First, I have joined the newly formed Carlisle Community Choir. We meet to rehearse on Sundays in a warm and bright church on Wigton Road. We being a group of about 50 enthusiastic singers, men, women and children. The men and children are vastly outnumbered by the women and of the three tenors only one is a bona fide male. We are practising for a Christmas Carol Service in December. Our programme ranges from Away in a Manger through In the Bleak Midwinter to Torches. And, most impressively, we are privileged to be led by Andrew Nunn whose Glasgow choir Les Sirènes won Choir of the year at the Festival Hall about a month ago. I think we are all expecting great things of him and ourselves now. You can catch him winning and get a sense of his exuberance if you watch Choir of the Year on BBC iPlayer. It was shown this evening on BBC4 so will be available for the next 7 days.
Last Friday the school wholeheartedly embraced Children in Need. We dispensed with uniform for the day - except for the staff who came dressed as overgrown schoolchildren for the day. St Michael's has Talent was held and Sam and his friends Josh and Max, performing as JMS, were selected for the finals in front of the whole school. Sam bravely sang on his own and impressed quite a few with his sweet voice. You can see pictures of the day on the school website. Keep scrolling down the page to see Sam.
Our building work is almost at an end. We have a fully tiled roof (at last) and the windows are fitted. Both rooms are almost fully plastered and we are waiting for a joiner to come and hang the doors - yippee! I will not tempt fate by mentioning any dates or deadlines. Rest assured I will let you know when we move in. Tomorrow I will be in the company of a paintbrush and some white emulsion while we still have a scaffolding tower in the new kitchen.
After running 3 times a week through the summer I lapsed in September. In October half term I treated myself to a little iPod shuffle and started running again. I am using a great little podcast from the NHS. Couch to 5K aims to get you running 5km in 30 minutes after 9 weeks. I'm now about to start week 4 and am coping okay. The lady with the friendly-but-firm voice talks you through when to walk and when to start running, but her input is fairly minimal and the rest of the time is filled in with music to run to and music to walk to. The mix of music is quite varied, and because you only listen to each podcast 3 times you don't really have time to get bored with it. Trying to find time to fit in a run is the hardest part really. It's dark when I get up but if I leave the house at 7 o'clock it is getting light by then. I ran past a field of slumbering sheep when I set out the other morning and came home half an hour later to a lovely rosy sunrise.
And the other thing I have been busy with is teaching myself Spanish. I am running a Spanish club at school and am about 5 lessons ahead of the children. I love the sounds of Spanish and am enjoying teaching it. I think it helps my teaching to be put in the position of learner again and because I am not fluent I speak more slowly and have to stop and think before I respond which is probably a good thing. Does anyone have any tips for learning Spanish for me?
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| Does anyone recognise this shop door? |
