There is a big lizard living in my room with me. And I mean a big LIZARD - it definitely is not a gecko! I'm banking on a tacit agreement - I won't bother it as long as it doesn't bother me. Hopefully I can reap the positive benefits of its presence such as the reduction of my spider and other insect populations. To tell the truth, my only real concern now (after getting over the initial shock of living with a bloody big lizard) is that if a creature of its size can get into my room (and who knows how), then what may follow? (i.e. snakes??!)

On a totally different subject, a lot of my students have been asking me how old I am. My stock response is that I'm 65 years old. I was quite flattered that one or two seemed to actually take this into consideration for a few seconds before dismissing it! Since I have a couple of 20 year olds in my classes, I have been reluctant to divulge the small age gap between us. However, the illusion of the maturity of my years may lie only in my mind, as quite a few of my students have already told me that they think I am 18 years old!

And on a third tangent, there are no textbooks for my grade 11 classes. Teaching without books for a year seems a little daunting right now. We were told to expect the unexpected back in teacher training - I guess that this is one of those times!