Today should have been a good day ... but it hasn't been.
Firstly, it is my sixty-first birthday, and I should be celebrating ... but I am not, because I have had a stomach bug over the weekend which got a lot worse today. So bad, in fact, that after feeling very ill at work, I came home at 9.00am, and went back to bed. I have been asleep – on and off – since then, and I have only just got up (it is just after 6.30pm) because a colleague from work has 'phoned.
This brings me to the second reason why it is not a good day. My colleague 'phoned me to let me know that representatives of Ofsted are arriving to conduct an inspection on Wednesday and Thursday this week. This means that I have either got to go into work tomorrow – however ill I feel – to prepare for the inspection or stay at home in the hope that I will feel better on Wednesday ... and try to prepare my lessons at home. Either way, it is unlikely that I will do a very good job of preparing myself for the inspection, and if I am not on top form on Wednesday and Thursday, I could be letting my colleagues and my students down. It is a no-win situation.
The sooner I retire, the better.
Firstly, it is my sixty-first birthday, and I should be celebrating ... but I am not, because I have had a stomach bug over the weekend which got a lot worse today. So bad, in fact, that after feeling very ill at work, I came home at 9.00am, and went back to bed. I have been asleep – on and off – since then, and I have only just got up (it is just after 6.30pm) because a colleague from work has 'phoned.
This brings me to the second reason why it is not a good day. My colleague 'phoned me to let me know that representatives of Ofsted are arriving to conduct an inspection on Wednesday and Thursday this week. This means that I have either got to go into work tomorrow – however ill I feel – to prepare for the inspection or stay at home in the hope that I will feel better on Wednesday ... and try to prepare my lessons at home. Either way, it is unlikely that I will do a very good job of preparing myself for the inspection, and if I am not on top form on Wednesday and Thursday, I could be letting my colleagues and my students down. It is a no-win situation.
The sooner I retire, the better.
Your health is much more important than trying to please some folk who've got nothing better to do than go around ticking boxes. Maybe the management can get their hands dirty and cover your classes!
ReplyDeleteTake care.
I say...
ReplyDelete1. Happy birthday :-D
2. Look after yourself first. Whatever the situation...don´t assume you are inexpendable...others will cover for you if they are workmates and decent colleagues.
Take care...hope you get well soon.
Cheers
Paul
Happy Birthday, Bob. Sorry to hear you're unwell. I'm sure once Ofsted is over you will make a speedy recovery!
ReplyDeleteArthur
Jfidz,
ReplyDeleteYou are quite right; I should think of my health first and foremost ... but I don't want to leave my students in the lurch (I am a lot less worried about the management team, who are probably feeling sicker than I do at the moment!).
All the best,
Bob
Paul's Bods,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the best wishes; I have had worse birthdays in the past ... but not many, I am pleased to say.
I have always been expendable; the problem that I have is that I am also inclined to be reliable as well! I know that I can rely on some of my colleagues to step up to the mark and help out ... but not all of them.
In the meantime, at least I have not been sick for some hours, and that is a marked improvement over how I was earlier today.
All the best,
Bob
Arthur1815,
ReplyDeleteThanks for you good wishes.
I would like to think that my health and my workplace will get better after Ofsted have been and gone ... but I think that the former is more likely to improve before the latter does.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteBelated birthday greetings and I sincerely hope you are feeling better soon! I hate the 'crisis of conscience' one always has when feeling ill in connection with going to work - The mind wants to but the body overrides it and usually for very good reason! I would just try and roll with it as the timing with these things is always bad and they will get over it at work!
All the best,
DC
David Crook,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your very kind wishes.
I appear to have come down with a dose of Norovirus (also known as 'winter vomiting virus') and the symptoms are quite unpleasant. I seem to be spending quite a lot of my time asleep ... or dashing to the loo! Luckily, my 'office' at home is less than ten feet from the loo, so I can use the computer in the spaces in-between 'dashes'.
If the virus takes its usual course, I shall begin to feel better later today, but will not be fully recovered for another 48 hours.
This could not have happened at a worse time ... but it has, and I have just got to put up with it.
All the best,
Bob