Brontë Country - Haworth

"I'm going to take you over the tops!"  Well there's something I've never heard before.

GO decided to take me to Bronte country, a little village called Haworth.  To get there we had to drive over some of the hills between here and there.

I find all of the tiny, twisty, turns roads very scary.  The views are amazing but I don't think they justify the white knuckle

ride.

We arrived in Haworth to discover that everything was closed for Christmas.  The little gift shops close with the Bronte Parsonage Museum.

We walked down to the tourist information, gabbling away about Bronte stories that I could remember.   Shockingly not as many as I thought.

It was then I was greeted with a view I had seen hundreds of times.  It was the hill from the Hovis advert.  GO eased off down the hill towards his end goal, a train station.

All I could think as I followed behind snapping pictures, was "we have to walk back up this hill."  As it turned out the walk down was trickier as there was a bit of ice. My treat for getting back up without "whinging" was....

A cup of tea and a chip butty, absolute heaven on a plate.

Job Hunting in Manny

I've joined a teaching agency, all I need now is my DBS check and references, so the wait continues.

GO hasn't heard back from the agency his friend in Oxford recommended, we decided to seize the day and head into Manchester 

Well that was rude!

At the end of November I sent an email to some local schools.

One school has kept me on file, one forwarded my CV to a local supply agency, and then I got a call.  The school nearest the In-Ls had a vacancy and wanted me to come in.  I wasn't keen (this isn't me deciding on hindsight, I didn't want the job), it was full time in year six.  I wanted to supply, to get to know the area first.  

I told the head I hadn't ever taught year six, his response was "it's just like year four!"  No amount of pleading would convince him that I didn't want the job.  He asked my to come and teach a lesson, if it was ok then I could start in Feb.  I wasn't too bothered.

GO mentioned it to his family and it came out that the whole family were known to the school, and that the school were extremely impressed with my CV (no surprises there then ;-)).  No pressure there then.

I went along to the school and taught the lesson.  It wasn't bad, wasn't the best, but as I had mentioned, I had never taught year six.  "I didn't realise you had never, ever, taught year six!"  Said the head.  I thanked them and headed back with a "we'll get in touch later" ringing in my ears. I didn't have high hopes.  I sat by the phone waiting anyway. I missed the call (the phone network is patchy in the house) the voicemail said they'd call back.  That was four days ago.  I am still waiting, I can guess I didn't get the job.  I am fuming about the way I've been treated by a head who is so well respected in the area.  

First Day

First job for me this week was to register with the supply agency.  I had an appointment before Christmas but the consultant had to cancel, which has pushed EVERYTHING back.

It wasn't holding out much hope, having been informed that Halifax was "a bit run down".

However on arrival the complex that the agency was in The Dean Clough Mills turned out to be amazing.

The buildings were used as mills in a previous life but are now being used by many companies.  There were hotels, design companies and even an art gallery.

The Loom Lounge, a newly opened cafe was amazing.  The food was extremely tasty and ridiculously cheap.

The art gallery had a scale model of the mills made out of LEGO which was amazing.  My only comment was that it should have included a "you are here!" market.

The Angel of the North

After the worst ferry journey ever (IMHO), the room was grubby and too warm, the sea was so rough we kept pitching and rolling and the food left a lot to be desired, although that could have been to do with my queasiness.

We disembarked and waited to leave, we were officially the very last car through the security gate.  I asked GO if he wanted to go and have a look at the Angel of the North, "While we're here!"

It was huge, the last time I'd seen it I was a little hungover, let's leave it at that.

GO did all the usual poses, I couldn't  quite get the right shot, so I said I'd just walk down the slope a bit. 

Well obviously I didn't make it.  I felt my foot start slipping.  I couldn't get a grip and before I knew it, I was flat on my back.

"Oop a la!"  I heard some Polish guys exclaim.  I just lay in the mud and laughed. As I have said before and I'm sure I will say again; it's always me!

Mini Cruising like a Sleb - Part 2

Usually our journey back to the UK takes about 6 hours at most.

As we were travelling to Newcastle it would take us 18 hours. We decided to treat it like a mini cruise.

We treated ourselves to a massage (albeit on a massage chair) and took a stroll around the different restaurants.

For the first couple of hours it was all fun and exciting....

Then realisation hit, we had no entertainment, no access to wifi (so we couldn't download a film) and the room had one temperature, hot!

Slowly it dawned on me we had another SIXTEEN hours left.

By half five we had "dinner", sandwiches and crisps and then with nothing else to do we went to bed.

GO can sleep anywhere and was soon stacking up the z's.  I find it more difficult to sleep in a new bed so I struggled.

Forty five minutes laters feeling hot and bothered I went for a walk, it may have been hot in the cabin but in the deck was

Freezing.

On my return to the cabin, I tried to give it another go.  This time I lay as still as possible when the sea is rough as heck.

I lay on my back and within seconds I was on my side facing the wall.  I somehow managed to let the rhythm lull me to sleep.  I was finally getting to sleep when the people in the neighbouring cabin began chatting very loudly in Dutch!

I couldn't take it anymore, I got up read my book, had a snack and just fidgeted.

I was about to take another solo stroll when GO woke up.

I manage to convince him to join me on my wander, we hit the deck.

After a bracing wander outside we headed back inside.  

We heard music, we followed it and it led to a bar.  There was a guy on a guitar playing classic Neil Diamond, cheese ball!  I was about to leave when a waiter ran across the floor and began the most awesome tap dance routine I have ever seen.  We were mesmerised and found a seat, we enjoyed the show.  An hour later we headed back to the cabin all tuckered out and finally ready for bed.

Mini Cruising Like a Sleb - Part 1

"You have to leave early... 9am should do it.  Give you of plenty of time."  Papichen said emphatically.

I wasn't convinced, leaving at 9am meant we would get there at 12pm and our ferry was at 5pm!

Never the less in the end we actually left at half eight and after a teary first half and hour. I always hate leaving the "rentals".  This time we'd had two fantastic weeks.  We made excellent time, arriving with five hours to kill.

As is the norm for me my priority was food.  I was starving and I knew we wouldn't be eating on the ferry (£30 each for dinner, I think not, we had rolls), so we headed into the Amsterdam suburbs to find something to eat.

We went into Ijmuiden town (there's nothing there we were wrongly informed) and began by looking for a supermarket.  Jackpot, Albert Hjeine, not only could we pick up some food the had free coffee.

After a stroll past the giant crabs and fishermen tribute we spotted Subway, I was tempted but sandwich for lunch and tea was a bit much.

Just as I was about to give up we found a cool little bistro that served burgers and Frikadellen and pommes (no horse meat here, hopefully).

After filling our tums we made our way back to the port.  

We wasted a bit more time at the docks watching the ships arrive and making friends with the seagulls.

We decided to find out where we were supposed to be, we drove past a long queue of cars.  They must be on an earlier ferry I mused.  Nope that was the queue for our ferry, and we were at the back.  Bit of a theme for the journey.