"Ain't it the truth, AIN'T it the truth!!"

Well, today was a new experience. Mufti day at school from the staff side of things!

The theme for the upper school was the Wizard of Oz and as the newest member of the team, I was lumbered with the cowardly lion, whether I liked it or not.

With Joseph's triumph from almost exactly a year ago (read here) still fresh in my mind, we knew we had to pull out all the steps to show it wasn't a one off.

With M's eye for detail and me being a dab hand with a needle and thread, we got to work and we were still going strong at 11.30pm the night before D-day.

Annabel's Maisy Mouse was the easiest, Joseph wanted to follow in my footsteps and was the Tin Man and my outfit was looking good. We got up extra early to enable me time to get pinned into it, for M to put my make up on (hey, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do), get my curly wig in place and off we go.

Naturally, Sod's Law decrees that the sillier you are dressed, the more likely it is that your neighbours come out at the precise moment you lock your front door behind you and they all had a good chortle at my appearance.

I was glad we made the effort as it quickly became clear that most of the school also put a great deal of thought into their costumes.

Not all.

Most.

As Mufti day had coincided with Book week, the teaching staff had to stand and hold up our favourite book, explaining to pupils and parents alike what it was about. After lunchtime, the pupils decided which book they liked the sound of the most and met in a pre-arranged location around the school to hear that teacher read them extracts from it.

Obviously I chose Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist and I was delighted to have more than a dozen recruits to read to after lunch. Of course, they might've come to my group purely on the basis of my electric personality and that I am a fun member of staff to be around.

Or I just could've pitched the book really well.

You decide.

Lent update: with more than a fortnight still to go, I haven't had so much as a sniff of the red stuff and during our visit to the British Museum, I consoled myself with looking forlornly at a worn marble frieze of Dionysos, God of Wine.

I know the whole idea is to go without something you like but next year I have already decided to give up cheese.

I can't stand the stuff!!