More Turmoil in the Education System

Hello. Having almost completed the first half of the summer term (they call April to July the academic summer term here), it is becoming clear how much schools have scaled back demand for supplies since Easter. More and more, TAs are taking over classes (if they haven't been cut too) or deputy headteachers and resource teachers and PPA covers give up their normal duties to take over classes. Alternatively, classes are getting divided up and sent to other classes around the school if a teacher can't make it. And teachers are increasingly hesitant to take any sick days at all. I have been glad for two days of tuition a week, as it has been difficult even to get four days of work a week if you're just on supply. There have been quite a few days where I, and all of my friends sat at home the whole day. Due to all of the holidays we had the last five weeks (Easter Monday, wedding, May Day), TimePlan wasn't having to pay its guaranteed staff for eight days, but this fortnight, I've been called in a few times to go to a school that hadn't requested a supply as a support person. I speculate that TimePlan is trying to curry favour with schools by sending freebie teachers sometimes--they have to pay me now anyway, so they might as well get some value out of me.

It is not an easy time to be in Britain, and for my housemates who are planning on staying around for another year, job security is a precious commodity in terribly short supply. The management who look after our house recently changed hands, and there is some question as to what the lease arrangement will look like come September. My housemates then, are all trying to consider different options for what they might do given various options and circumstances. For my part, I am very happy to be saying goodbye to Britain shortly...it just doesn't seem like a very hospitable environment in which to live and work at this juncture.

In the meantime, I am home nursing a cold today, and hoping to be well enough to accompany David on a daytrip to his old stomping grounds of Cirencester (where he grew up) on Monday. Next week is our holiday week, and then it's another 6-7 weeks to go before school breaks up and I come home.

Until next time...

Postscript: It is now six hours later, and I thought it was worth noting that we have just had our first decent rain in about three months. Or rather, I periodically hear thunderclaps and it starts up again, so it may keep up for several hours yet. Fine with me since I'm in today anyway. A good start for the parched plants here.

Hello, and hi again after a long silence. The last two months have been filled with lots of things, and it's hard to know where to begin. I finished one term doing full-time tuition at three different schools, and have now started part-time tuition two days a week, with the intention of supply teaching to supplement my income. In between academic terms was the Easter two-week holiday during which my family ( mom, dad, and Joel) came to visit (their first time in UK).We had a fantastic time, though like North Americans, we tried to cram-pack way too much into the time we had. We spent a week or so in London environs, exploring Greenwich, watching the Changing of the Guard, touring around the city on double decker buses, and taking in all the concerts/shows we could (a choral concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Lion King). Pictured

below, here are some of us at Kew Gardens, a horticulturalist's paradise SW of the city in Richmond.

We went to the Netherlands for my family's middle weekend here, where we had the opportunity to visit some friends from Nigeria whom the rest of my family had not seen in 22 years (I had visited them last fall). Ali and Djurre went out of their way to show us lots of things, and we had lots of laughs, besides getting to know their sons (2/3 of whom were not yet born 22 years ago).

After our brief trip onto the continent, we began our road trip up to Edinburgh. David did most of the driving, for which we were all grateful, since road signs/rules are rather different in Britain than in Canada. We stopped in York for a very brief visit one evening. We participated in an Evensong at Yorkminster Cathedral, and walked through the Shambles and along a small portion of the medieval wall that still stands.

In front of Yorkminster Cathedral

From York, we went to Durham, the site of a lovely Norman cathedral. We walked along the banks of the river in the sunshine.

After a two-hour stop in Durham, we moved on into the Borders of Scotland, where David stopped to meet a friend, and we stopped for lunch. Then David took us to Greenlaw, from which my dad's Robertson ancestors emigrated in 1826. This is the (typically, sandstone) church where we found several distant relatives buried. David was also speculating about my blue blood when he found a connection between the Hume and Robertson families--apparently there is a Hume Castle nearby, though we didn't have time to stop and check it out.

We got to Edinburgh at last, and spent some time our first evening there wandering around the Leith Docks and area, since we were staying nearby.

The next morning, we set out to explore Edinburgh and walked along Princes Street, where we stopped to see the large Jenner's store (think Macy's), before walking along toward Edinburgh Castle, pictured below.

That afternoon, we visited the John Knox House, located on the Royal Mile, before scaling the trail up to Arthur's Seat. It was a fairly steep climb, but interesting craggs and heather(?) along the way. That night, David took us across the Forth Bridge and we looked at Edinburgh from

South Queensferry.

The following morning, we set off for the Lake District. Again, we felt the tension of not being able to stay and enjoy the scenery as long as we would have liked.

This is one of the lakes, where we ate our lunch. After lunch we walked along the trail to the Aira Force waterfall. We drove through Ambleside and got out in Grasmere, with the intention of finding the lake and walking around it. We never found the lake, but we saw lots of sheep and lots of stone walls and stone houses, with the evidence of an abundance of stones all over the area! We were impressed with the narrow lanes and switchback roads also in abundant supply in this area. In many areas, the roads were no more than 1-1/2 lanes wide (British lanes; with North American lanes, we would've been ok:)We stayed in Conniston for the night...the parking regulation stated that starting Good Friday, cars could only park on the street outside the hotel for 30 min at a time. We arrived on Maundy Thursday, so we just made it under the wire...David drove the car around the block for 10 minutes on Friday morning so we wouldn't get ticketed after 9:30 (the regulation took effect at 9 am).

Early afternoon, we arrived in Birmingham. We went to a pub for lunch on the enthusiastic recommendation of our hotel staff. I had an insight into the pecking order in terms of who gets served. Joel ordered two meat items plus a beer, and he got served in short order. Mom and dad had each ordered one meat entree, and they got served next. David ordered a vegetarian meal plus a soda and lime, and he had to wait a bit. I ordered a vegetarian meal (since I was not eating meat or dairy for lent) plus a water, and I had to wait an additional ten minutes after David was served, probably half an hour after Joel was served. I was not a happy camper at all, since this was now a 3:00 lunch. Lesson learned: never eat at a pub if you're a cheap, no-alcohol, vegetarian eater.

We attended a Tennebrae service at a church in Birmingham that evening before heading back to our hotel for a quiet evening.

The next morning, we headed off to Stratford-upon-Avon, where we discovered that masses of people had arrived for the convergence on one day of: St George's Day, Shakespeare's birthday, and Shakespeare's deathday. We walked around town, and visited Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried. We also took a boat tour of the River Avon, which was quite nice, although hot enough that one woman fainted from heat stroke. The weather was highly unusual for the duration of my family's stay...highs of 17-26C every day and only 5 minutes of rain one day. Heck, it hardly ever gets to 26C here in July or August, never mind April. Here is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, home of the Royal Shakespeare Company, which has just been reopened after several years of renovations.

We had a lovely dinner with David's family on Saturday night, before heading back to London to the London Mennonite Centre--where we had stayed a week-and-a-half earlier while in London. We are some of the last folks who will be able to stay at the current LMC, as it has been sold, and will be closing in July. The trustees are working to find another place with less expensive real estate, probably elsewhere in London, though it's possible it could move away from London altogether.

Sunday morning, we celebrated Easter at Westminster Abbey. The security cameras were already up, though no the trees for the royal wedding.

Since my family left, it's been a bit slow getting back into work. The first week, we had Easter Monday and the Royal Wedding to chop two days off the week, and this week, we had May Day. Furthermore, today is polling day, the referendum on the alternative vote as well as some local elections, so some schools are closed for that. (I am suspicious I will have a qiet day home today, as it is 9:35 and I haven't gotten a call yet.) Nevertheless, I have no doubt the next ten weeks will fly by. I just booked my flight back home for July 27 this week.

I'm hoping to make a trip up to Iona for the June half-term holiday, and then David and I want to get down to Devon/Cornwall after I'm finished school to meet his sister and tour a bit of England I haven't really seen yet.

David and I are pursuing leads on work for him in Canada. He has a passport, and is working on getting a visa. He has been in contact with a number of people at York and Ryerson Universities, among others. If you have leads on jobs in mental health/public health and/or the immigration process, I'm all ears!

Shalom to you this spring...Julie