Summer

Ah, the summer holidays.

Six weeks - count 'em, six weeks - of uninterrupted joy and bliss. No jotters to mark, no kids to shout at, no staff meetings to attend. What could be better?

Do we really need six weeks to recharge our respective batteries in the teaching profession? In all probability, no - but we'd kill anyone that was to come out and say that outright (oops). I'm now four weeks into my break and I hate to admit it but I have done a little bit of school work and even had a wee browse on the net for maths related stuff last night. If you like, that's a sign that I've now moved from recharging batteries to actually enjoying a rest, cos it really does take a while for teachers to basically stop feeling tired all the time when their holidays start. Weird.

But I'm not complaining. The holidays are a really good perk of the job; a necessary one. Don't believe me? Try doing the job, just for a week. Student teachers and probationers know what I'm on about. It's hard to get across just how tiring the job is. Most new teachers collapse in a heap when the first proper holiday comes along (October round these parts), from sheer mental and physical exhaustion. Knackered.

So it's reassuring that after a while, during the mammoth summer break, you maybe almost not quite but maybe yes do miss the job a bit.

Or, maybe I just need to shout at someone to get it out of my system.