Illyria

I stopped as usual at the Ballinluig Motor Grill last Friday for my sausage, egg and chips with a mug of tea, and the rather substantial portions cost less than a portion of tea and cake at House of Bruar. The food is simple but good, I love the way everyone is friendly, and you can have a very pleasant conversation about the merits of the five different routes to Elgin with anyone. Don’t even bother trying to stop anywhere else, unless you take your own sandwiches to The Hermitage - a little slice of Middle Earth.
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The A9 has a symbolic value - it has always been a journey of the soul and spirit as well as the physical for me. It has always connected family to family, and I’ve been travelling it since before I was born. It can be very beautiful -when the sun is out. I am not a huge rain fan.

I am expanding my vocabulary of the Glasgow vernacular - not-so-recent additions have been ’solid’ and ‘fresh’, frequently prefaced by the modifier ‘pure’. Also, I now know what an Emo is.
However, when I got to ‘noob’, I and my colleagues were stumped. It sounded pithy, but with little obvious derivational quality. Here is a helpful section from Wikipedia.

Newb vs. noob

Newb and noob may have somewhat different connotations. Newbs are simply newcomers—noob and n00b, on the other hand, generally means someone who is obnoxious, annoying, or breaks the rules; whether they are actual newcomers or not is mostly irrelevant. Therefore, a noob may be someone who has been around for a long time but still engages in behavior that he or she should have learned is unacceptable. Noobs are generally confident in what they are doing, but in reality are annoying others. “Newb” is not necessarily an insulting word, but “noob” usually is.

Apparently it is also classed as a sort of swear word, so apologies.

It has been a long and torturous term. But I am now free! Free to have long lies, finish Lego Macbeth and get the Shakespeare site up and running! I am off to Wagamamas for a celebratory noodle with fellow freed colleagues later, and then some celebratory drinks after. Hallelujah!

And the sun is shining!

Footnote: as it was raining and we didn’t want to walk elsewhere, we ended up in the Garage. But I did bump into some fellow Moosers and a moosette! Up yet guys?

I am ill.

And very grumpy.

So ill and grumpy, I am about to watch some terrible Jennifer Garner films.

Please send me links to cheer me up. Or tell me jokes.

Flnurp.

So, I have bought quite a lot of lego and I don’t need all the parts, so I thought I’d put it here before ebay to see what happens…

I am selling:(see photo)
Harry Potter with broom and cape

Pink skin reversible head Ron Weasley no hair

Hogwarts light grey uniform

A black octopus

Selection of modern tools

Lego keys and wings

Other stuff as shown - prices guaranteed to beat ebay! Pick and mix as desired, or I will swap. I am looking for grey bricks and a blue base board among other things.

Today is my last day at school for two weeks! Hooray! I hope that all of you have a lovely time where ever you are. I got a card yesterday saying, ‘To the best teacher in the world’ which almost makes it all worthwhile!

It looks like Ben and I will be having an informal drop-in type party on Hogmany if you’re not busy, and probably again during New Year’s afternoon. Bring boardgames, and don’t dress up if you don’t want to. Alcohol and snacks provided. The LEGO MACBETH should be available for critique in its initial stages.

Well, to be accurate, I missed the first half hour or so, but I liked it. I thought the casting was very good apart from the American wolf, and that Cair Paravel should have looked a little less like Minas Tirith. I think the people that have been disappointed are not in touch with their inner child, because that is how you have to see it. Nice scenery, courtesy of God more than CGI I believe.

And now Bleak House has finished, and I am pleased to see it has managed to achieve what it set out to do and make what was a rather hard book to follow at times into a series of well balanced episodes. Also lacking in sentimentality, and not your over-simplified romance plot either. Nice to see lots of characters of integrity as well as various shades of wicked.

I’m now looking forward to Under the Greenwood Tree, and wishing I had taped A Midsummer Night’s Dream as I may have to teach it next term.

Well, we found the rolling pin, but instead of making mince pies I am in bed.
And its only 9.20pm.

This is a favourite form of self preservation that actually works, particularly needed since I have travelled 400 miles in the last 36 hours in order to attend a friend’s baby’s christening. Cutest baby I have ever seen.

But on the long journey I suddenly wondered: what about the secret life of moths? How long do they live? Do they like snow in winter or do they die? What makes them happy? Can we get valium for our cat who has scratched 4 visitors in 4 days? How are moths born? Why do they make holes in clothes? Why do they like light?

If anybody knows the answers to these questions, I will add them to my grand research page for posting at a suitable date. With illustrations.

On Friday someone said I looked like Gwyneth Paltrow which was nice.