Last night Stewart, my long-time
boyfriend, asked me how long it had been since I wrote a blog entry.
I guessed it was a couple of months but when I checked I was shocked to
find it was on October 30th 2015! So coming up to 6 months. Oh dear.
My problem is one shared by many bloggers. What I would
like to write about people don't seem to want to read and on topics people do
want to read about I sometimes feel that I have run out of
things to say.
So what has happened in my life?
CATS - Zero the cat settled in well and all four of
us think we made the right decision when we decided to adopt her. Sometimes I
think Zero can tell the time because three days running as I was driving down
the road to my home I saw Zero walking from her old house towards her new one.
It was just as if she knew that I was due back from work. Zero doesn’t choose
to understand what “No” means. We didn’t want her upstairs but when we catch
her on the stairs and say “No, Zero” she just stops, looks at me and then
carries on anyway. Clearly Zero thinks she is the boss of the house.
Zero's decision to stop going to her former home was
quite sudden and now she lives with us all the time. Her bed is in the kitchen
which is a nice warm room. That seems to be important for cats as they get
older. She doesn’t eat much, again rather like an old person, but she does like
to have lots of stroke while we are watching the television.
BEREAVEMENT GROUP - Running the Bereavement Group at
school is hard work but worthwhile. It is really sad how many children lose a
parent or a sibling – of course I know first hand that it can takes years
before you get over something like that so once somebody joins the group they
often stay as a member for a few years. It is the boys that find it
hardest. They are trained not to show emotion or to cry in public and sometimes
that is exactly what they need to do! There is enormous solidarity within the
group and that makes my job easier.
MY JOB - As a NQT (newly qualified teacher) I am on a
reduced timetable for my first three terms and I also got quite a bit of
support from my mentor but even with all this extra help I feel fairly worn
out. Stewart is similarly tired out so we are like a middle-aged couple rather
than just youngsters. The annual craft fair was recently held at school.
Stewart and I went along although we didn’t spend very much. I’ve been told
that some of the year 11, 12 and 13 boys were disappointed to find out I had a
boyfriend – I supposed I should be flattered that these youngster take an
“interest” in me. I thought the orchestra and drama club performed at a very
high quality level so clearly some staff must have spent ages working with
them.
MODELLING - The modelling course my friend and house-mate
Sally and I did for the authors and illustrators of erotic literature was the
most fun we have ever had on a course. The ladies were lovely, but rather
eccentric, and the time spend modelling went very quickly. Doing the very
tasteful and mild lesbian poses was an experience. It is a good job that we
know each other so well otherwise I don’t think we would have wanted to do some
of the poses. Standing over her with a blood-soaked sword was also rather
strange!
FAMILY AND FRIENDS - We have been a
bit worried about not having made many new friends recently so we were pleased
when fate provided us with two married couples who live nearby (they
house-share) who have lots in common with us. It was all a bit spooky because
one of them is a girl I had met before a couple of times but in a totally different
town. I think the two wives are sisters although I might be wrong. They were
both brought up in a Children's Home for a few years after major family
problems.
It is looking quite likely that Sally and her boyfriend
Mark will be moving out of my home sometime over the summer. We have always
agreed that they will give me 3 months notice although the legal requirement is
just 1 month. We have all lived together for several years and it will be
strange, and not very nice, if they do move away.
Dad's brother and Mum's sister came to see me recently.
When they said they were coming I just knew that it was going to be something
to do with Nan or Granddad. It turned out to be something to do with both of
them. Nan has been saying for ages that she wants to divorce Granddad and she
has finally done something about it and she has seen a solicitor. Once
Granddad, still in prison of course, found out about it he was very,
very angry and hired a solicitor of his own. He got his solicitor to write a letter
blaming Nan for quite a lot of the financial, mental and physical abuse that I
suffered. The letter was sent to Dad's brother and Mum's sister demanding that
they help him fight the divorce settlement that Nan is demanding. The man is
totally bonkers of course.