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Oh Monday… wherefore art thou Monday?

Much Love Monday

Another Much Love Monday.

I need Much Love because I am a little tired. I have been working like a dog (huh? My dogs sleep all day long on the couch, get up to eat, to go out or go for a walk and generally live a very lazy life… dogs either have very good imaginations or spend a lot of their time bored. It’s not like dogs have hobbies to keep them entertained in their luxury) dog slave before the pyramids in order to clear my virtual desk prior to the arrival of the GCSE English Literature papers. Between fact-finding about truffles and finding out what a potence is in French and then having to find out what it actually is in English because ‘stems’ mean nothing to me when it comes to bikes, and if you want to talk to me about the étriers, now, I’m perfectly capable en deux langues. I’ve also got lots of clients this week, as I did last, and I’m trying to make sure my lessons meet the same exacting standards.

So what am I mostly loving?

  • snuggling up on the sofa with my sleeping bag and duvet
  • Chuck which I’d not watched before and I am now L-O-V-I-N-G mostly because the guys in the Nerd Herd remind me so very much of all the people Andy knew. He was a computer tech guy at Dabs when I met him and his friends take geek-chic to a whole new level
  • being two weeks away from new chickens
  • my new little client Elizabeth whose parents probably didn’t want me to know how often they fart and who told me at the beginning of the class “I’ve taught myself to read, you know.” And so she had. A fellow smartie-pants.
  • The road to St Claud from Pont d’Agris. Almost 2 years I’ve been here and I’ve never driven this track. It’s like the forest tracks, but less crowded. Nice to look at, not so good to break down on.
  • The fact that I can still drive through a French village and still find it utterly charming after two years. I love cottages, be they English or French.
  • Bosses who take the time out to chat to you about random stuff even though they’ve been working all day. This is why I love AQA. They always employ such amazing principal examiners
  • My kindle book sales which are through the roof. Over 200 of each sold. That’s not best-seller material, I know. And sure, it’s netted me £65.00 for forty hours worth of work, but it gets me smiling
  • When actual real-life poets who I’ve written about on your teacher blog write that my comments are exactly what they wanted people to think. Get in! (Still doesn’t beat meeting Seamus Heaney in the bar in the Swan in Stratford during the interval at Julius Caesar. He wasn’t surrounded by giddy teenage girls but I did manage to make his Irish eyes twinkle when I told him I was a groupie. He liked that. Poets, even very very famous ones, probably don’t get groupies very often. He bought me a whisky.)
  • Knowing exactly what I’m doing. Sometimes.
  • Lovely, lovely people who I get to meet when I’m working. Nothing like clients who become friends.
  • This face :/
  • I often feel like this :/ face
  • How emoticons take me back to my letters from Laura when we were at uni and how we peppered them with smiley and sad faces. Before our time, I tell you. She once sent me a letter with stickers of Bert and Ernie on them. I wish I knew where Laura was 😦
  • Writing letters. I loved writing letters. I’ve seen some cool ideas of things to do to make a feature out of old letters. I’ve got hundreds, all preserved. Opening them and reading them is like going into a portal to my old me and finding friendships at their ripest. They’re treasured keys to memories I forgot that I owned.
  • Beautiful Japanese stationery. I hope one day I’m rich enough to travel to Japan again.
  • The fact that the girl behind the Much Love Monday blog is in Japan and I get to see a little of it again through her eyes
  • Chinese food and the anticipation thereof
  • Friends who like Chinese food
  • French lunches. 11€ for 3 courses and coffee. Only twice as expensive as a McDonald’s meal and fifty times nicer
  • Tilly getting under the duvet for cuddles
  • Teaching lessons wearing my cherry apron… I love teaching languages and having whole French families who want to do an American-style diner role play. Too cool!
  • Risotto a la LJ. I make good risotto.
  • The fact that I have two hours of lessons and then I can relax… feel like I’ve been working forever this Monday!