Batten down the hatches, Irene's headed this way!

Oh lordy, there's a hurricane heading up the coast and it is all anyone is talking about although they are a whole lot calmer than I am! Pack outdoor things away, get some water and food supplies, check your 'flash lights' work and that you have a battery powered radio and all should be fine. If it gets really bad, I have the advantage of a basement to hide in. All the same, I'd rather the hurricane miss us! I thought it was windy the other night when it was swirling round the house. Pah! No one batted an eyelid at that..EEK!

Worth another EEK! is the fact that I am now on the road, on the wrong side! It is very disconcerting but I'm managing. Driving an automatic makes it a lot easier as I don't need to do anything other than look both ways and check my speedo! Thankfully Emily, my wondeful mentor, has lent me her GPS so I don't have to worry too much about directions either.

I am already in love with my Subaru Forester, Snicker (It has SN licence plates and so should be easy to find in the 'parking lot') and cannot imagine having to ever drive a small sized car again!

Annie, the vendor and an amazingly helpful friend, has also lent me some CDs, a novelty for me as I was way too lazy to ever have a CD player installed in my Ka. These will be much needed on the 10 minute trip to the 'store' but not on the 1/2 mile commute to work...which I am going to try and walk but it is a pain when carrying 3 bags. I did this the other day and was thouroughly fed up by the time I got to the end of the street. Excuses, excuses...

Cumberland Center is a great little place, very different from what I'm used to. The houses are all really spaced out and are made of wood. They all seem to have slightly different designs but 'mine' has a front porch which is just gorgeous to sit and look out from on sunny mornings.

It is a short walk/cycle/drive to school, the high school (where the swimming pool is), Twin Brooks (recreation area where the woodland trails for running are just wonderful, especially in the early evening when the light turns the trees orange), the post office, the library, to Food Stop (the only shop in town which sells milk and junk but doesn't have one fresh green thing in sight) and, as I discovered this morning whilst on my run, a taxidermist! Otherwise I have to jump in my wagon and head to  Yarmouth, Falmouth or Portland about 10 miles or so away.

I am sharing the house with Sarah and her 5 year old daughter, Sophie, who has just moved in after a 'vacation' (she looked at me dumbstruck when I asked how her holiday was). It is great to have the company and we have shared some yummy meals together. Lots more to come I'm sure!

I met most of my class yesterday and what a group! I love the fact that they are slightly older - Grade 3 are the equivalent of year 4. There are some very enthusiastic readers who love Harry Potter. I hope they are not expecting too much of this British teacher...I wish I was Professor McGonagall! My classroom is just about ready and I can't wait to get started now although doing a 8am-6pm day on Wednesday and a get up at 6am nearly killed me. I was in bed by 10!!

This is my classroom. Very light, very warm and well resourced except for an interactive whiteboard. I've already nabbed a projector and visualiser for the classroom so at least that's something. Note the flag...children will be saying the pledge of allegiance each morning. Luckily it comes over the speaker system so its not down to me!

I got my reward for all that hard work yesterday morning though...A trip to the local (2 miles away) diner with some very friendly, welcoming neighbours. It was a real American experience as you can see from the picture and as for the granola pancakes...what can I say! I could only eat 2 of 3 and that's saying something as my stomach can expand to accommodate lots.

Visitors, be warned, this will be on your itinery!

It's great value as I had no need to eat until dinner time...

By which time, it was our 'wing' meeting at another teacher's house. My contribution was a Hella cake. Clearly a good choice as it disappeared almost as quickly as in the staffroom at Bliss!!!

I'll keep you posted on the progress of Irene. Arrrrgggghhhhhh!