Planet Mad

This weekend was one of double bookings and last-minute panic, not to mention confusion and general head-slapping imbecility. Saturday involved teaching, a smattering of marking, schmoozing with parents at lunch in the House and an afternoon/evening on duty. This was all fairly straightforward, apart from the fact that I was also meant to be a) getting ready for a committee meeting on Sunday; and b) getting ready for a D of E expedition on Sunday. Those of you who are astute, or even merely awake, will notice a bit of a clash.

What made this clash worse was the fact that I'd noticed it in my diary several weeks ago but forgot to send apologies. I only remembered this when I was sitting on a coach at some ungodly hour on Sunday morning heading off to the Peak District, at which point I looked through my mobile's contact list to discover that I had no-one's mobile number to let them know. I did send a text to someone, but I now know that they didn't receive it until 7pm on Sunday, by which point I had long missed the meeting and was instead sitting in a campsite to the north of Chatsworth cooking goats' cheese and pesto tortelloni with a tomato and basil sauce. After all, when camping, you might as well do it in style! To make matters even worse, after texting I then got off the coach and left my mobile on the seat: it's a good job there were no accidents while walking as I was the emergency contact! Whoops!

Yesterday was more walking, finishing in a tea-shop in Eyam. The groups were great: well-prepared (in general) and committed to their walk. There are one or two aspects to work on - such as tent pitching and cooking - but a lot of the basic skills are in place.

Yesterday evening, after strings, I chose to go for beer and a curry in Lichfield instead of going to bed early. It was great at the time, but I'm paying for it now. Better go and teach...