Life is stressful right now. One of the largest sources of stress comes in the fact that OFSTED is coming to my school. Now you might think, "gee, you're kind of overreacting, don't you think?" NO! OFSTED is the inspection agency that decides whether or not our school stays open. Last time they came, our school failed (granted, we were one of the first schools they saw, and all of the electronic equipment had been stolen the month previous). They look for things like technology integration, meaningful displays, good differenciation among ability groups. The problem for me is that no one has actually said "this is what they want..." (sentence to be completed by, well, ANYONE!!!!) Teachers are running around hog wild, trying to set up displays and plan meaningful lessons, and keep everyone organized!! It's mad chaos, is what it is. Needless to say, it's a little bit stressful at school.

And, since my timing is always spot on, I decided that this weekend would be a good one to go on an overnight tour of the Isle of Wight. It was a good idea at the time. Not so much a good idea anymore. In fact, I am having stress attacks thinking of all the work that I could be doing while I will be sitting on a bus for hours. Maybe this is exactly what I need to relax and calm down. Ryan seems really excited about it though, so we'll see. I was excited, back when I made the reservations. I need to find that excitement again, and soon!!!

On a happier note, we have discovered a new and improved route to school. (For those of you who are wondering, I pronounce it r-oo-t, not r-ow-t, I had this discussion this week with one of the south african supply teachers). Anyway, back to the bus. It was in fact Megan who discovered the r-oo-t, and she was kind enough to share her information. Technically we found a new r-oo-t HOME from school, but using our keen deductive skills we figured if we just reversed our r-oo-t we could get TO school as well. This morning was the first time we tried it. We took the 86 bus the opposite direction than we normally would (don't worry, it seems ludicrice, but it works) and Ryan got off at Whalebone Lane South (I just love the name of that road). He promptly hopped on the 173 and was most of the way to school before we had even made our transfer. Anyway, Megan and I continued on the 86 and got off just before the Chadwell Heath tube station, where we tried to catch the 368 (for those of you wondering, this is the bus that runs right in front of our school - so this was a very good thing). We had a bit of trouble because we ended up on a one way street that was travelling the opposite way that we wanted to be going, but in the end we found it, and we were at school before the 5 (the bus we usually took) would have been half way to school. And we had less walking, because the bus stop is right out front, instead of having to walk from the main road like we would normally. Wow, that was a long winded explaination of my excitement this morning. Kind of sad that finding a new bus r-oo-t would be considered exciting. What has my life come to???

Oh, and just for the record, I can't wait to get back to Canada so I can have a car again. Bussing is not what it is cracked up to be!!!!!