Stop the world, I want to get off...

I can't quite believe January has passed and we are into the second month of 2010 already!

Since arriving back from Egypt my feet have barely touched the ground. School has been very busy with lots of things to do, both during the day and in the evenings.

Year 11 have had their mock exams, followed by Parent Teacher Consultations. They have also had information evenings regarding Sixth Form Studies at the BOS and Further Education in both the UK and North America.

January also saw the Secondary Prize Giving Ceremony. This had originally been planned for June of last year, but when we came to organising the Shamiana the company wanted about £1000 just for the AC. So we decided that that was totally unacceptable at so many different level and that we would postpone until the weather cooled down in the autumn. Sadly, the security situation in November meant that we couldn't hold it then, which brought us to January.

The evening went extremely well, and it was my pleasure to be MC for the evening. The students were allowed to dress in 'mufty', but were instructed to 'dress up' and they did us proud. They all looked amazing and everyone, staff, parents and students had a fantastic evening.

This was followed on the Monday, by the whole school Sports Day (Yes Sports Day on 1st February, and we had left it a little late as it was quite warm!!). This was another fantastic day for the school. An early disaster was averted by a very brave girl in Year 5. The CD with the national anthem malfunctioned and the youngster stepped forward and volunteered to sing unaccompanied in front of about 600 people! She was fantastic and has now set a new school tradition!!

Alongside all these events there have been rehearsals for this year's production of 'Hobson's Choice' by Harold Brighouse. We have choosen a modern adaptation by Tanika Gupta, which updates it to modern Salford and sets it in a tailor's shop run by an immigrant Asian family. The issues addressed in Hobson's Choice fit very well to it's new setting and the comedy is starting to come together.

Our first performance is in 10 days and during today's rehearsals the leading lady was still clutching her script, but I am sure 'it'll be alright on the night' Inshallah!

Next weekend will see the school Valentine's Ball hosted by the PTA and being held in the grounds of the British Deputy High Commission. It will a lovely evening and nice excuse to dress up. I will however, be going 'sans partner' before anyone gets too excited!

I am also trying to arrange the Year 11 Geography fieldwork trip to Oman from February 28th-March 2th. We have looked at trips within Pakistan, but sadly security concerns have meant that we have been unable to take advantage of fabulous opportunities that are available here. This is one of the saddest parts of all the violence and threats of violence within Pakistan. It means that the tourist opportunities here are lost, which is such a shame. As a country we can offer nearly every type holiday you could want, from beaches to city breaks, diving to skiing and mountaineering.

Once the production is over and the temperature has risen a couple more degrees, we will back to swimming training. We have an inter school compettion on 10th April, here in Karachi, and then an international competition, once more in Oman, on 28th April. After a winter of inactivity we will need to put in a lot of effort to get back up to speed.

I have also managed to find time to book my flights home for the summer and this year I will be taking a slightly circuitous route. I will leave Karachi and fly first to Dubai and then on to Cairo, where I will have 10 hour layover. This will give enough time to have dinner with Thomas before flying on to Amsterdam and then finally back to Manchester. Then about 7 weeks later I will make the reverse journey, only this time spending a week in Egypt.

The reason for these elaborate travel arrangements is the fact that am 40 this year! I will be spending the week in Egypt celebrating my birthday with a trip to the Red Sea. However, at this moment I cannot give you more details of exactly what we will be doing, as I have handed over the organisation of the trip to Thomas. This is a major step forward for me, to actually reliquish control to someone else. I have, however, complete trust in my godson's abilities to put together a package that I will enjoy! And just in case, I will have my credit card handy...