My nus

Last day at school

Today is my last day at my current school. It has been a good four years and I will miss many of thet staff and pupils. I went for the last fry up at the local greasy spoon today and was delighted that the old one, to which I have got quite attached in spite of its annoying recent tendency to be closed or not have a chef when needed, was open and provided exactly the mass of lard I was looking for to fortify myself for the last day of what has at times been quite a trying year, what with OFSTED  and the unexpected post-OFSTED push just when we were all hoping for a bit of a rest. I will miss the feeling of fighting on the frontline against ignorance and barbarism and the occasional victory, like when you hear a favourite pupil talking about going into teaching or when someone you once thought had no chance going off to University. I think that sort of expectation will be par for the course at the new place and I will have to do far more to get that fleeting sense of victory, though the daily grind should be a bit less onerous. Apologies for lack of regular posting recently and for a bit longer but we are in the process of sorting out our move to Taunton and it's taking up alot of our time.

posted by Julian Halls @ 7/20/2004 08:42:00 AM

Fahrenheit 9/11

Yesterday Witho and I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11. It was one of those films that changes you and made me come out of the cinema in Camden with a lot of thoughts racing through my mind. For the first time ever I felt that I had to post straight away. I wrote down my thoughts as we drove away and I will record them here.

Fahrenheit 9/11. Queensryche. Operation Mindcrime. Turmoil. New World Order needed. Selfishness. Bush . Bush junior. Cheney. Powell. Rice. Bin Laden. Afghanistan. Iraq. Corruption. Rich poor divide. Military service. Sacrifice. Greed. Money. Dimpled chads. Electoral system not working. Status quo perpetuated. Need something else. Must do something. Blair's role? America deceived. Britain innocent? Michael Moore - where is the British equivalent? Party politics. What do we do? Surely capitalism must have failed if this has really happened. Class war? Communism? Contact Michael Moore. Fear caused by American government. Bush's apparent incompetence. Freedom. Rights. Bin Laden family allowed to escape when all other flights were banned. "Rich man's war, poor man's blood" - slogan on wall near Blackhorse Road station really made me feel like the world was thinking what I was thinking.

I don't know what to do. I have felt utterly disillusioned with party politics in this country for ages and this film just made me feel more this way. Can't these evil, selfish men be made to pay? Is nobody able to do anything? Well, I am now listening to Operation Mindcrime. I suppose that is as close to doing something as I am likely to get for a while and it makes me feel a bit better.

posted by Julian Halls @ 7/11/2004 07:28:00 AM

A quiz of sorts

One of my pupils keeps sending me quizzes like this by accident, so I am going to publish my answers as I normally am not very good at memes and that sort of thing. Here it is.

LAST:
CLUB U WENT 2: Brixton Academy to see Air in February, I think

PERSON U SPOKE 2: Alice, my Head of Department

MOVIE U WATCHED: Troy - went with the Upper Sixth at the end of last term. I think that’s right, isn’t it, Witho? Oh no, it was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Bromley. Good film, much closer to the Harry Potter of the books than the first two, nice and dark!

TV SHOW U WATCHED: Big Brother

THEATRE PRODUCTION U SAW: Can’t remember.

BOOK U RED: A small part of the Hobbit

TYME U CRIED: Tuesday



FAVOURITE:
EYE COLOR: Brown

HAIR COLOR: Brown, but in both cases it depends who it’s on

FOOD: Ooh, that’s hard. Could be anything. At the moment black olives are pretty tasty and I just had the traditional Friday morning lard at the King’s Diner. MMMMMMMMMM!

SPORT: Cricket, tennis, football mostly but I will have a go at anything. I wish I had had more of a go at Rugby at school because I have the physique for it now, even if I was a beanpole then.

WEATHER: Nice and warm with a bit of a breeze.

MOVIE: Errr, loads. Lord of the Rings, the first Star Wars trilogy, any Monty Python, Bad News and More Bad News tour, Spinal Tap, The Name of the Rose………………………………………………

CLOTHES: Either the chalk stripe suit I have been wearing in school or shorts, t-shirt and my knackered old loafers

CAREER: Classics teacher

BAND: Vicious Rumors, Exodus, Metallica, Megadeth, Heathen, Joe Satriani, Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy are just the first ones to spring to mind of a very long list.

PERSON: Witho

TATOO: No. I am not going to have a tattoo. If I did it would be of an eagle but I don’t know where.



U:
WEIGHT: Lots

HEIGHT: 6’ 3”

HAIR COLOR: brown

EYE COLOR: Not at all blue but hazel, which is what I thought I had already written here.

WEARING: Black suit, yellow shirt and black and yellow tie today because it is Sports Day at school and the house I am attached to is Kirkman, the yellow house. I may be doing a sack race later on today, though I will change first!

LISTENIN TO: The sound of an old computer and chairs being dragged across the floors in upstairs classrooms


LAST 4 DIGITS OF FONE NO: 4503 or 0331


WHAT IS:
MOST OVERUSED PHRASE ON AIM: I have no idea what this means

FIRST THOUGHTS WAKIN UP: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH! TURN OFF THAT FUCKING ALARM!

UR BEDTIME: 12ish

UR GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: Finding something I had almost given up on finding in August last year

MOST MISSED MEMORY: The tree that used to be outside my bedroom window at Mum’s, which the selfish Lawrences had cut down so there would be less shade in their garden.



U PREFER:
BURGER KING OR MCDONALDS: BK, BDC

ADIDAS OR NIKE: Spose Nike, but neither really...

LIPTON ICE TEA OR NESTEA: Lipton Ice Tea – got one by accident last month and it was way nice after I expected it would be horrible. It was Lemon and Lime flavour.

BOXERS OR BRIEFS: Boxers!

CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA: Vanilla

PEPSI OR COKE: Coke

MARRIAGE OR SINGLE: Not single.

KIDS OR NOT: Not.




IN PAST 24 HOURS:
DRANK? Not alcohol. I had Russchian, my alcohol substitute!

HAD SEX? Yes

EATEN? Yes. Had Ikea style Swedish meatballs last night and they were way nice. Witho is a great cook, or ‘Chef’!

STOLEN ANYTHING? No

FLASHED N E 1? Yes.

LAUGHED? Oh yes, mostly at very childish things

DONE DRUGS? No. They fascinate me, but I am too much of a control freak to do them myself.

END TIME? 9.12

posted by Julian Halls @ 7/09/2004 09:14:00 AM

The last few weeks of term

I really am finding it hard to motivate myself for these last few weeks of term. The sale of the flat has started and we are now looking at properties in Taunton to rent. The last thing I want to be doing is the routine of marking books and chasing up loose ends, such as lost books and retests, which is of course exactly what I need to be doing. I hate feeling like I should have to use the fact of my impending departure as a stick with which to emotionally blackmail the kids, but they are getting larey and I really do not think I should have to put up with that.
For example, right now as I write this I am in the middle of a year 9 cover lesson in the language lab with a load of kids, most of whom I taught last year or the year before. They are using the internet for some German work and I can see what is on all of their screens – why do they still try to cheat and get the work translated for them or look at football websites when they know I can see what they are doing?
Then again I suppose I am a bit of a hypocrite really, if I can’t be arsed why should they? Gumph! Roll on Taunton!

posted by Julian Halls @ 7/07/2004 10:11:00 AM

Oooh, Crikey it's Lawnmower Deth

I am a tit. I have messed up my blog and will have to rebuild it today, that is why there are no comments, because I thought I would try and be clever - I think there's a lesson to learn here. Normal non-service will soon be resumed. As Eddie Hitler once said (Or was it Vyvyan) "Never ever bloody anything". I'd kick myself but I would probably miss.

posted by Julian Halls @ 7/01/2004 10:51:00 AM