Reading as a teacher

I currently am sitting in my kitchen, at the table, with a cup of decaf tea...why the decaf rather than the real version? Because I am getting old and can no longer survive on only 7 hours of sleep. Even the tiny amount of caffeine in tea keeps me awake longer than I want, so after 6pm its decaf all the way.

So, I'm sat here drinking tea, having actually finished all my planning/ marking/ pointless but apparently vital paperwork needed for tomorrow, and just wishing I could read a book. About 5 metres away, in my bedroom, sit close to 10 books I have bought but not read yet. So why aren't I reading. There are so many reasons, and all of them seem so lame, but grouped together they're such a hurdle.

• I'm too tired. I know that you should never be too tired for a couple of pages, but that's a part of the problem. It is never just a couple of pages; if its as engaging and fun to read as I want it to be, I'll want to carry on forever, and I just can't skip sleep. And if it's not those things, then I haven't got the energy to commit the effort needed to finish a chapter. Why bother?

• It requires commitment. Reading a good book means you want to carry on reading it, at every chance. The problem is, I have no chances. I can't predict when my next evening free will be, as everyday more and more jobs get thrown onto the pile. I can probably say I can read at the weekend, but even those plans change, and it might end up being a whole week before I have another chance to pick up the book. I can't handle the torture.

• No time. This links a lot to the points above. So much time is taken up with jobs for work. And then when the work stuff is done, I still need to eat, wash, do chores and sleep. Unless I want to be stinky or half asleep tomorrow, I cannot sacrifice those hours, no matter how willingly I'd give them up for a fantasy read.

• My brain wont work. After teaching children all day, my brain is like mush. Whatever I do read will be forgotten by tomorrow, and unless it's super light and easy, it'll be painful. Literally. My eyes are getting confused about where the laptop keys right now.

• I have nothing to read! Much like the wardrobe dilemma, I have so many books but none that fit my mood. None that will tempt me past these hurdles, and make all the yawning tomorrow worthwhile. I'm sure most of the books I have are excellent, but I won't risk being put off them because I haven't got the energy to commit to them.

Oh well, it's not all bad. I'm reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe to my class at the moment. Some of the children have seen the film, one has read the book. They are all agog. Last week they wrote excellent diary entries from the point of view of the Pevensie children as evacuees. This week and next, we're creating our own fantasy worlds to describe. It's nice to have at least one literary escape!

Does anyone else have a job that stops them from doing something they'd love?

Where I've Been

I'm sitting here trying to think of how to make the last few weeks sound exciting. The truth is, they've been pretty busy (both work and at the weekends) but there has been no reason for me not to write something here, apart from complete exhaustion.

On a Sunday evening, after a weekend off, I am still exhausted.

My last post was on Halloween, and I done quite a bit since then.

One weekend, my friends Eleri and Rhiannon came to visit. They didn't actually come to London with the purpose of seeing me; instead they came for the live Welcome to Nightvale session. I used to listen to episodes of the pod series when I did my make up before heading to placement in the summer, but then once I had caught up I forgot to carry on. Even though they didn't come to visit me, I met them before hand at Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherds Bush, where we had dinner and then I shopped (aaah) afterwards. Then they headed to mine afterwards and we stayed up most of the night talking ~retro sleepover vibes~ which I think annoyed my housemate (sorry Claire! I blame very thin walls!). Then the next morning we went for breakfast. Of course, by the time they went it was 3pm and most of my weekend had been spent very pleasantly, but very little to show.

The next weekend I was meant to have a friend visit on the Saturday, but she missed her train and I was ill (/hungover). Then on Sunday I spent the day showing my mom the Poppies at the Tower of London (just in time - most were still there but they were completely gone 24 hours later). Then we did a mini Christmas shop and had dinner in her old haunt (back from her 21 year old nannying days), Covent Garden's Punch and Judy. She left for home at 6pm, and that was another weekend that had been enjoyable (minus the illness) but not really a recovery from the week!

I've also spent many weekends attempting to sort out my room, which is a task that never seems to end. I don't have the right type of storage for some of my belongings (imagine a large plastic box holding all the contents of my desk, and a broken wardrobe with no rail) and to add to that there has been a sudden increase in damp. I have to keep cleaning mould off shoes and a coat, and now there is mildew on my rose fairy lights, and a horrible creeping damp patch near my bed :(

They have been good weekends (apart from the mould) with most Friday evenings spent having drinks in the pub with some of the girls I work with (Lets ignore the night I had too much to drink, on no food since midday, and spent the next day very ill). It's just after a full week of teaching children and planning lessons until 9pm at night at the earliest I wish there was an extra day off every week; especially as at least half a 'day off' is spent planning more lessons.