Oxford
I was out and about this weekend in a big way. I finally made it out to Oxford for the day after dropping Mel off at Paddington Station on her way home. I hopped on a train myself about half an hour later after purchasing a delicious fruit salad for the journey. I think I am finally coming around on blueberries. It only took about 50 minutes to get out there which makes me think I will easily handle the commute. I am quite hesitant to move out of London because my friends all live here and the wages are a bit better. I did go out there however to see the place as everyone nags me about why I haven't gone out there yet. I don't know why I hadn't gone out before but I was kind of avoiding it. It is very lovely and full of old buildings and all of that. I almost found it a bit intimidating. Can you believe that these are my new school buildings?? The university seems to take up the whole town!There were loads of tourist groups everywhere. I had a look through some of the buildings and did some great shopping. I bought a dress I liked since I got here. It finally went on an incredibly low sale price so I scooped it up. It was a lucky thing too because I had a job interview this week that I wore it to. I got the position at a really great school but am thinking about it until the end of the week. It is a middle school instead of high school and I would be teaching music. It sounds quite nice. I just have to make sure I will be able to manage my university schedule when it begins in October. This job would start from September. It is great to have guaranteed work ready for you right from the first day! It will be such a relief that I won't have to struggle to find my school where I am working each day. I find I have made some good friends staying in more long term positions even if the school hasn't been the greatest. Most people don't want those positions because they are a lot more work for basically the same rate as daily supply. But as I say, I feel it has worked out pretty well.

Pride London
On the weekend I had an awesome time at London Pride. It is always a good party in Toronto so I wanted to see what London would do. It is only one day here but there is a parade, which my friend Krista accidentally joined whilst shopping. She came out of a store to find herself in the parade. I laughed so hard when she told me that. I could vividly imagine her stepping out of the H&M and landing right smack in a parade. I love it! So I went out to Soho district for a really great party. Lots of champagne, lots of dancing and loads of amazing people. Everyone was so social. You could jsut go anywhere and start up a conversation with anyone. We got in the next morning and then slept the day away. I haven't done that in a while because I am always so tired these days. I think that is the problem though. When I am tired I shouldn't go to bed right after work. I should go out a little more in the evenings. That way I would make sure I was physically tired and not just mentally. There was also a really funny event going on called Gay Shame. It was a mock event for gay men to go to find out how to do things like DIY. I read about it a few days before in the paper and knew it was a must.

School Ending

Finally, school is ending and some of my students are actually starting to admit that they don't hate me as much as they say. Some were actually wondering if I was coming back, bless them. I am quite horrible to them sometimes so I was shocked to hear that they wished I could be their teacher again. Well you know what they say, treat em mean, keep em keen. Haha. I will miss a few of them myself. It will be a race to the finish though to get everything marked and the paper trail completed. I have really started to love cafeteria lunches too. They are cheap and delicious most days. Of course there are a few misses but usually it is pretty decent. It takes one job out of the morning that I don't really enjoy to start with. I just want to hang on to sleep as long as humanly possible before bolting out the door.

Plans

In the next few days I have slated some great stuff for myself. Tomorrow is activities day at school so there will be lots of kite making and knife fighting classes I would imagine. It is a non uniform day as well so I can dress in jeans. In the evening, I really want to go to the Hayward Gallery. They have a frozen, exploded room on display. It sounds cool. For Saturday, I want to go to the final days of the Hampton Court Palace flower show. I watched a programme about it this evening and it looks amazing! That's what I love about watching the BBC. It shows tings that are happening in the city I live in and can actually go out and do. I am always surprised to see the amazing things that are available here every weekend. I will close with some pictures of some finger puppets I got at Glastonbury. They have such happy faces and they sit at the end of my bed.

Have you ever bought a gift for someone and then not gave it to them because you liked it more? That is what has happened here. Look at his little face!

And here is a lovely little monkey to go with him.