Things are afoot. Well, some are 11 inches, and some are thirteen inches, but overall it equals about a foot. There are too many things to write about in terms of school, but there is no doubt that a P45 would be waiting in my pigeon-hole should I say what I really think. Wedding things plod onwards. Gardening is in stasis between digging and planting. Guides is good. Nowt else, really.

We've been out for a curry - first line of defence in fighting off the lurgy - and went for a pint afterwards. On getting back to the boarding house, I wandered off to see what was happening, and found Julia watching Desparate Housewives. My head hurts now, after watching just five minutes' worth of programme: the number of mind-games going on was too much for me to cope with. Obviously coriander, bitter and snide comments don't mix!

There's a lurgy going round school. The kids are dropping like flies, and the whole thing is exacerbated by the fact that they learn, eat and live together. As is, I suppose, inevitable, I have also succombed to the sickness, although I'm fighting it off with a tissue stuck to my nose and eating meals laced with chili and garlic. I may not be able to smell it, but I suspect it's slightly pongy. The half-term holiday starts in three days' time... it will be just typical if I'm ill for it!

Last night we went to Julia's for dinner, and ended up playing poker, complete with plastic chips and an instruction sheet. Either I've discovered a card game that I can actually play, or I had beginner's luck, but either way I got second place (beaten only by The Boy Wonder). We didn't play for money, but there was a prize each, with the first place player getting first choice of the wrapped presents... and my prize was a battenburg cake! Hurrah! Marzipanny-goodness!!

Today was spent mooching in the garden - I found a frog hibernating in the compost heap and pulled some weeds - and then spent the afternoon geeking, watching Hugh on DVD (pig in a day: porky goodness), and perusing ebay for bargins that I never knew I needed.

There's a week of school left before half-term, and I'm really ready for a break. Just a few reports to write, some lessons to teach, one more netball match, some essays to mark, and then I'll be able to sleep for a week. Not that I'm counting the days, of course...

This day in 2001 I was interviewed for my current job. The deadline had been the previous Friday, references were requested on Saturday, sent off on Monday and I was phoned up on the Tuesday and asked to interview. Tuesday night I had to flee to Next in Darlington to buy a suit, a handbag and some smart shoes.

I can remember quite a bit about the interview - it was very informal, and most of it was conducted as part of a walking tour of school with various senior mangagers. I can remember telling one lady manager that my only experience of independent schools was reading Mallory Towers. I can remember coming to lunch in a boarding house and chatting for a long time afterwards with the housemistress. I can remember sitting with the upper sixth at lunch, and one of them going to fetch more water while making a joke about "nice jugs". I can remember the soul-searching and the long discussions about the move from state to private school, and whether I was selling my soul. When the head phoned me on the Friday to offer the job, I was away on Guide camp. I was so convinced that I was what school was looking for, was so gob-smacked that they had asked me to take the job, I had to ask for a bit of time to make up my mind.

It was a tough decision, but - even on a day like today, where there's netball in the freezing fog, and evening duty looming ahead - I don't regret it for a moment. I love my job.