A Mediteranean Wedding

Last week we were away in Cyprus with my parents and other family friends, to celebrate the marriage of my brother to his long term girlfriend Michelle. The wedding was on Tuesday, but we were there the whole week and ended up having a lovely holiday in the sunshine too.

Michelle looked lovely and so did my brother and the groomsmen, poshed up in their tailcoats (my dad wasn't very keen on that at all).

They got married at The Church by St. Paul’s Pillar in Kato Paphos (Ayia Kyriaki Chrysopolitissa) and then had a reception on a boat called the Wave Dancer, with fireworks and a mini-casino. There were about 34 close family and friends there. They'd even gone to the trouble of getting someone to correograph them a first dance with lifts and twirls.

Unfortunately the windy started to get up during the day and by the end of dinner the boat was rolling around on the waves and we had to head back to harbour. I felt sorry for the poor man in the motor boat next to us who was in charge of the anchor. We hardly felt a thing by comparison.

I know they'll have some fond memories of the day. They've already been together for 8 years and have a solid relationship. I wish them every happiness in the future.

As well as the wedding we managed to take in plenty of historical sites, eat lots of yummy food and do some swimming in the hotel pool (the sea was a bit rough most of the time). I can't say I got much knitting done with some many people and things to do. How lazy I am.

Changes

Yesterday was the last day of my teaching job in Sunderland. I wasn't expecting much fuss as I have only been there for 18 months (5 terms) and my form class had seemed particularly non-plussed about the whole thing. In the end it turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable.

My form got me a card and a present, although I think that was the idea of one girl's mother, rather than a spontaneous gesture from the class. Most of them are only 11 and still have the idea that I live at the school with the other teachers. I also received some vouchers and a card from the whole staff, and other presents and cards from my department + people in our building. The head of Physics thought it particularly amusing to buy me a pack of pampers. The others in our building got me this cute Einstein baby grow, amongst other things.

and a big bunch of flowers.

A lot of the older kids said how much they'd miss me and I even received a spontaneous round of applause from one class. It was nice to feel that I might be missed. I've been feeling quite negative about myself recently. I will certainly miss most of the staff, who've been very supportive and helpful. I'll also miss some of the pupils. There are some of them I would really like to see achieving and going on to university.

You might wonder why I'm leaving. I certainly won't miss getting up at 6am and having to drive over 30 miles to get there. I also won't miss being constantly on display and all the marking and admin. Aside from all this I'm looking forward to doing something a bit different.

Right now I'm off to Sheffield for Kay's hen do. Dinner at Wagamamma, followed by Little Shop of Horrors at the theatre. I think it'll be a good night.