What a week! Monday started well with lovely sun that continued all week lifting every one's spirits and making it feel like summer. Then Tuesday we had the phone call ... the OFSTED inspection team would be arriving on Thursday! That's the big event everybody fears but knows will be happening one day, currently it's at 3 year intervals. After many late hours of hard work and a forest's worth of paperwork prepared the inspectors arrived. Although all the talk is very positive in reality you know it is more like an inquisition. Figures and results are all important and most decisions have been made before they actually turn up. We are not allowed to divulge the findings until the final draft of the report is done and released to the parents, probably in about a week's time but I can say that most of the staff were out celebrating on Friday night. Not me because I was feeling a bit rough, too tired and a nasty cold brewing. Also Linas was paying us a flying visit. Peter had to go back into town to collect him and we had a kebab meal to celebrate the end of a hard week. Linas is still waiting to hear the result of an interview for a job in Ivybridge that he would really like but is also halfway through the interview process for another job in Exeter. Keep your fingers crossed as it is so hard for youngsters, even those with good degrees, to get a job.
Having got the OFSTED over my next trail was the phone line going down again. So no Internet. A BT man came on Saturday and diagnosed the problem as being 2,500m up the wires somewhere but couldn't deal with it then. Luckily another man was able to connect us up on pair of wires this afternoon but apparently the overhead cables from Bowden Corner to Indicott need replacing which would mean closing the road so it may be a little while before that job is done. 
We couldn't let the good weather pass without going for a walk on the coast. It was bright and sunny but there was a chill breeze and a sea mist.
There were a lot of people out today as holiday makers start to flock to the area so we headed for the high ground to find a sheltered spot to have our coffee. Looking down we had great views of the path we follow around the coast.
The gorse is always blooming but now the grass is dotted with bright yellow celandines and these pretty violets.
Having got the OFSTED over my next trail was the phone line going down again. So no Internet. A BT man came on Saturday and diagnosed the problem as being 2,500m up the wires somewhere but couldn't deal with it then. Luckily another man was able to connect us up on pair of wires this afternoon but apparently the overhead cables from Bowden Corner to Indicott need replacing which would mean closing the road so it may be a little while before that job is done. 
We couldn't let the good weather pass without going for a walk on the coast. It was bright and sunny but there was a chill breeze and a sea mist. 
There were a lot of people out today as holiday makers start to flock to the area so we headed for the high ground to find a sheltered spot to have our coffee. Looking down we had great views of the path we follow around the coast. 
The gorse is always blooming but now the grass is dotted with bright yellow celandines and these pretty violets. After our walk I continued with some gentle gardening work, mainly weeding and cutting back while Peter got on with his great sausage making project. Sometime ago he bought himself a hand mincer, just like his mother had, so that he could make his own tasty sausages without all the nasty additives that manufacturers put in. He's still at it but the results look good though I have been leaving him to work in peace.
