May 17th, 2012
I officially now feel out of my depth. The kids at school have taken to thinking I’m some kind of teaching oracle with the answers to all life’s unanswered questions. This lass came up to me today after one of these General Studies lessons on school leavers and business and asked me where she could find the best student accommodation London has to offer. As if I have even the faintest idea. I’m not sure I can even pinpoint London on a map of the UK for crying out loud! Never mind offer solid advice on the exact student area she should wish to target if she decides to up sticks and leave Porthmadog. Goodness me, whatever next? I’m a PE teacher not a life advisor. She should try Google, so that’s exactly what I told her.
In other news at least that Welsh rugby game will soon be upon us. I’m chomping at the bit for some decent rugby already. It’s Wales verses The Barbarians at The Millenium Stadium in Cardiff on 2nd June which is just a couple of weeks away now. I’m so excited. Tom – the lad I’m going to Wolverhampton with on Saturday – is coming to that so I’ve no doubt we’ll spend most of the journey getting ourselves worked up over what a cracking weekend that’ll be. There are strictly no girlfriends allowed on that one, I’m afraid. Poor Katie keeps nagging on at me that she’d love to go, but I’d end up looking a right fool wouldn’t I if I’m the only one that brings my girlfriend.
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May 16th, 2012
My chilled weekend last weekend has quite simply been hit with yet another insane working week. Teaching this business help stuff is really doing my head in now. I love my teaching but I’m starting to feel like such a fraud stood up in front of kids nearly as old as I am pretending I have all the answers for them to become some business hot shot when they leave school. I should get Katie’s dad in – he’d know a decent thing or two to tell them. He works in that area of the Welsh Government for goodness sake – he told me when we went up Snowdonia the other week. In fact, it might not be a half bad idea for me to chat to him and see if he’d be willing to come in and actually do something worthwhile with the kids. He’s clued up on all the most recent and relevant stuff, so it would make complete sense!
Anyway, so this weekend I am off on a little road trip with one of the lads – Tom. He wants me to go with him – sorry, take him – down to the Midlands on Saturday. He’s been looking online at some used cars in Wolverhampton. An old friend of his from university has set up a pretty successful dealership there and he likes the look of a few different cars on his website. So being the dutiful friend, I offered to cover the driving if he covered the petrol. My beautiful new Peugeot 207 hasn’t seen enough of the road yet anyway – it feels like she’s barely been anywhere. I’m a Porthmadog lad at heart but come on, I need to prove to myself it was in fact the right thing to do to go and purchase a brand new vehicle!
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May 10th, 2012
What a week this has been, and it’s not even over yet. Standing in for classes to teach the business help available to school leavers under the Welsh Government has left my brain absolutely fried. Honestly, if they had tried to teach me this kind of thing in my school days it would have immediately gone in one ear and out the other. Having said that, in my school days I could mostly be found sat gazing out of the window dreaming of becoming the Welsh Rugby team’s national star player. That, I’m afraid, did not happen. I did however, become the local Porthmadog high school’s star teacher, so I’ll settle for that. I get on well with the kids and they do generally tend to give me a lot of respect, so that’s good. It’s nice to feel accepted by them, as they can be so difficult for some of the other teachers.
So, I can’t wait for three o’clock tomorrow and I fully intend on going straight home to a lovely cooked meal (courtesy of Mama Jones – she knows it’s been a tough week) and a very long snooze with Sky F1 on in the background. There’s still another week to go until the mid season Formula 1 break is over, but at the very least I get The F1 Show to keep me going. I think I’d go mad without it – no big rugby games to speak of and no Formula 1 – what on earth is going on!?
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May 9th, 2012
What a weekend. Now I know it’s already Wednesday, but I’ll be perfectly honest – I’ve been in need of some recovery time before taking to my laptop this week. A huge group of us visited the Cardiff Glee Club for that comedy night. It was absolutely hilarious. You cannot beat a night out with good comedy and great friends. Mark Olver and Clint Edwards were by far the funniest stand ups there. I mentioned two others I hadn’t heard of – Lee Camp and Jo Enright. They were fairly decent but not quite as good as the first two, in my opinion.
After the show, our twenty (yes, twenty) strong group hit the bars of Cardiff. I’ll not lie, there was a little bit of alcohol induced bickering. Mostly caused, might I add, by a couple of the lads’ girlfriends who had clearly overdone the Chardonnay during the comedy show. Other than that, it was a fabulous night. Katie and I had a great time, and the Cardiff Travelodge room wasn’t too bad either when we finally returned to crash.
It’s back to reality now, though. I’ve a pretty busy week at work. We’re a little short staffed so I have been appointed the role of teaching some General Studies classes to the older kids. I’ve got to prep this afternoon’s class on the business help available to school leavers on various Government schemes – not quite as straightforward as picking teams for a friendly game of school rugby – help!
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May 3rd, 2012
I had my first letter this morning from Peugeot car leasing – basically outlining my finance agreement over the set term. Do you know, I still can’t believe the deal they sorted me out with. I’ve blogged about it before, but seriously, Just Add Fuel? It beggars belief that they’ll cover all your other costs like your warranty, servicing, tax, breakdown cover and comprehensive insurance doesn’t it? I’m so chuffed. I think Katie’s starting to get an attack of the green eyed monster. She saw the letter this morning and made some comment about not being able to believe that’s all I have to pay over three years to own a brand new Peugeot 207. She then made some flippant remark about liking the Peugeot 207cc more because it’s sportier. I doubt she’ll go through with it though, I think she’s all talk.
So this weekend there’s a big group of us travelling up to Cardiff for a comedy show. We’ve booked a Travelodge, and we’re going to the Cardiff Glee Club. You basically get to see a few really decent established acts. I’ve checked online and Clint Edwards and Mark Olver are performing. I’ve seen both of their stuff and they’re pretty funny, so it should be a good night. There’s two other acts on that I’ve never heard of though – Lee Camp and Jo Enright, so hopefully they’ll be good as well. I love discovering really funny new comedy stand ups. This night’s not a lads only – we’ve decided to let the ladies join us, so the girlfriends are all invited. I’m sure we’ll all hit Cardiff after the show, so I’ll definitely check in with you next week to update you on the weekend antics.
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May 2nd, 2012
I was right blog readers. I certainly was coming down with something. I spent the weekend bed ridden with my mum pushing a constant supply of Campbells soup on me and Katie constantly calling to ask if I was alright. I know they care, but seriously, not all men want to whinge and whine with man flu. Some of us just want to curl up, feel sorry for ourselves and sleep it off you know?
It was a pretty bad weekend to come down ill. The Formula 1 extravaganza is currently on a mid season break, so I couldn’t even get myself a decent sports fix. At least there’s The F1 Show on Sky F1 to tide it over I suppose. Even in the midst of a break it’s not a bad round up of the world of F1 racing.
Even so, I was pretty gutted not to be well. Ever since I got my new Peugeot 207, cars have been a bit of a hot topic amongst the lads. I tell you, it’s contagious. One of the others just got himself a used Renault Koleos. I looked it up online and it looks amazing, I’m not going to lie – I’m even a little bit jealous. A few of them piled in and headed out to the coast on Sunday to get on with a bit of surfing, which makes me even more jealous! I haven’t surfed in ages, it would have been great to dust the old board off. Apparently it was freezing and the waves weren’t up to much, so we’re going to plan a big trip with more of us later this month. I cannot wait.
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April 27th, 2012
Oh it’s been a long, long week. One of the lads at school has been playing up something rotten. He’s a good kid, great even, but he’s been so defiant and stubborn. He refuses to join in any of the activities I set out – even rugby – with no reason whatsoever. The other teachers are having the same problem. Anyway, so it comes to light that Katie knows his parents – his mum’s the older sister of one of her friends. They’re going through a messy divorce, it turns out. I’m really not sure how to handle it. I feel that if I inform the school, I’m meddling, but if I don’t, I’m not being fair on the lad or the school – they could offer him some help, perhaps?
In light of this week I’ve decided to have a quiet weekend in with Katie. I know what you must be thinking: Where’s Welsh rubgy mad, Formula 1 loving John Owen Jones this week? I am sorry folks, but I just feel so drained. I couldn’t care less if Katie switches Sky F1 over in favour of one of her cheesy romantic comedies on Sky Drama…I just need quiet time, and some peace. To be honest, I could even be coming down with something. My mum did mention I looked a tad peaky yesterday. It’s possible I suppose, but I think it’s more likely worry over this poor lad. We don’t get much in the way of scandal or upset round here usually, everything’s normally pretty settled, so it’s not the nicest to see something like this happening right under my nose. I’m sure I’ll be back on form next week, folks…
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April 24th, 2012
Well, my Sunday ride out to Snowdonia with Katie’s dad was a success. We had a great day. He loved my new Peugeot 207 – said it drove like a dream, which I was chuffed with, obviously. We hadn’t exactly planned to walk to the top, but we ended up doing so anyway. It’s only a few hours up, so although it’s tiring, it’s completely doable.
We chatted about loads. He was surprised to learn that I’m not just a Welsh rugby loving PE teacher. I told him that I’m also quite into my surfing (hence the reason I’d like to take Katie to Newquay this summer). He thinks it’s great I’m active and really into quite a few different sports – Formula 1 included. I got the distinct feeling though that he was angling at the fact I might need to take life a little more seriously should I, you know, want to start taking things more seriously with Katie. He didn’t say anything directly, mind you, he was just talking a lot about business, ambition, money, and success. He offers business support to start ups – something to do with a government scheme. He’s definitely well paid, and super intelligent to boot. I think he sees what he does as a ‘proper career’ and tends to see what I do as a kind of young lad’s job. What he doesn’t realise is that I can go into any area of teaching I like, should PE start to tire me out too much. You never know, this small town Wales lad could end up an Oxbridge Professor!…Having said that, rather unlikely, isn’t it?
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April 19th, 2012
It’s nearly the end of the working week, thankfully. I don’t know what is up with the kids at school at the minute but a lot of them really seem to be misbehaving. It’s so out of character, they’re a great bunch usually. I’m wondering whether it’s that time of year – it’s not quite summer but the Easter holidays are over, so there’s not much for them to look forward to. The weather’s not exactly been anything special recently either, and I suppose I can’t expect them to get too enthusiastic about playing out on a wet, muddy field when it’s nice and toasty indoors.
So, on another note, this weekend I’ve got quite a different little plan for Sunday. I’m taking Katie’s dad to Snowdonia (in my new Peugeot 207, naturally). I went to pick Katie up from hers the other day, and he and I got chatting about the car. Since he’s really into his outdoors sports and a spot of trekking, I offered him a ride out at the weekend. So now, I’ve ended up with this arrangement where it’ll be just him, me, and the mountain.
I’m not nervous or anything. Well, I might be, a little bit. Obviously things between Katie and I are getting quite serious so it seems only natural I get a bit closer to her nearest and dearest. Her dad in particular – he’s very much a proud family man so I can’t have him thinking his only daughter’s going out with nothing more than a Welsh rugby team fanatic. He doesn’t actually know much more about me than that, so it’ll be a great opportunity to have a good chat and get to know each other properly. Obviously he knows I like my cars – what with our Sky F1 bonding session on Easter Sunday, but it’s time I manned up, and got to know my girlfriend’s dad, man to man…help.
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April 16th, 2012
It’s here, it’s here, it’s here! My beautiful, bright red, brand new Peugeot 207 has arrived. She’s a beaut (FYI, when I said that to Katie, she asked me never to refer to my vehicle as either a ‘she’ or a ‘beaut’ again, and she’d have to consider leaving me if I did. A bit harsh, perhaps?).
I love driving it, I love sitting in it, and I basically love everything about it. That new car smell is just divine isn’t it? If they could bottle it, and all that…The interior is supposed to be basic but it looks so smart. Peugeot really seemed to have upped their game. A few years back I would never have considered them to be one of the brands that makes plush cars but seriously, it’s so smart inside. If you’re interested to see, you should use Google Images to get a good idea of the interior of some of their latest models.
I’ve been doing a lot of driving around the past few days, obviously for no other reason than to enjoy my new car. I’ve been making a few unannounced house visits to some of the lads, which they find deeply amusing. They’ve likened my excitement to that of a small girl with a new Barbie. Nice. My mate Tom has just got his hands on a used Mazda 5 though, so when I dropped in on him we had a good natter about our new toys, as well as indulging in a little Welsh rugby team talk, of course. He’s coming to the Wales vs The Barbarians match at The Millenium Stadium Cardiff in June, which neither of us can wait for. It’s going to be immense.
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