the_vulture

 This weekend was, as expected, bittersweet. I said goodbye to a couple of very good friends. The hardest was the woman who helped me so much through all the grief I endured during my stay in England (and outside of it). She's the one that gave me Teddy to keep me company during one particularly stressful period in my life. We both had pretty damp eyes when I took a photo of her with him.

But the goodbye that took me by surprise was to the city of London itself. On my way to Aylesbury, I paused in London to get a few snaps of Teddy with Big Ben and a few other sites, as I had yet to take any photos of him there. It was with a bit of sadness that I walked along the Thames, realizing that this, perhaps, would be the last time. It was then that the city itself granted its own goodbye. As I walked by the London Eye, I discovered that the mindnumbingly long queues that were ALWAYS present, the ones that look like they lasted hours and, thus, kept me from ever going up in it, were NON-EXISTENT.

A short time and £15.50 later, I was aloft in the London Eye and treated to a stunning view of the city. It was amazing to be able to see so many landmarks from just one point. Turn one way and you can see St. Paul's Cathedral and the 'Gherkin'. Turn another and both the Parliament buildings and, in the distance, the Battersea Powerstation can be seen from above. Yes, many pictures were taken, including some with Teddy. *grin* Those will have to be added to the growing list of photoblog entries that I need to sort out out when I have the time to do so. It brought back a lot of memories of my many gleeful explorations along the Thames and the city streets. My experiences of that magnificent city will be a treasure I will always hold in my heart.

As I left London by train to return home, I whispered 'goodbye' to the city that I realized that I had come to love, despite whatever else that has happened to me in the rest of England. And I promised myself that I would one day return; a final farewell would be just too heartbreaking to endure.

Actually, a good couple of days - yesterday I got in two films that were reasonably entertaining: Doom and Cruel Intentions (though the former required some serious suspension of reality).

Today saw another walking tour of London; this time of features and events that are/were below the surface of London, including the creation of the Embankment to house tube lines and (more importantly) sewers, everything I ever wanted to know about bunkers during WW2, secret meeting rooms, Parliamentarians displaced from their crypts, and the infamous Gunpowder Plot.

I had a lovely lunch at Quizno's (in London), then returned home to do a running session, showered, packed and came to imapunkin's place to spend the final week of holiday (free of her kids, as they are away on holiday!). The first task of the evening was to get kebabs for takeaway. We then moved on to Big Brother Winner's Week and a couple episodes of Tru Calling (awesome!). We're both still trying to sort out what to do tomorrow.

Today saw me in London for two walking tours and a bit of a look-see through Chinatown. The first walk, starting at two, was titled "Somewhere Else" London and basically consisted of a two hour jaunt from Embankment Station, over the Thames, along the south Embankment, and, finally, into an area with what is described as truly Dickensian architecture. I didn't see a whole lot that was new to me, but I got some interesting bits of info and it was a good enough excuse for a long walk in lovely weather.

The next tour was at 7:30, so I walked from Embankment Station to Chinatown (near Leicester Square), pausing briefly at an aquatic sports outfitter to pick up a waterproof carry bag for all my miscellaneous stuff (like wallet and keys) for the next time I head to the beach. I may have to pick up a second (they're cheap), as I've just discovered that I can operate my camera for semi-reasonable shots through the bag, making shallow depth aquatic photography possible and, at the very least, allowing me to take my camera to the beach without worry of sand, salt or sea air doing it damage.

In Chinatown, I looked through a bunch of shops trying to find red lanterns for imapunkin, who desperately wants one (she's into all things Chinese). Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the selection; most were quite tacky. I also couldn't a shop that sells sweet and sour pork buns (a favourite of mine). The greatest tragedy, though, is the confirmation that the Tuk Tuk Noodle Bar is truly gone, leaving me to despair as to where I can find a decent laksa (let alone the heavenly mango and cream pudding that I've seen nowhere else).

London Chinatown, sadly, is quite disappointing in general. Given the size of London, one might expect a really large Chinatown, but this one is maybe two to three times larger than Victoria's. It certainly pales before the sprawling scape that is Toronto's. Visually, even Victoria's wee Chinatown packs in a lot more visual impact. I would have taken pictures to compare, but the view is currently downright unappealing, courtesy of the massive road work taking place. Still, it is a serviceable Chinatown and, more to the point, the only one for quite some distance (do they exist in other parts of Europe?).

I nearly decided against the last walk as I was getting a bit tired, but I was glad I didn't! This was the quite popular Jack the Ripper Haunts tour and it was made especially entertaining by the exceptional story telling talents of the tour guide (the same one from the Ghosts of the Old City tour I did with ekatarina a while back).

All-in-all, it was a great day out with plenty o' (semi)fresh air and exercise.

This has been an eventful week, beginning with a lovely Monday evening spent with ekatarina, during which we had a nice dinner, toured a bit of the south embankment of the Thames and enjoyed an informative and entertaining guided walking tour exploring haunts and hauntings around St. Paul's Cathedral. I wound up really missing my camera, though, as there was plenty of interesting architecture to capture in pixels.

Since then, I've discovered that, courtesy of an issue of being paid till the end of August like a teacher, yet being on administrative pay roll which does not, and the required resolution of such of by the headteacher, I am still not yet on the payroll, though I will be for next time. Fortunately, the bursar arranged for a direct deposit of pay, instead of those awful time consuming cheques (up a week to clear in this country), so my bank account is currently happy.

Thursday was spent trying to assist about three groups of pupils through the process of creating model buildings for a presentation to other school and a team of designers next week. I'll go through a fuller description of this sad state of affairs at a future point, but, currently, the kids are still at a point that they will be embarrassing themselves, the teachers roped into this bombshell, and the school. Worse still, they know it and, despite any encouragement we can give them, they are feeling exceptionally unmotivated. It is really unfair to them as this is not a situation of their own making, but we are all stuck in it till the bitter (and likely humiliating) end.

Friday, on my way to imapunkin's place, some young punk tried to nick my MP3 player! I was on the first bus, standing at my seat whilst waiting for a group of about five young adults (late teens) to pass by me. The last youth in the line noticed the player and turned around to face me. He casually reached out, grabbed it, and unplugged the headphones before I quite realized what was happening. I snatched it from him and bellowed out an indignant "What do you think you are doing?!" in that certain I-am-about-to-tear-you-a-new-a**hole-so-wide-your-head-will-fall-through-it that only a seasoned teacher in the British school system can deliver.

Between that and the fact that I felt, and consequently did not demonstrate, absolutely no fear of him (though he was fairly athletic and towered over me by a good six inches), he was sufficiently intimidated to back off in a hurry, saying words to the effect of "Just chill!" Sadly, the whole incident had me fuming for the remainder of the trip. Fortunately, cuddles with imapunkin on my arrival soon had me relaxed.

Saturday saw the return of the petrol powered strimmer purchased two weeks ago as the engine kept cutting out. It was exchanged for a new one (an upgrade since the former was not in stock) and J. and I spent some bonding time putting it together. We also watched Coneheads, as well as the usual doses of Big Brother.

Sadly, though, the evening involved tears for imapunkin as she discovered she got ripped off for £100 by someone who used to be a trusted provider of doll parts. Said person had taken an advanced order on a doll she had been really looking forward to, but never delivered. His on-line store has subsequently disappeared off the net.

Late yesterday evening involved a lot of cuddles and chatter until we were both just too tired to continue (silly grin).

Today, in theory, I'll be headed back in the early evening to meet up with ekatarina to hang out and catch up. One topic of conversation will be how to deal with the current complication for Monday evening's plan of watching Titus Andronicus at the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The original idea was to book tickets for the yard (where all the "groundlings" get to stand for the whole performance (but arguably have the best view)), but, sadly, when I phoned in, I found out all that was left for advanced booking was seated with restricted viewing. The current options are to book a couple of those, or wait and call the box office on Monday to see if anything else is available.

Yep, it's been an interesting week!

‘Tis been a while since I last wrote. The last month has been particularly hellish. I’ve had worse thrown at me in the last few weeks than anything I encountered during my practicum. Events have occurred that have caused me to question my own fitness to teach. And I have been feeling like I have been coming apart at the seams. Last Friday I even began checking out what courses were available at UVic for me to take during the upcoming spring semester; I was that ready to come home.

But I have endured and I am still here.

I have been assured that the next term will be easier, even with just that the half term will only be six weeks long, as opposed to the eight and seven weeks of the preceding two. I have been offered a lot of help and support and it has been made clear to me that, whatever failings I have suffered during the last term, I am still wanted here, by both staff and students (I got 19 Christmas cards and three boxes of chocolate from my students!).

Last weekend marked a turning point for me; I finally shed a lot of concern over a few things that have been causing me a lot of stress over the last term. I am no longer worried about my application to remain in the UK. I will submit it as best as I am able (despite not having a number of answers to some potentially important questions (I can’t get any answers out of my agency and the immigration office is virtually unreachable)); they will either accept or not and I will stay or leave accordingly. I also discovered that it will cost a lot less for me to join a teacher’s organization (very possibly nothing) and I have finished sorting out issues with assorted student loan bodies to reduce my monthly payments to a more reasonable level; I will still be able to afford a reasonably enjoyable lifestyle, complete with fortnightly trips to London for whatever purposes I deem worthy at the time (methinks I may catch a showing of the musical production “We Will Rock You,” which is based on the life and times of the musical group Queen).

A renewed sense of purpose enabled me to deal far more effectively with the remaining day and a half of classes I had earlier this week than I had over the last few. The last few were quite productive, in spite of class wide expectations that the final classes were supposed to be “fun.” And, in retrospect, I can actually see an improvement in the behaviour of most of my “Hell 9s”; they’ve actually had a very productive half term and met all the coursework objectives. Aside from a few die-hard trouble-makers, most seem far more willing to behave and get to work. Classes at the school let out at noon on Tuesday. The year tens still have some growing up to do, though.

Last Sunday, I also crossed off one major item on my life long “to do” list; I made a trip to Stonehenge! Though, due to extenuating circumstances (that included an accident on the highway and heavy rain and sleet at the site the evening previous), I was not able to experience sunrise in the circle, nor enter the middle of it, I did get to touch the stones and consecrate a number of my spiritual tools with water from pools formed on some of the fallen ones. I also took a lot of great photographs (many of which are now on my photo page, for those who know where it is) thanks, in large part, to the new 512 Mb memory card I purchased for my camera with the Christmas money my folks sent me (thanks Mom and Dad!). I would have been very frustrated by the measly 32 Mb card that came with my camera. The tour also included a trip to Salisbury. And, yes, I also have some lovely photos of the very beautiful Salisbury cathedral.

Wednesday also quite pleasant; I went to London to meet with a group of London pagans. We went on a tour of the Egyptian and Greek exhibits at the British Museum (photos to come). The Egyptian statuary was particularly awe-inspiring. I got to lay hands on a number of statues of Sekmet, the lion headed goddess (and one of my favourites of that pantheon). We also did a walking tour of a number of Pagan friendly shops in the Convent Parks area. The evening came close to ending (much later) with dinner, drinks, and much pleasant conversation at a pub in the area. I made a number of friends that day and I look forward to the monthly events that this group hosts.

I say the evening came close to ending, as, after leaving the pub, I took a side trip to Trafalgar Square to take some pictures of the Christmas tree that was given to London by the city of Oslo (in Norway). They have sent one annually for the last sixty some odd years in recognition of the help that Norway received from Britain during the first World War. I met with a little disappointment at the end of the photo shoot as I had found an incredible shot, but, just as I was getting my camera ready to shoot, they shut the fountains off (at eleven, dammit). Ah well, such is life for a would-be photographer.

And, after reviewing my finances, I still have a bit left over to be mildly indulgent over the rest of the break. Methinks part of that indulgence will include another trip to Trafalgar Square for New Year’s Eve. It certainly included restocking my supply of Strongbow cider and picking up a bottle of Bailey’s (over ice is very nice) as well as number of fine pre-made meals.

I’m still dealing with a bit of depression over being away from home this Christmas, and I’m not looking forward to all the work I have to do in preparation for the next term, but, still, this will be a reasonably pleasant and laid back holiday season for me.

I hope yours will be, too!

Happy Yule and much holiday cheer to all!