DM has done a similar shot of this but I don’t care. I’m fresh out of time and ideas and I’m in a hurry! All of these are able to be crow-barred into this metaphor without too much difficulty.

My world is one long, hard whirl of working and studying at the moment because sadly I am entering the last week of my placement and I’m determined not to waste a moment or to fail to get the most out of it that I can wring.

I was utterly thrilled last week to get rewarded for my hard work with my super maths group that I’ve had my residency with them extended for the remainder of my stay. I have also been given permission to conduct a research study among the children and their parents that will form part of my dissertation for this course. These two things have meant I’ve spent the weekend planning and preparing work. I’ve also had to catch up on my admin so that when I’m audited on Friday everything is tickety boo.

They say that you know by the end of your first placement whether or not teaching is for you. I think I can safely say that it’s for me, if they’ll have me. I feel as though I was born to do this. I only hope I don’t fail the course or I will be inconsolable.

This is the back of the watch I bought for DMs birthday. He’s a bit of a weirdy geek and has a thing about Russian watches – he already owned one that my Mum and Dad bought him for Christmas a couple of years ago but he’d been eyeing up one of these pocket watches for weeks on ebay so I decided that if I could get one at a price I could afford then I’d buy him one for his birthday. I bid on it last time my folks were here and we were out for the evening when the auction ended so I was surprised and delighted to get home and find I’d won it for my maiden bid and got myself, himself even, a complete bargain. (If I were to say that I wouldn’t need all of my toes alongside my fingers to count the price, you’d see what I mean!) It’s a proper stonker too in as much as it keeps almost perfect time. The best bit is it is incredibly tactile, not only because it needs winding up regularly. It has a nice weight and the way it slips from your hand into your pocket is almost too satisfying to seem quite proper. It’s also got a nice face with CCCP on it so it was made in soviet days although it’s by no means an antique.

So, I’ve been thinking I’ll photograph it and after this weekend, I can categorically report that I have nothing left in me that I can muster for something more original. Over the weekend, I’ve put in two long days of graft – I hope it’s good enough because I’ve run out of steam!