Phew!

Good evening dudes and dudettes. I notice that your clocks have changed so the skyping window in the evening is reduced, on account that we are in bed at a ridculously early hour. Still we can chat till we drop off.

I am pleased to report that the money we last saw in the Bahrain finance house has arrived in my bank account in Scotland just in time for the mortgage to come out. Phew, that was close, arrived same day. There was no panic really but I am glad it arrived, albeit minus some commission and a crappy exchange rate meant that what I thought would be nearly £900 was only £800 by the time it got to Scotland. Somebody is making a fat whack of dosh out of those exchanges. We have to pay a fee at BOTH ends and the exchange rate is not great. Still look on the bright side 800 out of 900 is better than never seeing the money again!

I used to hate Mondays because there was almost a full week to go. Now I love Mondays because when Monday is over I am almost half way through the week and all of my "free" periods come in the last three days. I say "free" but in that regard its just like Kinross, lots of covering for other teachers and then there is cafeteria duty and playground duty, oh yes and front of school duty to attend to. They are not onerous tasks but they do use up what is supposed to be preparation and planning time. Mind you I have to remember to take my sun glasses with me because it's too bright standing out the front of school in the blazing sunshine.

There is now only the rest of this week and one full week to go before the "mid term" holiday. It is very late this year because it is governed by Eid (pronounced eed) which is an Islamic holiday and so we are only back for three weeks after mid-term and it will be end of term. I also have two days in Dubai next week so that will shorten it still further. We are beginning to look forward to returning to the cold and wet for a couple of weeks and to seeing you all again. Will we need to bring a jersey?

New car is going great but I will have to order a small step ladder for Babs and Dave to help them into it. It is so high that Sheila too needs to clamber up to get in. We are still not sure what to do with our November break but a goodly helping of golf seems favourite. Hopefully we will be members by then to keep the cost down as each paying  BD7.500 (double it then take 10% off) every day will be quite costly. Still it will be worth it. If I have my membership I might even treat myself to a game at Riffa, the grass course. I will have to bite down and swallow hard when I hand over my BD60.000 though. At least I can be sure my round wont be spoiled by pouring rain after 2 holes.

Still keeping up the swimming although not at the weekend this week. I had a couple of days off. Somehow it is easier to get up with the alarm at 5.30am and jump in the pool than it is to get in after rising at 7 on the weekend.

That's all the news for now. Many of you have said that you enjoy reading this blog so I will keep it going for now. If you are posting a comment it would be useful to others if you choose the option at the bottom of the list where you choose Name URL. Just type your name and leave the URL bit blank. So come on lets hear your comments. Keep it clean though, there are children reading this!!!

A' the best
D&S