PARIS

Paris has been great to us so far. We are not experiencing any of the horrid heat waves that are throughout the rest of Europe, nor are we in wet old England (who is experiencing the wettest 3 months on record, including floods).

We have managed to be very tourisy in our time here,

to be continued... out of time...

School Trip to France

A year 8 school camp is a year 8 school camp, regardless of what country you happen to be in. The kids run around and talk loudly in their dorms until 2am, they throw food and break glasses, they call out across four tables to their friends at dinner time, and they seem to genuinely believe that national parklands will thrive on the empty drink containers that they don't want anymore.

On the other hand- French food and country-side is something that anyone could get used to. The teachers had seperate meals cooked for us, and we ate very well. We were provided with wine, cheese platters, incredible meals and great fruit tarts for desert. One could easily put on weight with this lifestyle.

We were staying in a little village near Dijon, which consisted of aproximately 20 houses, many delapadated, and made primarily of stones. It was a very enchanting little place, and very quiet (no where for the kiddies to dissapear to). The camp was run primarily by the 'activities centre' who took care of everything for us (except for the discipline issues). During the week we went on a four hour hike around a forest area, went kyaking, visited a cave system, went to a chateau, went shopping (I had a group of 8 girls to look after when shopping... neadless to say, we were very late for lunch) and ate at a really nice french restaurant.

The weather was brilliant. It was certainly a nice change from the cold and wet London that I returned to. I enjoyed not having to wear a jumper for a whole week!

Although it was an exhausting week, it was a lot of fun, and a great chance to get to know some of the other teachers at Coopers, not to mention being a great introduction to France. As we are heading to Paris this afternoon, I expect you will hear a new story just as soon as we find a good internet cafe.

The Shining

Last night I was feeling brave. I was alone in a very big house in London, it was late at night, and I was feeling brave. So when I saw that The Shining was scheduled for 10PM I thought, 'Hhhm, there's a classic I haven't seen yet...that might be a real feather in my cap if I can knock that off...a conversation starter?'

Whoooa. Now I'm not ashamed to say that I didn't watch the whole thing. I'm am a little ashamed that I completely flipped out after only the first scary scene and turned it off. And I'm a little embarrassed that I started repeating the prayer of little Jenny in the cornfield from Forrest Gump. But it did help.

That movie is just a little SCARY! Has anybody seen it? What a fool. I used to get scared watching the Scream movies; who did I think I was?

Off to school camp

Well, I'm just about ready to head off for my First school camp with Coopers- to France. After a 12 hour coach trip (on a double decker bus) I will be heading down to some rural part of France that I can't seem to find on a map, and will hopefully be enjoying temperatures ranging from 26-34 degrees, which will make a nice change from the top of 18-19 degrees that we seem to be stuck with here.
Although the trip is with two year 8 classes, I am assured that there will be very little for me to do but sit around and drink french wine- I somehow don't quite believe that story...

I'll update you all on the real happenings of France 2007 trip when I get back. Have a good week!

AWAKE!

On Wednesday we went with our good chums Ben and Gerrod (not Ben and Jerry, as Fred was disappointed to find) to see a test screening of a harrowing movie called 'Awake'. In the grand tradition of movies with one-letter a-words for a title (only 'Alive' comes to mind), it had a few squeamish moments.

The movie centres on a guy who goes in for a heart transplant, only to find that, yes, he is awake throughout the whole procedure. Now mum, this movie is not due to come out until November, so you can put your money away for now. It might already be out in paperback if you can't wait that long.

In the questionnaire I filled in afterwards, I specified that my least favourite scenes were: 'Guy screaming as his chest was cut open'; 'Guy screaming as his chest was clamped open'; and 'Guy sounding like he was going to throw up when they removed his heart'. I think that pretty much covered it. Now if they take note of my comments and remove those scenes, it might actually be an OK movie to see.

It makes me think that I should make a similar movie based on my own harrowing experience, called 'Not Responding to Local Anaesthetic'. Starring me and Dr Wang, and set in the Birkdale Medical Centre post-2001 (heady times).

The general plot is, Dr Wang injects me with local anaesthetic around the mole he's about to remove, but doesn't wait the prescribed length of time before operating. What follows is an hilarious mix of pain and mental anguish, as Dr Wang slices out an extraordinary amount of flesh and stiches up the wound (albeit with what turn out to be the wrong stiches).

I'll have to give it a better title though, perhaps using another a-letter word, like 'Angry', 'Anaesthetized - Not!', or another one that I won't use if mum is reading.

Temporary post to keep people happy

This weekend the sun shined... Two straight days, and trying for a third. It is quite a record... it has rained every day for the past 3-4 weeks before this.

Huzzah!