Cluedo Collusion!

It had all gone quite smoothly really. Considering that not a single Christmas preparation had been made by any adult until a week before Christmas.

Somehow, miraculously, every present arrived safely through the chimney, the mince pies and Christmas cake got made iced and decorated, the turkey hit the table on time and enough alcohol was consumed to make a merry Christmas for all. And apart from Father Christmas giving Tinkerbell Mushroom and Gymnast some size 8 to 10 underwear, instead of aged 8 to 10 he did quite well really. It's an easy mistake to make. Especially when you have been up all night. I know how he feels. I too was up until 5 a.m. on the night of 23rd... It happens at this time of the year...

There were sadly one or two blips in the proceedings, due to the lurgy hitting the household at a very inconvenient time, which sadly put various ones out of action for a few hours in the lead up to Christmas day, and then Sensible and ED on the day itself.

But...when we had drunk and eaten merrily for a few days and the last of our Christmas guests had all gone home, we sat down to play Cluedo.

Well... that was after we had got the set out.

"The revolver card's missing" said Sensible.

Being a man, Hubby seemed to think that that would not allow us to play the game.

"Can we not just take the revolver out of the equation?" I asked. A general concurrence spread round the room, and Hubby conceded that this was perhaps possible.

"These aren't the right cards" said ED. They belong to another game.

"Shall we play something else?" Said Hubby. "We really need a new set."

"Give me five minutes." I said,rushing to the computer.

I ran off some game cards from the Internet and came back into the room, seriously pleased with myself at my ingenuity.

Hubby doled out the cards to everyone.

"Oh" said Sensible. "I've got the revolver card."

We put the revolver back into the game.

Hubby doled out the cards again....

And then we finally played.

Tinkerbell Mushroom got the hang of the game very well indeed. And her asking several times if one or other of us had Professor Plum simply added to the entertainment.

As for the older three colluding on the evidence I raised an eyebrow.

"Look Mum" said ESOS, "If there is a real murder case, and the Spanish Police have some evidence and the British Police have more "different" evidence, do you think that they withhold the information from each other? Absolutely not. It just makes the whole thing more efficient."

You could course call it cheating.....

But that would be boring....

In the meantime........................

I wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a VERY VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR.....

A varied occupation!

Ever short of money and always willing to try my hand at something new, I decided to take the advice of Meredic who suggested to me earlier this year, that as a qualified teacher, I might do some supply* teaching. I thought about it. I looked at the state of our bank accounts. Again.

And then I decided that it was actually a very good idea.

And so when the fourth CRB** check for me this year finally popped through the letter box I ventured forth into a school to do my stuff.

Yes. Well......

They are not likely to send you to Roedean now are they? THEIR teachers don't have days off sick...... They work full time.

Only the schools with, shall we say "challenging" individuals require plenty of supply teaching.

And so it is that for much of the last four weeks I have been teaching in a school with boys who seems to think that detentions and homework are virtually synonymous, and whose teachers frequently look as if they might need a gin and tonic by 10 a.m.

In fact, as I walked out of the staffroom the other day, with a cup of black tea in my hand (tea being my preferred beverage, and in particular black tea) I bumped into the head. She looked into my cup. I smiled and went on my way. It was only afterwards though that I thought that perhaps I should have reassured her that it was in fact black tea and not whisky.....

Thankfully, my really crazy moments in the classroom do seem to be diminishing as I actually get to know the students. They are nice kids really. A little rough around the edges, and good training for any would be teacher. Keeps you on your toes.

And..... thanks to Sarah who is willing to have Gymnast and Tinkerbell Mushroom at some unearthly hour in the morning... I have been able to leave the house in time to get to the schools on time.

I got confused last week though.

A different school asked me to go in.

The kids sat down when asked.

They got on with their work.

They didn't throw anything across the room.

And no-one got a detention all day.

Teaching is a varied occupation.



*Substitute Teaching
**Criminal Records Bureau - Used to check people when working with vulnerable types. I now have four of these, as you need to have one for each different situation that you are checked for, even though the information comes from the same place. I have one for my stage school, one for the fostering team, one for the supply teaching agency and one for the local primary school, so that I can go on school trips with my youngest two. It keeps a Government department in full time employment, so we are all doing them a big favour really.