A whole new world...

07.03.12.

My school operates on a two week timetable, and there tends to be a week or day that you favour/dislike more than others. Wednesday, Week A, (that is today), is a day I don't really care for. It's not really anything to do with the classes I teach. It's more a combination of the whole mid-week slump (as mentioned previously, I always think it's Thursday on Wednesday), and the fact that I have a free lesson last thing. This 'free' lesson teases me as a tiny beacon of light at the end of four quite full-on lessons on the trot. I'm normally so exhausted by that fifth lesson, that all I can manage is to sit at a computer in the staff room, checking emails.

I like our staff room - not necessarily the room itself, but it has a really friendly and buzzy atmosphere - often something vistors to the school comment on. One of the ironies of teaching is that, despite spending your entire day with a room full of people, it can feel very isolating. I relish those chances I have to catch up with warm, clever, funny colleagues. Teaching as a profession makes you feel institutionalised: you can't even go to the loo until a bell tells you it's the right time. I think the only other institution where you have to pee on command is prison...

Today was one of those days where I felt the need to reconnect with the outside world. This can be achieved through the most banal of activities. The lift-share had disbanded for various reasons today, so the boy and I drove home on our own, making a detour to our local Sainsbury's. I needed a few things (as a result of a hastily performed online shop), and of course there was the obligatory stop at Starbucks. Dexter was suitably entertained by the supermarket strip-lighting. That was all I need to feel like a normal human being again - I never consider teaching to be a 'normal' job.

Today's #366 picture captures part of Dexter's own little microcosm: his cot. I love the juxtaposition of the narrow confines of his bed, overlooked by the Jamie Hewlett spaceman, suggesting a whole world/universe of possibilities.

I like to think it helps him dream of big things and endless possibilities. It looks cool too.