Day 102: Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

My parents were boarding the ferry. I was skeptical: it was full of water. Whether or not it would sail was not my chief concern, rather I was concerned about how I would fit on there with all the water. I followed my parents but stopped when they walked into the the choppy blue liquid. I turned and ran, up to walkway above. It was only then that I realised they must have drowned. I panicked, racked with guilt, then I woke up.

I felt that sweet, lazy Saturday-morning inertia that comes from waking naturally, then rolled over and saw the time. 6 seconds later, I realised it wasn't Saturday.

My alarm clock went off at 6am. At 10.15am, I woke up.

I have never felt panic like it. I jumped out of bed, and dithered as to whether or not I should even shower. The expletives emanating from my mouth put to an end my giving up swearing for Lent. I decided to shower, realising that my year 11 lesson was occurring as I did so. When I returned to my room, dressed frantically, and threw my things together I called the lovely man at school who is in charge of cover and such like. "I'm so sorry, my alarm clock didn't go off - I'm on my way in now." He chuckled that he hadn't been told I wasn't there, and that set fresh panic in my mind as to whether or not anyone had noticed. What on earth were my students going to be doing?

I left the house and was lucky to see a bus approaching. I decided to stay on an extra stop that went past the school, to ensure I didn't have to walk through the main gates. I caught sight of my colleague's red jacket as I made my way towards the school; he was smoking outside. I started to cry as I explained what had happened, and he calmed me down and talked me through what I should do. I wasn't convinced; the evening before I had decided to leave lesson prep to the morning, and would get in early to sort it out for the heaviest day of the week. Oh, the irony.

I went up to the department and greeted the new PGCE student, who was entirely sympathetic, and then steeled myself and walked into my classroom. "Hello," I said to the class. They hardly acknowledged me. Were they offended? Thankfully, the TA had gotten them a film to watch, and they were sat engrossed in a pretty terrible CGI version of Little Red Riding Hood (their choice.) The TA was sympathetic, and told me I could prepare for my next lesson (year 9, who she also assisted) as she would be happy to dismiss the year 11s. I felt so incredibly guilty, but did as she suggested and felt a lot happier for it.

The rest of the day was a little stressful blur. Year 9 were feistier than normal ("Miss, do you have a boyfriend?"
"Yes."
"Oh that's a shame, because I was going to ask you out." *wink*
"Oh M, that's so... inappropriate.")
but I survived the lesson, and year 10, and then the more horrible than usual year 8s. I am making no progress with that group, whatsoever.

I left around five, deciding that I would do more work at home (ha!) but so far that has not been the case.

I've also set 2 alarms for the morning.