We’re out of Lockdown – hurrah! It doesn’t feel significantly different although we did plan a meet-up in a friend’s garden and then it was SO cold and damp that we decided to wait. Yes, I know it is much much colder in many other parts of the world than London, but the dampness coupled with the colder really does make it feel very chilly.
Christmas and birthday plans continue apace with parcels arriving daily. I might be addicted to eBay. And buying Sylvanians on eBay. I really think that we have enough Sylvanians!
Mummy time with Sylvia this week took the form of watching the BBC adaptation and second series of His Dark Materials. I re-read all the Phillip Pullman books in the first lockdown and really love them. The adaptation is different but equally satisfying and hasn’t changed my mental images of the characters. Otherwise the weekend was spent trying to source presents and the usual online exercising, and rules night with the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, another favourite of mine. We actually did quite a few things on Saturday which made the day feel like it lasted longer, including a sociable dog walk in the forest and finally posting Lego to my colleagues for some online LSP sessions.
Took Monday as a wellbeing day. We agreed to give every member of staff in our Directorate up to a day of time week 30th November to do something to enhance their wellbeing. Usually at this time of year we would be taking at least a day “out” at Christmas parties and away days but as none of that can happen we thought this might be a good way of giving something to the team, without forcing some online games on Teams. I persuaded Mike to take a day off too and although due to lockdown and rubbish weather, we didn’t do much, we did get treats from new bakery and spent a significant amount of time watching Narcos Mexico and the Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. Felt like a treat to watch TV in the afternoon and without kids 🙂 Then got all the advent stuff down from the loft and the kids spent the afternoon making paperchains and I went for a dog walk with Sylvia to spot Christmas lights.
Work is super busy with the run up to Christmas and everyone trying to get all the things done. Made some good progress on University level projects around digital education and our attainment work which is positive. Attended some great training on Trans Awareness which was fascinating and really helpful. It worked well online and the facilitation was very well done. In fact it was a bit of a week for training, as I also attended a Ketso demonstration on Friday which was interesting and got me thinking about how to use this with my own students.
As lockdown has finished, I have finished blogging about a poem a day, which I kind of miss now. I found the focus on poetry and writing in November really useful in many respects and have reflected on it. I will now blog a poem a week – must remember to this!
I can’t believe it is December and advent is now progressing. Being at home so much I had thought I would be more prepared for these events but weirdly feel less. I think it is because you miss the usual cues in the shops and being out and about, as well as having more plans. Having less plans in some ways makes me feel less motivated to do things I would often do like plan advent calenders and activities. I am following a local online advent calendar where you spot a decorated house according to the instructions and add something to the food back donation box. Is giving nice variety to my lunchtime dog walks. We’ve also done a treasure hunt advent calendar for the kids using our lovely wooden calendar which I have been meaning to do for years so maybe I am more motivated than I think. I love-hate the advent calendar! It is aesthetically pleasing and equally annoying to work out small enough things to fit in each drawer x4 people! And I haven’t done the advent/winter fun list yet! Must do it before advent is half over.