David and I went into Central London on New Years' Eve, but waited too late to get a front place view of the fireworks, as all access points had just been closed off by the time we arrived shortly after 11. So we walked up to Trafalgar Square and watched the New Year in on the jumbotron screen instead. Lots of drunken partiers and piles of rubbish on the sidewalks! I got sprayed by champagne at midnight by one enthusiastic reveler.
I spent that weekend at David's place and we had a really good and relaxing time together. We discovered a mutual interest in Scrabble amongst other things, and tuned in to part of the 12-day BBC special feature on Mozart (over the first 12 days of the New Year, they're playing every single piece of music the guy ever wrote!)
I met my friend Trish (from my Rouge Valley church family)--who was visiting various friends spread around the outskirts of London--in London on Wednesday last week, and we had a good time walking through Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, and Covent Garden and then going to the British Museum for part of the afternoon. It was a nice chance to catch up with her and to receive and send greetings to folks back home.
I went into school again on Thursday last week (the kids had returned on Wednesday) to get organized for this school term, and did a bit of tutoring on Friday. Then I met Trish and David downtown for drinks on Friday night before Trish went to see west-end show, Billy Elliot. Again, we had a lovely time together.
After spending Friday night and Satuday morning with David, I came home on Saturday afternoon, to allow him to spend some time preparing for an interview--which by the time I write this, should be over or almost over. He is interviewing for a public health job, which involves researching/asking questions relative to the government's proposal to get rid of a layer of middle management within the health system and delegate a lot of managing to GPs instead. This is an area of personal concern for David, and he is eager to be involved in asking relevant questions about how this might work, or indeed, what the long-term outcomes of such a decision might be. So he has spent a good chunk of the last week boning up on the current structure of the NHS (National Health Services) familiarizing himself with the relevant information/terminology.
Today I have taken off work, since the school at which I tutor is being inspected by OFSTED today and tomorrow. This is an inspection in which teachers are each evaluated during their lessons as to the effectiveness of their teaching and the school is evaluated as well. It is a high-stress event for all concerned, particularly for schools which have received poor results in the past.
Tomorrow I will be back at my other school, Five Elms again, and then Wednesday I am going to meet the head at another school in order to get started tutoring there in the next week.
Hope you are having a good start to 2011. 'Til next time,
Julie
