Seasonally affected ...

Last weekend the clocks went back. It didn't feel like the big event it usually is for me when I am in London. For the first time in five years I was not dreading the moment that signified shorter days and long, dark nights. I am in Spain and the days may be getting shorter but the light is still good here. Today it was also 25 degrees so I had no excuse not to smile.

In my class this afternoon I taught my students all about "spring forward and fall backwards" and we had a good session where we revised telling the time in English and discussed the impact of changing the clocks. I told them how I look forward to the 21st of December, the winter equinox, when the days start to lengthen again. Now it is really autumn and the nights are getting darker earlier. I have no light box here so I am relying on the natural light to keep away my SAD. It is going to be an interesting experiment!

Tomorrow I have an interview to see if I can teach some classes in the mornings. Now this is going to be a real challenge for me to see if I can get up at 6.30 in the morning. I need the work so I am going to give it a go. Teaching is proving a nightmare here at the moment with cancelled classes every day. It seems the answer is to take on slightly more than I need and can do and then hope that some of them cancel each week - ideally on the same day so that I get paid too. This is not how I imagined my life in Madrid!