Friday, February 27, 2004
I know schools have changed since I was a wee lass, but a conversation with my son yesterday revealed that both teaching methods and material are now radically different. In my schooldays, RE (religious education) was always a bit of a doss. It was never particularly taxing and our teacher, who it was rumoured had once had a nervous breakdown as a result of children tapping pencils on desks, was quite a timid but likeable bloke. I thought I'd had it easy. But not compared with 21st century RE. In this weeks class my son watched not one but two episodes of Father Ted. I'm not at all displeased by this. I'm sure the youngsters of North Leeds will go away enlightened with a solid understanding of Catholicism.
It does make me curious as to whether other TV programmes could be used to educate the nations youth. What about Blackadder as an aid to teach history? ER for biology?
It does make me curious as to whether other TV programmes could be used to educate the nations youth. What about Blackadder as an aid to teach history? ER for biology?
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Although I had a very stay at home weekend, we did get out of the house during last week's school holiday. We went for lunch to celebrate my sister's birthday, then had a walk in the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey. Its only a couple of miles from home and we go quite often, but I never get bored of it.
Its not unusual (which happens to be my favoured mobile ringtone at the moment) to see someone eating a slice of toast at the bus stop, but this morning I saw a woman eating a bowl of cornflakes.
Its Pancake Day today, unless you're a Christian in which case its Shrove Tuesday. Rather than using up all the tasty fatty stuff ready for Lent (not being a Christian), I bought a bottle of organic maple syrup (yum yum) to go with our pancakes. All ready for banana and maple syrup deliciousness, I started cooking. I've always been quite good at pancakes. Not today. The first two sort of fell to bits when I tried to toss them. A combination of a sticky frying pan and poor batter I think. Anyway, the dog was happy. The third one ended up half in the pan, half on the floor. (The dog will need an extra walk tonight). I got it right on the fourth and fifth which my son enjoyed enormously - and then ran out of batter! I had a meeting to go to so I didn't have time to make anymore. Poor me :( got no pancake, no maple syrup. Oh well, we'll just have to do it again tomorrow!
Its not unusual (which happens to be my favoured mobile ringtone at the moment) to see someone eating a slice of toast at the bus stop, but this morning I saw a woman eating a bowl of cornflakes.
Its Pancake Day today, unless you're a Christian in which case its Shrove Tuesday. Rather than using up all the tasty fatty stuff ready for Lent (not being a Christian), I bought a bottle of organic maple syrup (yum yum) to go with our pancakes. All ready for banana and maple syrup deliciousness, I started cooking. I've always been quite good at pancakes. Not today. The first two sort of fell to bits when I tried to toss them. A combination of a sticky frying pan and poor batter I think. Anyway, the dog was happy. The third one ended up half in the pan, half on the floor. (The dog will need an extra walk tonight). I got it right on the fourth and fifth which my son enjoyed enormously - and then ran out of batter! I had a meeting to go to so I didn't have time to make anymore. Poor me :( got no pancake, no maple syrup. Oh well, we'll just have to do it again tomorrow!
Sunday, February 22, 2004
This Blog is 1 year old today!! Happy blogging birthday to me! Next week I'll be having a 'me' birthday. I'll be 40 on 1st March and I've got a weekend full of celebrations planned. More about that next week.
I've been wallowing in extreme Play Station induced lethargy this week. Come home from work, flop on the sofa, watch son playing Final Fantasy X, and since Friday, Final Fantasy X-2. We were going to go for a walk today but the Siberian wind and snow showers have put paid to that idea. Its about -20 out there with the wind chill. Brrrr!
So instead I got some of the housework done, then we indulged in home baked croissants - the sort that come in a roll and you just shape them into croissants and bake them. Yum! Then a short Billy Bragg break before blogging. Not a bad Sunday really. My mum & dad called round. Dad needed a haircut so I got my clippers out. It didn't take long. He hasn't got much hair. I've left the young'un fighting FF fiends.
I've been wallowing in extreme Play Station induced lethargy this week. Come home from work, flop on the sofa, watch son playing Final Fantasy X, and since Friday, Final Fantasy X-2. We were going to go for a walk today but the Siberian wind and snow showers have put paid to that idea. Its about -20 out there with the wind chill. Brrrr!
So instead I got some of the housework done, then we indulged in home baked croissants - the sort that come in a roll and you just shape them into croissants and bake them. Yum! Then a short Billy Bragg break before blogging. Not a bad Sunday really. My mum & dad called round. Dad needed a haircut so I got my clippers out. It didn't take long. He hasn't got much hair. I've left the young'un fighting FF fiends.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
What's on Fish TV today then?
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Its been such a busy week! We were pretty thin on the ground at work due to people off sick, and much of the time I was the only one around on my section to answer the phones. On top of that I had meetings on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and on Friday I went for a drink after work which meant I was asleep on the sofa by about 9pm. Yesterday we built some new shelf units and moved furniture around and by teatime I was so tired I was barely able to drag myself off the sofa to get dinner ready.
Phew! Anyway, I've got a couple of days off work to look forward to so I should be able to catch up with myself a bit.
Whats been happening while I've been dashing around?
Well, in Derbyshire committed environmentalists are digging in to protect an area of National Park from large-scale quarrying. Friends of mine have been spending time at the camp for a few years now, but things are really hotting up and the Guardian is now taking notice.
A little to the west of the Derbyshire site, property developers Bellway are preparing to destroy trees and meadows in Sherwood Forest to build houses and roads. Protestors are currently under threat of eviction.
In South Wales similar destruction is imminent. Schnews reports:
"Five acres of St Davids Wood in Blackwood, south Wales, is currently under threat of being trashed for the sake of an access road to an industrial park – and would already be gone if it wasn’t for some hardy protesters and a ten-year local campaign which involved two High Court battles".
And in north Yorkshire quarrying is threatening an ancient landscape that includes a triple henge, an important Neolithic ritual site. The Friends of Thornborough website is particularly informative, both about the history of the area and the environmental damage that the proposed quarrying will inflict.
Further north, things are really hotting up in Alaska. Global warming is a reality, but money as always comes first.
Sorry if all that depresses you, but this stuff is going on everywhere.
Phew! Anyway, I've got a couple of days off work to look forward to so I should be able to catch up with myself a bit.
Whats been happening while I've been dashing around?
Well, in Derbyshire committed environmentalists are digging in to protect an area of National Park from large-scale quarrying. Friends of mine have been spending time at the camp for a few years now, but things are really hotting up and the Guardian is now taking notice.
A little to the west of the Derbyshire site, property developers Bellway are preparing to destroy trees and meadows in Sherwood Forest to build houses and roads. Protestors are currently under threat of eviction.
In South Wales similar destruction is imminent. Schnews reports:
"Five acres of St Davids Wood in Blackwood, south Wales, is currently under threat of being trashed for the sake of an access road to an industrial park – and would already be gone if it wasn’t for some hardy protesters and a ten-year local campaign which involved two High Court battles".
And in north Yorkshire quarrying is threatening an ancient landscape that includes a triple henge, an important Neolithic ritual site. The Friends of Thornborough website is particularly informative, both about the history of the area and the environmental damage that the proposed quarrying will inflict.
Further north, things are really hotting up in Alaska. Global warming is a reality, but money as always comes first.
Sorry if all that depresses you, but this stuff is going on everywhere.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
My son is looking over my shoulder, waiting for me to blog something and go, so that he can check his email. Problem is I can't think of anything to write tonight. I don't want to bore you with yet more complaints about the bus service and I've gone on enough about the weather lately. Work was busy but nothing exciting or dramatic, unless you count one of our social workers crashing into another social worker's car at a roundabout, giving the other s/w whiplash and putting both cars out of action. So I'll succumb to the pressure behind me and go and watch CSI.
Sunday, February 08, 2004
The tragedy that claimed the lives of 19 Chinese immigrants last week continues to make headlines - as it should. Its shameful that people are treated this way, that ruthless greedy gangmasters get away with such exploitation. Its only when there is a major loss of life that we get to hear about it, but this kind of activity is going on all the time, all over the world.
Of course, humans don't only exploit other humans.
Grey whales are at risk from the ever-growing demand for oil & gas. The few whales that survived being hunted to extinction by the Japanese found a home off the coast off Russia, but are now threatened - are suffering - from the attentions of Shell.
"A massive oil and gas discovery near their sanctuary has sent the world's largest oil companies flooding into the region with plans to drill and build oil and gas platforms and pipelines. Scientists and conservationists fear this could destroy the feeding grounds and spell doom for the Asian grey whale population."
"Environmentalists blame the oil industry's activities in and around the Sakhalin feeding grounds for a high number of emaciated or 'skinny' whales. In particular, seismic surveys carried out by oil companies use explosives which create noise levels underwater that can scare and injure whales.
The greys are reproducing less, and biologists believe that unless the disturbance to their habitat is reduced, their population will again start sliding towards extinction."
Shell, however, looking at the situation through their money-blinded eyes, disagree:
"A Shell spokesman denied the project was threatening the species. 'We have introduced a comprehensive programme of protection measures based on a firm scientific foundation ... including vessel exclusion zones and noise and speed limits.'
'There has been no discernible impact, nor change in behaviour in the whales.' "
Read the story.
Of course, humans don't only exploit other humans.
Grey whales are at risk from the ever-growing demand for oil & gas. The few whales that survived being hunted to extinction by the Japanese found a home off the coast off Russia, but are now threatened - are suffering - from the attentions of Shell.
"A massive oil and gas discovery near their sanctuary has sent the world's largest oil companies flooding into the region with plans to drill and build oil and gas platforms and pipelines. Scientists and conservationists fear this could destroy the feeding grounds and spell doom for the Asian grey whale population."
"Environmentalists blame the oil industry's activities in and around the Sakhalin feeding grounds for a high number of emaciated or 'skinny' whales. In particular, seismic surveys carried out by oil companies use explosives which create noise levels underwater that can scare and injure whales.
The greys are reproducing less, and biologists believe that unless the disturbance to their habitat is reduced, their population will again start sliding towards extinction."
Shell, however, looking at the situation through their money-blinded eyes, disagree:
"A Shell spokesman denied the project was threatening the species. 'We have introduced a comprehensive programme of protection measures based on a firm scientific foundation ... including vessel exclusion zones and noise and speed limits.'
'There has been no discernible impact, nor change in behaviour in the whales.' "
Read the story.
It's been cold:
It's been wet:
and it's been sunny:
So to escape we went to see Big Fish. We really enjoyed it. Perfect escapism for a wet & windy winter's day. I like most Tim Burton films anyway, but this is one of the better ones. If you liked Edward Scissorhands, you'd probably like this. Be prepared to shed a tear or two. I forgot to take a hanky so had to sniff (sorry!).
It's been wet:
and it's been sunny:
So to escape we went to see Big Fish. We really enjoyed it. Perfect escapism for a wet & windy winter's day. I like most Tim Burton films anyway, but this is one of the better ones. If you liked Edward Scissorhands, you'd probably like this. Be prepared to shed a tear or two. I forgot to take a hanky so had to sniff (sorry!).
Thursday, February 05, 2004
If nobody speaks of remarkable things by Jon McGregor
This is McGregor’s first novel. I hope it won’t be his last, but this will certainly be a tough one to follow.
This is a beautifully written book. McGregor has a gift for creating similes that can stop you in your tracks, make you pause to consider, expand your mind and let you see through new eyes. Similes to savour. His prose is lyrical, poetic without being flowery.
Set in an urban street in an English university town, we follow a day in the lives of the residents of terraced houses: families, students, children, an elderly couple go about their business. McGregor observes the minutiae and writes it compellingly. We get glimpses into their inner lives, hints of their histories.
Running parallel to the 3rd person view describing the street and the day is the first person narration of one of the female characters who was present that day. She tells us of events happening to her in the present, referring back to that one day and the people she knew there. Both she and the other narrator build the suspense as the story moves towards the climactic event that made that day so remarkable. There is irony in that she hasn’t remarked on it before. She hasn’t spoken of remarkable things.
This novel is about the important things that are left unsaid in our lives, and how they become part of us in spite of our attempts to exclude them. It is about how other people’s remarkable things impinge on us, and how much we don’t know and can’t understand.
It is a truly remarkable book, and the best I have read in a long time. Brilliant.
This is McGregor’s first novel. I hope it won’t be his last, but this will certainly be a tough one to follow.
This is a beautifully written book. McGregor has a gift for creating similes that can stop you in your tracks, make you pause to consider, expand your mind and let you see through new eyes. Similes to savour. His prose is lyrical, poetic without being flowery.
Set in an urban street in an English university town, we follow a day in the lives of the residents of terraced houses: families, students, children, an elderly couple go about their business. McGregor observes the minutiae and writes it compellingly. We get glimpses into their inner lives, hints of their histories.
Running parallel to the 3rd person view describing the street and the day is the first person narration of one of the female characters who was present that day. She tells us of events happening to her in the present, referring back to that one day and the people she knew there. Both she and the other narrator build the suspense as the story moves towards the climactic event that made that day so remarkable. There is irony in that she hasn’t remarked on it before. She hasn’t spoken of remarkable things.
This novel is about the important things that are left unsaid in our lives, and how they become part of us in spite of our attempts to exclude them. It is about how other people’s remarkable things impinge on us, and how much we don’t know and can’t understand.
It is a truly remarkable book, and the best I have read in a long time. Brilliant.
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
To get me in the mood for getting another Northern Green Gathering off the ground, here's a picture from 2002. We called the event Sustain Up North, and this is the Wishing Tree from the Kids' area, which is the section I organise.
February hasn't brought much of an improvement in the bus service. This morning I waited 25 minutes in the rain. The 7.50am bus didn't turn up. Neither did the 8.00am bus. Still, it wasn't as bad as coming home. I waited half an hour in the rain, for a service that is supposed to run every 10 minutes.
But bus hassles pale into insignificance when you consider the difficulties some people are having. I bumped into a friend today who I haven't seen for a while. She's a similar age to me - middle-agedish - and met a man and fell in love a couple of years ago. They had a wonderful relationship for 2 and a half years, then in November he was killed in a car accident. My heart breaks for her.
Meanwhile in cloud cuckoo land, the British government are following George's lead and launching an inquiry into the WMD fiasco. Will anything useful emerge? Will Tony, George and co admit liability for their warmongering? Excuse my cynicism but I think its more likely that Michael Jackson will turn out to be the Messiah.
February hasn't brought much of an improvement in the bus service. This morning I waited 25 minutes in the rain. The 7.50am bus didn't turn up. Neither did the 8.00am bus. Still, it wasn't as bad as coming home. I waited half an hour in the rain, for a service that is supposed to run every 10 minutes.
But bus hassles pale into insignificance when you consider the difficulties some people are having. I bumped into a friend today who I haven't seen for a while. She's a similar age to me - middle-agedish - and met a man and fell in love a couple of years ago. They had a wonderful relationship for 2 and a half years, then in November he was killed in a car accident. My heart breaks for her.
Meanwhile in cloud cuckoo land, the British government are following George's lead and launching an inquiry into the WMD fiasco. Will anything useful emerge? Will Tony, George and co admit liability for their warmongering? Excuse my cynicism but I think its more likely that Michael Jackson will turn out to be the Messiah.
