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edit: bit long. Summary: Left second job in 6 months. New job = good. Never updated this interesting year. As previously mentioned in the thread I gave up a permanent (basically lifetime gig) position at end of last year due to outright bullying and nepotism, to move to a 12 month contract at another school. Which started well… was given literacy (lol) leadership opportunities through a range of amazing professional learning. However as the weeks ticked along, the more and more shambolic the place is. It’s in a huge transition and they have a lot of high end behaviours. Easily the toughest school behaviour wise I’ve seen. My particular class was chaotic. So many issues. So sad, and so underfunded. Honestly out of the 24 students I had identified at least half with a difficulty or learning disability. The behaviours were intense, I was told to lock out students, a student was hitting teachers (never me but had a lot thrown at me) and these poor kids are only…6. Anyway, having tried to raise points about certain dynamics in the class the support system was quite shitty tbh. Parents in their droves complained to the principal about behaviours (I urged them to talk to leadership), and eventually they found an education assistant to help most days. Didn’t help, I ended up trying so many things. It was seriously draining. Realising this was a pattern across the school I applied elsewhere. I managed to win an interview and subsequently a position in the private sector at an incredibly high performing school. I told my school at the time of this news and they said that’s great etc etc and then 3 hours later made the decision to pull me from my class. I ended up taking a week stress leave as this was quite a fucked thing to do. I was then the “relief” and was in one of the other most challenging classes for a couple of days a week for the last 4 weeks of the term. The teacher that took over my initial class is now already leaving. She’s more experienced and has been at the tough school for years… The behaviour support for this year four class? A tick chart and lollies and chocolates if these students stay in the room, don’t fight etc. fucking stupid systems. Anyway, loving the new job. Long hours and on the other side of the city, and with after school expectations. Very different. But sometimes you’ve got to move and take risks!

In contrast to the last one this matchday has been very good pointwise for our standards. Matchday 8 1) CaaC (John) 13 points 1) Viva la FCB 13 points 3) Coma 9 points 4) Rucksackfranzose 8 points 5) Bluewolf 6 points 5) nawoo 6 points 5) Stan 6 points 8- Michael 4 points 9) Tommy 2 points The table was considerably shaken up. Table after 8 matchdays 1) Rucksackfranzose 51 points 2) @Viva la FCB 50 points 3) @Michael 46 points 4) @CaaC (John) 45 points 4) @Tommy 45 points 6) @Coma 43 points 6) @Stan 43 points 8- @nawoo 42 points 9) @Bluewolf 38 points 10) @londonerlilie 17 points

So, a little work update, it's a bit long but ill condense it as much as possible. In Jan this year I had a weird run-in with my manager at work about how we're building software that we peddle to customers that is bug-ridden to the point where it's almost impossible to change it to become more stable without gutting the entire system piece by piece and rebuilding it. I was given a lot of excuses about why it was the way it is and sadly I have a great bullshit meter that doesn't allow me to hear that kind of nonsense. I talked to a lot of folks at work about what it would take to make it better, presented a case for it and then once again got told it would be too hard and would yield absolutely no benefit to the customer. I then of course made the argument that I wasn't just talking about the customer but about us as a company and how being ready to migrate to newer tech was the real goal here which ultimately serves our customers better. Fast forward to April this year and I heard the most shocking thing in the world from someone else who was a higher-up and that was this verbatim "we don't care about the fact that the system is broken in certain areas". I couldn't control myself and started laughing and said that's quite the statement, didn't go down too well and in my defense, I was laughing because I thought it was the most ludicrous thing I have heard in my 25 years in this industry. In August, I decided I had had enough and told them I was resigning. According to laws here, you have to spend 60 days prior to exit to help shore up whatever you need to. Needless to say, I am officially out of tech now for the next 30 days during which I plan to surf and also do some trekking haha. It's a weird feeling because I have been doing this since I was 17 and to disassociate from it without a gameplan for the next step feels a bit weird but so far, it's only been 1 day, and I honestly haven't thought about tech at all during that period.

Three members ( Michael, Tommy, and me) predicted the the shared Leipzig 2-2 Bayern prediction of the matchday, anyway. Matchday 6 1) Viva la FCB 11 points 2) Rucksackfranzose 10 points 3) Coma 9 points 3) Tommy 9 points 5) Michael 8 points 5) nawoo 8 points 7) 6666 7 points 7) Stan 7 points 9) Bluewolf 5 points 10) CaaC(John) 4 points Tommy lost a bit of his lead. Table after 6 matchdays 1) @Tommy 56 points 2) @Viva la FCB 49 points 3) @Coma 44 points 4) @Michael 43 points 4) @Stan 43 points 6) @nawoo 40 points 6) Rucksackfranzose 40 points 8- @Bluewolf 37 points 9) @6666 34 points 9) @CaaC (John) 34 points

Lisbon is really nice and going straight to Albufeira feels like being in an episode of black mirror. The beach is great in Albufeira, if you stay out of the main town then things feel fine (i.e playing golf) but the town itself, the shops and restaurants catered to Brits Abroad, terrible.

Yeah, it'll be boiling in central Spain in summer. Toledo looks nice but going to a new ground, would be itself. Atléti, Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla and Real Betis are the main ones, but in March Barcelona play both Athletic Club and Atlético Madrid away so those were the 2 options, although the period where Barcelona play Atleti would be the ideal time to go, as I'd have spent alot with the holiday next week, the one in December and then Christmas itself. To be fair, they both know how to create an atmosphere. For you, I think Andalucía, followed by the Valencia region, then finished off in Mallorca(or Menorca) driving around and seeing an island, would probably be the perfect trip to be honest.

There were some close calls but no winners for either games unfortunately. 36 minutes for Game 41, and 30th minute for Game 42. On we go! GAME 43 - LUTON vs BURNLEY - TUESDAY 3rd OCTOBER, 19.30 (BST) GAME 44 - ATLETICO MADRID vs FEYENOORD - WEDNESDAY 4th OCTOBER, 17.45 (BST) ***any predictions made after kick-off will not count*** @Mel81x @Lucas @6666 @Dr. Gonzo @Michael @Redcanuck @Devil @Reluctant Striker @CaaC (John) @Beelzebub @Devil-Dick Willie @JoshBRFC @Viva la FCB @Pyfish @Bluewolf @Tommy @Rucksackfranzose @OrangeKhrush

Always thought for years that there was corruption in football via dodgy betting and refs. Since VAR was introduced and seeing how dodgy so many decisions still are. Am pretty certain the Premier real has forms of corruption going on.

Well done Mel on a brave decision. Enjoy the 30 days surging and trekking. Hope the weather's good wherever you are!