Party Time.

The wind was roaring through the trees Th's morning. The day has been wet and windy with the cold front expected to arrive tomorrow with the worst on Saturday morning. Only one more morning to go before I can simply burrow back under the duvet. I kept my class working this morning, just a science assessment, to keep the excitement levels down on 'party day'. Santa made his fly past in a helicopter at lunchtime which hyped up the kids. The children were all in the classrooms because of the wet weather when we heard the helicopter approaching. We quickly hustled the children into their coats and then out into the playground. Some of them were transfixed by Santa flying over and waving at them even though the same thing happens every year.
The party was noisy and hectic as usual but this year there was no mountain of food to clear up. Instead the school dinner was 'party food', pizza and hot dogs and we had the whole afternoon for games and dancing. After school I stayed on to get one of my displays up.
I'm so tired, a combination of end of term and this cold that I've had for weeks and weeks. It's started to snow outside so I'm glad the car is parked at the top of the hill.

School Nativity.

This morning's nativity service went well. The Reception children were cute as always, even the little terror in a lamb's costume who kept turning round to waggle his tail at the audience. None of the 60 Year 2 children holding lit Christingles came to grief and I managed to get through my piano playing with hardly a bum note. Not that I will be volunteering again except in cases of dire need. Nearly a third of the Year 1 children were off sick today, I expect they'll all be back for tomorrow's parties.I think I'm on schedule with all the school things that need doing before the end of term. Cards, calendars and pots are made and wrapped. The pass-the-parcels are wrapped up for tomorrow afternoon's party and we've made a start on taking down the old displays and getting ready to throw up the new ones on Friday. Much dark muttering from self when I discovered that the previous occupant of my room (you know who you are!) had backed the largest board over another layer of backing paper, with accompanying million staples. If everything goes to plan I should have the new displays in place for the start of next term. We usually start each term with a non-pupil day so that we can get sorted but not this year.

The weather is currently mild but with a sharp drop in temperature predicted tomorrow night and up to 6" of snow in places. That's enough to bring Britain to a halt. We now have a full tank of oil and plenty of food so we can hibernate if necessary. The water problem still hasn't been resolved so we're running the house on one tap in the kitchen. A bit limiting when it comes to washing clothes and I'm now about to go and boil water to wash my hair in the kitchen sink.

Aladdin.

It was panto day today. We walked all 140 children up to the Queen's Theatre causing a few traffic hold-ups while we straggled across the roads. Once there our seats were up in the dress circle. We had decided to put all the Year 2 children in the upper circle to keep them together but were thwarted by a 'job's worth' theatre attendant who insisted that the 4 children sitting in seats we hadn't been allocated should move to the lower circle with the other classes. I normally wouldn't have minded but for the fact that the rest of the upper circle was empty, about another 6 rows. But they weren't our seats she repeated when I told her at the end of the show that she hadn't been very helpful. This is on top of the fact that she first made me move my handbag because it was on the step and then told me not to take photos. Huh! Never the less the children enjoyed the show and being panto there was no need to keep them quiet. I had one little girl sitting with me who has always been very scared of loud characters when they are all dressed and made up so she distracted herself by chatting to me. I had to laugh when she said to me , after a speech by the villain, "Actually I can't understand a word he says." but then neither could I. Being a panto there was lots of audience participation and the songs were all versions of well known songs ranging from Grease and Hairspray to Queen and Lady Gaga.
Our morning had been taken up with a rehearsal for the Reception's Nativity and an early lunch. No time for anything else apart from distributing the cards in class post box.
Coming home there was the familiar gleam of heavy frost across the road after Ashelford. As I parked up in the top field I was lucky enough to get a lift down with somebody who was going riding at the stables.

On A Cold And Frosty Morning.

We have oil, HOORAY !! I'm trying not to think about the cost, 2 weeks ago it would have been £500, now it's nearly £800. We'll just have to be a bit more sparing with the heating. At least we know that the house will be warm for the next cold spell which is forecast for this Friday. Then we'll be back to snowy roads but as school finishes on Friday there is no great pressure to get into town (at least for me). I can hibernate indoors and try and make the place look festive for Christmas. This morning there was yet another heavy frost. (Photo from yesterday.) My poor little micra barely dragged itself up the hill. My wheels were spinning and we were mostly moving sideways. I didn't fancy having to slide backwards down the hill so I grimly hung on and somehow we juddered our way to the top. Needless to say the micra will be parked at the top of the hill for the rest of the week.
I shot out of school this evening to get to the Post office before it shut. I was too scared of the traffic wardens to park in the car park without paying (but didn't want to pay for an hour when I only needed 10 mins), so I parked on the school side of town in a 1hour free parking bay and walked in. This did give me the chance to enjoy the Christmas lights and visit a few shops which were relatively empty. As it was the time for cheap pasties I bought 2 for our supper. They only had pork and apple which was interesting and filling.

The last of the tables were being packed away in the Pannier market giving me a chance to appreciate the architecture. The far wall is actually part of the Queen's Theatre to which we are taking the whole school to see the panto - Aladdin, tomorrow.

Things are running on schedule at school though we've had to relocate the Reception class' Nativity from the church to the school hall due to the church heating having broken down. We had a rehearsal today where we tried out different seating arrangements and I muddled my way through Little Donkey & We're on our way to Bethlehem ... on a cold and frosty morning, as well as sight reading Come and join the celebration and picking out another carol by ear. Lets hope the children sing loudly and cover the dodgy notes.

Have An Ice Day.

It's not until you have heat that you realise how much the cold saps you both mentally and physically. After a warm evening and a good long sleep I felt revived and full of energy. Keep your fingers crossed that the oil gets delivered tomorrow. This afternoon Peter fitted a detector that tells a sensor in the house how much oil there is left in the tank so we can order oil before it gets too low. But unfortunately that's not the end of our problems. As soon as it became cold we turned on the kitchen tap and left it running to stop the water from freezing in the pipes. That tap comes direct from our water source, a bore hole , and remains running but somehow we've lost the rest of our water supply. Hopefully the pump in the bore hole has simply tripped out due to ice in the pipes, if not and it has to be replaced that's another big bill to pay. So for the moment all our water has to come from the kitchen tap including water to fill the toilet cisterns. Not too much of a problem when there are only 2 of us here but I'm not sure we could manage with 9 in the house. The sun was shining this afternoon as I walked around the garden looking for things to photograph.
These interesting shapes were found lurking in the ice covering of the pond,

which at first glance didn't appear to hold much photographic promise.

The rest of the day has been spent doing housework and sorting out all the Christmas extras needed for school this week, cards, party prizes and pictures for next term's displays. As a staff we decided some years ago not to give each other cards but to collect the money we would have spent and give it to an overseas charity. We still indulge in Secret Santa presents because that's always a bit of fun and everyday we bring in biscuits or chocolates for the staffroom which adds to the party atmosphere of the week. Can't say I'm looking forward to Christmas dinner with 140 excited children tomorrow but the children enjoy it.

HEAT.

We have HEAT. No oil delivery as yet, hopefully Monday, but Peter went out today and bought back some containers of oil and in a fit of extravagance has turned the heating on. Bliss - our bedroom is lovely and warm. The last remnants of snow lie by the side of our drive but the roads are completely clear.
Only a few strips of snow remain in the countryside. It has been quite warm today but temperatures are set to drop later in the week. If not snow it will mean icy roads again. School continues for one more week and then we can hibernate at home for a while.

You see all sorts in town. I didn't enjoy my shopping trip as much as usual because I was feeling so tired and it was quite crowded. Also I missed the Post Office by 15 mins. Fancy closing at midday on a Saturday. Some of my Christmas card might be a bit late. Sorry.

One of the nice things about Barnstaple is that unlike many other towns there are a lot of small independent shops alongside the big chains that make most towns clones of each other. Butchers' Row is a row of tiny shops that once were stables and then converted into butchers' shops. Now there are butchers, fishmongers, delicatessens and bakers. Lovely smells waft out as you walk along the road. Having dodged the crowds of bustling shoppers I added insult to injury and drove out to Tescos to stock up should we get marooned in our valley again.

Now we've treated ourselves to a pizza while watching Strictly and will soon be heading up to our toasty room to watch Casualty. I think I'll be asleep once my head hits the pillow unlike last night when I gave up trying to sleep and sat writing an email to our MP at 2 in the morning. (Complaining about the oil companies' profiteering.)

Nearly But Not Quite.

A little bit of summer sun to make me feel warmer. It was actually quite hard to find a sunny photo from this summer as the weather wasn't so good this year.

It has been quite mild today. I think that the last remaining snow in the south of England or at least in Devon lies at the sides of our drive. I did see a few drifts gleaming palely in the night along the edges of the fields as well. Driving home there was not a sign of the cold spell until the top of the Lewis' hill when the grass on either side of the road was frosted white. At school my little micra had purred like a tiger when I turned the key in the ignition despite sitting in the school car park for over a week. Taking no chances for tomorrow morning I left the micra up in the field gateway and walked down the hill. A nice clear road until I got to the familiar snow blanket across the top of our drive. But what did I see ? Tyre tracks heading down our way, Hooray I thought, we have oil. But then I checked myself and reasoned that it might just have been the postman and sure enough there inside the porch was a small bundle of letters. Blast! Peter has informed me that after a firm word with our supplier (they did miss a top-up delivery and then didn't turn up at the beginning of the week just before the snow fell), they have promised to deliver oil on Monday. Off now to snuggle under the blankets and watch the semi-finals of Strictly.

Today's feel good moment - I was standing outside in the playground having inadvertently ended up on playground duty when a small boy came up to me and said " You look beautiful." That made me feel good (I was wearing plain black trousers and a black cashmere cardigan with a bright pink t-shirt underneath), but I wasn't so confident when he took my wrist and said "Your watch, it's beautiful, ..... and your dress." Oh well it was still nice to be complimented.