A New Broom...

It's been a tough week. For a start there was Hallowe'en. Guess where I was at 3.00am? Yes out in the back garden (naked!) putting a screaming frog back in the pond. I'll be riding around on a broomstick next...Then there was trouble in psychology class. I've found it increasingly difficult to get my students into the classroom, so much so that I now have to go out on the street where they congregate and pull them in by their hoods. Hence,we usually start at least 15 minutes late. I just about get going on the topic on the lesson, when they're demanding a break. I'm supposed to sit there with them for two and a half hours! You'll recall that before half-term I just had the three students, well now we've been joined by two Nigerian girls. Great, it's a year long class, and they missed half a term....this is private education, where you never say no as this means loss of income all round (well, actually not for me, as I get paid the same, to do 40% more work...hey, wait a minute..). So, having had a week of disorganisation and indiscipline, I decided we'd have a 'planning meeting' with the allotment group. It's the usual muddle. The group leader wants to grow nothing but potatoes and onion sets. One of the clients wants her own plot so she can grow different varieties of beetroot. Another wants to grow nothing but carnations...Finally we had an intricate explanation about why we are not being allowed, under any circumstances, to grow peas...Oh well, I made a plan of the allotment, and stuck lots of things on it. I also wrote an article for the newsletter which I hope I can get posted up for you.