Is there a window open?

Posted on 13th Dec 2011 by essiep

3°C, SW winds strong. Rain/sleet developing

The best thing about today: early this morning, at 7am, I was out with the dogs and I glanced up. Perhaps I glance up often, perhaps not. But on this occasion there was a meteorite shooting down to the west. It was a bright one too, at least as bright as Jupiter. That object has existed for thousands of millions of years and then ceased to exist in less than a second. It will stay with me for longer than that (the split second, not the millions of years). It may have been a Geminid.

This is the worst kind of weather for my house- the winds have swung round to the South-West so it blows across my house. It feels as if there is a window open somewhere. So far this winter it has blown along the ridgeline which doesn’t drive any draughts in this house. Temperatures are heading down to zero but at least the draw is good on my coal fire.

but 1 week

Posted on 10th Dec 2011 by essiep

5°C, heavy showers

One week to go, the workload fails to abate. There was a time when school prep used to decline in the last part of term, a wind-down. Not any more. This is why I dream of a mid-winter holiday that is not spoilt by a commercial spend-orgy. Christmas spoils a perfectly good holiday.
Dogs’ Diner: This cheered me up yesterday in the middle of a three-hour marking binge.

Sunday’s 46

Posted on 5th Dec 2011 by essiep

6°C, lighter wind. Sun became rain early afternoon

Legs took too long to warm up on this ride. Perhaps because of yesterday, perhaps caused by food or perhaps the fortnight off.

Laughed hard; I needed this one, almost too much. The rest of the site misses the mark a bit, so feel free to avoid.

Had this book knocking about since 2008 and recently decided I need something boring to get to sleep. You need something to put between work thinking and lights-out. Trouble is, it hasn’t entirely worked. It’s getting interesting, especially since the book is full of first hand accounts.

30 miles to whizz

Posted on 3rd Dec 2011 by essiep

8°C, sunny & brisk W. CA:30 miles

It’s always a tricky one to decide when to return to riding the bike. I’ve had nearly two weeks of with what should be the winter’s heaviest cold. Suddenly, yesterday (Friday) I felt ready to get back on. That fizzy legs feeling had come back but there was ice on pavements as I walked the dogs early. One more day I decided.

Entrance exam

Posted on 1st Dec 2011 by essiep

6°C, clear & calm.

Entrance exam at work. Lots of anxious 10 year olds, and even more 40 something olds (parents). The kids sit an IQ test after their parents have dropped them off. By the time they have finished, the sun is down. At 3.30, I was sitting at my desk invigilating my room of 24. The blinds were open to a view of the main car-park. As dusk drew in, the colour drained out of everything, the air became slightly misty and all contrast & textures were gone. But then I noticed something. The car park has a large metal gate which was open and a couple of figures had appeared. They stood there, gazing in our direction, unmoving, waiting. Later, others appeared, in small groups, or maybe one by one. Eventually, they formed a continuous outline of heads and shoulders, all in silhouette, all gazing in our direction.

It was pure Hitchcock. The parents had arrived.

A pheasant

Posted on 30th Nov 2011 by essiep

10°C, clear, RW wind+chill. CA:26 miles

Rode to the usual cafe today, ate some simple cyclist’s food & came back at a plodding 13.5 mph. Perhaps it was too soon to ride after that awful cold of last week. Near Catton Park, there was the most unsettling sight. A pheasant, in a puddle of all places. I went back to check it and the poor thing was still alive. It had a head injury, a slightly broken end of beak with a little blood dripping. Apart from that it seemed reasonably alert. No attempt was made to flee my presence.

I have no idea what to do in this situation with these poor creatures, so I picked it up and placed it on a patch of longer grass in the sunshine. A vain hope I know, but maybe it could warm up enough to take off.

I have struck.

Posted on 30th Nov 2011 by essiep

6°C, clear sky, winds W.

Today, I’m on strike for the first time in my life. The big multi-union campaign is against the government breaking their side of the Teachers’ Pensions agreement. They are in breach of contract, so most teachers are on strike. I voted Yes mainly because of other campaigns listed on the ballot paper, most notably- workload.

The bottom line is that if I want union support then I must, by obligation, support them. I will need this support quite soon.

Chocolate loss

Posted on 28th Nov 2011 by essiep

11°C, calm before a storm.

My local down-market supermarket seems to have stopped selling one of my favourite chocolate bars. That’s the second time we have had to endure such a loss in the past few years. Co-Op stopped one of their finest bars too. I have always enjoyed the treasure within a really dull piece of packaging- none of the mystique of the up-market bars in the promising exotic wrappers. Both bars could claim to be their shop’s best kept secret. Alas, real obscurity has swallowed them.

Formby shifting sands

Posted on 27th Nov 2011 by essiep

8~5°C, gales with sun, scudding clouds

I have sand in my hair, my ears and eyes. The dunes on Formby beach were fuzzy with drifting sands, so I climbed up to the top of the dunes to escape. It was no better up there, the swirls of sand were whipped up the slopes by the gales and took off on the mini-summits. The force of the blast made steady photos impossible too.

PC frustration- I have new CDs and can’t load them to my iPod. The external wireless receiver failed in install properly tonight. I nuisance when iTunes runs on that computer not this laptop. Annoyance grows when it takes so long trying all the alternative methods with a few re-starts thrown in. It even began to look as if the USB ports were not working properly. Maybe the motherboard drivers have a problem. The list goes on.

I want to get off

Posted on 25th Nov 2011 by essiep

10~7°C, thin above, the sun shone a bit too.

Gifts come my way, I have foods, drinks, and CDs. The Music I bought myself, it’s been a long time since last. Before, I would impatiently open the CD cases, sometimes struggle with the packaging and use the computer to put them on my iPod hurriedly. Today I looked over every cover, the inserts and bonus postcards. I have read some of the lyrics and tried to imagine the tracks within. I shalln’t hear these for a few days. There is a something inside that wants to make pictures, polish up the hand-eye co-ordination and hold a brush lightly. The best pictures have marks and the odd repair from dropping the brush. It’s best to hold them lightly you know.

November is warm and dry this year, but I want to go away. It’s going to take all of my skill to manage my sanity this coming year.

Micycle

Mike thinks b/hikes