Unseasonably Mild
13 November

On Saturday Ross and I went up to Lancaster for a Gifted and Talented Workshop.

We drove through glorious sunshine up the M6 and got there in just over an hour.

We gave the making monsters workshop tarted up for Halloween. It went well and I continue to enjoy working with this age group in these sessions.

I took some time out on the Tuesday to go with Roland to the St George's Hall Concert Hall for the latest installment of the Schubert cycle. This time, Paul Lewis was joined by Mark Padmore for the song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin.

To be honest, I felt guilty about being there. I felt as though I should have been at my desk working for College. I know that this is absurd in many respects but it reflects the state of panic I feel that I am never going to be on top of what is required of me. Does this bode ill for my becoming a teacher?

Whether it was that guilt or whether I just didn't click with this very emotive and enacted performance of what I have always taken to be a charming and rustic piece but I didn't rate the evening as highly as the other three concerts in this series so far. It was good but below my expectations.

The previous weekend, I attended part three of Wagner's Ring Cycle - Siegfried at FACT. I was alone this time because Roland was supposed to be going to see Beethoven's Missa Solemnis at the Phil - however he was trapped in London by a power failure outside of Euston Station and missed it.

I saw it and was reasonably satisfied. The staging continues to make sense within its own terms. However, I am getting slightly annoyed by the fact that the projections are constantly moving - leaves scuttering, pebbles tumbling, embers settling. Just because they can make it move, they seem to feel that they have to do it all the time. However, the woodbird was fabulous and there was a terrific moment with a real time reflection in a "pool of water".

Performances were pretty damn good considering that it's all near nigh unsingable. Jay Hunter Morris acquitted himself well but you have to ask whether he's just shortened his career by a decade or so by singing the role in his late 40s. Fabio Luisi took over from the injured James Levine and gave a more than decent account of the score.

Best of the rest were Gerhard Siegel's Mimen and Eric Owens's Alberich. I'm just not sure about Bryn Terfel's Wanderer or even Deborah Voigt's Brünnhilde.

The week brought a so-called Science Fair at College. In terms of content and given that it's the only exposure to science we shall be getting from them all year, I'd say that it failed in its learning intentions. The best part of it for me was the film of a live science lesson on the first morning. Otherwise, I got little out of it with teaching tips, subject knowledge and pedagogy all rolled up into an indigestible bundle.

I've been busy working on lesson plans. Next week, I have my first proper teaching week ever. And it's Maths. Nothing I can't handle in terms of content. Well just have to see how the lessons go. As one of my colleagues has posted on the course Facebook pages, the worst that can happen is the children end up at the end of the week knowing a little less than they might otherwise have done if their own teacher had been in charge.