If you believe the girls at our school, you'll be lucky. For some reasons ome of the Year 10 and Year 11 girls have decided that CERN are going to blow up the Universe sometime tomorrow.
This is interesting because they have no idea what CERN is or what the scientists there are doing, or anything else really. So just in case the kids are right, and most of the world's scientists are wrong. I thought I'd get in one last word.
DIMPLEX
Well, if you are going to have a last word, Dimplex will do just fine.
Okay, that's got that over and done with.
I'm sitting here watching the National Movie Awards. They are about to award the Best Actor prize. However, they just had a "Coming Soon" piece and it included a mention of what looked like a new StarTrek Movie. How have I missed that.
By the way, Johnnie Depp won. Good call.
I'm not in the mood tonight, so I'll stop there. See you soon!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
And with a bright flash .... it was gone
I can see a pattern developing here. WHAT HAPPENED TO SUNDAY?
So we've gone from Tuesday last week to Monday this week with only one post in between. If I don't watch it this will be the beginning of the end.
Saturday Night was smart. We went out with our friend Barbara & Richard and the other Barbara to the "Sweet Mandarin" in Manchester. If anyone ever reads this and lives around Manchester, give it a try. An excellent Chinese Restaurant opposite what used to be the Fish Market. Modern, superb food and not too expensive. They make a lot of money on drinks, though, but I suppose that is true of all restaurants. We had a very nice mixed banquet but we were talking about it today and the way prices are going at the moment, maybe we need to buy five dishes and share next time.
Unfortunately I was the designated driver this time, as was Rich, so we ended up on Coca Cola while the women put away quantities of white wine. Ah well, it will be my turn next time.
Sunday was a nice day, despite the fact that it rained none stop all day. At least we have the benefit of living on a hill in the Peak District. I pity the people of Morpeth in Northumberland who received all of September's Rain on Friday. With the following result:
How do you cope with sitting watching TV when your house fills up with water. And the horrible nature of the water at that. We watched the news on Sunday Morning when they showed what was left on the carpet on Sunday Morning.
It was a longer than usual service at Church on Sunday. Philip, the Vicar, was away and we had a visiting Canon. He may be missing having his own church and we got a service that laster 1 hour and 40 minutes. Too long for me. I'm sure that the sermon was very erudite, but he lost me after 20 minutes. Still.
I spent the rainy afternoon mainly doing School Work of one sort and another. It is the great joy of teaching that you get to mark all of this work. Ah I do so love correcting exercises ... NOT!
Then we went back to Church for the once a month service of Evensong. I'm not a modernist. I don't believe that Church Services have to be in "Modern" to be accessible. I am a great lover of the old, traditional, Book of Common Prayer that has been in use since, what, about 1605. It has stood the Church of England in good stead for four hundred years and I find it perfectly accessible today. To the modernists I ask, do we need to re-write Shakespeare as Rap to make it accessible to the yoof of the country?
Anyway, we had a lovely, gentle service that made me feel so very good. And thank you to the Choir for that perfect piece of an Anthem. I know that none of them will ever read this, but it was a great joy.
And so, back to work, another weekend bites the dust!
So we've gone from Tuesday last week to Monday this week with only one post in between. If I don't watch it this will be the beginning of the end.
Saturday Night was smart. We went out with our friend Barbara & Richard and the other Barbara to the "Sweet Mandarin" in Manchester. If anyone ever reads this and lives around Manchester, give it a try. An excellent Chinese Restaurant opposite what used to be the Fish Market. Modern, superb food and not too expensive. They make a lot of money on drinks, though, but I suppose that is true of all restaurants. We had a very nice mixed banquet but we were talking about it today and the way prices are going at the moment, maybe we need to buy five dishes and share next time.
Unfortunately I was the designated driver this time, as was Rich, so we ended up on Coca Cola while the women put away quantities of white wine. Ah well, it will be my turn next time.
Sunday was a nice day, despite the fact that it rained none stop all day. At least we have the benefit of living on a hill in the Peak District. I pity the people of Morpeth in Northumberland who received all of September's Rain on Friday. With the following result:
How do you cope with sitting watching TV when your house fills up with water. And the horrible nature of the water at that. We watched the news on Sunday Morning when they showed what was left on the carpet on Sunday Morning.It was a longer than usual service at Church on Sunday. Philip, the Vicar, was away and we had a visiting Canon. He may be missing having his own church and we got a service that laster 1 hour and 40 minutes. Too long for me. I'm sure that the sermon was very erudite, but he lost me after 20 minutes. Still.
I spent the rainy afternoon mainly doing School Work of one sort and another. It is the great joy of teaching that you get to mark all of this work. Ah I do so love correcting exercises ... NOT!
Then we went back to Church for the once a month service of Evensong. I'm not a modernist. I don't believe that Church Services have to be in "Modern" to be accessible. I am a great lover of the old, traditional, Book of Common Prayer that has been in use since, what, about 1605. It has stood the Church of England in good stead for four hundred years and I find it perfectly accessible today. To the modernists I ask, do we need to re-write Shakespeare as Rap to make it accessible to the yoof of the country?
Anyway, we had a lovely, gentle service that made me feel so very good. And thank you to the Choir for that perfect piece of an Anthem. I know that none of them will ever read this, but it was a great joy.
And so, back to work, another weekend bites the dust!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Home
Time for another poem. This one is by Rudyard Kipling who is one of my favourite poets. Everyone else in the world hates him, 'cos he embodies the British Empire. However, he deserves more reading, try "Recessional" for a different approach. I might put it in the blog at some point, if I remember, but for now, here is
The Land
When Julius Fabricius, Sub-Prefect of the Weald,
In the days of Diocletian owned our Lower River-field,
He called to him Hobdenius-a Briton of the Clay,
Saying: "What about that River-piece for layin'' in to hay?"
And the aged Hobden answered: "I remember as a lad
My father told your father that she wanted dreenin' bad.
An' the more that you neeglect her the less you'll get her clean.
Have it jest as you've a mind to, but, if I was you, I'd dreen."
So they drained it long and crossways in the lavish Roman style--
Still we find among the river-drift their flakes of ancient tile,
And in drouthy middle August, when the bones of meadows show,
We can trace the lines they followed sixteen hundred years ago.
Then Julius Fabricius died as even Prefects do,
And after certain centuries, Imperial Rome died too.
Then did robbers enter Britain from across the Northern main
And our Lower River-field was won by Ogier the Dane.
Well could Ogier work his war-boat --well could Ogier wield his brand--
Much he knew of foaming waters--not so much of farming land.
So he called to him a Hobden of the old unaltered blood,
Saying: "What about that River-piece; she doesn't look no good?"
And that aged Hobden answered "'Tain't for me not interfere.
But I've known that bit o' meadow now for five and fifty year.
Have it jest as you've a mind to, but I've proved it time on' time,
If you want to change her nature you have got to give her lime!"
Ogier sent his wains to Lewes, twenty hours' solemn walk,
And drew back great abundance of the cool, grey, healing chalk.
And old Hobden spread it broadcast, never heeding what was in't.--
Which is why in cleaning ditches, now and then we find a flint.
Ogier died. His sons grew English-Anglo-Saxon was their name--
Till out of blossomed Normandy another pirate came;
For Duke William conquered England and divided with his men,
And our Lower River-field he gave to William of Warenne.
But the Brook (you know her habit) rose one rainy autumn night
And tore down sodden flitches of the bank to left and right.
So, said William to his Bailiff as they rode their dripping rounds:
"Hob, what about that River-bit--the Brook's got up no bounds? "
And that aged Hobden answered: "'Tain't my business to advise,
But ye might ha' known 'twould happen from the way the valley lies.
Where ye can't hold back the water you must try and save the sile.
Hev it jest as you've a mind to, but, if I was you, I'd spile!"
They spiled along the water-course with trunks of willow-trees,
And planks of elms behind 'em and immortal oaken knees.
And when the spates of Autumn whirl the gravel-beds away
You can see their faithful fragments, iron-hard in iron clay.
Georgii Quinti Anno Sexto, I, who own the River-field,
Am fortified with title-deeds, attested, signed and sealed,
Guaranteeing me, my assigns, my executors and heirs
All sorts of powers and profits which-are neither mine nor theirs,
I have rights of chase and warren, as my dignity requires.
I can fish-but Hobden tickles--I can shoot--but Hobden wires.
I repair, but he reopens, certain gaps which, men allege,
Have been used by every Hobden since a Hobden swapped a hedge.
Shall I dog his morning progress o'er the track-betraying dew?
Demand his dinner-basket into which my pheasant flew?
Confiscate his evening faggot under which my conies ran,
And summons him to judgment? I would sooner summons Pan.
His dead are in the churchyard--thirty generations laid.
Their names were old in history when Domesday Book was made;
And the passion and the piety and prowess of his line
Have seeded, rooted, fruited in some land the Law calls mine.
Not for any beast that burrows, not for any bird that flies,
Would I lose his large sound council, miss his keen amending eyes.
He is bailiff, woodman, wheelwright, field-surveyor, engineer,
And if flagrantly a poacher--'tain't for me to interfere.
"Hob, what about that River-bit?" I turn to him again,
With Fabricius and Ogier and William of Warenne.
"Hev it jest as you've a mind to, but"-and here he takes command.
For whoever pays the taxes old Hobden owns the land.
The Land
When Julius Fabricius, Sub-Prefect of the Weald,
In the days of Diocletian owned our Lower River-field,
He called to him Hobdenius-a Briton of the Clay,
Saying: "What about that River-piece for layin'' in to hay?"
And the aged Hobden answered: "I remember as a lad
My father told your father that she wanted dreenin' bad.
An' the more that you neeglect her the less you'll get her clean.
Have it jest as you've a mind to, but, if I was you, I'd dreen."
So they drained it long and crossways in the lavish Roman style--
Still we find among the river-drift their flakes of ancient tile,
And in drouthy middle August, when the bones of meadows show,
We can trace the lines they followed sixteen hundred years ago.
Then Julius Fabricius died as even Prefects do,
And after certain centuries, Imperial Rome died too.
Then did robbers enter Britain from across the Northern main
And our Lower River-field was won by Ogier the Dane.
Well could Ogier work his war-boat --well could Ogier wield his brand--
Much he knew of foaming waters--not so much of farming land.
So he called to him a Hobden of the old unaltered blood,
Saying: "What about that River-piece; she doesn't look no good?"
And that aged Hobden answered "'Tain't for me not interfere.
But I've known that bit o' meadow now for five and fifty year.
Have it jest as you've a mind to, but I've proved it time on' time,
If you want to change her nature you have got to give her lime!"
Ogier sent his wains to Lewes, twenty hours' solemn walk,
And drew back great abundance of the cool, grey, healing chalk.
And old Hobden spread it broadcast, never heeding what was in't.--
Which is why in cleaning ditches, now and then we find a flint.
Ogier died. His sons grew English-Anglo-Saxon was their name--
Till out of blossomed Normandy another pirate came;
For Duke William conquered England and divided with his men,
And our Lower River-field he gave to William of Warenne.
But the Brook (you know her habit) rose one rainy autumn night
And tore down sodden flitches of the bank to left and right.
So, said William to his Bailiff as they rode their dripping rounds:
"Hob, what about that River-bit--the Brook's got up no bounds? "
And that aged Hobden answered: "'Tain't my business to advise,
But ye might ha' known 'twould happen from the way the valley lies.
Where ye can't hold back the water you must try and save the sile.
Hev it jest as you've a mind to, but, if I was you, I'd spile!"
They spiled along the water-course with trunks of willow-trees,
And planks of elms behind 'em and immortal oaken knees.
And when the spates of Autumn whirl the gravel-beds away
You can see their faithful fragments, iron-hard in iron clay.
Georgii Quinti Anno Sexto, I, who own the River-field,
Am fortified with title-deeds, attested, signed and sealed,
Guaranteeing me, my assigns, my executors and heirs
All sorts of powers and profits which-are neither mine nor theirs,
I have rights of chase and warren, as my dignity requires.
I can fish-but Hobden tickles--I can shoot--but Hobden wires.
I repair, but he reopens, certain gaps which, men allege,
Have been used by every Hobden since a Hobden swapped a hedge.
Shall I dog his morning progress o'er the track-betraying dew?
Demand his dinner-basket into which my pheasant flew?
Confiscate his evening faggot under which my conies ran,
And summons him to judgment? I would sooner summons Pan.
His dead are in the churchyard--thirty generations laid.
Their names were old in history when Domesday Book was made;
And the passion and the piety and prowess of his line
Have seeded, rooted, fruited in some land the Law calls mine.
Not for any beast that burrows, not for any bird that flies,
Would I lose his large sound council, miss his keen amending eyes.
He is bailiff, woodman, wheelwright, field-surveyor, engineer,
And if flagrantly a poacher--'tain't for me to interfere.
"Hob, what about that River-bit?" I turn to him again,
With Fabricius and Ogier and William of Warenne.
"Hev it jest as you've a mind to, but"-and here he takes command.
For whoever pays the taxes old Hobden owns the land.
A Moderately Happy Man!
See. This is what happens. You miss writing in your diary / journal / blog for one day and suddenly it is the weekend.
Sorry, but then, as far as I'm concerned I'm the only person whoever reads this so it really doesn't matter at all.
Wednesday was a bit of a washout. At the end of school we had a Tutor Team meeting. It bothers me that all we seem to be concerned with these days is the statistical output of results from the girls, rather than considering each individual and aiming to do the best by her. So our meeting was mostly about setting targets for this that and the other. In the evening I spent my time typing up the Minutes from last months meeting of the Parochial Church Council Standing Committee. Oh yes, and Hayley, our friend and Podiatrist came round and sorted out my feet again. There is nothing quite so nice as having nice feet, and I haven't got them, but it's not because Hayley is at fault. So by the time that this, that and the other was done, it was time to sit down and watch "Who Do You Think You Are?" on the BBC. If anyone ever reads this and doesn't know what it is, it's a genealogy program tracing famous people's families. We love it. By the time it was over I could not be bothered getting the computer going, so one day wasted.
Thursday. Pleasant day at school followed by the evening spent out in good company with friends. And the blog didn't come into it! So ya boo sucks to you, blogspot!
Friday. I was dischuffed in School by a piece of paper asking me to account for the different teaching methods I had employed last year in teaching my Year 11 class. The fact that my classes results are clearly appalling, despite the fact that two of the 18 got A* grades at GCSE and several others managed ABC grades. Obviously I am now shit as a teacher. I don't know exactly what percentage of ABC grades my class got, but it was clearly very poor. Apparently my class gained 1 grade and lost 36. So I should be put up against a wall and shot! As I say, there were two A* grades, and it is impossible to get a better grade than that, so how come I only gained 1 grade, because the target for one of those girls was an A* and she got an A* so that is presumably a grade lost, but how the hell was she supposed to do better than an A* when that is all that there is. Okay, so a lot of the girls did worse in History than in their other subjects, but there might just be reasons for that, other than my shite teaching. However, take it from me, I am now clearly judged as being piss poor at the teaching game.
I'm glad that nobody but me reads this as they might object to my language. However, being judged like that on Friday morning does not leave you wanting to write the blog on Friday night.
So I drank a couple of cans of Newcastle Brown Ale instead and watched the new Harry Enfield & Paul Waterhouse Comedy on TV. To paraphrase the Prince Regent, rather than Bugger Bognor we'll go with Stuff School. Still nice and alliterative.
Today. Well, got up late, mooched around, had lunch and trolled into Glossop for a look at the shops. Bought one pair of shoe laces. Wowee!!!!!!!!!!
I have installed the latest version of Rainlendar on my home computer. It is a calendar program that sits on the desktop and shows all of the events from my Google Calendar, which is superb. Since I have several Google Calendars, and it shows them all, you cannot really complain can you. I just wish it did a separate colour for each calendar, that would be even nicer.
I do love software that does its job well. Microsoft Office 7 is superb, but it costs the earth. Rainlendar works very well indeed and does not!
By the way, I installed Chrome, the new browser from Google and so far I am impressed. It looks to be every bit as good as Firefox. Anyway, advert over. If anyone from Google is reading this I'll take any commission in the form of EUROs, as they are worth more today than they were seven weeks ago!
Sorry, but then, as far as I'm concerned I'm the only person whoever reads this so it really doesn't matter at all.
Wednesday was a bit of a washout. At the end of school we had a Tutor Team meeting. It bothers me that all we seem to be concerned with these days is the statistical output of results from the girls, rather than considering each individual and aiming to do the best by her. So our meeting was mostly about setting targets for this that and the other. In the evening I spent my time typing up the Minutes from last months meeting of the Parochial Church Council Standing Committee. Oh yes, and Hayley, our friend and Podiatrist came round and sorted out my feet again. There is nothing quite so nice as having nice feet, and I haven't got them, but it's not because Hayley is at fault. So by the time that this, that and the other was done, it was time to sit down and watch "Who Do You Think You Are?" on the BBC. If anyone ever reads this and doesn't know what it is, it's a genealogy program tracing famous people's families. We love it. By the time it was over I could not be bothered getting the computer going, so one day wasted.
Thursday. Pleasant day at school followed by the evening spent out in good company with friends. And the blog didn't come into it! So ya boo sucks to you, blogspot!
Friday. I was dischuffed in School by a piece of paper asking me to account for the different teaching methods I had employed last year in teaching my Year 11 class. The fact that my classes results are clearly appalling, despite the fact that two of the 18 got A* grades at GCSE and several others managed ABC grades. Obviously I am now shit as a teacher. I don't know exactly what percentage of ABC grades my class got, but it was clearly very poor. Apparently my class gained 1 grade and lost 36. So I should be put up against a wall and shot! As I say, there were two A* grades, and it is impossible to get a better grade than that, so how come I only gained 1 grade, because the target for one of those girls was an A* and she got an A* so that is presumably a grade lost, but how the hell was she supposed to do better than an A* when that is all that there is. Okay, so a lot of the girls did worse in History than in their other subjects, but there might just be reasons for that, other than my shite teaching. However, take it from me, I am now clearly judged as being piss poor at the teaching game.
I'm glad that nobody but me reads this as they might object to my language. However, being judged like that on Friday morning does not leave you wanting to write the blog on Friday night.
So I drank a couple of cans of Newcastle Brown Ale instead and watched the new Harry Enfield & Paul Waterhouse Comedy on TV. To paraphrase the Prince Regent, rather than Bugger Bognor we'll go with Stuff School. Still nice and alliterative.
Today. Well, got up late, mooched around, had lunch and trolled into Glossop for a look at the shops. Bought one pair of shoe laces. Wowee!!!!!!!!!!
I have installed the latest version of Rainlendar on my home computer. It is a calendar program that sits on the desktop and shows all of the events from my Google Calendar, which is superb. Since I have several Google Calendars, and it shows them all, you cannot really complain can you. I just wish it did a separate colour for each calendar, that would be even nicer.
I do love software that does its job well. Microsoft Office 7 is superb, but it costs the earth. Rainlendar works very well indeed and does not!
By the way, I installed Chrome, the new browser from Google and so far I am impressed. It looks to be every bit as good as Firefox. Anyway, advert over. If anyone from Google is reading this I'll take any commission in the form of EUROs, as they are worth more today than they were seven weeks ago!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Tuesday 2nd September
First day back for the students today. Only the new students started work at 8.30, the rest of them, the old soaks, rolled in at 11 am. My lot have just moved into Year 10, so they are 14 going on 20. In our school they change from a green uniform to a blue uniform when they go into Year 10, and today was the day. They look so nice in their new uniforms. Ahhhhh bless.
I saw my new IT Class in Year 9 for the first time today. There were just six girls present, but I'm only expecting 9 when the class is full. They are not terribly able students and they are with me in order to give them a better chance of doing well. The thing that upset me was that they are so very negative about their ability to use computers. We shall have to see how we get on.
Went to see the nurse at our local health centre today to be told that I am very overweight, which I know, and that my blood pressure is very high, which I suspected. I shall have to do something about it, before I explode. Right, if I announce on here that I am going to start losing weight, maybe I'll stick with it. Maybe.
It's good this, you can say anything that you like because nobody ever reads it. They are always saying that there are millions of blogs in the blogosphere. Does anyone ever read them or do all those millions simply write for self aggrandisement. It is habit forming, though.
See you all tomorrow, if we are spared!
;0p
I saw my new IT Class in Year 9 for the first time today. There were just six girls present, but I'm only expecting 9 when the class is full. They are not terribly able students and they are with me in order to give them a better chance of doing well. The thing that upset me was that they are so very negative about their ability to use computers. We shall have to see how we get on.
Went to see the nurse at our local health centre today to be told that I am very overweight, which I know, and that my blood pressure is very high, which I suspected. I shall have to do something about it, before I explode. Right, if I announce on here that I am going to start losing weight, maybe I'll stick with it. Maybe.
It's good this, you can say anything that you like because nobody ever reads it. They are always saying that there are millions of blogs in the blogosphere. Does anyone ever read them or do all those millions simply write for self aggrandisement. It is habit forming, though.
See you all tomorrow, if we are spared!
;0p
Monday, September 1, 2008
Let us have another poem while I'm in the mood.
in just spring
in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
by: e.e. cummings
Back at the Chalkface
This is the school that I work at, in Droylsden to the East of Manchester. There has to be a word for someone like me, probably "idiot" as I have taught at Droylsden School for 35 Years now. I started back in 1973 before the Internet or Mobile Phones were invented. Indeed I can remember that when I first started at the school the staff were going Gaga over the acquisition of a Video Recorder that was slightly smaller than a house. How times have changed.So the teachers started today and the girls return to school tomorrow. And this is the last time that any of us will start a new year at Droylsden School. On the 31st of August next year, this school is being closed by a grateful Local Authority. God Bless You Tameside! On September 1st 2009 a new, and better, (it must be as it has been created by our wonderful Labour Government) school will open for business, initially in the same building. The new school will be one of HMG's new ACADEMIES. A super school for super students. Our girls' school will cease to exist so that another co-educational colossus can be created.
Next year there will only be one single sex school for Girls in Tameside, but hey, that is fair isn't it, after all there will only be TWO single sex schools for Boys! That is only fair isn't it.
I hope you will permit me to be bitter about what I see as the needless destruction of an excellent school and I still have to be convinced about the educational justification for this!
Let us all remember the mantra
All is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.
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