Teachers laugh more often than any other profession...

And I believe it. To be honest, I really think it's because often you're in a laugh-or-cry situation. For example, when someone pipes up from the back of the class "So what page are we on?" when you've just finished saying "page 43" for the 23rd time in 2 minutes. Or when the reason given for non-attempted (never mind completed) homework is that "I lost the ability to sit. Honestly, it's tragic - I spent the entire night staring at the chair trying desperately to remember what to do..." At least it's more original that 'the dog ate it'!

Today was one of those giggle-inducing days.

Having spent almost the entire day finally marking the huge pile of essays that I've been studiously ignoring, I came upon an absolute corker. The only problem is that I can't decide if it's an accidentally hilarious example of why you shouldn't automaticaly click 'change' on the spellcheck, or if this pupil is actually a cheeky little shite staging a clever form of passive protest against my choice of class text. Maybe you can decide. The opening sentence of this young man's essay read...

"I have reticently been reading..."

That's right, "reticently". So, was he aiming for 'recently' but did something funny that sparked spell-check, or is he a bit clever, a bit funny, and a bit on his way to detention?

Who knows? You decide.

On a completely unrelated note, today I finally cracked and ordered Sky Digital. The Variety and Music mixes, if you're interested. It was a combination of factors that did it. There was the flyer offering 'half price subscription for three months' lying on the floor when I got home. There was the trailer for Lost series 3 that was on tv, mocking me with channel 4's shiteness. There was the obnoxious PE teacher at school who's been mocking my lack of sky (and hence lack of Lost) since the announcement of channel 4's shiteness. And then there was the prospect of the Shetland winter stretching before me...

So I cracked. I did have a mini-tantrum when I discovered that I couldn't order it online because I don't live on the UK mainland, but that was averted when the nice chappy on the end of the phone said that I could still have the £10 'book on-line' credit. And then I discovered that no-one will be around to install it until the 19th of December! Bastards!

PS: The 'I forgot how to sit down' excuse - I genuinely heard that on Tuesday. You have to admire the dedication to avoiding homework.