let it snow let it snow let it snow!

So it's started snowing more and we hit -4 yesterday although still the snow has not settled properly.  Getting the kids ready to go outside takes a while as they all have to put their little snowsuits and boots on which can drive you a bit insane but they are pretty good at it to be fair.  I do not have a little snowsuit i'm thinking it would not look quite so cute on a fully grown adult!  So I am surviving with primarni leggings and gloves which i think may have to be replaced with something a bit hardier soon like a polar bear!  ( totally joking obviously i have not lost my animal loving ways even in Russia.)  Mind you one of my friends is a governess for a hugely rich family and she says they have a polar bear rug in their full sized bowling alley. Horrid!  I am encouraging her to drop something unfixable on it like marmite ( if  only you could get marmite here that is).

Had a few nights out which seemed to end up in starlite the diner of heavenly burgers. Hence two week starlite ban which incidentally is up on sunday .. phew was having the withdrawal shakes!

Saturday was fun as it was the 50th birthday party of the owner of our school.  So it was held in a huge fancy restaurant and consisted of all the teachers from the schools as well as our bosses doing lots of performances in between lots of eating and drinking.    We had been practising hard at our school with our dance... it was all going well until i remember standing there in front of like 100 people and thinking oh my god what the hell is the next move?  Anyway instead of doing the sensible thing of watching someone else i just freaked out a bit and stood there for what seemed like a very long time.  Anyway i got back into it and thought hmm maybe it was not that bad.  Then i was telling my flatmate Collette about it ( who was also dancing) and she said something along the lines of 'oh god ,i know i saw you Boe and i had to stop myself looking at you in case i messed up too!   Can't wait to see the video!!  It was also fancy dress with the theme 'back to the USSR' and it turns out fancy dress to Russians might mean more 'fancy' then what it means in the UK.  So most people went in 60,70,80's but a kind of glam and dressy.  I decided to go as a Russian rocket complete with Laika the first dog in space made mainly from resources from the classroom.  Our boss told me she loved my costume and then admitted she had absolutely no idea what it was!

We are now gearing up for Christmas which is a much bigger deal than in the UK.  No rummaging around in the school cupboard to see if the camel costumes still have a hump and if baby jesus has grown mould.  No no we have to perform songs, dances as well as a play and it's all filmed and a really big deal. Luckily the dance teachers do the dances and the music teachers do the songs. ( it would be extremely dangerous to leave that in my hands! So the play is just down to us.  The Littlest Christmas Tree it is and it's 3 weeks till d-day.  Oh god!   Still they are all very good at being in the spotlight as they we are constantly being filmed for this or that... i don't think a week goes by when i don't have the camera man stalking me around the classroom.

I felt a bit bad last week when at lunch one of the children ( the one who said i ate all the smetana! how rude!)
called me a 'silly billy' ( a phrase i fear i may have inadvertently taught them!) because i could not speak Russian.  I calmly explained that the reason i don't speak Russian ( aside from the fact it's ridiculously difficult) is that in English school we learnt French and Spanish normally.  This was my way of trying to convince her i was not a 'silly billy'.  Then one of the boys piped up and asked me what the names of all the vegetables were in Spanish.  Now i can order a beer and i can ask the way to the train station but i fear Mr Hunt skipped the vegetable module!  But not wanting to lose face i just made it up.  So now there are 5 russian children who think the spanish for carrot is caroto, cucumber is cucumbero and tomato is tomatoista!!  

Looking forward to coming home for Christmas immensely I cannot wait to see the sea and breathe a bit of fresh air!!

from Russia with snowy love xx

Happy Holidays in Sunless St Petersburg

So its 2.40am on sat night.. body clock out due to getting in at some silly hour yesterday morning after attending an ex-pat charity night linked to a friend's orphanage charity so my old friend insomnia keeps me awake. So thought i would use my time productively  Many mojitos were consumed.. laying off the wodka for a bit and was a fun night ended nicely at 4am with a starlite burger from the 24 hour american diner below my flat.  I have now put a 2 week ban on myself from any more starlite burgers as I appear to be consuming them at an alarming rate.  Might not be you playing santa claus this year Geffie Pa!!  Anyway we shall see if I make it 2 weeks... they put something in them that calls to me!! Ooh i could eat one now!!

Anyway Halloween at school was fun especially the cooked spagetti mixed with  cold porridge and red food dye!!  Then it was a much needed week off for half term.  Luke arrived on Sunday and after introducing him to the starlite burgers we caught the high speed train to St Petersburg the next day.   Lovely lovely hotel and unfortunately  when i booked they only had the deluxe doubles available instead of the regular so what can you do!  Breakfast in bed and double sinks ooh er fancy stuff!

St Petersburg is very different to Moscow as it is on a kind of grid system a bit like New York i think so just long long roads so very easy to navigate.  It had some very beautiful buildings compared to the more grey concrete boxes in Moscow although for some reason I like Moscow better I think because it's more like London and has lots of different kinds of areas and you can get a bit more lost in it.  St Petersburg def had more of a European feel though. So we spent two days doing the old cultury thing interspersed with eating lots of lovely food at some wonderful restaurants especially a Ukranian one with amazing borsch which had some very cool chappie on his casio keyboard banging out classic cheesy 80s rock songs!

The Hermitage was enormous and beautiful so could only saw a few bits and pieces of our choice and quite frankly my ability to walk long distances appears to be diminishing rapidly since i hit 30 .. give me a nice old coffee shop or bar any day!  Got ripped off by a cab driver whose meter read £20 after about 2 minutes literally in the car. Got out tutting and giving evil looks then read in the guide book to never get a taxi if you have not agreed a price before hand.  He saw us coming!

Weather was a bit iffy i don't think Luke saw the sun once in his 5 days which was a shame because Moscow in the sun I love love but without it its a bit dreary and grey.  It came out the day after he left though!

We had to go first class on the way back though on the train as no normal tickets left.  It did cost 3 times the price but was worth it was like being on a plane. Free drinks and they brought you a yummy dinner. Just before we boarded the train that evening we had tried to go for a massage that was advertised at the hotel.  However when we got there they only had room for a facial so while i went and had that Luke said he would go for a wander and be back in half an hour.  Half and hour later and he was not back and i had a text saying he had wandered into the jagermeister bar across the road and had accidentally ordered a liter of beer and would be there asap. So it turns out he did accidentally order it due to his total lack of russian but felt the need to drink the entire thing in half an hour just to save face!  Men are weird!
So he is obviously a bit merry as we board first class.  Then  this woman sitting on the other side of the aisle from us decides she is not happy about something and starts apparently having ago at the really nice stewardess who just stands there politely taking her torrent of abuse. No idea what her problem was think her bottled water might have been the wrong temperature!  So then Luke in his cheery state decides to give her the thumbs up!! This is when my eye defenders were put into use!

Last night in Moscow and we went to a club which was packed.  On returning from the toilet i found Luke sitting in our booth with two men.  He politely introduced me to Sergey and er forgot his name so lets say Vladimir.  Turns out Sergey may not have had all his faculties about him that night  for whatever reason and apparently took a shine to Luke and kept trying to stroke his leg interspersed with picking up our drinks and drinking them!    Sergey rapidly became very unpopular and we left him in his happy world soon after!
 Anyway so it was a fun week which went way too fast and i a have now been back at school a week.
We are on the countdown to the christmas concert which is a BIG deal at our school.  Obviously with my singing and dancing skills we have nothing to fear. chuckle chuckle! Hoping my more musically talented TA's will save me!  

I went to the cinema today for the first time after Hannah checked the film was in english.  Except when we got there it was not.  So i watched Straw dogs entirely in Russian with Hannah translating the main jist of the story  every now and then and actually it was pretty easy to understand due to it being a very visual ( and crap ) film! I have nearly learnt the russian alphabet and it had made a lot of difference in getting around.  Feel confident on metro now which when i arrived was a terrifying maze of weird words!

The first snow has fallen although not really settled yet and last week we got to -2.. but still wearing my heels and above the knee dresses!! Not sure that will last much longer!
Its funny the parents at my school don't like windows open in the classroom due to drafts but happy for children to go out in freezing temperatures!

from Russia with Love xx

Weird weddings and a bit more wodka...

So I have noticed a few times when out and about Brides walking around the city with their new husbands and friends.  Seemed like a weird thing to do just after your wedding to go for a ponder in around the city.  Yesterday on the bridge which approaches Christ the saviours cathedral ( which is just breath taking inside and out)  there were loads of brides.  What they do is come to the bridge and lock a padlock on it after they get married.  Very romantic i thought and a bit more civilised than getting off your face after the wedding like in the UK.. although i have a feeling they might just do that too what with all that Wodka about!

Hmmm so time is flying by again  and trying to remember all i have done.  School is great but long hours and so am pretty pooped in the week and also now do this thing called baby club once a week and also having to start extra lessons once a week for a child in my class.  All good as extra money but am looking forward to the half term next week so so much!  Luke is coming out to visit  for 5 days so am looking into taking a trip to St Petersburg as looks gorgeous but may stay here and just do some day trips.  I can't book anything until i get my passport back which is off somewhere having something done with visas etc... hopefully not being cloned!  I took great pleasure in telling Gilly  i sold it to a man on the street for lots of roubles!!  She was not amused!!

Feel i have well not exactly mastered the tube but am no longer having to mentally prepare myself before i get on it as kind of figured out the system it's just like london underground really but with weird words and way more people and less smiles!! I know hard to believe!  Oooh and way longer escalators.. they are super long!

Had a great night out last weekend at a karaoke bar with people from work... obviously with my rather fine voice i was not keen to sing in public ( sing star and a private booth in soho is perfectly acceptable but this was a restaurant!!)  However with a few wodkas and the promise of The scorpions.. winds of change ( my new favourite song!)   i suddenly felt my voice should be shared!!  And yes Tash i sang Gold too in memory of us!  I think the Russians really appreciated that one!

My kids are all lovely still and we are gearing up for halloween celebrations on friday.. we had a halloween party last night and i went as my usual black cat.  Ironically had a massive allergic reaction to the real cat that lived in the flat and spent most on the night thinking my lungs had shut down and freaking out i might have to go to  Russian casualty!  Maybe a slight overreaction. (moi??) All good now the fumes of all the cars have sorted me out!

As I walked home today along the big main road  either the president or the prime minister went by.  Way bigger fuss than when our lovely Queen drives past.  First there was about 15 police cars all with sirens going followed by these wicked old black sidecars, then about 20 blacked out beamers  and his car followed by a load more sirened police cars.  All going so crazily fast!

Right i need sleep and food.. still addicted to smetana and made the dangerous discovery of something called smetana cake in costa coffee.... there is no hope now!!

Bye bye xx

A place not to visit!

So after a lovely visa run to sunny England i made it back to Moscow.  On my flight back to the UK i sat next to a 50 odd something English guy who despite not looking keen on talking to me found the best course of action was acceptance. So i inundated him with questions about why he had been in Russia and if the place he had been was worth visiting ( a resounding NO!) Turns out he was a scientist working with the Americans measuring radioactivity levels and cancer rates in a place called Mayak near the Ural mountains.  He told me in the 50's they built a nuclear power station in about half the time it should take and due to cutting corners managed to contaminate the whole place.  Following a number of nuclear accidents the place is now classed as one of the most contaminated in the world.  So feeling a bit Erin Brockivichy I did some research and it made fascinating yet depressing reading http://thescreamonline.com/strange/strange08-01/chelyabinsk40.html.
Anyway i have halted my Brockivichy feelings at just reading as not to mention not having the cleavage i think the Russians are not too keen on snoopers!

MAYAK

I got back to Moscow airport last  night this time flying BA rather than Aeroflop.  Can't say it was much better.. in fact Aeroflot food was was nicer.  The Curry gods would be weeping if they had sampled BA's version of a chicken korma!  Still we did have an awfully polite northern pilot who welcomed us all on board about 15 times gushing at how he was here to serve us.. bless.  And everyone clapped when we landed again.  I have perfected cutting out all thoughts of crash landings as we land!
Erlan picked me up again in his amazing ancient Lada.. i was even more amazed when he went to open it and i realised it had central locking..surely not an original feature.  Again he drove us at alarming speeds towards Moscow with manouveres which would probably be found in training videos for what not to do on motorways!  I was even more happy when he explained to me in broken English that 'Miss Jenny told me drive Miss Rebecca fast fast so she can come to bar!'  Miss Jenny is not in my good books!
Slept of my jet lag till 1 pm..ahh nice.. went for a walk to find a new supermarket.. got lost..but was nice to look around.  Returned to familiar supermarket where on lining up to pay noticed a frail old woman behind me with one item.  Being the respectable member of society i am i gestured for her to go before me. Well frail my arse!!.. she lost the plot and started shouting at me in Russian complete with angry arm gesticulations and evil looks.  As i had no idea what she was saying i just smiled!  Not sure they have Help the Aged over here! Won't be doing that again!

Right bedtime..ready for the little angels tomorrow and a bit more smetana..i have been having withdrawal symptons!

Oooh and it's getting bloody chilly now!!!

Russian Roubles and Red Square

Wow.. time has been flying by and now been 3 weeks since I arrived.  So what have I been up too.  Well the 10k never quite happened yesterday due to lack of training and well pure laziness but the intention was there and intentions are good! I'll still whip your ass Giles in the next one.. are you sure your stop watch was working properly the other day!?
I did however go swimming which was certainly an interesting experience as Hannah said it was an outdoor pool which sounded very exciting in the middle of Russia and an experience not to be missed.
So first we had to pay for a medical to check we were not lepers.  This involved a doctor telling you to take off your shoes.  She briefly glanced at the 'top' of our feet and told us to replace our shoes.  Hannah translated that she was looking for verrucas?? This is when i started doubting this doctors ( again very old ) credentials!   Then she wanted to know our height and weight although despite being in a doctors surgery she did not have any scales or tape measure.. , quick blood pressure and we were obviously prime candidates for the outdoor swimming experience.  She charged us £10 for this thorough assessment!   Then i had to spend £6 on a compulsory swimming hat. I wanted the bobbly pink one but Hannah brought me to my senses and I am now a proud owner of latex blue hat that makes me look like a smurf and pins the bottom of my ears to the top of my ears.  It's a sexy look!  Then we went to buy our ticket to swim for 1 hour.. A reasonable £11!! I imagined the pool must be some kind of state of the art olympic number after all this.  But no, it kind of looked like it had not been renovated since the communist era.  Russians take their pre-swim shower very seriously.  It's not like in the UK where you just nip under the shower to make yourself look wet or just skip it altogether and just run into the pool before anyone can stop you ( or is that just me!!)   All these naked ladies were lathering up left, right and centre but Hannah and I had forgotten any soap or shampoo and I'm pretty sure we were being judged on our lack of lathering!!  Anyway the weather was 17 degrees and water was 27 which was really nice actually and swimming outside is lovely but at that price it will be not a regular thing. Although I def want to go when it is snowing outside!

Have sampled a bit more vodka just to check the quality is good week to week.  Certainly as dangerous as ever!

Finally made it to Red Square and St Basil's which was breathtaking.  Also went  to a Russian market marvel at all the beautiful Russian dolls and Faberge eggs ( finally know what you were all banging on about!)  Some wicked old,old antiques markets too which make the stuff in Portobello look like stuff from Argos last year!

Have got slightly addicted to Smetana the sour cream they put on everything over here.  I put it on all my food at school and casually mentioned to 5 year old Natasha one lunch time that i had to be careful as if i ate too much i would get fat!   Ten minutes later she saw me helping myself to another dollop and said  in perfect English. ' Miss Rebecca you will be the fattest teacher in school.!'  God I am a good teacher!!

However i may be saved from the smetana curse as a horrific incident with some dental floss yesterday  meant  a filling flew right out!  So now it's soup and soft food on one side of my mouth!  Mind you smetana is soft too dammit!  Hoping tooth will last until Friday when i am back in London. Don't fancy a Russian dentist after my experiences with the doctors!

Hmm what else...  oh I went out for a walk and explore on my own and did not get lost, attacked or stopped by the police which i thought was jolly good indeed!!  I even successfully bought some milk!!  

Right bedtime.  Hugely excited about coming home now if only for a few days.... see you soon! x

More Moscow Musings

So have nearly done a whole week at school now and it's been tiring but good.  Got a cold bug thing which as we all know is no surprise for me but as the school only allows 5 paid sick days in a year i took my germs to school.  The children get checked every day by the school doctor before they are allowed in but they don't check the staff ironically. I can tell you when i was coughing in the staff room that doctor's head whipped around like something out of the excorsist and the look i got was not exactly warm.  I have been trying to stifle any coughing in front of the parents as it appears Russian parents are very concerned about germs!!  And playing without coats even if it's boiling!  Oh and drinking cold water!  Very dangerous!!  

But all my children are really sweet and we sit down at 9.00 and eat our Russian porridge or semolina ( brings back childhood memories).  Then snack on cheese and quails eggs ( yes quails eggs for 5 year olds). It's all very civilised compared to the zoo mentality of lunchtime in a huge British primary school. But no chip Friday which is a shame!  This is after we have done morning excercises.. nothing like a bit of agadoo at 8.30 in the morning!  They do yoga too with a teacher and have mini yoga mats.. very cute!
Lunch is always soup with croutons, it's always a different colour but amazingly it always has the same taste!   Followed by main course of some kind of meat and pasta or rice or Smash.  I have decided to stop enquiring what the meat is as last time i asked it was veal... ( Emma don't even try to tell me that the Russians are using the humane method you keep banging on about!)

It's a long day compared to UK schools (8.15 -5.00)  but the relaxed approach to planning and the flexibility and lack of paperwork and the access to good  resources makes up for it!! I may even go so far as to say I am enjoying teaching!! Although still missing my Interactive whiteboard! :(

So we went out last weekend to some really nice bars with great live music....and I found myself ordering shots of vodka ( they don't appear to mix it here) and sipping them like a nice glass of sherry!  I can make a shot last a longgg time and at a pound a shot it's brilliant!  Have now been in one of the random cars that act as taxis ( read on mum!) but with other people who speak Russian so all safe !!  Went to Ikea too and forgot i was in Russia for a while.

Went for my first run in Gorky park with my TA Hannah.. we are attempting the Moscow 10k next sunday.
Prior to meeting Hannah I had kind of thought running may not be an option after reading a blog by an expat and his experience of Moscow running.  He mentioned the rarity of runners that resulted in small children pointing and laughing at him, along with the fact that you got chased by packs of wild dogs!!  This was not my experience in Gorky park thank god although I had thought a pack of wild dogs might do wonders for my motivation to run faster!  We even passed other runners although you kind of gave each other a knowing nod and a smile that we were special!  Gorky park also has giant go-karts you can hire to ride around the park in... i don't know why this excites me but it really does!!

I have now been to a supermarket alone.....it was scary and i failed to buy milk despite the carton having a cow and a milk maid on the front.. i don't know what it was but it was some kind of evil encompassed in some thick white gloop!!  I was trying to learn the Russian alphabet but as we all know I am a bit of a procrastinator..plenty of time for that!  I can say hello ( kind of), thankyou and bill please, oh and yes and no....I'll be fluent before you know it!

So this weekend we have staff bonding day which sounds horrific but there is pizza after so maybe it will be worth it!  And some more exploring.  Went to the Kremlin last weekend but it was Moscow day and Red Square was shut so still more to do.

Ok bedtime, my flat mate Jen has shown me how to download stuff on my computer using a torrent (check me out!) and I am addicted to True Blood... i tell you if he is called Bill,  a vampire can feed on me any day!

Good bye comrades!  Oh and I fly home on Fri 23rd of Sep for the weekend to get my real visa so keep it free if you are in London, can't wait to see you all  xxx

Meet the parents...

So the medical!  Well thank the lord above there was to be no butt swabbing!  Quite frankly i think i would have refused!  We were given a card with 3 room numbers on and told to visit them in order.  In room number 9 was a very old (like 80!) russian doctor with a big white mustache!!  He had a big old industrial machine that looked like an incinerator!  He told me to go behind a screen and remove my dress at the top to my tummy.  So i did!  No no not enough, please take of your bra.  I the had to get into this machine which had the door shut and push my boobs against a screen for an xray.   As i stepped out of the machine he said ahh beatiful beautiful!!!!  Apparently he was talking about my lungs!!!  I have to say they did look rather beautiful all clear and clean!  Don't think they will look that clean after living in Moscow pollution!

Then i had blood taken and the nurse who was watching me start hyperventilating as she got the needle out shoved a cotton wool ball under my nose and said breathe, which i did! No idea what was on it but it made me feel VERY nice! Wish they did that in the UK!

So this is my classroom!!! So clean and big and lovely although they do not have Interactive whiteboards which is a real shame... I'll have to go back to old style teaching and practice my neat whiteboard writing!

We also have a mini theatre, and a dance room with mirrored walls! (memories of that horrific Aerobics lesson came flooding back Tash and I broke out in sweats!)  The school is on the 10th floor of an apartment block 1 road over from my flat which is so easy! We have a playground out on the roof. My teaching assistants Miss Hannah and Mr Nick are great  ( obviously not as great as you Simone!!!!) and are both English but speak fluent Russian and I  get called the headteacher which amuses me and makes me feel important!  Today I had to do a speech in front of the 25 rich Russian parents which with my love of public speaking was a doddle haha!  Actually was ok in the end as none of the parents spoke English so i had a translator standing next to me which somehow made it better. 

Today we had training at one of the other school sites and took the local mini buses (Marshruty). They are these hilarious old mini vans and you get in and sit down and then pass your fare forward to the person in front of you who passes it on until you get to the driver and if you need change he passes it all the way back...so inefficient yet seems to work!  Have also been on the metro ( amazing wooden escalators) but not visited the the amazingly beautiful metro stops yet.  They also have trams  and trolley buses but quite how i am ever going to work out where the hell they all go is beyond me as all the stops are in Russian! 

They also have legal taxis but locals use 'chastniki' which is basically where you put your hand out and hail any car that stops and give them a bit of money!!!  Won't be doing that alone!

So one more day of preparing classroom and then the little Russian tinkers arrive.  Planning is so far amazing....can do things my way without silly paperwork and over the top assessments and no threat of OFSTED ever!

Ok bedtime so sleepy!!  Spokoini Noche x

Good Morning comrades!!

So it's 7.00 am and I have woken to the sound of lots of traffic, my chest feels like an elephant has been sitting on it ( assuming it's the smog.. nice!) and i still have 2 hours before I have to get up. Normally I would go for a little stroll and check out my surroundings but I think it may be safer to wait until my flat mate Jen has shown me the basics.  We overlook what I am going to call Lenin Square for obvious reasons although don't know the real name which is also the location for the main police headquarters.Yesterday there were lots of them hanging out in the square having a good old chin wag and looking jovial, but having read that  police stop people (especially foreign looking people) to check documents and often want a bribe I think I will stay in bed.  Considering I break out in a cold sweat  and feel instantly guilty when a police car drives past me when I am driving I can only imagine how I will react when a Russian police man asks for my documents.  I will be practicing my innocent look in the mirror later on!

I was lucky to get here in one piece considering i was flying with Aeroflop and was doubly relieved to arrive in Moscow as 90% of the passengers on the flight appeared to be Japanese, and for one ( maybe 10 plus) terrible moments I thought I had made a terrible boarding mistake and was going to the wrong country.
The Russian flight attendants did not speak English well and we had a frustrating moment when the lovely British girl sitting next to me asked for water and recieved blank looks.  Lots of water themed gesticulations  on both our parts later and she figured it out.  I stuck with orange juice as she seemed to understand this!

I was very proud of how brave I was with the flight considering I hate flying.  The only hairy bit was landing when it felt like there was a giant on each wing having a go on a pogo stick.  I dealt with this by breathing VERY deeply but the lovely girl next to me appeared to deal with it with hysterical laughter. On touch down the whole plane burst into applause which was  nice although I did not have the  gross motor skills to get two hands together as was semi hyperventilating!

I was met by a lovely little man called Erlan who had quite possibly the most fantastic 1970's maroon car..like the rectangle box shaped ones and driven the 35 ks to my flat.  Russian traffic is as bad as I have read..6 lanes across in places, weaving in and out with no signalling, using the dirt track on the side as an extra lane. You can imagine my joy when he answered the phone at 120k an hour!  For anyone who has had me as a passenger you can imagine  how much strength it took for me to sit quietly!!  Passed first wodka victim sprawled out on the sideway snoring away!  Passed Ikea to which for some reason have me a warm fuzzy feeling.. I wonder if they have meatballs!!

So plan for today is go with Jen to my school which is 5 mins away and then go for a medical.  This involves a blood test for one which initially freaked me out as we all know how much I love needles. But then Jen told me that they sometimes do an anal swab!!!!  Suddenly  the thought of having blood taken seemed like a trio to Disney world!  I am holding out hope that they won't as they did not do it last year but did the year before. Pray for me!

My room is lovely.. double the size of my one at home all decorated properly and I have a wicked arm chair which looks like it's from the 1970's so all good there. Jen has been telling me about the school (as we sipped gin and tonics on my balcony admiring some new tower blocks that are being but in the distance)  and the 'performances' we have to put on ( let's just say Hallfield ladies it's in a different league to our class assemblies! eek!). Luckily they have dance and music teachers so hopefully they will help me! I have also discovered I have the grandson of the owner of the school in my class so no pressure there!

Ok going to go have a yummy breakfast of craft cheese slices on bread which they kindly put in the fridge for me.  Have a feeling getting a nice bit of crunchy mature cheddar here may not be so easy but luckily my  strange appreciation of nasty processed cheese slices will get me through ( remember Darwin Claire??) yum yum.

Over and out comrades I'll be back soon to let you know if I get violated at the medical!