Bouncing Bobbins

Bobbins surprised us recently by a sudden spurt in the growth of her legs. She now looks a tad less like a little barrel and more like a little dog. She's now probably as tall as Tinkerbelle (albeit a completely different build).  Her new longer legs open up all sorts of opportunities for her, and it is not unusual to see a little Bobbins head appearing as she tried to clamber onto the sofa or bed. She has also found that she can jump - and when she does she bounces up and down, you'd just need the cartoon caption to say 'boing' each time for the complete cartoon effect.

She has also started to run round in circles too - like Millie, however she does circuits around Ian at meal times. It is quite funny to watch. Bobbins is such a sweet little dog, it's impossible not to smile at her.

Without a doubt Queenie remains, through the strong competition, our most odd dog. Life to her appears to be one big exciting venture, especially rounding up her collection of logs which she does with gusto and little piles of chewed logs appear in various places throughout the day. We are used to it now, however my students often ask what the crash noises are, as Queenie drops a chew or log onto the floor and then runs off to get another.

I had some new Modme prototypes arrive this week. I had to make some amendments to the designs so I wanted to get them made before I get them ordered in bulk. I also tested some different density of dyes to see what colour range I can achieve. Still nothing from the tax office about the international VAT number. I checked again to see if I can find a company in Spain I can use, but I can't find anyone with competitive pricing. Ian has arrange for some samples of boxes to look at to package Modmes in. I had found a German company which makes boxes which a company I buy jewellery supplies from uses, however these are quite utilitarian. The samples which are coming are boxes which are used by printers to send business cards to customers in and are deeper so it will be interesting to see how they compare.

Lurgy #1

Well, one week into autumn weather and I was rendered lurgy-ridden, no doubt by germy students. Having spent what feels like most of last winter battling some lurgy or other, I had meant to get a flue-jab this year but forgot. Still, this first lurgy bout is early, even by my recent winter woes. It's a bit annoying as it knocks me for six - well either the lurgy or the lem-sip-alikes. But it appears that I go to bed one week to reappear 10 days later. I'm hoping that the early bout of it will increase my resistance for the rest of the winter.

I started teaching in the school last week. I am taking a class of year 6 primary, which would be the equivalent of year 1 secondary in the UK. There are 11 of them, mixed ability, and, given that I could hardly talk, I think the class went OK. 5 of the class were students of mine anyway so I sort of knew the level I was aiming for.

We were surprised last week by a visit from the tax man. The one upside of our limited income is that we rarely bother the tax man - and visa versa, which I guess may have been the reason why the visit was triggered. The visit was part of the process of getting an international VAT number. He wanted to see that Ian had a valid reason for applying for it, which meant Ian had to present Modmes to the tax man. Although he wasn't prepared for this, happily the hours of me boring Ian with latest Modme snippets bore fruit and he was able to present them well, at least I read the tax man's notes afterwards and he appeared to get the gist of them. I guess we now have to wait. It might mean a change in business classification for Ian, who is registered as a web designer currently, however both the tax man and the account seem flummoxed as to what category Modmes come into - so they may decide it is easier to leave them where they are.

Poor Bobbins went into the vet for her sterilization operation only to come home again because Ian mentioned that she was passing blood in her poo, and the vet didn't want to operate until this was cleared. We guess she has some sort of parasite.

It Might Be Time to Light the Fire

I think that may be my best chance of getting my chair back - making the floor the most attractive place to be.

##¡¡????***** - You Can't Say That In Spanish

One of the joys of teaching English to teenagers (and to adults actually) is correcting the grammatical errors in their clumsy attempts to swear.  One of the things we can thank our Saxon heritage for is the rich range of swearing we have - it really makes the Spanish language's ability to swear look very weedy. I think the difference is that in Spanish they can use nouns and exclaim (mainly to exclaim or as an insult), whereas languages with the Saxon influence find that not only do they have nouns and exclamations, we can also use swear words as verbs, adjectives and adverbs. I along time ago decided address the use of swear words in a neutral manner (applying what I think are BBC standards) as there's no point in people learning advanced level English if they aren't going to recognize it in real life situations, so when they use a swearword in a grammatically incorrect way, I correct them. I also think that explaining the grammatical inaccuracies of their swearing also takes some of the mystique out of it.

I did finish a long tirade to Ian, venting my computer-directed frustrations, which probably would not be suitable for delicate ears with 'and they couldn't say that in Spanish'!

More Modmes

Here are some more Modme pics. These are samples which I've made using patterns I've written and I think the round and square Modmes will be part of the launch range.

These show the new backs that I have made for the Modmes. I didn't want them to look too open at the back, however they need to be stacked together for economical printing. The one on the left shows where I designed the Modme logo which shows inside, the other has a back which is produced separately and clicks in. We decided to go with the one on the right. It was a little tricky to make the design, however I think it makes a much better finish.