Norman and I went to Cambridge today. I've been to Cambridge dozens of times now and I still find it one of the best places I've visitied in England. It's got so much stuff in such a small area. I thought Norm would appreciate the Cambridge Tourism Walking Tour. It's concise but very informative. We went to all of the requisite tourist sites that I've already been to previsously. However, I got to go to Trinity College for the first time. Trinity is a very small college at Cambridge. It's the college of Sir Isaac newton and his office is still visible from the front of the building. The college was opened by Henry VIII and there is a statue of his likeness over the gates leading into the college courtyard. The neat thing about this statue is that it is holding an orb in one hand and a wooden table leg in the other. It used to have a sceptre but some students stole the original sceptre and replaced it with a wooden table leg. It's been replaced a couple of times but the students kept stealing it and replacing the sceptre with another wooden table leg. So, to stop the insanity, Trinity College has left the wooden table leg in the King's hand. This is a picture of the statue of Henry VIII holding an orb in his left hand an a wooden table leg in his right hand.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Friday, July 28, 2006
July 28th - London
Norm and I spent some time in London. We checked out Harrods. It's the biggest and most elaborate department store that I've ever been. I can't remember the number of floors that it has - it's a lot - but they sell everything from condominiums in Dubai to multiple carot diamonds. This is a picture of the seafood department in Harrods. Harrods is owned by Dodi Al Fied's father Mohammed. I don't think he hangs out at Harrods like Montgomery Burns at Springfield Power does, checking to ensure that everyone in his employ is working as hard - and making as much money - as possible. No, he has more faith in his people than that. But to ensure that they don't forget who the boss is, Mr. Al Fied has a wax statue of himself near the entrance of the store. He also has this weird hommage to Dodi and Princess Diana. It's this kind of ugly bronze statue of Dodi and Diana dancing in a circle as they hold hands. Who do you think Mr. Al Fied loves?
Saturday, July 22, 2006
July 22nd - Stratford-Upon-Avon
Zel and I drove down to the birth place of William Shakespeare. This picture has Homer in front of Willie's Stratford home on Henley Street. It is now a museum full of Shakespearean stuff. The price of admission was a little more than two teachers from lowly Ramsey could afford so we just looked through the windows at all the Japanese tourists that could afford the price of admission as they wandered through a staircase...the only part of the interior of the house visible from the window. Then we went to the pound store. We can afford that.
We tried to get to Holy Trinity Church where both Willie and his wife Anne Hathaway are buried but we always seemed to get onto the wrong road. We must have passed through the city centre three times on three different roads. We finally gave up and unfortunately for us we didn't get to see dead Willie.
We tried to get to Holy Trinity Church where both Willie and his wife Anne Hathaway are buried but we always seemed to get onto the wrong road. We must have passed through the city centre three times on three different roads. We finally gave up and unfortunately for us we didn't get to see dead Willie.
july 22 - ross contrast the killer storm
This is Ross. The clouds looked really bad but we decided to stay at the fair. Of course, that was the wrong decision. It got super windy about 4 minutes after I took this picture and the raindrops can down in the size of small rodents. All of the portable gazebos began to blow away and the fair field emptied in about 3 minutes flat. It rained for the next hour or so before it stopped and turned the day into a normal dreary English summer day. Ross thought the cloud was forming a funnel and wanted to warn people to get into their storm cellars. Madge and I just wanted to go home. We went home.
july 22 - marianne and snoopy
This is Marianne and Snoopy. She won him on a tab pull game. The only thing I won during the fair was a fingerboard skateboard thingy. I gave it away.
july 22 - homer and weird parade elephant
Well, the fair was a bust. It wasn't as big as I expected. There were about fifteen booths and all were selling either food or raffle tickets to wine booze or second hand gifts. Zel and I missed the parade - though I heard from Len that it wasn't anything to write home about anyway - but this is the fire mascot thingy that led the parade into the fair grounds. I think it's an elephant but its association to the Queen is up for debate. It must have been hot in that suit, though. The temperature during the parade must have been nearing the 30s. Maybe he pissed off the Queen somehow and this was his punishment.
Friday, July 21, 2006
july 21 - wayne birks
Today was the last official day of school. We haven't had students in the classrooms since Tuesday as Mr. Birks sent all of the students home three days early so the teachers for the new school - Abbey College @ Ramsey - could pack up, move, and set up their classrooms for the coming academic year. Of course, this meant tons of lifting, which in the end almost killed me and probably many of the other teachers in the school.
The weather has been super the last three days. Unfortunately, 30-35 degree weather is not the weather you want for lifting. However, it is the weather that you want for tennis and football, which is what we've been doing after school.
The school gave a going away party for the members of staff not returning for the following year. I didn't actually expect to have to give a speech so mine was a little lacking. It didn't help that I was going through the red wine pretty quickly, too. I ended up giving all the members of my department a tee shirt. As well, I gave the headteacher of Ramsey Abbey School and the headteacher designate of Abbey College one of my shirts, too. This is Mr. Birks with the tee. Tomorrow is Ramsey Fair Day. It's suppose to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's 80th birthday. It's suppose to be huge. We'll see.
Planning for a trip with Norm through Eygpt. I have some apprehensions about going to North Africa but I guess there isn't any better time than now to go there. We'll that's before Blair and Bush piss them off and make it a no-go for Brits and North Americans.
The weather has been super the last three days. Unfortunately, 30-35 degree weather is not the weather you want for lifting. However, it is the weather that you want for tennis and football, which is what we've been doing after school.
The school gave a going away party for the members of staff not returning for the following year. I didn't actually expect to have to give a speech so mine was a little lacking. It didn't help that I was going through the red wine pretty quickly, too. I ended up giving all the members of my department a tee shirt. As well, I gave the headteacher of Ramsey Abbey School and the headteacher designate of Abbey College one of my shirts, too. This is Mr. Birks with the tee. Tomorrow is Ramsey Fair Day. It's suppose to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's 80th birthday. It's suppose to be huge. We'll see.
Planning for a trip with Norm through Eygpt. I have some apprehensions about going to North Africa but I guess there isn't any better time than now to go there. We'll that's before Blair and Bush piss them off and make it a no-go for Brits and North Americans.
Monday, July 17, 2006
two hundred paper airplanes - July 17th
The pentultimate teaching day is now over. I'm doing a two day unit on paper airplanes and how to make them fly straight and long. In doing this, I spent the weekend making paper airplanes so the students would have examples. I made two hundred different paper airplanes that they could chose to make themselves. If anyone wants my lesson plan I'll be happy to email it to you.
The contests included: best looking plane, flying the plane into a box, the longest distance flight, and 'the run and catch'. The last one was pretty funny as the students had to throw their plane and then try to catch it before it landed with a butterfly net. Thankfully, none of the students bailed - thus, no one was injured while competing in a paper airplane contest which would have been very hard to explain to the parents - and someone was actually able to catch the plane in the net. Actually, two students were able to do this 'catch and throw' contest and they looked goofy doing it. Winners got popping candy.
The contests included: best looking plane, flying the plane into a box, the longest distance flight, and 'the run and catch'. The last one was pretty funny as the students had to throw their plane and then try to catch it before it landed with a butterfly net. Thankfully, none of the students bailed - thus, no one was injured while competing in a paper airplane contest which would have been very hard to explain to the parents - and someone was actually able to catch the plane in the net. Actually, two students were able to do this 'catch and throw' contest and they looked goofy doing it. Winners got popping candy.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Dragon Boating in St. Ives - July 16, 2006
Sunday was a smoking hot day of 34degrees. And we had to boat the river three times. Representing the new school, 14 teachers and 2 'civilians' that we picked up to fill out the team, our day started out at 1000hrs and lasted until 1700hrs. We came out slow, got a little faster, and then pooped the bed in our third race. Because of it, we finished 9th and out of the top 6 by 2 or so seconds. 2 or so seconds prevented us from making the semi finals. It was devistating. The day only got worse as the beer tent ran out of cold, tapped beer and they began selling hot canned beer.
Only two more teaching days. Paper airplane lessons!!!! Then, it's three days of moving as we shuffle the departments around for the new school. Yippee.
Only two more teaching days. Paper airplane lessons!!!! Then, it's three days of moving as we shuffle the departments around for the new school. Yippee.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
France through - July 5
So, Portugal is out on a Zidane penalty at the 33 minute of the match. Portugal, and especially Ronaldo, were diving all over the place and it is fitting that they lost on a penalty goal. So, the final for Sunday is set. France v. Italy in Berlin. It should be a great match. Go, France, go. The tutor group that I covered today finished 6th out of 11 in the homeroom activity days. It was all worth it watching senior management hoof it in a teachers v. students 4x100m relay. Only 8 more teaching days.
Ed
Competitions-July 5
Today is 'Year Ten' Activity day at Ramsey Abbey. I'm not doing much right now because the students are all outside. Yesterday, another very important competition took place in New York: Nathan's Hotdog eating competition. Of course, Kobayashi won again. He narrowly beat the second place man by eating 1 3/4 more hot dogs with a grand total of 53 3/4. Unfortunately, I could only find a pic from his 2005 victory.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
St. Andrews scorecard
I found my scorecard. It was in a pile of newspapers. 103. 33 over par. I blame it on the 10 on hole 12. I pitched 4 or 5 times on that hole. Couldn't handle the short irons.
Bastard spiders - July 2
This picture really doesn't do justice for this spider but this beast was huge! I found it in a box in my kitchen. It's the same type of spider I persistantly found during September. These things are so huge they make noise when they walk. It's like a small three year old walking over pebbles. I hate them more than anything. I know they aren't poisonous (there aren't any poisonous spiders in the UK) but they are very imposing things. Zela just arrived and is moving into the front room right now. It'll be nice to have another teacher in the flats again. She begins teaching again tomorrow.
ed
ed
Saturday, July 01, 2006
July 1
Howdy all. It's July 1st - Dominion Day or Canada Day. I got back about an hour ago from getting my hair cut. First cut in 4 months. It's amazing what those women at Great Clips can do with a pair of scissors when they know you're holding a possible £2 tip. I asked for a David Beckham a la World Cup 2002. I got a Bruce Lee a la Enter the Dragon.
I'm inside right now because England lost their quarter final match against Portugal 3-1 in penalties about 90 minutes ago. I'm afraid that all the British have gone crazy and will beat me as they rampage through the town linching up anyone that might have a semblance of loyalty to the Portugese. Obviously, if I could get to the local Ladbrokes I'd be putting down a shiny penny on the fact there'll be some chaos in Germany as the English visitors leave the country.
I'm into the last three weeks of work and, though my last few months haven't been as exciting as Fiona's (check out her blog when you have time) I'm excited about all that's happening right now. All the teachables have been done so I'm teaching a CSI (crime scene investigation) forensic science section to wrap up the year. We're in the midst of doing finger printing now. Next, well do blood typing, physiological evidence - such as stride length and footprints, flame testing of unknown substances, and hair and fibres.
A week ago I got to play golf at St. Andrews. Unfortunately I've misplaced my score card but I shot 102 on a par 70. Not too bad since I haven't played golf in over 700 days. Dad and I played with two locals. They told me that the residents of the area only pay £110 per year to play any of the 6 or 7 St. Andrews courses year round. That's amazing considering we paid £140 for fees and clubs just to play one round on the Eden course. The golf course was okay. A links course so not a lot of trees, water or rough. However, the bunkers were 6 feet deep and smaller than a sirloin steak at the sizzler. Plus, the biggest RAF base is just around there and we got to see all the planes doing their practice. Amazing stuff.
Wasting time.
Only 11 more teaching days until the end of the school year!!! Is it wrong to count down the days? It's not that I don't like it here. It's just that I've run out of things to tell these people. There are only so many circus tricks you can do before it starts to hurt. 
I've been wasting my time making up hockey pucks and t-shirts. The pucks are kinda thank you pucks for the members of staff that have helped me out during the year. I know. It plays on the sterotypic one-track-mindedness of Canadian towards ice hockey but it's true so why not play along with it. Anyway, most of them won't even know what they are when they get it. I'll tell them it's a paperweight or something. Whatever.
It doesn't look like I'll be able to get to world cup this time around. I'm still pissed off about the ticket transfer thingy. Bastard fifa. I don't think I'll be able to get to Wimbledon either. The tourney ends next Sunday and I can't find time to get there; I'm teaching until a week after that. Plus tickets are more than a sane person would pay to watch the rich wack a ball around. But those strawberries and cream may intice me to show up and drop huge coin on scalper tix anyways.
I haven't been able to get out much during the year to do anything amazingly athletic but I did get to play tennis on Thursday. The head of physics, Dave Hodges, thoroughly kicked me and handed me my proverbial ass in less time it takes to shake out the three tennis balls from its plastic cylinder. However, I have an excuse. I had to use a PE tennis racket which neither had a true oval form - more squarish than anything - nor the correct size grip. I guess the students do have much smaller hands than me. However, I did get to play tennis on grass for the first time ever. Everything is so much better on grass. It's supple and you slide. But there are down sides as well. Like Dave's pee-inducing, high velocity serves which seemed to pick up speed as they skipped off the grass and past my flayling stabs of cheap £5 racket and poly-cotton blend strings. And grass dents, too. So unpredictable bounces seem the norm. There'll be a rematch as soon as I can find another racket and some skill.
I've been wasting my time making up hockey pucks and t-shirts. The pucks are kinda thank you pucks for the members of staff that have helped me out during the year. I know. It plays on the sterotypic one-track-mindedness of Canadian towards ice hockey but it's true so why not play along with it. Anyway, most of them won't even know what they are when they get it. I'll tell them it's a paperweight or something. Whatever.It doesn't look like I'll be able to get to world cup this time around. I'm still pissed off about the ticket transfer thingy. Bastard fifa. I don't think I'll be able to get to Wimbledon either. The tourney ends next Sunday and I can't find time to get there; I'm teaching until a week after that. Plus tickets are more than a sane person would pay to watch the rich wack a ball around. But those strawberries and cream may intice me to show up and drop huge coin on scalper tix anyways.
I haven't been able to get out much during the year to do anything amazingly athletic but I did get to play tennis on Thursday. The head of physics, Dave Hodges, thoroughly kicked me and handed me my proverbial ass in less time it takes to shake out the three tennis balls from its plastic cylinder. However, I have an excuse. I had to use a PE tennis racket which neither had a true oval form - more squarish than anything - nor the correct size grip. I guess the students do have much smaller hands than me. However, I did get to play tennis on grass for the first time ever. Everything is so much better on grass. It's supple and you slide. But there are down sides as well. Like Dave's pee-inducing, high velocity serves which seemed to pick up speed as they skipped off the grass and past my flayling stabs of cheap £5 racket and poly-cotton blend strings. And grass dents, too. So unpredictable bounces seem the norm. There'll be a rematch as soon as I can find another racket and some skill.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Jo T Goodbye Bash (?) - June 22
With the amalgamation of Ramsey Abbey School with Ailwyn School there are going to be a lot of changes when Abbey College, Ramsey opens up September 1st. Jo is the fourth on the left and she was the head science tech at our school. (I went to her mom's birthday party the other weekend...it was held at the Ramsey Museum.) Unfortunately, the desire to do other stuff combined with the politics of the school (probably) she left us for an outside lab job June 23rd. Keith - or second in charge for the labs is also leaving and his last day is July 7th. Again, a lot to do with the politics of the school. With the departure of these two there aren't any lab techs for Abbey College - which also means I have to prep my own experiments for the final two weeks of school. (Whats 2M NaOH mean again? Does the M stand for million or might be?)The rest of the science department is going through tough times, too. I don't think I'm amiss by suggesting that there is a lot of stress and unhappiness with the upcoming union of schools for both staffs. Because of this, I wouldn't be completely surprised if more change happens before, and a few weeks into, the new school year. It's too bad since the staff in our department seem to get along very well.
Well, Zela is coming back for more. The ICT teacher from New Zealand is coming back to teach next year at Abbey College. (She left before her contract ended for some unstated reasons.) She'll be here on Monday, I believe, and she's going to stay with me. I don't really know why she's coming back so early - her school year is almost 12 weeks away - but whatever. The school has raised the rent on the flats again. Stupid, stupid, stupid. It's now £350 and they want two weeks in advance. Zela can't afford it so she'll stay with me for 4 weeks, then she leaves for South Africa before coming back for September. I assume she'll look for alternative accommodations for her return in September. I just hope that she won't mind that I take 80 minute showers in the mornings...and that I don't like to clean things...nor throw things away. She can't complain, though. She's staying for free.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Blakeney - June 17
Len and Carol invited me to go to see some seals. Yeah, seals. Cromer, which is due East of Ramsey and on the cost of the North Sea has a reserve called Blakeney. It's like Brighton, I've been told, except without the rides, the weird and numerous people, the obnoxious sellers, the noise, the hokey souvenirs...maybe it's nothing like Brighton. But it was a very pleasant place to go. We had to take a small boat out to a point that had all of these fat and super relaxed seals sunning themselves on the beach. Some were pregnant and it was amazing how close the boat got to the things.We also stopped off in Great Yarmouth...at least I think we did. We stopped at a pier to get some ice cream and I think it was Great Yarmouth. I might be wrong. I'm probably wrong.
Regardless of where we were it was a very pleasant day. We ate cockles, mussles, and shrimp fresh from the pier and had a pint of Guinness in the local hotel with the sea air blowing in from the sea. Unfortunately, my allergies were kicked in high gear - due to the locale of our picnic probably - and I was congested like the drain in my bathtub. (It's true...bathtub drain was plugged and had to buy a 99p jug of some weird alkali toxin to eat away all the dead spiders and long strands of hairs Fiona and I washed away during our months in the flats.The picture is of me - of course - and Carol on Blakeney rock just after checking out the seals. The seals are on the island as well but on the eastern point. We were given 60 minutes to check out the island before the boat took us back into Cromer.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
London June 9-11
I caught up with my parents and sister in London for a few days. We went to all of the requisite touristy places but, surprisingly enough - or maybe not a surprise at all - we ended up in Chinatown each night for dinner. Nothing like some chinese when visiting England.We signed up for a seemingly comprehensive tourist bus thingy to see all the sights and take in all the sounds. It was as advertised but not as imagined. Of course, we got to see much of the major sites in London but briefly and in a very rushed way. We got to visit all of the major Bridges but only as we rumbled over them. No time to stop and take a picture when we have a schedule to maintain. The tour didn't even have Big Ben on its list of stops!!! We spent a lot of time in the Tower of London. That was okay. We actually lost a person and the mother stayed behind to find him. We, of course, maintained the schedule and left without them. The worst part was being admonished by a high school (?) history teacher/tour guide for trying to take ice cream onto the bus with us.
This is a picture of a bird.
ed
Monday, June 05, 2006
Oil posters
This is a cartoon that one of my students made on the formation of oil. It's not entirely correct (I don't know what the space craft has to do with the production of crude oil) but it's a very fine example of what I wanted them to do.
Today is the first day in a fortnight that we teachers don't have to teach anything. The year 11, 12, and 13s are out on exam preparation while the year 10s are out on work practical. The only thing I know that I have to do is check in on 6 specific year 10s once per week. Super easy. They are all placed within walking distance from the flat. 3 of them (Barnetts Hair, School Plus, and Burton Brothers Auto) are near the high street. The other three (Ibbotts Catering, Ramsey Golf, and Old Nene Golf) are on the edge of town. I'm already bored. There's nothing to do but organize for the last four weeks of school. So, I'm searching google for radiostations in California to kill the time.
Today is the first day in a fortnight that we teachers don't have to teach anything. The year 11, 12, and 13s are out on exam preparation while the year 10s are out on work practical. The only thing I know that I have to do is check in on 6 specific year 10s once per week. Super easy. They are all placed within walking distance from the flat. 3 of them (Barnetts Hair, School Plus, and Burton Brothers Auto) are near the high street. The other three (Ibbotts Catering, Ramsey Golf, and Old Nene Golf) are on the edge of town. I'm already bored. There's nothing to do but organize for the last four weeks of school. So, I'm searching google for radiostations in California to kill the time.
June 5, 2006
There was a kidnapping in Nigeria of 6 Brits, 1 American and 1 Canadian from an oil rig three or so days ago. Because of this, I've notified my agency that I don't want to go to Nigeria next year. I really must be difficult to get people to go and teach in Nigeria because of all these unfortunate things that come up.
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