Amusing Anecdotes and Repressed Memories

Hi lovely people!

I decided to write another post today because I kept thinking of stories that I had either been too stressed to talk about at the time (and that I now see the humour in) or ones that I had just forgotten to tell here.  

So, without further ado...

The time when a strange man walked into my flat whilst I slept

On the first afternoon that I lived in this city, I decided to take a short nap since I had flown through the night and then taken the train for two hours immediately afterward.  I was sleeping peacefully for a few minutes before I awoke with a start to see a strange middle-aged man standing by my bed.  In my groggy state I was more confused than afraid.  He began to apologize profusely to me and to back out into the corridor saying that he had thought that the flat was empty as a tenant had moved out the day before.  I sleepily replied, sounding more perturbed than I meant to “but I moved IN toDAY!” 

It turns out that he was my landlady’s repair man and he had come to see that everything was in working order in the flat.  He apologized about fifteen times before finally leaving and I could tell that he was mortified that he had walked in on me.  Unfazed by the whole situation, I went right back to sleep.  This shows you how exhausted I was when I first arrived here.

The time that my Canadian bank account got frozen

I was trying to get my funds transferred to my UK account and it turned out to be a much more complicated process than the agency made it out to be.  When I was finally able to transfer my funds the bank believed that someone in England was trying to steal all of my money.  Thankfully, a  quick call to the fraud line got this all fixed.

The time that my UK bank account got frozen

Last weekend I tried to pay my landlady three months’ rent at once through online banking (since she had failed to give me her banking information until I had been living in the flat for almost six weeks).  I had tried paying it at the bank initially to avoid a situation like this but the teller said that there would be a £20 charge unless I did it online.  I followed her advice and I ended up having to call the fraud line and then having to go to the branch the next day to get it all sorted out.  Luckily I still had my Canadian Visa card to use for the day while I could not access my accounts!

The time that I got on the wrong train on the first day of school

It was my first day of teaching and I was planning to arrive at school at 8:00am before the 8:30 staff briefing.  I walked to the train station and got there at approximately 6:20am which gave me just enough time to get to my 6:30 train.  I bought my ticket and rushed to the platform across the station so as not to miss my train since any of the later journeys would have gotten me to work too late.

When I got down to the platform the train was already there.  I hopped on and was about to find a seat when I thought that I should just check to make sure that there was not another train right before mine.  I peeked out the window the screen and sure enough the train that I was on was the 6:25 train which was going in the opposite direction that mine was!  I tried to press the button to get off but as soon as I pressed it the light went off and I was locked in.

I frantically ran through the train with all of my school bags (looking like a complete madwoman I’m sure) to find someone who worked on the train and finally I found the man who was giving information over the loudspeaker.  We were still beside the platform and the train was moving slowly so in my head I was still holding on to the hope that they could stop the train for me.  I was not thinking completely rationally at this point.  I was going to be late for my FIRST DAY of work!  The first day of my real career that I had been training for over the past FIVE YEARS!

I shouted at him “I NEED TO GET OFF!  I AM ON THE WRONG TRAIN!”

He shouted back “You can’t get off!  The train is moving!”  He was quite nasty about it too which I resented at the time.

I got off at the next station and tried to figure out how to get to my destination as quickly as possible.  I went to the ticket office and the sweet lady there printed out the train times for the ones that I would need to take.  I had to take three more trains that day in order to get to school! 

After this I made a quick phone call to one of my co-workers and asked me to pick me up at the station because my train was going to get in only ten minutes before school and it was at least a twenty minute walk between the train and school.  He came to my rescue and I got to school on time!   I was pretty stressed and flustered at the start of the day but at least I made it in one piece.

That evening the same co-worker introduced me to the teacher that I now drive into work with.  I have not had to take the train to or from work since.  PTL!

The time when there was no power in my flat

I woke up one morning and tried to turn on the lights and none of them worked.  I tried the outlets and none of them had power either. Using my powers of resourcefulness I got ready in the dark by the light of my school and personal laptops.  I even did my makeup and ended up looking like a normal person! 

I called my landlady and it turned out to be what she called the “trick switch” which was just the main breaker for my flat which was in a box by my front door.  I figured this out after being home again for an hour or so after everything in my fridge/freezer had been left to thaw all day because I did not have time to deal with the issue before school.   Oops!  At least now I know to check that first.

The time when my students were convinced that I had a secret husband

One day when I was teaching my Maths class, minding my own business when the Head of the Maths department who I team-teach the class with brought a young man into my room.  He told me that this guy was a Maths genius and was training to be a teacher and that he could help me out with my class once a fortnight.  He then introduced this young man to the class as Mr. Hutchinson. 

At first, the kids just stared at him in disbelief and confusion.  I knew exactly what was coming but I waited for the first student to call out “Mr. Hutchinson!  But you’re Miss Hutchinson!  Is he your husband?!?” 

I insisted that I had never seen the man before in my life but kids kept on asking me if we were married and/or in love whenever I came around to help them for the rest of the hour.  I thought I had them convinced that I did NOT know him by the end of the lesson but sure enough the next day one of the boys looked up at me completely innocently and asked “where is your husband?”  *sigh*

The time when my classroom became a haven for Yu-Gi-Oh card players

I don’t even teach these kids.  On Friday they just asked me if they could come into my room at lunch so that they could play their game and not get bullied.  It was so cute!  I told them that they could come back any time that I was in my room at break or lunch time.  I love that my classroom is seen as a safe space.

There you go!  Some more snippits from my days here.  Some of them are pretty ridiculous but with so much going on I just had to repress them for a while before bringing them out for your amusement. 

-Heather <3