First thing’s first; that ‘5 things’ bit is a lie this month. It’s been a bumper month for reasons to smile, so with plenty to pack in, let’s get to it.
Year 11 left school. Christmas in school is great, as are the last days leading up to summer and Easter, but without doubt my favourite time of the year is when Year 11 leave! From a teaching standpoint my hard work is at its peak and I’ve done everything I can to get them ready for their exams, including before and after school sessions and two hour long pre exam classes, everything that happens in regular lessons and literally throwing more and more revision resources their way. So while they’re asking ‘Will you miss us, sir?’, I’m very vocal in telling them that I’ll be too busy enjoying some extra free time to get things done to actually give them any thought! Believe me, having no Year 11 form for half an hour each morning is bliss. And that’s before we get to lesson time! So, although there’s lots of assessment marking to fill my time, I’m still getting what would have been Year 11 lesson time to do it in.
The Leeds 10k. I’ve already written a piece on this (link below), but the fact that training went really well, I felt so relaxed running it and ran one of my fastest times of the year so far – slightly over 55 minutes – made me smile quite a bit!
Scotland fans fly 22 hours to get to the World Cup. This was a story from the BBC website about two Scotland fans who flew to Boston in their small propeller plane to get to see their nation play in the World Cup. It took them 22 hours, stopping in Iceland, Greenland and Canada along the way, to get there. They said, “It was the trip of a lifetime” and “It probably doesn’t get any better than that.” And then about a week later Scotland got knocked out. The dedication of football fans, eh? 😂
Mr. Swallow. Nick Mohammed’s character Mr. Swallow is probably one of my favourite fictional ‘people’. He’s hard to describe, but the words manic, chaotic and hilarious spring immediately to mind. Anyway, we went to see him on his ‘Show Pony’ tour in Leeds at the start of the month and it was easily one of the funniest things I’ve ever watched. And there’s nothing quite like laughter to make you feel positive. The link for my review is below, if you fancy it.
Comedy Review: Mr Swallow: ‘Show Pony’.
World Cup! The World Cup started and while I struggled to get into it too much due to the overnight kick off times in many matches, it didn’t take me too long to find myself sat in front of the telly avidly watching football as much as I could. As a lifelong football fan – and veteran of 11 World Cups now – I just love it. The stress and tension of a season watching my club side is vastly reduced and for the majority of the time I can just sit back and enjoy the games. Bliss!
Ducks! This was the story of two ducks and their ducklings that apparently have a favourite pub. The story goes that the two ducks – Donald and Daisy – had been heading to the pub to get fed, even resorting to pecking on the windows when nobody came out – for a couple of months. Now this is more than enough to make anyone smile. However, recently Daisy brought along her six newly born ducklings too! The pub is is South Shields, a coastal town in the North East and landlady Sinia Jawzi says that the ducks are “a huge part of the pub now”. I mean, if ducks going to the pub doesn’t make you smile I’m afraid we cannot possibly be friends!
Embrace…twice! This year marks 30 years of the band Embrace, a favourite of myself and my wife. And in May we were able to go and see them play twice in 5 days. The first gig was at a small venue in Barnsley as an album launch show for their new album Avalanche and it was superb. Afterwards the band manned the merch stall and we were lucky enough to get a few photos with them, as well as some signed merch. Then, on the Saturday, they headlined a huge show at the Piece Hall in Halifax. Once again, it was a truly memorable gig. Both gigs certainly gave me lots to smile about.
Sidecar riding dog. The final smile comes courtesy of a sidecar riding St. Bernard dog. Now you might be thinking, ‘that must be one helluva sidecar’ and you’d be right. The dog’s owner, Alan Valkeith, adapted the sidecar for his Honda Goldwing so that his St. Bernard, Louis, could ride around town with him. Apparently this extraordinary sight has been making people smile wherever they go. And you can see why when you look at the picture!
Now by my reckoning that’s a ‘five reasons’ episode with 8 reasons for a bit of a smile. Bargain! I really hope you enjoyed reading all about the things that made me smile in June!
Middle Age Fanclub 