Mr Baxter is back

I have been trying to put my interest in running to some use in my work and I have been coaching the school Cross Country Team. Basically it has meant taking them out at lunch time and givign them motivational talks (move it you lazy fat blob of lard) and trying to fire them up to win (nobody remembers the losers....sorry what was your name again child?) Seriously though missus, it has been a good month or so getting to know a few of the characters and seeing them all improve their times. I looked for inspiration. My own PE teacher was a bit of a ladies man who drove a red MG convertable. I think he was doing more than his fair share of extra curricula activity with the 5th Year girls and the games mistress. I looked elsewhere and of course anyone who watched Grange Hill in the early 80's could not help but be inspired by good old Mr Baxter. In fact I am considering a change in hair style and purchasing a nylon 2 stripe tracksuit. Here is a picture of him to remind us all of what a great man Jeffrey was.



Anyway, in the race itself we came 3rd overall. Our best female runner was in the lead until the last 400 meters when she lost a shoe in a swamp and got pipped at the post. The lads were up against some mean competition who had been trained by the Kenyan military female champion...whereas Dunbar were being coached by me....not even in the top 50% of veteran runners in Scotland. Pictured at the top is me, Mrs Lyle the PE Teacher and the team.

Don't know much about anything

I have just come back from a week of working in Dunns at Berwickshire High School. It was a Christian Focus Week run by SU and basically a team of us go in and do lessons, assemblies and concerts looking at Christianity....some might call it a mission but that sounds to preachy so I am not a big fan of it. I did pretty badly at my own school. It wasn't my fault all the teachers decided to have industrial action for most of the time I was there. It was also the time of the 1980's inner city riots and as half the kids in my school came from the riot zones of Moss Side, Hulme and Longsight then it ran over into the school day too. The result was they brought in 'community teachers'. The word 'community' was actually code name for 'crap' and most of them passed through within a couple of months leaving no positive impact on my education.

So back at Dunns I was amused to be asked to teach lessons on the subjects I failed at. The only lessons I taught this week that I have a qualification in was english (O Level) and art (16+, A Level). As for Geography, History and science.....well the words of Sam Cooke's 'Wonderful World' came to mind. Fortunately each class looked at faith issues too so I managed to get away with it and all in all it was a good week with plenty of debate and discussion with the kids. The pinacle of the week was the concert with some crazy Christian band and drama group. I hate those things but the teeny boppers love it. 220+ of them turned up. I was on crowd control...which means standing at the door chatting to the janitor and the dorks who hang around outside.

Wax on wax off!

I feel that I have not really got into the spirit of blogging and posting really useless information on it. Well what could be more interesting than ear wax. When was the last time you checked out your ears? My mum used to say 'look at that muck in your ears'. Have you ever tried it? Well digital cameras open up a whole new world that your eyes have never dared to see...orifices that have never seen the light of day! Emma's had a scratchy ear and so I had a look. At first I though I was looking at a bowl of corn flakes until I realised it was a bowl of wax flakes...well one big flake on its own. Emma is in denial that it is there so I took a photo which just about catches its flakey head. Unfortunately it is still theredespite having tried tweezers, drinking straws (suction factor) and good old crow bars (cotton buds...although I remember asking for a packet of crow bars at Boots on Burnage Lane and the assistant knowing exactly what I meant). There we go, blogging is so interesting isn't it?

George hates Trefor

My mum and dad and Bungle were up for a long weekend and brought George with them. George probably wished he'd stayed at home because Trefor just spent all his time terrorising him. If he wasn't hanging off his cheeks, he was biting his nose...and george's willy has never been so clean. Anyway I think it is Trefor's plan to rule the world of labradors by wiping out all the old ones. His first hit was Harold, so don't be surprised if you read about George joining him in the big kennel in the sky.

Lunar Eclipse

The lunar eclipse went off ok. Here is a picture of it that's a bit shaky. Blame the malt whisky for that! Also Isabelle and my mum watching it.

Bathgate Scum

I did the Scottish Masters National Cross Country race on Saturday. 'Masters' means old...over 35 to enter, so I was one of the youngest there.It was a heafty 10km race around a very muddy park and golf course and I was disappointed to come 125 out of 244. I am trying to get in the top 50% if I can and so it was disappointing to see 65 year old blokes beat me. I did have a good sprint finish and beat 2 guys who had been pestering me all the way around. Anyway the biggest pain was the local youths on the BMX track. They entertained themselves and added an extra obstacle for runners by chucking stones at them. Fortunately for them they missed me. If they had my plan was to nick their BMX and complete the race and then dump it in the bushes short of the finishing line. So that was my one and only experience of Bathgate....as in the Proclaimers Letter from America that optimistically says 'Bathgate no more'. If only!