Kelly's] painting Yellow Relief with Black from 1993: a large, acid-yellow triangle surmounted by a much smaller, black triangle. The piece follows the shape almost to the letter."

The third piece was Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, which I have heard before and really like. All three of these pieces got their inspiration from visual or auditory sources. It was really edifying to listen to the music so well played and so thoughtful. Tawnya and I were a little envious of the prommers in some ways: we saw that they were able to sit or stand as they wanted and a few were lying very still on the floor at the back of the Arena. Now that would be a wonderful way to listen to a world-class concert in the Royal Albert Hall.

new glasses on order

Have I made a mistake? I just ordered these glasses. They are a little more adventurous that have ever had before. I am still going to use my old glasses, which I love, but these will be for days when I am willing/trying to stand out a bit more. They are due to arrive in a week or ten days, so I will soon show you what they look like on.

summer reading, part 1

Today I finished reading The Code Book, the book that I started last week. (Oh, the holidays! Reading!) Last week when I went to Matt's second maths camp to give my topology talk the speaker before me was Simon Singh. He is a popular science writer; Ant has read his book Fermat's Last Theorem a few years ago and loved it. (I also bought a copy of The Code Book and a copy of Fermat's for my head of department and second in charge as summer presents.) The Code Book was an interesting historical tour through cryptography, with little stories about all the people behind the different ciphers. I especially enjoyed the later chapters about encryption systems DES and RSA; I've studied the maths behind them during my degree. And I understood about Schrodinger's Cat for the first time (haha!), discussed during a chapter about quantum computing and cryptography.

filing and tidying

I have spent large portions of the last two days at work, sorting out the post-school year messes. Yesterday I filed every paper that has every crossed my desk. Today I took down all the year old (and older) displays to prep for putting new ones up--all the old posters were torn and stained and worn out looking. Here's the room at the end of the day today. All the posters are newly laminated, sorted on the tables by type. I put up only one set of posters today--you can see them on the right end of the bulletin board. I also snagged another filing cabinet today (it's the one in the middle), which is a windfall of the greatest proportions. There is a huge waiting list in the school for things like that. I have befriended the caretakers over time and today it paid off. When I emailed asking for a cabinet this one appeared!


And I organised everything else and labelled it: there are trays of paper (three types), boxes of loop cards and games, and tins containing string and colouring pencils. I feel proud that for the first time in my teaching career, every piece of paper is filed and (almost) everything else is sorted. Usually there are papers heaped everywhere and piles of things waiting to be put somewhere sensible.


Tomorrow I plan to go in to do the last few tasks: set up next year's teaching folders and tidy the mangled stationary in my desk drawers.

life expectancy

I found a tool today, Vitality Compass, that uses the answers to a survey to predict your life expectancy and healthy life expectancy.

My actual age: 28.75 years
My biological age: 23.7 years
My life expectancy: 96.7 years
My healthy life expectancy: 85.6 years

Who else wants to take this little test and tell me how they did? I am amazed that the prediction is that I will live to 90+ years. That's scary, in a way. But with health and strength, long years could be a blessing.

The website is for a book, The Blue Zones, that studies five area (zones) of the world where people regularly live to over 100. One thing most of these people had in common, for example, was a regular inclusion of nuts in their diet. Here's a Venn diagram showing the main findings.

celebrating Ant's birthday

Ant's birthday celebrations were an extended affair this year. (He deserved to be spoiled a bit: I have missed his birthday for several years and this year it had to be delayed until after the Texan mission team left.) I gave him a Wii for his birthday, and his friends gave him several games. My hunch has been proved correct, the Wii is a wife replacement. It is very addictive and he is utterly engaged in it. He loves Guitar Heroes 3.


Last Sunday we went out for a pub lunch after church, also ostensibly in honour of Ant's birthday. We sat outside in a lovely courtyard and most of us ate roast dinners. Jennifer and Ant were enjoying themselves immensely.

mixed emotions

I am relieved that school is finally out for the summer! The last few weeks seemed to drag on and on. My fatigue level has reached critical so I am looking forward to some serious relaxing. I have a long list of books to read and look forward to having the time to get around to them.

I am very sad that I don't have my passport back and my holiday plans are up in the air. I wanted to visit Halifax and also go cycling in France. I will probably go cycling somewhere in the UK, which will be lovely, no doubt. But there is no suitable substitute for visiting with my family in Canada. :( I am still praying, though, that it will arrive soon. Any day now, perhaps.

I am sad that my friend Sarah is moving away from London this summer. I will miss her and our cycling trips, shopping excursions, work talk and chatting.

activities week

Last week at work was activities week, a week off timetable during which all the Key Stage 3 children (11-13 year olds) try new activities and go on trips while the older children are at work experience or on study leave. I was accompanying the year 9 mixed week and tried a lot of new things with them. On Monday we went to Chessington World of Adventures. While the students and one crazy teacher went on roller coasters, scary or wet rides, a few other teachers and I rode the monorail, which was very calm with a nice view over the park.


Then we walked through the zoo sections of the park. Here is the lion sleeping on top of his hut (the yellow monorails is above him).


We also saw the tigers and gorillas.



There is also a sea life centre at Chessington and I loved that. The fish were all so brightly coloured and the layout of the tanks meant we got to walk through and around all the schools of fish.


On Tuesday I was helping out at one of Matt's maths camps at Imperial. I gave my (apparently famous) topology lecture, containing my favourite maths joke of all time! There's a long build-up while I talk about the Mobius strip and the Klein bottle and explain that I wish someone would give me a Mobius strip scarf and Klein bottle hat for my birthday. Then when I finally get to the joke, I always laugh hysterically and the students look at me with a blank expression. Sigh. (Never heard the funniest maths joke of all time and wonder what it is? See appendix below!)

Afterwards my stint at the maths camp I went across the road for a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum. I love seeing the fashion, textiles, and design there. For the first time I went through the jewellery exhibition.



Here are some stunning carved stone "windows". These are 19th century window screens made in Agra, India, copied from 17th century designs.


I love the geometric designs in the Islamic art section.


Here is the Ardabil carpet, lit for ten minutes every half hour to preserve its life. It is massive (about 10.5 by 5 metres) and all handmade, of course, since it was completed in 1540.


Last, but not least, I got a hair cut this week. I wasn't planning to get it all chopped off, but my stylist, Victoria, suggested a change. I trust her and so I said yes. I really like it when it's straightened (as in the picture below), but I don't really have the patience to do this all the time. I plan to scrunch it wavy most days and hope that the triangular aspect of it grows out soon.

appendix: the funniest maths joke of all time

(a) What is a Mobius strip? You could read about it on MathWorld, but it is preferable to make a Mobius strip out a strip of paper and see for yourself why it is so bizarre. You need to tape the ends together after making a half twist in the paper. Then colour one side of the strip red (or another favourite colour) and observe that, in fact, the Mobius strip only has one side. Cool, eh? It also only has one boundary edge; convince yourself by running your finger along one edge and arriving back where you started after travelling around the whole boundary.

(b) What is a Klein bottle? To make the Klein bottle, start with an open cylinder and then paste together the ends with a half twist, identifying opposite points on the boundaries. This is easiest to do in four dimensions. In three dimensions it has to be understood with a pesky self-intersection. You can see that the inside is really the outside; the Klein bottle has no interior. It actually has zero volume. Also, it has only one side, since if you trace with your finger all over the surface you will find that you can reach all of the surface.

(c) What is the joke? I really want a Mobius scarf and Klein bottle hat, and anyone can buy it for me. Choose any one at all, since, you know, one side fits all!

(d) Is that really the funniest maths joke of all time? Are you kidding?! I'm rolling on the floor laughing. There are other funny ones, of course. Would you like to hear some more another time? :)

"happy canda"

I hung up my huge Canadian flag in my classroom on Tuesday and wished all my students Happy Canada Day. I taught my year eights about ratio, with me mentioning that the Canadian and UK flags both have the ratio 1:2 for their width and length, whereas many other flags are in the 3:5 ratio. At the end of the day I got a card from one of my tutor group (a nice group of year sevens), which read, "To Mrs A..., Happy Canda, from Sean". Aww.

After work Sarah and I headed up to Trafalgar Square to Canada Day London. We enjoyed bison cheese burgers and said hi to Justin, who was on the organising committee and also working on the Tim Hortons stand. We bought two cans of Barq's root beer, but Sarah said it tasted like she expected Dettol would taste (a spray cleaner!) so I had 1.something cans and we ditched the rest. There was a folk singer on stage and stands all around for the Canada shop, Alberta and Zoom (the sponsors) and Canadian tourism. We were people watching and Sarah commented on the number of hockey jerseys. I felt silly for not having remembered to wear red and white, which the majority of the Canadians were.

It's charity week at school and today I participated in the Sponge the Teacher event. Here I am with a two of my colleagues waiting to get pelted with wet sponges. Students paid 10p per sponge, with money going to our three chosen charities.


Another part of charity week is tomorrow we have a mufti day--the students pay a contribution to charity to wear their own clothes for a day. We also get to wear casual clothes. Since it's the 4th tomorrow we are having an American themed mufti day. So it will be red, white, and blue for me tomorrow.

Also on the American topic, the church has a mission team of 12 coming from Texas who arrive tomorrow and stay for a week. We've been planning so much for them and we're really excited to seeing what God will do over the week as they do park ministry with us, hand out gifts to commuters, and run programs at the church.

fatigue

I am utterly exhausted after awards evening last night--more than 400 students crossed the stage, receiving awards for attainment and effort in a school subject, tutor awards for contribution to their peers, sports awards, and special resilience awards. Presenting them all was Ray Winstone, the tough guy actor who is from London. He was filming yesterday and arrived for awards evening 45 minutes late and the whole evening ended up going on until a few minutes before 10:00. And then straight back to school this morning after seven hours horizontal. I am so glad that tomorrow is an in-service day (=no children). I knew earlier in the week that I was going to be so run down by today and so I planned compass designs and colouring lessons. Phew.

After this week there are three school weeks left. Holidays can't come soon enough. Unfortunately I have no trip home planned yet because I still don't have my passport back from the Immigration department and I don't want to gamble with £500 or more. I am still planning to go to Halifax, but I will pay the premium to buy at the last minute if necessary.

cake

I made this pink fruit and nut cake last night. It was a delicious spice cake that I made with the help of my new cookbook.

The cake has raisins and walnuts with spices. This cake also has a secret ingredient. Let me show you the process in reverse and you see if you can guess what is in it.


The batter was really pink and thick. Next time I will add more milk because it was also not as moist as I would hope.

I pretty much bought the cookbook because of this one recipe. Otherwise I would never have the patience to do so much mixing. Here I am trying to fold the stiff egg whites into the mixture. I ended up using three bowls (!): one for the dry ingredients, one for the wet ingredients, and a third to whip the egg whites.


Here are the wet and dry bowls. I like that the recipe calls for wholemeal flour and not very much sugar. (These two items are clearly factors in making this a low GI recipe, and hence more healthy.) The wet ingredients are very pink, eh?


Have you guessed? What is the mystery ingredient that makes this cake so pink? Well, you've heard of carrot cake; this one was beetroot cake. The books says the practice of sweetening cakes with root vegetables is actually centuries old. I was so inspired by the idea of a beetroot cake that I had to buy the book when I read it. Here's the recipe in case you are similarly inspired.

Pink Fruit and Nut Cake

2 cups (250 g) wholemeal flour
2 heaped teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon, allspice, and ground ginger
1/3 cup (75 g) sugar
2 medium (200 g) beetroot, peeled and grated
1/2 cup (50 g) sultanas
3/4 cup (50 g) walnuts, chopped
100 ml vegetable oil
1 ripe banana, mashed
3 eggs, separated
50-75 ml milk (but next time I am going to use double this)
Greek yoghurt or reduced fat creme fraiche, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and line a 20 cm (8 in) round pan.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, spices, and sugar in a large bowl.

In a second bowl, mix the beetroot, sultanas, walnuts, oil, mashed banana, and egg yolks.

In a third bowl, whisk the egg whites to the stiff peaks stage.

Add the beetroot mixture to the dry ingredients. Add enough milk to make a dorpping consistency (what does this even mean??). Gently fold in a tablespoonful of egg white before folding in the rest.

Pour the batter into the lined tin. Bake for about 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on a rack and serve with Greek yoghurt or creme fraiche.

ways to make chores more palatable

I am willing to admit that chores are hated in our household. Ant and I both dislike chores. I deal with my dislike by trying to get them out of the way and Ant deals with his by putting them off. We have come up with a few strategies to make them less hated.

1. Distract yourself. I do this by listening to music while I wash dishes. Ant recently bought me a brilliant present for the kitchen--a set of speakers that I can plug my iPod into. This has made washing up and cooking both more bearable. The speakers are sitting on top of some cupboards.



2. Chat with someone. While we iron (individually) we like to talk on the phone. While chatting with my friend Sara in Newfoundland last weekend I managed to iron five skirts and two shirts. Ant likes to talk to his dad or sisters while he irons. Today he combined strategy one and two on this list and chatted to his sister while perusing the electronics for sale on QVC.

3. Enjoy the fruits of your labour. After the bathroom is newly cleaned, I like to be the first one to take a shower while everything is gleaming. Or I will sit down in a sparkling kitchen with a cup of tea and something to read.

4. Do chores together. Some weeknights Ant will set up the ironing board in the kitchen and chat with me while I cook. Or if we have people coming over Ant tidies while I prepare food. I feel more motivated to mop if I can hear Ant hoovering.

5. Invite people around. There's no motivator like imminent arrivals. Or this can be a pay-off for finally making the place decent.

6. Reward yourself. After chores, loaf on the couch. Or go out and do something fun. Or write a blog post! (I have blogged about mopping before!) Haha.

sickie news

I have been off sick today and really needed the extra rest. (Amazing--I have just had a week's holiday!) I have spent most of the day sleeping; I also ate some roasted vegetables with polenta, my first recipe from my new cookbook.


While sitting on the couch, I have been watching the fourth game of the Stanley Cup final (pre-recorded since it showed live in the middle of the night last week). I have to admit I haven't been following hockey since I left Canada.... Actually, let's be honest, I only ever watched hockey when my dad or brothers were. But that was enough to give me an appreciation for the speed and skill involved. There was a short interview with Ron MacLean from Hockey Night in Canada, saying how he hoped the NHL coverage continued to expand in the UK and Europe.

books for cooks

Yesterday I made it over to Notting Hill to visit Books for Cooks. It is just off Portobello Road; I read about it online at The Kitchn, a website that regularly inspires me. I had a seat on the red squishy sofa, browsing through their floor-to-ceiling shelves of cookbooks. It was a lovely, relaxing afternoon destination.

I am becoming more and more convinced about the health of eating low GI meals. I already have the original GI Diet book by Rick Gallop (formerly president and CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario). I am starting to cook and eat according to his suggestions and so the cookbook I bought was a GI cooking book.


Low glycaemic index meals don't spike blood sugar or insulin production and so they help you feel full for longer and give you a more stable energy level. They are also high in fibre and nutrients--really the GI diet is less a temporary diet and more a healthy way of eating forever.

Just down the road from where I caught the bus home is the Czech Consulate, with this interesting sculpture outside. I wish I knew what it said. Can anyone help?

afternoon tea

Ant and I treated ourselves to afternoon tea at Brown's Hotel in Mayfair today. Apparently it is the oldest hotel in London, it played host to Alexander Graham Bell's first phone call in Great Britain, Agatha Christie while she was writing At Bertram's Hotel, and numerous other famous and royal guests. Afternoon tea is held in a very relaxed dining room with all-you-can-eat finger sandwiches, scones, and cakes. There is an extensive tea menu, from which we each sampled two pots of tea.


Scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam are a wonderful British invention. Sometimes Air Canada serves them on the way out of London and that is one of the only times I eat them. But these scones were so much more delicious, fresh, and airy than those airplane biscuits.


Relaxing in my easy chair and chatting with Ant was so refreshing. We were in no hurry, and the price tag meant we felt like getting our money's worth. So we stayed for two hours, enjoying the good service, delicious food, and leisurely company.

first fruits

Well, today was an exciting day on which the fruits, er, vegetables, of my labour were tasted. I took the first snips of mixed salad leaves from the box I planted for our lamb burgers tonight. I have used Sonya's lamb burger recipe three times recently since she shared it with me. I was looking for a way to get into lamb, since it is so popular here and I have little experience with it.



Minted Lamb Burgers

0.5 kg lamb mince
1/2 cup crumbled (low fat) feta cheese
sliced green onions
2 tablespoons dried mint
1 teaspoon cumin or other spices (eg. garam malasa)
1 egg

Shape into six or eight burgers. Serve with mixed salad leaves, crumbled feta, and red onion marinated in balsamic vinegar. Yum, yum.

St Albans

Yesterday I went on a day trip to St Albans, just north of London. Sadly all the pictures I took have disappeared from my phone and I am very sad. You will have to imagine it all instead!

St Albans has a huge cathedral. I enjoyed its beautiful floor tiles, which have raised, embossed patterns. I loved the massive rose window (see the Cathedral's photo page for a nice shot) and the ornate carvings around the lower window casings. I visited the shrine of St Alban--he was a Roman who harboured a fugitive priest, and converted under his influence. Then when executioners came knocking for the priest Alban said that he was the priest and the priest escaped. Alban was the first British martyr. Walking around the cathedral I used a guide called a prayer trail, which was really interesting, if a little pluralist for me.

I had lunch sitting on the grass of the park behind the cathedral. I am still reading The Idiot and am now on page 400 (of 660). I have a bit of a cold so I had quite a long rest and then ambled over the park to the Roman museum. St Albans was built on the site of an important Roman town called Verulamium. The museum was excellent and the history fascinating. I traipsed over to the ruins of a Roman theatre, the only one in Britain.

I saw a bench at the theatre dedicated to someone that had the epithet, "A person who also lives in the past lives doubly" (or something thereabouts). This reminded me of what we have been talking about at our house group, that looking at life from an eternal perspective changes everything. "There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal." CS Lewis said.

St Albans was an excellent day out. It is so close to London (just half an hour from St Pancras). If I would have had more energy I would have also climbed the clock tower.

culture

My uncle Walt was visiting this last day and a half--how nice to see him! He is one of my mother's brothers and I don't get to see many of my Mum's family very frequently. He arrived yesterday morning and after a brief nap we headed into London for a walking tour of the south bank, passing the Tate Modern and walking over the Millennium footbridge. From the footbridge there are stunning views of the city with St Paul's Cathedral straight ahead. We had our lunch sitting on the steps of the cathedral--it was a lovely day, sunny and warm. We watched with interest as a newly-wed couple came over with their photographer (maybe we are in their photos?)! Other people around us were quite interested as well.


The church was holding a service and so we nipped in and had a seat, looking around at the ceilings, walls, mosaics, and carvings.


We walked along the Thames and chatted about my grandparents, whom I didn't know very well before they died. I learned more about how they met, what their dreams were and what they regretted. We also talked about Walt's and my dreams and about his upcoming trip to Congo to do an educational mission.

In other news, the recent nice weather means my salad is actually growing well! I am so excited that I have not failed (yet) with my garden adventures. My box of salad is planted in three quarters. The bottom right section ist he most prolific at the moment--it's mixed salad leaves. Above that is spinach, and in the top left I am (trying) to grow rocket (or arugula to some).


And nearby I have this round pot of radishes. (Dad, should I thin them out a bit?)

sprouts

I am trying to grow a few things this spring. When I signed up for the Food Up Front project, the form asked if I had any gardening experience. I answered, "I have killed a few houseplants." Here are the tomato seedlings I have on my windowsill. They are still very small but they are growing.


And I "planted" some cress seeds in a tray with some moist paper towel. The sprouts are growing, too, but they are still just specks in this photo.

very nice weather

The lovely summery day today made my cycle into work for a revision session quite enjoyable. Afterwards Sarah came over for lunch and then we went out for her to practice with her new clip pedals. She went up and down the street for about twenty minutes and then we headed over to the park. It seems she is a much faster learner than me and she has all but mastered the shoes and pedals today. We plan on Monday (which is a bank holiday) to go for a longer ride to Kingston.

My salad leaf seeds that I planted a couple of weeks ago are now tiny sprouts. A few radish sprouts are also poking up through the soil of the pot.

Our friends Mot and Ness have begun their cycling adventure today, flying out to Sardinia tonight for a six month-ish sojourn around the Mediterranean. (You may have seen a picture of them ignoring me eating a giant mushroom recently.) I hope they have a great journey! Also, you have left a pair of your cycling glasses here and may need to get a new pair before I see you again.

Ant and Justin are out watching Iron Man at the cinema tonight so I have blitzed the flat (washing up, laundry, hoovering, tidying around, mopping floors, cleaning the bathroom). What is it about spring weather that makes us want to clean?

food fight, anyone?

Our online shopping arrived today. I love buying the value priced vegetables because they are cheaper only because they are oddly shaped. Every week we get a big box of mushrooms. Sometimes they are all minuscule, other times they look like three-headed monsters. And today there was the mother of all mushrooms! I have never seen an edible fungus this big!

good day

A few things have made for a good day. The newspaper activity I planned for today seemed to go well. I gave each pair of students a page from a newspaper (either The Independent or The Local Guardian, a free paper that's put through my letter box every fortnight). They had their first lesson about mean, median, mode, and range and so I asked them to list the lengths of 25 words. For example, the first five words in this paragraph have lengths 1, 3, 6, 4, 4. Then I asked them to find the averages and the range for their data.

Tomorrow we will talk about how a tally chart makes this process much more streamlined and easier. We'll learn about how to find the averages from the frequency table and compare the results from the two newspapers.

One unforeseen snag which I will certainly avoid next time was the somewhat adult content in the free paper. Oops!

After work I went to my kickboxing class. It was miserable out and Sarah and I were both feeling really unmotivated. But we went anyway and I'm so glad we did. I always find the press ups quite hard and today we had to do partner assisted elevated press ups! Sarah had to hold my knees against her thighs while she stood behind me with her knees bent. I was scared but in the end (amazingly!) managed to do twenty. I was only able to lower my upper body slightly each time, but still I consider this a success!

And I had a nice treat to look forward to when I got home. Ant ordered us Thai food and I really enjoyed half my prawn pad thai. I have saved the other half for lunch tomorrow. Yum.