The crazy that was July...

Started the month by officially resigning from MAGS, wasn't a surprise to most people I don't think, but still wasn't as easy to do as I thought. Lots of good friends there and good memories, but still can't abandon what I've the new role and job I have here so soon. Never know what the future holds, but pretty sure this is the place for me for now.

Major news of July was the Murder of my cousin Scott in Fielding. A month on it is still no clearer who did it or indeed why. It seems to have gripped the country as one random act of violence against someone who to all accounts was an awesome guy, superb husband, father and friend to many. Thanks to all the people who passed on support and messages. Hard for the family here to be so far away at times like this.

Latest news on it, 60 minutes documentary on it.
Death at dawn - 60 Minutes - Video - 3 News

Finally managed to find myself a new bike. A really nice Yamaha R1 (2004/5 model) the guy I brought it from hardly used it so it had only done £7000. So good to ride.

Also spent some time that weekend with my parents and an aunty exploring the Cotsweld area in England. It's an awesome bit of England with a lot of history and old buildings.

I have applied to begin the process of becoming British qualified, kind of exciting, but it will be a little odd feeling like a trainee for the next year. Hopefully it all goes smoothly.

The school year finished, summer break has started. So it seemed like I should go for a trip to test out the bikes touring ability. Figured it was about time for a swim, so packed up and headed to the east coast around Norfolk. Travelled through a number of small and large towns on the way & had my swim. Was a good bit of fun and the bike did well as a bit of a pack horse, but might need some extra padding on the seat for long trips in the future.

And just to prove that I did actually swim in the English sea (and it wasn't as cold as I expected it to be).

Right finally back up to date, well almost, but I figure August can wait till the end of the month.
Much love...

June,

6th months after leaving NZ I finally sold my CBR600RR (or alternatively in pirate CBR600agrRagrrrrrrR) in NZ, didn't quite get as much as I hoped, but it is finally sold so that is all good.

Also on a driving front, I have now swapped my driving licence for a full British one, It just makes it easier to travel around the place.


Went to see Powderfingers farewell concert in London, it was an awesome night out. Went with 2 lovely British girls, which was good cause otherwise it was mainly Australians. Was amazing how load the crowd was, at time you could hardly hear Powderfinger themselves and the growd was distorting in your ears.


Also caught up with Hayley's parents as they had come across from NZ to go on a trip round Europe. Was lovely to see them and spend some time pretending to know my way round London as a tour guide.

Along with the gear Hayley's parents brought the rest of my hiking gear arrived, so the plan was to go motorcycle touring. That was until the VTR1000 got stolen from outside my flat. Was very gutted as that bike had really grown on me and had a lot of soul. It was never the fastest or best looking bike I had, but it was fun to ride and had character. So the search was on for a new one.
Photo: Space left where the VTR was, also shows the tire marks where it was dragged away :'(
Shortly after the bike theft my British driving licence arrived, fell slightly more like I belong here, but it seemed a bit useless without the bike.

The Football World Cup started and although it was sad to see England get taken out (felt sorry for my British friends), it was awesome to see New Zealand in it and pull off the most amazing draw with Italy.

Another highlight of the month was going with dad to the MotoGP at the new silverstone track. It was awesome to see live, those bikes are seriously quick.

The last photo is the car park (well more motorbike park outside the MotoGP) so many bikes!!! was half tempted to wander though them and see if my stolen bike was there. Note the bike in the foreground BTW.
Lorenzo won by a long way.

I brought a mountain bike off a firend to get me back on two wheels. It may not have a motor, but at least I could get around a bit faster while I hunted for a new motorbike.

Playing catch up - May.

Been a bit remiss with this, just been reminded of it... I'll catch up over the next few days.

May.
Summer Hockey started in May and we had many a game in colder conditions than winter hockey in New Zealand, but it did warm up reasonably quickly and we had some beautiful evenings to play in. Spent most games playing midfield. Managed to set up a few goals and score one myself, pretty happy with that. Mostly though it was just good to be out playing again. Although summer hockey here is a bit different is is full field, full team, mixed gender and a full length game, I think I prefer the 7 a side version better, but this was still good. Now I just have to wait for the winter season, not far away now. Also played a bit of badminton with a few different friends.

Had a few good nights out both in Milton Keynes and a little place called Leighton Buzzard (or just LB), which coined the term 'wang ukulele' it's a variation of air guitar (works well you should try it).

May also became the month of the passive aggressive note, my land lord stepped up his note campaign with his best effort yet that outlined the dangers of dish washing incorrectly and the long term side effects of dish washing chemicals... sigh.... I'd scan the note if I still had it, it was epic. Haven't had many more since I started writing replies.

Had another ALD with school, helped take a group of Y8's (I think it was) to Warwick Castle. Wasn't a bad day, watched some falconry and the trebuchet in action. Have been there before a while back with Hayley and my Sister and kids, so wasn't all new, But seeing the trebuchet fire was pretty cool as it wasn't on the day we went.

22nd of May the whole family went to Legoland for Kathryn's birthday and as a bit of a farewell for my sister before she left for America. Was a fun day and as always just good to be out with the family.




Then the weekend after was the short trip down to Heathrow to farewell, Amanda, Philip, Kathryn and Matthew to America, bit of a sad day to see them go after finally being able to spend some time with them and the kids, but it is a huge opportunity for them and is now a good excuse to visit Texas.

MAY Day!!!

April has gone by, it has been a busy, but very enjoyable month. I'll rewind.....

After spending the first week after Easter in Scotland, I got back and just spent a few days relaxing and honestly procrastinating about work (Woo-hoo procrastination (WWMFW!!!)). Went to Alton Towers in the second week of the break (www.altontowers.com), It's like rainbows end on steroids, a lot of steriods, ok really it is nothing like rainbows end, it destroys rainbows end with the first step in the door (Not that that is hard). NZ really needs a better theme park. Anyhoo, managed about 11 different rides, most being roller coasters or other thrill rides, not sure on a favourite they all had there moments, mostly because of friends. The photo was a run away train thingy that shortly into an attempt was made on my life!!!, there are other photos which mostly involve waiting in cues with slight looks of terror.

First day back at school was a teacher only day, thank goodness. First week wasn't bad, somewhat more relaxed without having nagging in my ear most of the time and I'm now officially lead teacher of Physics (I think). I also finally met the principle. She's been away... Anyway, I went to a lead teachers meeting, arriving a little late, cause I was talking to my PGCE (student teacher) and sat at the back. The principle was half way through saying something looked at me stopped... "who are you?", "I'm Paul"... "Paul who?"... "Paul Thompson"... The rest of the conversation basically went no you don't know me and I'm not even sure if you hired me... it was pretty amusing at the time.

Middle of the first week I went to a metal concert. For an American band called 'Haste the Day' (they are a Christian metal core band, Possible an oxymoron to some people who get caught up in 'religion' versus what really matters, but anyway). There was meant to be a second band 'Oh sleeper' but they could make it because of volcanic ash (lame excuse). Concert was excellent, I've pinched one of someone else's photo's cause mine weren't great (second ones mine). Also a link to one of the few of their songs on youtube with a video...

Haste the Day - Stitches

Anyway the week after wasn't as packed, but was a busy teaching week. Few nights out with friends. Went down to Thatcham for Amanda's birthday, was a really nice day with the family. It has a little bit of sadness though as I realise they will not be in the UK much longer, so i wont get to spend that much more time with my sister, brother in law and the kids. Ah well soon I will have an actual reason to visit the US i guess.

Have a long weekend this week, May day. to celebrate the 'ball of fire in the sky' which we shall not name in fear that it may realise that it has been shining on us here for about 3 weeks straight, with only a few days rain in between. Had a great night out last night, so still feeling a little jaded this morning, so I'll blame any typo's and grammar on that.

This week should be good, There are a lot of school exams happening, plus some external ones starting up, so classes will be thinned a little.
Tomorrow I play my first game of Summer Hockey with the team I've never met, really looking forward to that.

All up it's been a fantastic month, caped off by the crazy news from metrowater about the meter readings and the stupid amount of money they owe me back. All I need now is for the motorbike in NZ to sell.

Much love peoples. miss u...
Paul.

Scotland.

First up, 80's night, there are loads of photo's (not my photos so most of you cant see them on facebook), so I've just picked a few. It was a fantastic night out.

Scotland.

I had a fantastic time in Scotland, such a beautiful place, similar to NZ, particularly in the Scottish highlands, but with added castles and a little less green at this time of year. Not going to write a lot as a picture tells a thousand words, not sure how many words there are in a video...

There you go, hope you enjoyed that.
Much love peoples.

Terms end.

Made it to the end of the term. It seemed to drag on a little at the end. It has been a busy half term. Had a few timetable changes through the middle. I am now officially the lead teacher of Physics at Walton high. Hopefully that goes well, there will be plenty to do I think. I've also picked up a PGCE (student teacher) in the last few weeks, which has been good. Not much to say really about the term, was pretty standard, just busy. Got to pretend to be an english teacher in the middle with a fellow science teacher with the Y8's public speaking ALD. I think we pulled it off quite well (frankly we were awesome english teachers, but I still prefer science), one of our group came second on the day (first by crowd popularity though). Felling a lot more settled in the place now and looking forward to next term, should be good and I'll loose some senior classes to Exam time (Much like what happens in NZ).

On holiday now for 2 weeks. kicked it off with an 80's party for a friends birthday (I had long hair again for a night, sigh...). Off to Scotland tomorrow to see a friend from NZ who married a Scottish gent and is now living in Inverness. I come back later in the week and will spend time relaxing and preparing for the new term.  I've just managed to find a summer hockey team (was on my list of things to do), no idea exactly who I'm playing with, but don't really care I just miss the game. So of course had to get myself a nice new stick as I left my other ones in NZ. should kick off late April. 

Anyway things are looking good here, few things coming up that should be a bit of fun. Getting out as much as I can and just generally trying to have fun and enjoy the company of good people. Was trying to think of something deep and philosophical then, but it ain't happening. 

Ready, Steady, Teach!

Interesting first week back, I got a modified timetable on Monday morning, knew some changes where coming and I had a rough idea of what they were. It was still interesting to plan classes in very short time frame around the gear that was pre-ordered by the previous teacher, nice little challenge for the week. A bit like a game show where you have to teach based on a random assortment of equipment. Very tiring though to have the ongoing little changes through the week and not being able to fully settle into the new timetable, hopefully it will be better next week as I'm pretty sure my timetable is fixed for now. One big bonus is a lovely Y10 group I've picked up, who are a load of fun to teach.
After a little chat with a DP at school I now have an official interview for Lead teacher of Physics next week and I will need to teach an observed lesson for them too. There is apparently (as far as I know) one other external applicant, so everything must be done properly. I am very glad I'm not going against anyone else in the department though.

I've also got a bike now (for those of you who didn't find out moments after I got it). It's a VTR1000, It's a big V-twin that thumps along with very little fuss, driving to my sisters today I was going along at 70 mph for a little while before I realised I was only in second gear ... So changed up to 6th and idled along at 70 mph instead (2700ish rpm). Have picked up a spare helmet from Amanda too ; ).

The new VTR1000 (V-twin)

An awesome photo of my CBR600RR that is still waiting to sell in NZ, Thanks Haim.

As mentioned moments ago, I have been in Thatcham today to help out Amanda and Phillip tidy the house for its sale. It has been good to spend time with them before their pending move to the USofA. Although at this point I'm a little wasted after the late night singstar Friday (Good times, "Go Team Science" is all I have to say).

Miss you all my kiwi friends... Much love to you all.

Mid-term break.

Well I made it through the first half term. Just starting to feel settled with my classes, however, have changes coming again, my timetable is set to be shuffled in a week, not sure exactly what I'm picking up. I do know I'm getting an awesome group of Y10's though, bit like the top-stream group I had in NZ. So that will be cool. Might be getting a Y7 too, but not sure, may loose my 13's as they join the two small classes into one. Many things up in the air. I am however going to go for the lead teacher of physics job (I checked with the other physics guy and he doesn't want it). So just have to tweak the CV and write a cover letter for the job, feels a bit odd applying for another job all formally when I'm already there, but have to do it right.

On break for a week, which is good as it give me some time to relax, has been non-stop for ages. Went to Coventry yesterday to see Coventry Cathedral, which was bombed out in the second world war. It is quite impressive, I made a little video of it.

Haven't done a whole lot else, apart from sorting out furniture for my room and trying to find a motorbike to buy. I have brought all the gear, but haven't found a good bike for a price I can afford yet, might have to wait a month to get enough. :-( , Ah well all good things take time.

Much love to you all, take care.

Just a little something to leave you with.

It's on the floor!!!

For the first time in ages, I'm actually sitting at a desk as I type! Nothing unusual about that you say? Well I have been living in a bedroom with nothing but a bed, so now having a desk is a bit novel. However, I do fell slightly bad for abandoning the floor storage system that has served me so well for weeks now. Still a week to go till I get my wardrobe and drawers so I can enjoy the simplicity of floor storage for a little long

Had a great Friday night out with some of the other peoples from school at a awesome little pub and I can confirm that alcoholic ginger beer is almost as dangerous as cider (Cheers Michelle for the memories). Just spent today with my folks around Milton Keynes, shopping and exploring the place a little more. Good to see them and just spend some time with them. Including Dad successfully winding up some Brits in the pub watching the 6 nations (some pubs here do really good food).

Not sure how the next little while will go, an interesting development is unfolding at work. A little unexpected and I need to sort out how it will go and if I can do it without stepping on toes as the new guy. Anyway I'll let you know more as I can and as I make my decision. Interesting times... The actual teaching side of things is going well and I feel a lot more settled now in the school. Starting to get the hang of the systems, although my entire timetable got deleted on Thursday so I hope by the time I am back on Monday I actually have classes to officially teach.

Weather has chilled again today after quite a nice week. there is talk of snow again next week, which will also be the last week of school before mid-term.

God bless, hope you are all well and looking after each other.
Much Love
Paul.
  

People...

Life is a funny thing, everything is going so well, you think everything is sorted and ok. Your enjoying yourself with extra stuff at work, although the main bit is a little repetitive, but not bad. Your love life is good, or so you think. Then smack. One thing after another shatters your little safe and predictable world. Hind sight is such an annoying thing. Looking back life was stagnant, stuck in a rut, mistakes made, caught in things that didn’t matter, not talking about the things that did matter. This leads me to the point of my ranting, People. Life should always be about people and relationships. So much other stuff just gets in the way, we forget to take time out for the people who really truly matter to us. Taking to many important things (like love & honesty) for granted...

Now I find myself in a completely different place and feeling freed from so much stuff that didn’t matter and without the one thing on this earth that truly did matter. Still lots of new friends and good times to be had. Hind sight... Why don’t people say things when it is happening, not when it is already done and past. Be open and honest in all you do. You need people. I miss you my good friends... 

You all right???

"You all right?" to start with I thought I must look like I'm not alright, till I realised it just what people say around here instead of "how are you?". To me though it has seems to make the assumption that your not... and you clearly need some help. Maybe it is just me?

Settling in well to the school here. The teaching is better now that i'm past revision lessons for stuff i didn't teach them. Got to use the Van de Graaff yesterday, the MAGS one is better, which clearly means i'll have to come back at some point as I can't live with a sub par Van de Graaff. I did tinker with it though and it did a bit better. Lit bunsen buirners etc... it's like magic for the 11 general science class. Sadly i didn't get observed during that lesson, or the great one today with my 11 physics class. Oh well, I live to be watched another day. I have a bunch of ideas from what they do here that could be used at MAGS, i'll send some stuff soon.

Photos: 1. Wellington Arch in London (just like the statue). 2. The NZ war mamorial in Wellington Park. 3. Mum and Dad with Harrods behind them (was covered in scfolding last time i saw it), 4. The Horse....

Highlights this week... I meet a Horse...  Went to London on Saturday, was ment to be for a course, but that never happened, which was ok cause it meant i got to spend more time with my Family (Mum, Dad, Amanda and her 2 children Matthew and Kathryn), was a great day. I have some video from it, but haven't had a chance to do anything with it yet. Sunday was relaxing, church and general shopping in MKcentral. This weeks teaching has been pretty standard, except the ALD where we took the Y11 for the day and made Horror film trailers. Was a fantastic day, except for the ussual technology issues at the end of the day when editing and saving things.
Go to http://www.waltonhigh.org.uk/ there is a story on the front page and
http://www.waltonhigh.org.uk/images/horror/horror-video.htm to see the winning trailer from the day, it is pretty good for a days work.
Have been out several times with some of the staff here, they are a nice bunch.

Most things seem to be going very well.
God bless you my friends.

Half way to term break... settling in...

Well another few weeks have passed in Milton Keynes, they seem to have flown by, but I fell progress has been made to settle in both at school and the city. Only 3 weeks till mid term break so I'm considering where I should travel to. I have been making an effort to get out and meet people.

School wise most exams are over, snow days seem to be behind us for now. So i’ve been able to start teaching new topics, which is helping to settle my classes and the teaching is easier than motivating students in revision (like my first 2 weeks).  Really looking forward to next Tuesday which is a ALD (Alternative learning day), on this day the science department is running a day where all the Y11’s will be split into groups of about 10 and will spend the day making a horror film trailer.  I hope I’ll be able to upload my groups trailer (with their permission) after the day. We have worked out how to make realistic fake blood and wounds. :D

The city...  I’ve posted a couple of video’s on youtube (& facebook) of the city. Learning my way around the area more and more.

I’ve been out with some of the teachers here. There is a social group who go to the nearby pub on Fridays. Nice to get to know people more outside of work. I have also found a local church (MKCC) and more importantly a small group who get together weekly, they are a great bunch of people (with excellent humour) who are more interested in sharing and enjoying the time together than following any set program or plan. There are also a few teachers in that group from other schools. I’m also discovering how multicultural Milton Keynes is, most of the population has moved here from elsewhere, very few people are “native” Milton Keyneians, one of my flat mates was actually born here though, only person I have met so far who is “native”.

Things i’ve learned...

Seize the moment. Sometimes we have the best intensions to do things but never do them. Actions are far more important that intensions. If something seems like a good idea or you know you should do it, then just do it. Do not get stuck saying “When this happens then i’ll do it” for example “When I have a desk in my room then i’ll do some school work” or “Once things settled down at work then I’ll spend more time with the family”. If you are passionate about something then get into it and do it. And certainly there are more important things than that like friends and family. Life is short, grab hold of the now and do what is good, don’t put it off.

Best intensions don’t mean a thing unless you act on them. Live in the moment and enjoy what you are doing everyday as life is short.

For all my teaching peeps!!!

Just thought i'd fill you in on what i've figured out with teaching here & what it is like for me.

This is how it goes...
The school works on a 2 week time table (Much like Mt Albert, way back when I was just a young thing, Tehehe), 6 periods a day, although monday and friday have 5 with the fifth being a tutor class for an hour (Form Group) in which they do stuff like health etc... Wednesday 5&6 is an elective short course, anything really from chess playing (For Scoll-dog) to creating a Doctor Who monster, teachers seem to get randomly assigned to these, unless you put your hand up to take something in particular.

I have 10 different classes on my time table to teach. Really i only teach 8, 2 are support (I go support another teacher in their class). So I have 2 x Y13 Phys doing A2 level, 2 x Y12 Phys doing AS level, 2 x Y11 Phys doing GCSE (one doing triple science (more science like doing phys, chem & bio seperate) and on double (doing a more general science course)), 3 x Y10 Science (2 of these are support ones) and 1 Y8 science (School starts at this level i think?). Seems a lot, but My year 13 classes have 6 and 8 students in them, my Y12 have 11 students each i think (haven't seen them all yet because of snow days). Y11 classes are about 25 so a bit more normal.

The Y12's and 13's are in the 16+ unit which runs along side the school, they do courses there a bit like uni work and come across to the normal school to do classes when it fits the teachers time tables.

This is the kind of cool bit, I see most class 2-3 times a week, this isn't all the science they get, they are with other science teachers for another set of periods, each teacher doing their own topics, usually their speciality subject. Even my Y13 physics class has 2 physics teachers, we teach different topics within physics each. Seems an excellent idea to me for general science at least, can't see the point so much for physics only senior course.

Seems we have 5 technicians to a teaching staff of 10 ish as best as i have been able to count so far. Orders must be done a week in advance, but they will come and set things up etc...

Relief is simple, they have a massive independent learning room with about 200 computers in it, you set a research task or something along those lines and they go and do it, so as a teacher you never have to do relief and their are no relievers in the school, just permanent staff in the room. You can also book out some computers for a class if you want. The science department also has a small room with about 15 computers in it.

All staff computers are portals, ie; your "personal desktop" is stored on the server, you can pull that up onto any machine around the school with all your work, email and student management thingy. You can also pull it up at home, haven't tried that yet as i only just got my new laptop.

That's about all i can think of for now, sorry to all my non-teaching peeps, probably wasn't that interesting...

Snow...

So much snow. I'm sure the locals find it more annoying than i do. I love it. The snow is awesome. It doesn't even feel that cold and it is still pretty easy to get around.
Anyway...  ~Rewind~

New years.
Went into London for the New Year. Had kind of intended to watch the fireworks, ended up meeting a friend and going a random London flat and celebrating the new year with a nice group of Brits, Kiwis and a few Aussies. Watched the fireworks on TV, oh the irony. I did wonder into the center of London later and the aftermath was amazing so in someways i'm glad i wasn't in it.

Sunday 3rd.
Arrived in Milton Keynes. Looked at some flats, choose one i thought would be ok, but someone beat me to it and put a deposit down before i confirmed my interest. Was ok with that though as i wasn't 100% sure about it.

Monday 4th - Teaching day 1.
Arrived at school with no idea what and when i was teaching. Turned out i had just one class around mid-day. Also turned out to be what will probably be my most difficult group. So a disorganised start wasn't the best with them. I will sort them out in time. Had 3 meetings afterschool so didn't get away till 6pm, also didn't get to look at flats.

Tuesday 5th - Day 2 teaching.
Better prepared today, i knew what was coming and what i needed to teach. What i didn't expect was to be hugged... the students of my first class (Y11 GCSE Physics) were so happy to see a new physics teacher that one of the boys appolagized and then hugged me, another girl made me pinky swear that i was there new teacher for the rest of their year. The next class (Y12 GCSE Physics) were just as happy to see me and i was beginning to figure out what was going on. The difficulty is that the teacher who wasn't coping teaching them physics is still at the school as has been helping me take over from her, so it is a little awquard. Anyway. Both classes went really well and the students seem great, so pretty happy about that.
Went flat hunting after work, saw about 4 places, 1 was great, huge room, just a little expensive and a long way to travel to school by bus. So will wait till i see the rest i'm interested in tomorrow.

Wednesday 6th - SNOW DAY!!!!!!!

Massive snow fall over night has closed the school (first sweet thing of the day). So went down to reception to check out local transport etc & chatted to the nice brittish girl. Asked her for a 30 min internet card, she didn't have any so she just gave me a 60  in one and didn't bother to charge it to my room (second sweet thing of the day). Spent some time looking at the flat listings and made a list of about 7 places to check out. Rank the first 3-4 with no luck, the next one though was home and was not to far to walk, so i set out. Wondered through the glorious snow (Photo's will follow when i can load them). The flat turned out to be excellent, good size living space + a double bedroom with an en suite and close enough to work, so i signed the dotted line (sweet thing 3).

So awesome to have a flat and a good one at that. Thank God for the snow day and the time it gave me to find it.
Made my way slowly home after that with a little shopping, made a snow angel and a little snow man, just for kicks (sweet things 4-5).
Got back to the hotel and got the new my bank account was ready (sweet thing 6) & that my new laptop will be arriving Friday (sweet thing 7). Went down to use the hotel internet again, discovered one of the machines was frozen, so rebooted it as you do, when it came on it had 55 minutes of internet on it, so more free internet (sweet thing 8).
All up it was a fantastic day, full of blessings. Not sure what i did to deserve it, but you take what you get.

Today - Thursday.
School is closed again, dangerous conditions of the grounds apparently. This does give me all the time I need to move to the flat etc... So i've checked out. Goodbye Hilton I so enjoyed the bacon and eggs each morning, you will be missed. About to head to my flat now.

Tomorrow i'll travel accross to Birmingham to pick up a little stuff i left there + my computer and camcorder.

Much love to you all, God bless.