A sad week and a good week.

It is a sad week in the UK.
A young soldier was killed , whilst off duty in England.
The murderer was a crazed Extremist.
I feel for the soldier's family and friends.

Lee Rigby British soldier murdered in London.
LINK TO BBC Story.

On a happier note, I ran my second Park Run of this year and 'Smashed!' last week's time. It looks like the ' no pain, no gain' training regime is showing some profit.

When I am training in the gym, I usually listen to my i Pod.
I decided to put my i Pod on 'Shuffle' which means that it chooses random tracks and plays them one after another.
After about 20 minutes, I began to realise what the inside of my head must look like!
The first track was in Russian, the second in Spanish, then some classical music, then a track by the Rolling Stones, then some Northern Soul, then more Russian followed by some Italian!
Is there any wonder that I often say that ' my head is in a shed!

We have the Whit Bank Holiday this week and Abigail is off school. This means lots of spending money and shopping!
It's also a good week for gardening! We have had a couple of lovely days and my leeks are coming on great!

The football season is finally over with a German team , Bayern Munich winning the Champion's league. 
At least one German team lost at Wembley!!
Crystal Palace won the biggest prize in British football by beating Watford in the Championship Play Off final and acquiring a place in the Premiership. 
Here's hoping my team Middlesbrough can do better next season!

My week

I am trying to get fit at the moment, going to the gym, cycling and on Saturday morning I competed in my 3rd. park run. This is a 5k race/run in a local park, Stewart's Park in Middlesbrough.
We have them all over the UK, all ages can compete and you can track your times and results through the use of a Bar code that you are issued when you register with Park Run.

It was absolutley 'chucking it down' ! I was completely soaked to the skin , when I finished and not surprisingly I had completed my worst time of 41.42.  But this has made me more determined  to do better in next weeks Park Run!

The cricket season is well under way now with England playing in a test match against New Zealand. Cricket is usually associated with summer!

Saturday night Christine and I went to Whitby on the train. We went to a 'Soul night' , this interestingly enough, is on the same night as the Eurovision Song Contest. A comment was made on the radio about how British music is and was much more influenced by American music than European.

THE BEST! SONG EVER WRITTEN 

PERFORMED BY

THE BEST GROUP IN THE WORLD!

MY GIRL

 THE TEMPTATIONS.

I can honestly say that my own musical influences are from  Tamla Motown and Soul music and not from the Eurovision song contest!

Molly pretending to be a 'Leek' in my allotment.

I spent most of Sunday in my garden and as you can see I was helped by my dog Molly.

 [Molly is a Jack Russell]

My week

A busy weekend! I spent most of the afternoon on Friday in the garden. I have a small allotment, where I am trying to grow some vegetables. I have a greenhouse and I have planted all sorts of  vegetables and flowers.
I have also planted some Russian seeds which I smuggled back from Kostroma!
I hope to grow giant pumpkins and courgettes.
I spent Saturday afternoon in a Safety boat on Scaling Dam  , where Abigail and I are members of the Sailing club. It was freezing! I am so glad that I was not sailing!

Roberto Martinez and Wigan Athletic celebrating their F.A. Cup win.

Saturday was also the F.A. Cup final and the underdogs Wigan Athletic beat the rich club! Manchester City, Excellent!

Sunday, Abigail decided that she wanted to go to the gym, so we went on the morning and I cooked lunch as Christine was at work.
Watched a film called, ' the Impossible' about the Tsunami last night. Very sad.
Monday and back to work.
I have a French class on a Monday evening and we are working hard with French grammar.

Roberto Martinez Manager of Wigan Athletic, looking quite miserable!

Tuesday.
Talk about ups and downs!
Wigan Athletic F.A. Cup winners have now been relegated!

My week

This is the first post of a weekly review of my life in England for my students, colleagues and friends in Russia, France, Spain and wherever else you may be!!.

So what's happened in the last week?
Last weekend was a long weekend, because Monday was a Bank Holiday.
Most of the UK would be spending time in the garden or stuck in traffic jams on their way to the seaside!
The weather was great, quite hot for May.
Saturday was a busy day, ironing followed by tidying the garden , then a couple of hours fishing!
Sunday was a family day, Nanna, Grandad, Aunty and nephews all together for lunch, followed by a walk by the sea.
Bank Holiday Monday had the usual Car boot Sale, hundreds of people including me! All searching for a bargain, I found a couple of pieces of excellent fishing equipment, so of course I had to go fishing on the evening to test them out!

Back to work on Tuesday for a short week. Taught German on Tuesday night, planning my visit to Germany at the end of June.

Wednesday saw the  opening of Parliament, our Queen makes a speech  and there is a lot of pageantry and tradition.

Our Prime Minister is in Russia talking to President Putin, no doubt discussing the terrible situation in Syria.
My friends tell me that it was Victory day in Russia and it is also a Bank Holiday.