Saturday 27 February 2010

They make me laugh

Teaching 9 - 10 year old boys often seems to incur scatalogical humour of one kind or another, without much help. Yesterday was no exception.

First,we had a special assembly as part of a fundraising exercise to help vaccinate children against India against polio. The visitors had a wonderful powerpoint explaining the effects of the disease and how it is spread by poor sanitation.

They showed appropriate pictures. And explained how open sewers work, with predictable response.

The lesson immediately after was English. The text explained how sewage is treated, starting with the removal of solid waste.

"What's solid waste?" asked one child.

Second child, eager to volunteer an answer, started waving an arm: "It's tins.. and cans.. and so on."

I pointed out that sewage comes from the toilet, and that you don't normally put tins down the toilet.

"Tins down the toilet?" shrieked a boy. A very creative and emotional child, he started laughing hysterically, rocking backwards and forwards in paroxysms of laughter. It was instantly contagious: we all joined in.

I had to beg him to stop. I was laughing so much that tears were rolling down my cheeks and I could hardly breathe.

Wednesday 24 February 2010

New car

Richard has been wondering about buying a 'new' - well, new to us - car for some time. (We don't do real 'new' for anything, with some exceptions. Electronics, socks and underwear spring to mind.)

The Mondeo is still going, but is no longer such a reliable and trustworthy friend. He'll happily trundle down to the beach with surfboards in and on top of him, but we don't dare drive longer distances - i.e. off the island - with him any more. Not without much trepidation, prayer and good breakdown insurance.

So we need a replacement at some point.

I came home yesterday to find a car's registration papers.

For a sports car.
A SPORTS CAR??!!













20 years old!!!
2-seater, not 5.
Soft top - so no roofrack possible for the surfboards.
Very limited luggage space compared to the Mondeo.

Where's the logic in that?

Nothing to do with middle-age, I don't suppose?

(I jest. I have longed for a soft top for some time. I'm looking forward to the summer!)

We've named the car The Crisis.



Tuesday 23 February 2010

Hilarious days

Back at school now for two days - it feels like two weeks.

Great fun, though.

I've had a note in the homework diary which said: The square on the hypotenuse of a right (angled) triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the adjacent sides.
Now, is this a joke? Has a nine year old boy really been taught this at home by his parents? We certainly don't cover this in school at this age. Or is this the beginning of a bizarre maths dialogue?

All kinds of follow up comments occurred to me:

E = mc squared.
OR
Yes, indeed, sirree!
OR
I'm glad you're sure, because I'm not!
OR
The area of a circle is pi times r squared.
OR
Why?

I wasn't sure, so I chickened out.
I drew one of my trademark smiley faces - adorned with curls.

Let the parent make of that what he will. It certainly produced peals of laughter from me.

Friday 19 February 2010

Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale-Ian Morgan Cron

I have just started reading Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale by Ian Morgan Cron.
It is the most amazing book. The kind of book which references ideas - and, in this case, other writers - which make you just want to start reading and studying all about them as well.
In this case, Francis of Assisi.
I feel as if I'm standing on the edge of a cliff. If I step off it, I will be in freefall towards the waters below. My life will become one obsession of desperately reading and finding out more and more. It is scary but incredibly attractive - I WANT to dive into the depths.
I know I don't have time for that. I have a family to care for, a job to do, a house to keep clean and tidy, a course to complete...but maybe, just maybe, I can start with a few tiny steps of reading more here and there.
When I get time.
Focus, Angie. Focus on what is important.

Wednesday 10 February 2010

A To Do List

My mind being so butterflied, I keep coming across interesting items that I think 'I must look up later'. I could write them down in a notebook but I might forget, so here goes: this is my 'look up on the internet' list:

Quakers
AE Housman
Poetic forms
Welsh poetry - englyn
24-7 prayer movement

Hmmm... that'll do for now.

God answers prayers - indeed

This should really be over on Words From God for Today, but it touched me so much I've put it straight on. Read it here at Louie Giglio's Passion conferences website:

Saturday 6 February 2010

God answers prayers

A blogpost by Karen Ehmann of Proverbs 31 reminded me of a similar situation a few years ago.

Catharine was going off to help out for a week at the Christian conference, Momentum, at Shepton Mallet in Somerset. I think she was 18 or 19 at the time. Not so young, but not so old either.

A plane ride, a bus ride, a train ride, another bus ride... a little complicated, but not too bad.

Until she ended up at the train station 6 miles away from where she was heading. No buses. Not enough money for a taxi - she'd hoped to use her bank card, but had to spend most of the cash she had on her train fares. So she phoned me. (Her phone credit was about to run out, too, but there was a telephone box. Amazingly, not only had it not been vandlised, it even displayed its number, which she gave me so I was able to call her back.)

I was at home. A plane ride, a bus ride and a train ride away. Too far to help my little girl, I thought. ("I knew you'd know what to do, Mum," she said later.)

We discussed her options, but when she said she would walk if she couldn't find any other way of getting to the site, I started to panic. The idea of my daughter, with heavy back pack and innocent attitude, walking along a busy main road, no footpath, with cars dashing by at speeds of over 60 miles per hour filled me with horror.

I hung up, promising to phone her back in a few minutes. I thanked God for the internet. I looked up taxi firms in the towns nearby, hoping to be able to pay by debit card over the phone, but none of them would accept. Until the last taxi firm of all. As I explained my daughter's predicament, the driver interrupted me. "That's all right, I'll take her," he said. "I'm going that way anyway. I've just left the station but I'll turn round. And I think I saw her: there was a girl in the telephone box. I'll be five minutes."

He was indeed five minutes. He picked her up, dropped her at the gates and refused payment, leaving her with enough money to tide her over until she was able to get more cash.

Don't you believe in angels of the human kind? I do.

Friday 5 February 2010

Catching up

After a busy week, I'd really like to catch up with friends and family.
It's just that, from here, it hardly seems possible.

I've had parents' evenings, so I feel talked out.
I've started helping with an Alpha course, meeting new people, leading discussions with great care and caution.
I've had to have a few serious conversations at school which have taken it out of me.

Hmmmm.

This is where I want to put a 'smiley' sad face.

I need some good words in me.