Voice Nearly Gone.

My cold , that I've had for the last 4 weeks, has affected my voice and I've been sounding dramatically bad even though I don't feel any worse. Hopefully my voice will last out for tomorrow and then I can give my vocal chords a rest. Otherewise I'll have to resort to more sign language (we do use Makaton to include those children with special needs but generally just the basics as all our children communicate verbally as well). My nose is running like a tap so it's definitely a cold and not the dreaded swine flu. The teacher who had children off with swine flu is also ill with it, just in time for the holidays. Apart from a couple with a tummy bug my class are all in school. Well not now of course, but during the day. Being a Thursday I set up our regular multiskills PE activities - 5 different activities which the children rotate round in teams. I was so pleased with my class today , I was supervising one activity which involved climbing over and along equipment, and the rest of the children were concentrating so hard on their different activities there was hardly a sound in the hall. Quite amazing! Normally there is more noise and I have to remind the children that they need to be concentrating and listening for any instructions from me. I am also pleased that they have become more independent and organised. I never have to allocate children to teams, I just tell them how many we need in each team and they sort themselves out quickly. They are learning that the quicker they sort themselves out , the more time they will have to do the activities. They are also able to warm up sensibly while I deal with shoe laces and rolling up trousers as this is one of the sessions where they don't get changed but just take off shoes and socks.
Apologies for being repetitive but I thought I'd stop at Upcott Cross again to see if I could get some evening pictures without red flare marks.

I promise I'll find a different view for tomorrow even if it is still raining.

Chasing Rainbows.

Sunshine and showers today, a combination that if you're lucky produces rainbows. I stopped just outside of Shirwell and even climbed up onto a hedge to get these rather dark and grainy pictures.
The photo doesn't actually show it but I could see exactly where I needed to dig for that pot of gold.

The whole arc of the rainbow was visible but too big for my camera.

I've spent the afternoon planning at school but haven't managed to print out all my daily plans as we had to squeeze 2 afternoons' worth of work into 1. Originally we were going to have Friday afternoon as well, (a nice start to the half-term), but school finances have put an end to me coming out of my class on Friday. I'll have to finish my plans in my own time at home instead. The run-up to Christmas is always a lovely time to be in school with all the Christmas art and craft to do as well as rehearsing for the whole school production. This year it is a play about a rat. Each class of Year 1 children do 2 dances which are easy to choreograph as the stage space is very limited. Only 2 days to the holiday :)

Wet Play Today.

A good blogger has her camera with her at all times so even getting stuck behind the dustmen was an opportunity not to be wasted. This was just before I turned into the school grounds at 7.45 this morning.

We've had some torrential showers today and for the first time the children had to have 'wet play' in the classroom. At the beginning of term I found some old stock exercise books which I had given them to use as Rainy Day books and it was lovely to see how many of them choose to do their own writing during the wet play time.

The plus side of a rainy day are the skies that follow. The automatic exposure on the camera makes for some interesting effects. This was on the way home near Upcott Cross.

And I also managed to capture some views of the setting sun over Hartland Point.

Elwen Goes Crackers.

Definitely colder today. I stopped on the way home to take a few sky pictures and my poor little fingers were frozen by the time I had finished. I was so glad we had decided to put the central heating on yesterday and left it running so that the stone walls can absorb the heat. In a couple of days we'll put it on the timer to take the chill off when we get up and in the evenings. Heating oil is too expensive for us to leave the heating on all the time and there isn't much point when we're out at work.No spectacular sunset tonight but a pretty sky none the less.


There were lots of visitors at school today as 4 applicants were interviewed for the January Reception Class (4 year olds) which will have 30 children in it. This is only a 2 term appointment but there were a lot of strong candidates for the job. They each had to teach a 20 min lesson with a mixture of Reception and Year 1 children and be interviewed by a panel of children as well as a formal job interview with our new Head Teacher and members of the school governors etc.

It looks like swine flu is creeping up, just in time for half-term ! One class has 5 children away,(2 cases with 3 other probables). I had 3 children away, 1 has something else and 2 haven't said why.

Interesting discovery, Elwen likes seaweed wrapped Japanese rice crackers. I threw her one because she was climbing about on my lap and the keyboard and having eaten her 3rd she is attempting to steal more from my desk. Greedy cat!

One More Car Boot Sale.

Not especially sunny today but at least it has been dry. The temperature is definitely falling and it will soon be time to switch on the central heating. I went off to the car boot sale as I had a couple of other things to do in town. Plenty of sellers and buyers. As usual it was the place to hear other languages being spoken. One group identified themselves as being Bulgarian and I also heard Polish and Lithuanian being spoken. Gradually North Devon is becoming multicultural, a change from the days not so long ago when you were considered a 'furriner' if your grandparents hadn't been born here. My bargains from the car boot included some military kit from a squaddie- leather driving gloves, leather and camo gloves and some ammo pouches that you attach to your webbing. Linas grabbed the lot as being perfect for his airsoft exploits. A fitting reward for his hard work this weekend replacing the roof of the small shed and starting on my steps.

I came home via Muddiford and up White Field Hill as the Shirwell Road was taken over by a never ending convoy of contractors bringing corn for silage up to Mr Lewis' farm. It looks like the whole plants ; stalks, cobs and leaves are minced up and then stored as silage for winter feed. The empty wagons were going right down into town so I'm not sure where they were harvesting but the tractors can't go that fast and were holding all the traffic up. I stopped up on the hill and took some pictures of our valley looking rather dowdy as the leaves change colour. Dingles is still hidden in the trees.

Some cattle in the field were watching me, not sure of the breed. They might be South Devon Reds, the North Devon Red is a true chestnut colour.

Interesting observation yesterday- we saw 2 vast fields of bamboo growing near Ubley Warren. I can't find any information about them. I wonder if the bamboo is being grown for garden screen etc. I know that last year there was a major shortage of the wooden panels normally used for town gardens.

A Walk In The Mendips.

It was a beautiful day as we set off for an hour and a half's drive to meet up with our friends at Priddy, near the Cheddar Gorge. It's a kind of half way point where we meet up for a walk in the spectacular limestone landscape around the gorge. As you approach Cheddar the spine of the Mendip hills breaks out from the flat rather nondescript Somerset landscape. The underlying limestone has created a a wide ranging cave system as well as the Gorge and many smaller outcrops.

We always drive through the Gorge to enjoy the sight of those towering rock faces.

Plenty of visitors to the Gorge as always, tourists, walkers and many climbers scrambling up the cliffs. I suppose the closest alternative places to climb would be the mountains in Wales or the Welsh coast.

Our meeting place was Priddy, a lovely village with mostly stone houses, probably costing an absolute fortune, and several good pubs. Just checked out some house prices there and they range from £500,000 upwards !

The Queen Victoria is full of atmosphere, slate floors, stone walls and wood fires.

Milo was certainly enjoying the warmth of the fire. We decided to treat ourselves to a pub lunch instead of our usual picnic. The food was very well done, Peter had a beef pie with new potatoes & veg and I had faggots (liver based meatballs) with mash and onion gravy. All good winter grub.

Now I wonder why these 2 chaps have such silly grins on their faces?

Aha ! that's why, and the few pints they had to sample in the pub before hand.

We walked off our lunches at Ubley Warren, a popular walking spot with many rocky outcrops and 'mini gorges'. The whole of the Mendips seems to be an outdoor playground. We saw walkers, cyclists, cavers, horse riders, trail bikers and even parascenders and a microlight.

No walk would be compete with a final brew up and cake.

Rest assured, the men were driven home by their completely sober wives.

Morning Tranquility.

This morning Peter and Linas had left by 7.00 while it was still dark. As I went out to let the hens out and scatter some corn the sky was beginning to lighten though the sun hadn't started to rise above the eastern horizon. It was rather warm and as I stood in the garden I was struck by the tranquility of the place. A couple of blackbirds were singing in the trees and over the hill an owl was hooting away in Ron Fry's ruined barns. The only other sounds were the mumblings of the hens as they emerged from their house and the sound of water rushing along the streams that border the garden. Gradually as the light increased, more birds started to join in the dawn chorus. A lovely moment to start the day.

A lot of children off sick again in school, 6 from my class alone.

Stayed late in school , as always, and nipped down to Somerfields to get some food for the cats, and to check for bargains. Got Linas' favourites - marble cake and fresh apple juice, so he's a happy lad tonight. Doing building work during the day gives him an even bigger appetite than usual. As I was driving out of town I caught sight of the sun in my rear view mirror looking like a flaming globe. I drove as fast as I could to get to the first of the 'sunset' veiwpoints at the same time snatching the occasional sideways look to see what was happening with the sun. I managed to get some decent shots of the sun going down over the sea with Hartland Point in the background. By the time I had got up the hill by the Lewis' the sunset had become a grey mush with just a touch of pink. So often I've walked out of school to see a spectacular sunset inbetween the buildings but Barnstaple is down at sea level without good vantage points and it is a matter of rushing up into the hills.