To anyone who has ever participated in one of my Dakar training courses, you will be familiar with the song “Dem Bones”, which is one of my favourites. Here is a film of a couple dancing on the TV show “Strictly come dancing” from last Saturday. I thought of you all as I watched it and decided to post it up here as a reminder of happy times spent together.
The two weeks have flown by, as always, and tomorrow, it is time to return to work. It is going to be a period of intense work associated with the Centenary, beginning with work on the Tower of London. To anyone who is unaware of what this is all about, you are in for an absolute treat.
Wishing a Happy Halloween to anyone who will be partying today. I am expecting the kids in the village, trick or treating this afternoon and knocking on my door, wanting some sweet treats. Everything is ready – I wouldn’t be wanting them to play any tricks on me now !!
Halloween is not the main focus of this date for me and hasn’t been for the past twenty-two years, for the date has another significance in our household. My husband and I got married on this date in 1992, so it is our wedding anniversary today. Twenty-two years is apparently a COPPER wedding anniversary. Hmm, that is a tricky one, isn’t it ?
I just found this on the internet :
22nd Anniversary Gift Ideas
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I wonder if Mr Léger would really appreciate a copper money clip ? I can state quite categorically that as far as I am concerned, he can forget about giving me kitchen goods for cooking an anniversary dinner !!!!!!!
So, quite simply, a pretty picture to celebrate our wedding anniversary: 
and perhaps the best gift anyone could give us for this weekend :
How beautiful is this “Seas of Red” tribute to all the fallen during World War One, currently being built at the Tower of London ? I’m going to see it for myself on Thursday with my youngest son, then off to the theatre to see Joey in War Horse. It is going to be an unforgettable day. We hope to take in the Animals in War memorial too – will one day be long enough ?
Enjoy your break, everyone !
One of the parts I really enjoy about my job is working with the English language assistants in our area. This year there are 75 of them and they began work on October 1st. I am proud to be part of their training programme and I enjoy accompanying them along this road they have chosen. It is indeed a road that is so very close to my heart because I started out at that very same point. October 1986 saw me starting out as a language assistant in a collège in the Vosges. Speaking very little French and with hardly any knowledge of French life and culture, I arrived on the ferry from Calais and set to work in the school in the middle of the Vosgian countryside. Within two weeks, I had met my future husband and life had changed forever !! But at the time, I didn’t know that, of course.
I am therefore always excited to meet the new intake every year and it is a challenge to tackle the blank canvases that they represent. Our language assistant for the year, Cherie, is in this photo – welcome to her – and a very good year to all language assistants everywhere in the world.
It is the beginning of October already and it feels like the term only began yesterday. In two weeks time, it will be the half-term break again. I wonder if the time goes by so quickly for the students ?
I have changed my header image from Fish and Chips to English Breakfast. The reason for this is simple – some of my Terminale students (I will not name them here, but they will know who they are) thought that the fish actually looked like chicken. They thought it was chicken nuggets. And with me triumphant about the arrival of our first egg from our hens, the thought of transforming my hens into chicken nuggets was just too much for me to bear. So, change of plan and now we have English Breakfast and a lovely way to consume those lovely eggs !!
If you follow my blog, you will understand why …
The Big English Blog 