Some photos from 21st Feb and walk around Arne.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Birds and Balls
Rosie and I walked around Moors Valley 18th Feb so I took a few pictures of the swans and one of the duck which is a dead ringer for one of the ducks we used to have, Cheeper.
The other photos are probably the pick of the bunch from the game on 20th Feb when Thirty Plus looked every bit of their age against the league leaders. In fairness the first half belonged to Thirty Plus with a classy goal from Dave equalising their early strike. The second half was a different story with five unanswered goals flying in. The picture of Simon stood stationary is not meant to be a realistic reflection of his determined efforts to clear the ball. He only looks as if he is stood still. A lot of work had to be done on Photoshop to clean up the image as he is a blur of human dynamism.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Lessons to be learned
The piano lesson is half an hour long and I am only half way through that so I decided to write a bit more.
Natasha is possibly going to be in hospital for a while longer with a fortnight’s stay the likely outcome. We’re not even halfway yet. Alison has stayed there throughout so far while I have been off work and have learnt a number of things.
The first is that Glen has a butler. I have never seen him nor do I help towards his payment. However, there must be one otherwise Glen could not be so mystified as to why he has to get himself up in the morning, find packing some lunch such an unusual experience and have to find everyday objects like his shoes for himself.
The second is that the washing machine opens quite easily. We had one before where I couldn’t get it open and just left it. To be fair it is Bridie who puts things in it but I can open it and have hung washing out. Importantly I have brought washing back in too. What you hear about single socks is true!
Next I have discovered that cooking needs to be planned to coincide with lots of other things such as when the next lift to work or from school is required. In the past my cooking has tended to be a relaxed affair to be enjoyed for its special occasion status. Everyday cooking is less fun and involves far less preparation and far more things from the freezer.
I am also aware that an evening without Hollyoaks or Eastenders on in the background can be quite nice. The downside of that is Sky Plus with Natasha having them recorded for her return home. That’s something to look forward to. I can hardly wait.
Finally I understand how BT can be so profitable as now instead of not really noticing the phone as someone else would always rush to answer it, I have to pick it up time and time again each evening. It is still rarely for me but there are a lot of calls!
Natasha is possibly going to be in hospital for a while longer with a fortnight’s stay the likely outcome. We’re not even halfway yet. Alison has stayed there throughout so far while I have been off work and have learnt a number of things.
The first is that Glen has a butler. I have never seen him nor do I help towards his payment. However, there must be one otherwise Glen could not be so mystified as to why he has to get himself up in the morning, find packing some lunch such an unusual experience and have to find everyday objects like his shoes for himself.
The second is that the washing machine opens quite easily. We had one before where I couldn’t get it open and just left it. To be fair it is Bridie who puts things in it but I can open it and have hung washing out. Importantly I have brought washing back in too. What you hear about single socks is true!
Next I have discovered that cooking needs to be planned to coincide with lots of other things such as when the next lift to work or from school is required. In the past my cooking has tended to be a relaxed affair to be enjoyed for its special occasion status. Everyday cooking is less fun and involves far less preparation and far more things from the freezer.
I am also aware that an evening without Hollyoaks or Eastenders on in the background can be quite nice. The downside of that is Sky Plus with Natasha having them recorded for her return home. That’s something to look forward to. I can hardly wait.
Finally I understand how BT can be so profitable as now instead of not really noticing the phone as someone else would always rush to answer it, I have to pick it up time and time again each evening. It is still rarely for me but there are a lot of calls!
Wimborne St Giles
Tonight I am sat outside an old church in the village of Wimborne St Giles having just dropped eldest daughter at work and going from the Horton Inn to Glen’s piano lesson. I haven’t been here for years and years as Alison has taken the children before I’m home from school. I remember bringing Natasha a long time ago and marking some practice Key Stage 3 exam papers in April it must have been as it was warm enough to sit outside and the exams are in early May. I’m going back to 1995 I would guess when Natasha was just 6.
I would drop her off for the half hour lesson and walk a little way down the road to a bridge where I sometimes brought the children on a Sunday morning to play ‘Pooh Sticks’ seeing who would win the race between the sticks. It was usually the case that no one could recognise their own stick and we played it almost like a modern sports day with no winners and no losers. Of course I was just being too considerate to tell them I always won and still hold the world record for undefeated stick races in Wimborne St Giles. Perhaps I exaggerate but it was always a beautiful place. One other thing that is clear in my memory is that a house, a wonderful abode, imposing itself next to the road, was in a perpetual state of repair. I never saw it without some skeleton of scaffolding protecting it. The only other place I’ve ever seen such a thing is any cathedral you care to mention. You can never see a cathedral without scaffolding someone. You often see scaffolding without a cathedral of course but that isn’t the point.
So having dropped Glen off, I took a stroll down the road and enjoyed the huge clumps of snowdrops. Clump is too clumsy a word for them though. They are much too delicate for that. I ought to say swathes. No, not that either. How about a bravery of snowdrops reconnoitring the world above the earth? The river was flowing steadily with small fish, brown trout, in the shadows of the bridge and a robin experimenting with its early song. Of scaffolding, there was none. Has time healed the house or are they between repairs? Perhaps there has been a falling out between the householders and the builders as patience tested over many years has snapped with no resolution to the problems with the masonry or the foundations or whatever other problem caused them to move in originally.
The snowdrops will be back next year.
I would drop her off for the half hour lesson and walk a little way down the road to a bridge where I sometimes brought the children on a Sunday morning to play ‘Pooh Sticks’ seeing who would win the race between the sticks. It was usually the case that no one could recognise their own stick and we played it almost like a modern sports day with no winners and no losers. Of course I was just being too considerate to tell them I always won and still hold the world record for undefeated stick races in Wimborne St Giles. Perhaps I exaggerate but it was always a beautiful place. One other thing that is clear in my memory is that a house, a wonderful abode, imposing itself next to the road, was in a perpetual state of repair. I never saw it without some skeleton of scaffolding protecting it. The only other place I’ve ever seen such a thing is any cathedral you care to mention. You can never see a cathedral without scaffolding someone. You often see scaffolding without a cathedral of course but that isn’t the point.
So having dropped Glen off, I took a stroll down the road and enjoyed the huge clumps of snowdrops. Clump is too clumsy a word for them though. They are much too delicate for that. I ought to say swathes. No, not that either. How about a bravery of snowdrops reconnoitring the world above the earth? The river was flowing steadily with small fish, brown trout, in the shadows of the bridge and a robin experimenting with its early song. Of scaffolding, there was none. Has time healed the house or are they between repairs? Perhaps there has been a falling out between the householders and the builders as patience tested over many years has snapped with no resolution to the problems with the masonry or the foundations or whatever other problem caused them to move in originally.
The snowdrops will be back next year.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Greens on Screen
Greens on Screen
The best Plymouth Argyle website out there. I don't want any cheap cracks about it being a small field to select from.
The best Plymouth Argyle website out there. I don't want any cheap cracks about it being a small field to select from.
Back
It isn't that nothing has happened this week, nor is it that I am being particularly coy about the things that have happened; it's just that it hasn't been very good unfortunately. That is a real shame as Joe was 21 this week meaning it should have been a good weekend.
The celebrations have been postponed because of illness and most of the week has centered around Southampton General Hospital with Nat being admitted on Sunday. Glen had been under the weather for a few days and she appears to have picked up the same problem. With her lack of resistance and constitution it didn't take long for us to end up with the ambulance being called. Thankfully things are slowly turning round now but it will take time.
Joe's party has been put off till Easter and his actual birthday on Monday was something less than we wanted. Mind you I think he appreciates the money that has come his way in preparation for his time at university later this year.
That has meant missed football with Glen not at training on Saturday and unavailable for the trip to league leaders, Chickerell, on Sunday. The team had a fantastic result with a 2 - 1 victory meaning they can go top if they win their game in hand. That's six straight wins for the Rossgarth under 12s.
Equally stunning is the Monday result against Pye Celtic which saw Thirty Plus slaughter them 3 - 0. I have no further details at this stage but my guess would be that Simon scored 4! He used to claim so many ficticious goals but I am probably doing him an injustice.
Two other pieces of information to note. The best is getting in contact with Chris in the States, a close friend at University who has the ability to go anywhere and find his feet in any situation. He seems able to turn his hand to anything and is now a successful lawyer married with three children and a wife working for NASA. He is also a genuine Chelsea fan who supported them in the fallow years, all fifty of them, and can enjoy the pleasures of their present success albeit spoilt somewhat by an inability on the part of Arjen Robben to stand up in the face of any contact. He must struggle walking down a busy street, forever being pushed to the ground. I hope the big boys don't pick on him too much.
The other point is that I have got rid of all the extra bits and pieces from the site, the calendar, the history, the news, the poll. What a waste of time they were, just getting in the way. I do enjoy looking at the visitor counter though and am constantly wondering how on earth so many people end up here. It's not as if you end up here by searching for pictures of Kelly Brook (insert name of whoever happens to be the current 'babe') or Danish cartoons illustrating the prophet in some offensive guise. I'm particularly pleased about that though. It must be difficult to find positive images of Islam at the moment in the media with protestors in suicide outfits, banners urging beheading and a man with a hook jailed for incitement. Even things like the ferry sinking en route to Egypt has undertones of negativity with their apparent disregard for human life similar to the huge numbers crushed to death whilst on pilgrimage to Mecca.
Good news doesn't sell the same. Ask the Daily Mail. I remember reading the headlines promising terror on the streets as opening hours were liberalised, generating fear, encouraging cynicism as politicians refused to budge from their crazy ideas in the face of common sense. Too early to be certain of course but the figures suggest it hasn't turned out quite like that yet. Perhaps prejudice sometimes masquerades as common sense.
The celebrations have been postponed because of illness and most of the week has centered around Southampton General Hospital with Nat being admitted on Sunday. Glen had been under the weather for a few days and she appears to have picked up the same problem. With her lack of resistance and constitution it didn't take long for us to end up with the ambulance being called. Thankfully things are slowly turning round now but it will take time.
Joe's party has been put off till Easter and his actual birthday on Monday was something less than we wanted. Mind you I think he appreciates the money that has come his way in preparation for his time at university later this year.
That has meant missed football with Glen not at training on Saturday and unavailable for the trip to league leaders, Chickerell, on Sunday. The team had a fantastic result with a 2 - 1 victory meaning they can go top if they win their game in hand. That's six straight wins for the Rossgarth under 12s.
Equally stunning is the Monday result against Pye Celtic which saw Thirty Plus slaughter them 3 - 0. I have no further details at this stage but my guess would be that Simon scored 4! He used to claim so many ficticious goals but I am probably doing him an injustice.
Two other pieces of information to note. The best is getting in contact with Chris in the States, a close friend at University who has the ability to go anywhere and find his feet in any situation. He seems able to turn his hand to anything and is now a successful lawyer married with three children and a wife working for NASA. He is also a genuine Chelsea fan who supported them in the fallow years, all fifty of them, and can enjoy the pleasures of their present success albeit spoilt somewhat by an inability on the part of Arjen Robben to stand up in the face of any contact. He must struggle walking down a busy street, forever being pushed to the ground. I hope the big boys don't pick on him too much.
The other point is that I have got rid of all the extra bits and pieces from the site, the calendar, the history, the news, the poll. What a waste of time they were, just getting in the way. I do enjoy looking at the visitor counter though and am constantly wondering how on earth so many people end up here. It's not as if you end up here by searching for pictures of Kelly Brook (insert name of whoever happens to be the current 'babe') or Danish cartoons illustrating the prophet in some offensive guise. I'm particularly pleased about that though. It must be difficult to find positive images of Islam at the moment in the media with protestors in suicide outfits, banners urging beheading and a man with a hook jailed for incitement. Even things like the ferry sinking en route to Egypt has undertones of negativity with their apparent disregard for human life similar to the huge numbers crushed to death whilst on pilgrimage to Mecca.
Good news doesn't sell the same. Ask the Daily Mail. I remember reading the headlines promising terror on the streets as opening hours were liberalised, generating fear, encouraging cynicism as politicians refused to budge from their crazy ideas in the face of common sense. Too early to be certain of course but the figures suggest it hasn't turned out quite like that yet. Perhaps prejudice sometimes masquerades as common sense.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
The aftermath
Parents’ Evening tonight but right now it is detention time on a Thursday again. However, there are very few people here, just the four as many of the others have been excluded instead.
Today has been a day in which the aftermath of the fight yesterday has been uppermost in the minds of students and staff alike. A joint assembly was held this morning by which time I had already had telephone conversations with two of the parents of lads involved.
The rumour mill was in overdrive with allegations of one of them being tooled up, of baseball bats being used, of the boys most involved running away from home, being thrown out of home, of further trouble to come. This will take a while to resolve.
Today has been a day in which the aftermath of the fight yesterday has been uppermost in the minds of students and staff alike. A joint assembly was held this morning by which time I had already had telephone conversations with two of the parents of lads involved.
The rumour mill was in overdrive with allegations of one of them being tooled up, of baseball bats being used, of the boys most involved running away from home, being thrown out of home, of further trouble to come. This will take a while to resolve.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
The sublime to the ridiculous
Having started with the notion that it was a great morning to be in school the day became one of the strangest ever. I can't give all the details and names etc but ought to explain at least some aspects of what happened as an insight into some of the extremes of school life.
The earlier post I hope goes some way to illustrating the fantastic things that can happen in school, the progress that is made, the work that grows in maturity and the rewards in respect of mature young people who leave equipped for their futures. That is all true and the vast majority of students and lessons conform to that. It's just that doesn't make for particularly interesting reading. Such is life. We prefer the controversial, the difficult, the outrageous and thatis exactly what we've seen today.
The first exceptional happening involved a young girl who had at first simply refused to go to class. She has particular identified needs which almost peclude her from mainstream school but nevertheless had made a steady start to school. She had, before Christmas, attacked a teaching assistant and that had been dealt with and resolved. The situation this morning meant she had to be taken home. Her parents arrived and she became very agitated. Based around a comment about her attacking someone at junior school things suddenly became heated and the girl physically attacked her mother which led to tears and a plea for help from mum as she released the pent up emotions of the situation. Her father was also attacked and assistance was sought.
On her own with a teacher, the girl spoke about herself as being a wolf and how she was clever in fooling everyone. She licked her lips in a manner reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter as she spoke of her parents. She lost things so completely the police had to be called and she was eventually taken from the premises. The policeman and policewoman who came to assist dealt with things effectively and sympathetically and it was not the last time I saw the policemen that day.
As the day progressed the mundane events saw two recent returners from exclusion put out once again and a lad on a reduced timetable absent locked up following aggravated burglary charges meaning my comment about how much quieter he'd been of late was based on misplaced optimism.
MSN - how many problems of late have started from MSN? Quite a few. This one meant threats about getting beaten up the next day (banged) were made. Two lads attacked a lad a year younger, a headbutt, punches and kicks aimed at him. The simple fact was that their culture was such that he ought not to have made the comments and he had to be sorted out. The next part saw a rumour of an older brother coming for revenge. Talking to them about this they simply did not seem bothered about having to look over their shoulders for possible revenge attacks. There was little worry about the inevitable next step which would see them seek out their attackers and so it would go on.
Despite sending the younger lad home while things were sorted out in school he arrived at the end of the day to collect his girlfriend and it all kicked off again this time with half the school in tow. He was followed home and attcked on his doorstep, initially one on one but then by a larger group leading his father to grab a plank of wood and hit out at all and sundry including his own son in the melee. Like something out of a wild west saloon the noise was incredible as people shouted and yelled. The police were called and the same guy from earlier arrived with several others.
Sitting in the front room I saw the older brother disappear quietly before the police came in, his father telling him not to out the back as they'd gone round that way. What he had to hide I don't not know but the family were distraught as you might imagine. It wasn't too long before the first rumours of threats to petrol bomb the house had been passed into the house via neighbours leaving me with several urgent phone calls to distressed or disbelieving parents in order to placate matters. At least I get to drive away from it all. What must it be like living there amongst that way of life?
Plans to attend the behaviour management meeting disappeared as I left school more than three hours after the meeting had been planned to start.
What does tomorrow have in store?
The earlier post I hope goes some way to illustrating the fantastic things that can happen in school, the progress that is made, the work that grows in maturity and the rewards in respect of mature young people who leave equipped for their futures. That is all true and the vast majority of students and lessons conform to that. It's just that doesn't make for particularly interesting reading. Such is life. We prefer the controversial, the difficult, the outrageous and thatis exactly what we've seen today.
The first exceptional happening involved a young girl who had at first simply refused to go to class. She has particular identified needs which almost peclude her from mainstream school but nevertheless had made a steady start to school. She had, before Christmas, attacked a teaching assistant and that had been dealt with and resolved. The situation this morning meant she had to be taken home. Her parents arrived and she became very agitated. Based around a comment about her attacking someone at junior school things suddenly became heated and the girl physically attacked her mother which led to tears and a plea for help from mum as she released the pent up emotions of the situation. Her father was also attacked and assistance was sought.
On her own with a teacher, the girl spoke about herself as being a wolf and how she was clever in fooling everyone. She licked her lips in a manner reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter as she spoke of her parents. She lost things so completely the police had to be called and she was eventually taken from the premises. The policeman and policewoman who came to assist dealt with things effectively and sympathetically and it was not the last time I saw the policemen that day.
As the day progressed the mundane events saw two recent returners from exclusion put out once again and a lad on a reduced timetable absent locked up following aggravated burglary charges meaning my comment about how much quieter he'd been of late was based on misplaced optimism.
MSN - how many problems of late have started from MSN? Quite a few. This one meant threats about getting beaten up the next day (banged) were made. Two lads attacked a lad a year younger, a headbutt, punches and kicks aimed at him. The simple fact was that their culture was such that he ought not to have made the comments and he had to be sorted out. The next part saw a rumour of an older brother coming for revenge. Talking to them about this they simply did not seem bothered about having to look over their shoulders for possible revenge attacks. There was little worry about the inevitable next step which would see them seek out their attackers and so it would go on.
Despite sending the younger lad home while things were sorted out in school he arrived at the end of the day to collect his girlfriend and it all kicked off again this time with half the school in tow. He was followed home and attcked on his doorstep, initially one on one but then by a larger group leading his father to grab a plank of wood and hit out at all and sundry including his own son in the melee. Like something out of a wild west saloon the noise was incredible as people shouted and yelled. The police were called and the same guy from earlier arrived with several others.
Sitting in the front room I saw the older brother disappear quietly before the police came in, his father telling him not to out the back as they'd gone round that way. What he had to hide I don't not know but the family were distraught as you might imagine. It wasn't too long before the first rumours of threats to petrol bomb the house had been passed into the house via neighbours leaving me with several urgent phone calls to distressed or disbelieving parents in order to placate matters. At least I get to drive away from it all. What must it be like living there amongst that way of life?
Plans to attend the behaviour management meeting disappeared as I left school more than three hours after the meeting had been planned to start.
What does tomorrow have in store?
The best morning to be in school ever
The heading to this post might sound like a dodgy attempt to emulate the 'Greatest Album in the World' compilations with their ever more desperate attempts to generate enthusiasm and publicity but it is not a false statement, not this time.
While I think about it can you apply that greatest ever or best ever tag to everything in life? The greatest traffic light in the world or the essential pebble collection? And you just know that somewhere someone is thinking yes about time someone else publicised these interests. I expect you get to at least volume 4 with the essential pebble collection as world pebbles come into consciousness alongside mainstream European or American pebbles.
So why is it the best morning? I was just given a £1.00 coin by a lad in Year 11. Never mind that I've been involved with so many 'last chance' meetings with him in Year 10 or that he has had to be removed from Science completely due to poor behaviour, he gave me a poundbecausee he lost a bet. The stakes don't matter, the thing that matters is that we won. Plymouth 2 Southampton 1. I support a team that is above a team someone else here supports. You'd expect lots of teachers and students to support Premiership clubs but a lot also support the local side, Saints, or Ipswich or Leeds. No one supports a team that is lower than us in the table - until now! We're above Ipswich and Southampton.
I have barely mentioned it in class. I don't like to tempt fate. It won't be long until we're back to the position we know and feel secure in, looking up at everyone else. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy it quietly.
Do you think Kev and Dom will read this? Lets hope so. (Thirty Plus Saints supporters).
While I think about it can you apply that greatest ever or best ever tag to everything in life? The greatest traffic light in the world or the essential pebble collection? And you just know that somewhere someone is thinking yes about time someone else publicised these interests. I expect you get to at least volume 4 with the essential pebble collection as world pebbles come into consciousness alongside mainstream European or American pebbles.
So why is it the best morning? I was just given a £1.00 coin by a lad in Year 11. Never mind that I've been involved with so many 'last chance' meetings with him in Year 10 or that he has had to be removed from Science completely due to poor behaviour, he gave me a poundbecausee he lost a bet. The stakes don't matter, the thing that matters is that we won. Plymouth 2 Southampton 1. I support a team that is above a team someone else here supports. You'd expect lots of teachers and students to support Premiership clubs but a lot also support the local side, Saints, or Ipswich or Leeds. No one supports a team that is lower than us in the table - until now! We're above Ipswich and Southampton.
I have barely mentioned it in class. I don't like to tempt fate. It won't be long until we're back to the position we know and feel secure in, looking up at everyone else. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy it quietly.
Do you think Kev and Dom will read this? Lets hope so. (Thirty Plus Saints supporters).
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Another day in the sun
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