Thank God it's holidays!

Like most teachers I was on my knees with exhaustion by the time the final bell rang on Friday - it had been the longest week ever, requiring an ability to justify the educational link between "High School Musical" (or similar) and whatever part of the curriculum we were meant to be slogging through with kids who have been mentally on leave since about May! The refrain "Can we have a fun lesson?" is anathema to teachers who sincerely believe that deconnotating Shakespeare is the height of fun!

The bell finally rang - shortly followed by ominous rolls of thunder. Was it possible? Could we really be in for another freak storm which would have us stranded at school until 6pm, when all we wanted was to get home and open the wine? The flooding a couple of summers ago couldn't have been timed worse. Some noble members of the profession spent that dismal afternoon doing prep for the following academic year, while the rest of us debated the H&S risks of donning scuba gear to brave the torrential roads and JUST GET OUT OF THERE!

Friday was excrutiating for an entirely different reason - the endless "We'll really miss you" speeches to the rats deserting the school ship - some of whom I didn't even recognise - and the Oscar-style tearful "acceptance speeches". Then the stampede for the food table - stand back while the obese members of staff attack first, piling their plates high and stashing a bread roll under each armpit! Comforting to know our youngsters are in the care of such shining role models ...

It was good to have a chat with the colleagues who have become good friends this year - we mostly live in our classrooms all term, eating lunch at our desks in grim solitude, so having a conversation that wasn't about Johnny's coursework or Frank's tendency to fart in class, was refreshing.

I must have yawned a hundred times during my drive home on Friday, as eight weeks of unremitting hard mental and emotional labour was finally allowed to be acknowledged. We are a tough lot, us teachers - we keep going, keep cheerful and motivational no matter how knackered we are - but come the holidays and we are, for the first few days at least, like inflatable toys (no, not THAT kind!) with the plug pulled out; all spring and bounce gone! But at least the summer holidays, unlike the mid-year ones, allow us to have a proper rest. No marking, and unless you're a first year teacher, just a few days going over schemes of work that you have already taught, tweaking them for the classes you are going to have in September.