The past couple of weeks have been the most stressful that I can recall in a long time. In all of my ‘too depressing to be counted and stated in actual numbers so we will just say many’ years of teaching I have managed to avoid any inspections. My career has been an inspection free zone. Until now. Earlier in this school year we had to go through an inspection and now again this month we have had another inspection! Consequently the last few weeks have been a non stop, head spinning flurry of preparation during which I almost lost myself under an avalanche of ‘to do’ lists and now this week, the actual inspection week, has been packed full of stress and anxiety and even more ‘to do’ lists. I think I may have single handedly depleted the world’s Post-it reserves.
I've also been having to go to a physiotherapist every night after school because my recurring tendonitis is playing up again. It seems to me that in the past couple of weeks if I've not actually been at school then I've mentally been at school, thinking about my ‘to do’ lists while I've actually been at the physio. In fact I'm at the physio now. I'm lying here in considerable discomfort with two strong magnets strapped to my knees! I am assured that this is beneficial for them but I'm half expecting that any minute my iPad will get drawn down towards them while I write, attracted by the magnets. Could that actually happen? Are iPads even magnetic? I have no idea and my exhausted brain won't begin to contemplate even thinking about it.
I'd ask the physiotherapist but she already thinks I'm a bit strange. The first day that I had the magnet treatment I had asked her if there was any chance I could gain some kind of superpower from being exposed to such strong magnetism. I think my joke got lost in translation though because she looked at me with a look of such total confusion I thought she was probably trying to remember the last time she’d had to endure such a deranged patient. Yesterday I was trying to explain to her in Spanish that after being subjected to the electromagnetic zapping machine followed up by some laser treatment my knees felt like they were full of popping candy and shooting stars and was this normal? I don't think she quite knew what I was going on about and she even looked a little relieved when I gave up trying to explain and went home. I can't help but think that if I start asking her if my iPad is likely to shoot downwards due to the magnetic force field building up around my knees it just might be one question too many. I don't know the Spanish word for force field anyway.
Any fleeting moments that don't involve being in school or at the physio usually involve me trying desperately to stay awake and attempting to reacquaint myself with my family who I rarely see these days! Sometimes, it seems to me, as I pass my boys in the hallway at school, that they look at me with a vague recognition as if to say “I know you from somewhere.” And as for Neil he is probably feeling like he's a single dad apart from in the evening when he has the pleasure of my joyous company which generally involves me being collapsed on the sofa half asleep and incoherent while he has the additional pleasure of running around after me, making dinner, washing up, keeping me topped up with cups of tea and bringing me my pack of frozen ‘knee peas’ to apply to my clicky, aching tendons.
But the purpose of this post isn't to enthrall you all with the intricacies and whirlwind excitement of this stressed out teacher’s life. No, really it's not. I know, I know, my life must seem oh so very glamorous and fun filled to you, but really, I don't like to boast. No, this post is merely to let you know, in a rather rambling, diverted way that there are some new murals in Estepona and some more in progress to boot!
I thought I should go and have a look at them and so last night after leaving the physio I decided I would pop out into the outside world for a quick visit with normality, to have a break from school and knees. I had looked up their exact location and so I thought I would go and find them after my appointment. It turns out that 8pm is quite a busy time in Estepona. There were cars and people everywhere and not a parking space to be seen. Determined to see the murals I drove round a bit and eventually found somewhere to park. It was a bit of a walk and a bit strange walking with fizzy knees but I quickly found two of the murals just next to the orchid house. One is, in my opinion, awful and the other one is amazing. The fact that they are so close together means that you can't help but compare them and for me, the high quality of one totally highlights the amateurishness of the other.
While I stood looking at the one I liked and taking photos of it, the artist came along and started painting! It was very interesting to watch him at work but I was aware that it was getting quite late by now. My children would be in bed already and Neil would be wondering where I was, possibly thinking that I had actually left home for real this time! So I made my way back to the car on my still fizzing knees and drove home where I found my children tucked up asleep in bed and Neil busy in the kitchen making dinner.
So you see I'm really very lucky. While I may be plagued with knee troubles, inspection stresses, permanent lack of sleep and a distinct lack of talent when telling jokes in Spanish, I have a wonderful, supportive family who put up with my absences, tiredness, aches and pains, school stresses and excessive demands for tea.
And now at last, having travelled along a protracted, winding road which at times seemed as though it might never reach the end, we have arrived at our destination, the purpose of this post; the new murals! I don't know anything about them at all because so far there are no plaques or newspaper reports about inauguration ceremonies. All I know is I like one and I don't like the other, but I'll stop there. I've already taken up far too much of your time. So, until next time………
