Rubovia

Sometimes the thoughts that pop into my head are bizarre as are the reasons why they pop in too. The images come from June Book 1965 one of my Christmas presents in 1964 when I was 9. I kept it because I loved the stories and articles in there and I still do. I was going to be a police woman when I grew up and I had a rabbit called Silky though I don’t remember the rabbit at all.

Back to the pictures. I don’t know if the series was exported to the States. Doris, Neutron, and Keith might remember it (Zoe &John G, you’re too young). The puppets lived in Rubovia and the story was written by Mr. Gordon Murray, who also made the puppets, my book tells me. It took three to six months to make a 30 minute episode. Don’t ask me why it popped into my head.

Does anyone remember Twizzle?

This one's for Mary Lou

I was walking through the park this morning as I do everyday on the way to the post office. When I reached one of the bigger trees I heard a noise from above and looked up to see two squirrels chasing each other round and round up the tree. When they got to the top they started to come back down again - that is until they saw me. The first squirrel stopped dead and after a couple of seconds the second poked his head round the side to see what (or who) had stopped their game.

It was lovely to see them as there have been a lot of road works by the park this week and tree roots being dug up in the park. They aren’t shy at all and stared me out till I continued on my way.

I can't be that bad....

This morning should have been my last lesson with my new pupil. Grammar is hard to learn and not easy to teach sometimes. Half an hour into the lesson my student excused himself and spent the next five minutes throwing up in the toilet. We decided to continue the lesson when he feels better.

Sentence patterns and Adverbials aren’t that bad, are they?

Another birthday

It's Olivier's turn today. 17 already! If only he would be pleased with a choo choo train for his birthday nowadays.....

My new blog

When my little blog died because Blog Charm closed down, I decided to set up a new blog here. The old blog was about books I’d read, what I’d heard on the radio and things I’d learnt. The new one is going to be the same except that I’ve written another short story and put it over there. If you liked the one I wrote for Christmas, take a look at the new one and let me know what you think…

Interesting work

Another little job I’ve taken on is helping to clear the backlog of new blogs for Blog Explosion. It’s really interesting. Seeing some of the stuff which tries to pass off as blogs makes me appreciate the importance of weeding them out before they get into the system; I also get to see some great new blogs. If anyone’s interesting in helping, visit the Blog Explosion forum where everything is explained.

I am tired....

I don’t understand why I feel like I’m so busy I can’t get things done. I feel like I did before my thyroid disorder was diagnosed 12 years ago; life is one long row of chores spreading out into my future.

This week is the second of the holidays and Olivier has recovered from his flu. Rob and I both had a day when we felt really tired, so we wondered if our vaccination was losing effect. We’re all fine now.

Dom has been home since last weekend. We went shopping on Monday; looking for birthday presents for Olivier. Then on Tuesday I went shopping with Olivier for shoes. He needed a sweater and shirt so I feel like I know men’s wear shops inside out at the moment. We got one or two bargains as there are still left over sales items to be found.

It’s been a long time since I had English lessons with someone of school age but I feel as if I’ve got back into the swing of it. I have to collect a ticket at the end of every lesson – the hardest part has been remembering to do that; if I don’t collect the tickets to send in, I won’t get paid.

Update

It’s time for the 'winter' holidays now, the weather has been lovely and sunny and the buds are opening on the trees. Olivier went to the Cinema on Saturday evening with his friends ( one of them now has their driving licence) he slept through half of the film. He’s been in bed for two days now with flu and I can say that he is a typical male, he does not suffer in silence.

On Saturday I received a card and some photographs from one of my ex students. She’s a marine biologist and last year was lucky enough to spend some time in the Antarctic. She sent me some incredible photographs of ice and penguins. I’m going to ask her permission to post them here.

I had a phone call from a language school in Bordeaux yesterday. I sent them my CV about 2 years ago. I now have some lessons during the holidays. Hopefully, if the lessons go well, some more work will come my way.

Well read - not

My retired lady who comes for an English lesson arrived last week with a newspaper cutting from a local paper which was about English people. More English people believe Sherlock Holmes existed that think that Sir Winston Churchill was a real person. They also think that King Richard the Lion Heart was a fictional character. I know there was a TV series when I was a child, but….

I added to the discussion with the news that I had heard. Woolworths was withdrawing its range of bedroom furniture for little girls after complaints from parents. They had called the furniture range “Lolita”. Apparently no one involved in the choice of name had heard of the book – or the films.

21 today!

Happy Birthday to Christian who is 21 today. He was born 5 weeks early and small enough to go into special care. Where does the time go?

Are you ready girls?

Postcards don’t usually find their way onto this blog, but I had to share this one.

“What you must say to a man”

With your seductive gaze
You tug at my heart

Your suit is excellent
You are really elegant

Your certainly know how
To please in a thousand ways

I’m smitten by your beauty
I promise you everything

You know so well how to kiss me
That I can’t go without

With your superb athletic body
You must turn a few heads

I thought these tips might help you to prepare for Valentine’s day.

Click on the card to see a larger version