Best to start at the bottom and work your way up this one. If you can be bothered SARAH.
Thursday 20th November
6.5hours of nice deep sleep later…First day of Christmas rehearsals. Rachel picked me up at 8.45 and we met David at The Barn for 9am. Then we spent the day reading scripts, learning lines and blocking two of the sketches. (and me giggling as I remembered bits of last night!)I’m not going to give you any details of our Christmas stuff, if you want to know you have to come and see a show! We’re doing lots in and around Essex so no excuses! Finished around 4.15, came back home, relaxed a bit and watched Neighbours and Hollyoaks, had dinner and am now spending the evening updating my blog. Will possibly have a bath later.
Wednesday 19th November
First Opti-Weds for a long time! Lucy picked me up and we got to the Barn just before 9am. Had a Viz-a-Viz monthly Bible Study first, led by David, looking at Colossians 3. I was in a small group with Kate, Clive and Den (yeah no pressure leading a group with the founder of Viz-a-Viz!!). We then had our training session, two teaching slots on Study and Guidance, led by David, La Roche led worship, where we played hug tag, made things from paper, ate wine gums and held handfuls of rice! We then had our own personal time, and had a time of sharing and praying in small groups – ours was just me and Sammy J. Then I had my review with Lindsay, Rachel and David. All went well and positive which is good!! Then off to the O2 to see Lee Evans!!! Met up with Sarah, Matt, Teresa, David, Ryan and Lewis en route and got to the O2 with time for a Starbucks and a muffin. The show was from 7.45-11pm and was BRILLIANT!!!! I came out with total cheek ache! Lewis dropped me back home and I was just about in bed by 1am!
Tuesday 18th November
Went round to Sarah’s and looked after Maddie and Emi for a bit while she went to get her insoles sorted. Then we went to Baytree Farm and saw the animals…the big ugly pigs and the cute little piglets and the rabbits, geese, ducks, goats and lots of mud! Had lunch there where both Maddie and Emi were grumpy! We then went to Crazy Kids. Oh so much fun!!!!! As Maddie is only 23months old, unfortunately she had to be accompanied on all the play stuff….RESULT!!! So Auntie Laura had lots of fun running around and climbing and drowning in ball pools and going down the slides! Mummy did some too, and the best bit was all three of us going down the bumpy slide on mats. Definitely more fun had by me and Sarah!! We came back and had dinner, bathed the girls then Matt came home and took over and Sarah drove me back home to Billericay and had a peek to see my room!
Monday 17th November
Lewis picked me up about 10.45 and we went to Lakeside. Wasn’t too busy which was great and we had a fairly successful shopping trip, including a coffee and toffee apple muffin at BB’s and lunch at La Tasca. And as our treat for doing well we had a milkshake from Shakeaways….seriously amazing place. They make all kinds of weird and wonderful flavours; I had a Parma Violet one and Lewis had a Ferrero Rocher one….just divine! Then went back to Lewis’s and we dyed each other’s hair…aaah.
Sunday 16th November
Went to Sawyers Church with Rachel in the morning, then we went out for lunch at a pub, one of those local pubs where you feel like an intruder! Then we met Lindsay and drive up to Sandy near Bedford for Beth’s induction service at Sandy Baptist Church and stayed for a bit of cake after which was very nice! Came back home and watched Antique Roadshow….the first ever one with a million pound estimation…I was expecting some amazingly old valuable something or other, but no it was a preliminary statue of the Angel of the North. Very disappointing!! Caught up on an episode of Holby City and went to bed!
Saturday 15th November
Had a little lie in but then woke up quite early because I was excited to see Lewis 
He came round and we stayed in for a bit then went out to Southend, got Fish and Chips and wandered along the front. The we went up into the town which was crazily busy and BBC Essex and Essex FM were doing various things, so we got a Starbucks (Gingerbread Latte-makes me feel all warm and Christmassy!) and some ridiculously sugary doughnuts and sat in the park watching it get dark. Then just as we were about to leave there was a massive fireworks display which went on for about 10mins and was really impressive! Then Lewis dropped me back and went home for a poker night with the boys while I watched X Factor! Hurrah Daniel has finally gone (although I think he did better than Rachel this week!)!!
Friday 14th November
Arrived at 8.20am for prayer meeting then:
9.05-9.45: S6 RE Lesson: Chatting to them about their beliefs and what they thought of the week.
9.45-11.05: S5: What’s It Worth, College Of Knowledge, Q&A
11.05-11.20: Break (Scones in the Staffroom which is like a conservatory on the roof over looking the race course which has the school playing field in the middle of it. Crazy!)
11.20-12.05: What’s It Worth, College Of Knowledge, Q&A
12.05-12.40: Lunch
12.40-1.00: Whole School Assembly: College Of Knowledge
1.00-1.45: Lunch: Music Workshops
1.45-2.25: S2: Abi and Trasha
2.25-3.45: Junior Assembly: Gordon clowning again – so funny!!
Then we packed down, loaded the vans and headed home! Stopped off for dinner at Rosie (SU Worker) and Pauls house and then stopped a couple more times on the way down, arriving back at the office at 12.40am, unloaded and came home and was in bed just after 2am!
Thursday 13th November
Apparently I was beating up Rachel and hogging the covers in my sleep. I remember nothing! Arrived at 8.20am for prayer meeting then:
9.05-9.45: S2 RE Lesson: Speed Dating
9.45-10.25: S4 RE Lesson: Speed Dating
10.25-11.05: Break
11.05-12.00: J6, J7, S1: ABT
12.00-12.40: S1: Abi and Trasha
12.40-1.00: Whole School Assembly: What’s It Worth
1.00-1.45: Lunch: The Point group (amazing fun!!! Three legged race, After Eight Game, Hotseat Questions, Props game and Ask Envizage Anything!)
1.45-2.25: S3: College Of Knowledge, Q&A
2.25-3.45: Preparation for Concert
4.00-6.00: Concert. Had about 40 kids come to the concert, which percentage of the school wise, is the same as last week, but obviously less in number. They all seemed to enjoy it though!
Went to Gordon’s Parent’s House for dinner – nice curry with apricots in it! Then back to hosts for some TV watching. Found out that there had been a delivery for me, but no one was in so it had gone to the post office in Lanark. So Simeon phoned his Dad to ask him to pick it up and drop it off at the school!
Wednesday 12th November
Arrived at 8.20am for prayer meeting then:
9.05-9.45: Junior Assembly: Gordon was clowning – hilarious!!!!
9.45-10.25: Work
10.25-11.05: S2 RE Lesson – Speed Dating! (Small group of them to one of us asking questions to each other)
11.05-12.00: Break
12.00-12.40: Lunch (Junior school JAM Club – What’s It Worth)
12.40-1.00: Whole School Assembly: ABT
1.00-1.45: Lunch: Street Tuff
1.45-2.25: Break
2.25-3.45: S4: What’s It Worth, College Of Knowledge, Q&A
Meal at School then a debrief at Jim and Romy’s and back to hosts where Karen’s dad came round and we played more Wii!
Tuesday 11th November
Arrived at 8.20am for prayer meeting then:
9.05-9.45: Free: Readjusting lights etc
9.45-10.25: Break
10.25-11.05: S1 Drama Workshop
11.05-12.00: J6 & J7 Remembrance Day activities
12.00-12.40: Lunch
12.40-1.00: Whole School Assembly:
1.00-1.45: Lunch: ABT
1.45-2.25: Break
2.25-3.45: S3 Forgiveness and Freedom: Abi and Trasha (Worst performance of Abi we’ve ever done, everything seemed to go wrong, but no one noticed!!)
Meal at School then a debrief at Jim and Romy’s and back to hosts where Karen’s dad came round and we played more Wii!
Monday 10th November
Not too much of an early start, Hamilton College being 20mins from our host and we had to be in at 8am. Unloaded the van and then went for a prayer meeting. Then from 9-11 we set up the hall, from 11.05-12 there was a Junior Assembly, then after we did final sound checks and sorted ourselves out. (Bit of info about the school: It’s one of the few Christian colleges in the UK, a private school for ages 3-16, school size approx700. A lot, but not all of the teachers are Christian and the the school operates a Christian morale and teaching throughout) The rest of the day looked something like this:
12.40-1.00: Whole School Assembly: The Watch
1.00-1.45: Lunch: Signature Bingo
1.45-2.25: S2 Values: What’s It Worth
2.25-3.05: Free
3.05-3.45: S1 Values: What’s It Worth
We then went back to Jim and Romy’s for dinner, recharge and debrief and then back to our hosts for some Wii time!
Sunday 9th November
Same breakfast as yesterday…yum! Then off to Hamilton Baptist for the morning service and then to Jane’s parents for dinner. Romy and Jim have a lovely house which just goes in all sorts of directions, is jam packed with stuff: vases, pictures and furniture everywhere, including 2 baby grand pianos and a cuckoo clock which caused hours of entertainment! Their garden runs down to the river clyde which is a gorgeous view! Andy and Joy were staying there and had the bottom floor to themselves. Dinner was salmon and vegetables and 3 different puddings! Romy used to be a caterer so made the best food! And I discovered Ginger Beer with lime cordial…yum! We just chilled and chatted and had a nice lazy Sunday afternoon before heading off to the evening service where we performed What’s It Worth and shared a little bit about what we were going to be doing in Hamilton College. Then headed home and discovered the wonders of the Nintendo Wii!!!! There is incriminating photo and video evidence….
Saturday 8th November
Slept in, got up about 11 and were treated to square sausage in a bun with a tatty scone and ketchup. Could so get used to that!!! We then got ready and headed to Braehead shopping and entertainments centre in Glasgow. We met up with everyone else for a bit of shopping in the afternoon (bought some boots from Primark ) and then to see James Bond at 5pm. Never seen a Bond film before, not sure I’d be fussed if I never saw another one! Bit silly and too many guns! We had dinner at Tony Romas, pasta and ginger beer, yum! Then headed to our hosts to watch X Factor. OH MY GOODNESS HOW AN EARTH DID LAURA GET KICKED OFF???!!!!! I think our screams could be heard for miles!! Simeon seems to have a minor crush on Diana Vickers and as she wasn’t singing due to illness, we watched her performance from the first show, which was all loaded in exactly the right place on the sky+ box…hmmm! We then all went to bed grumpy and outraged!
Friday 7th November
Last day at Mackie Academy! We had a few different lessons and presentations, more performances of The Watch and some Q&A. We then packed everything down, loaded the vans, said goodbye to people and headed for Hamilton (just outside Glasgow, bout 3 hours from Stonehaven)! We stopped and Gordon and Jane’s amazing house in Blackford on the way for dinner – a lovely chilli (with a ginger beer!). They have a really old nice house and the most incredible country kitchen with an aga, big wooden table and a proper larder! We then drove to our hosts in Auchenheath, getting slightly lost and then stuck at a red light that we soon learnt was broken! Our hosts for the week were Karen (teacher from Hamilton College) and Simeon and lived in a gorgeous modern shiny bungalow. We pretty much went straight to bed – Claire in one room and Rachel and I sharing a bed in the other!
Tags: Hamilton College, Mackie Academy