Education

How much of the stuff you learned for exams do you remember?

My daugher thinks that exams are like this cleaning product:




BANG and the knowledge is gone...

I am currently doing something at work that is testing this theory - looks like she might be right.  More when I have more info to share....

Meanwhile, I just ordered the Viking friends for my Scots....

And we are finally getting around to planning Christmas....

And I want Sharknado for Christmas too!

Weekend

This weekend was one of moderate slobbishness.

 

I spent some time finishing off (finally!) my Scottish spearmen for Macbeth's army:

 

 

They have been in the works for a while now.but I am pleased with the result. 

 

At our games meeting last week, one of the players merrily opened the packet of a new figure that he had bought, to find that the arms needed to be glued on.  Looking around, he asked (with a glance in my direction) if anyone was good with figures.

 

"I can do it.  Do you want me to paint him while I am at it?.

 

This is the finished figure.  The lighting is a bit too bright, but I think you can see him OK.  This figure is a lot bigger than the others, probably just over an inch tall.

 

 

I used to paint lots of fantasy style figures like this, but it has been a while now.  Hm, I still have that Elf army to finish off...

One foggy day...

This was yesterday morning.

 

 

When I arrive on the edge of Canterbury each morning, I am at the top of the ridge that forms the northern edge of the Stour river valley.  The views across the city can be great, especially when there is a bit of fog in the valley.

 

The weekend was really good, the family dinner was a wonderful get together and lots of rest was had at other times.  I even managed to finish painting my Scottish spearmen, just need to get them on their group bases now and add the grass and rocks and stuff to those.  Then I will be on to their Viking friends!

 

This week has been a lot easier than last week - the big problem was solved, largely by a newish member of staff.  I had thought that she was quite a timid character, but she dealt with our problem amazingly, taking no prisoners.  There is an old saying about having to watch the quiet ones - she certainly proves the truth behind that!

 

Hope you are having a great week!  More soon!

Friday!!!!!!

Staggering in to the weekend.  A tough few days!

BTW, the real crisis yesterday was only work related, we are all fine really, I have not been squished or had any family issues!

So, hoping for a fun, relaxing weekend - my little brother (body builder with shaved head, pierced tongue and tattoos - yes we are identical) turns 40, so we are having a bit of a family party.  Should be fun!

More soon!

Have a great weekend!

DOH 3

Today is worse.....

Can't find anything funny about it either....

DOH 2 - the ordeal continues!

The day really did have to get better, didn't it?

The remainder of the morning was not that bad, but then lunchtime arrived - time to go and get the new inner tubes for the spare bike's flat tyre.

The shop had them, so with a spring in my step I went to a bakery to grab something to eat.  Hm, that pie looked good, I'll have that.

Heading back to work, I bit into the pie.

Mmmmmm.

Mmmmmm?

Erm...

Ugh....

Uh....

It tasted like someone had thrown up in it.

Nice.

Back to work, the afternoon progressed towards a planned early finish, which I managed but had to almost fight my way clear.  Then off to catch the bus.

All was good - I sat there reading my Kindle, earphones in, ignoring everyone.

Even the drunk who decided to sit right in front of me.

Even through my earphones I could hear him declaring that he was Elvis, and was worried that all the girls would want to kiss his toothless mouth.

He went on.

And on.

And on.

Part way home, one of our ex-students got on the bus, so she sat with me and we chatted.  I put away the Kindle and earphones and we caught up on things.  She is doing well, I was pleased to hear.

The drunk tried to get in on the conversation, but we carefully avoided letting him get involved, I was getting an increasingly bad feeling about him, seeming less and less harmless as we continued the trip and he drank more and more of whatever was in his bottle.

Then it happened - the bus took a sharp turn, sending the drunk flying.

He laid there, moaning about how badly hurt he was. A young lad offered to help him but got a mouthful of abuse.  So he stayed on the floor, saying the driver had done it deliberately, and he needed compensation for his injuries.

Then the trip was made longer because a cyclist had been squished while riding around a mess of roundabouts on the edge of town.  Not nice to see him being strapped into a body brace....

He finally got up and after mouthing off at the driver for a while he got off at the bus station, going to tell the management about his ordeal.  A couple of us wrote our contact details on some paper and gave them to the driver - we would back him up if things got nasty with this guy's complaint.

Finally we reached my stop.  Sheesh!

A quick sandwich and change of clothes and it was off to the school for prize-giving - younger son had won the Maths prize!  Woo hoo!  Let's hope that things are all good from here!

DOH!

So there I was, merrily peddling home, singing along to some song.

I was just hitting the second hill of the ride home, changing gear when CLUNK.

Yep, I knew straight away.

The cable had snapped.

The rest of the journey was done in the lowest set of gears, legs whizzing around while I crawled along.  Luckily a fair bit of the trip is on a downward slope, so I could freewheel some of it.

Too dark to repair it when I got home, but should have enough time in the morning....



Morning came.

I looked at the situation.

Poop.  Clearly not repairable without a new cable.  Time for Plan B - Number One Son's bike!

As soon as I set off it did not feel right.

I hit a bump and felt the rear wheel rim hit the road.

A FLAT!!!!!!!

Well gosh darn it!!!!!!

OK, those are not my exact words.  Feel free to imagine the words I used and then make them much worse....

Back at home, stripping off my rucksack and cycling jacket - time for the last resort - the BUS!!!!

Quickly re-equipped, I headed to the bus stop.

Now the road by the stop is an utter mess, a thin road repeatedly smashed by the buses and poorly repaired by the council.  Guess what?

They were repairing it again, meaning the buses were being rerouted.

I found the new route after a short walk and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Eventually it arrived, so I hopped on.

The bus crawled along.

A young mother got on with a total brat of a kid, who proceeded to have a massive tantrum for the next 45 minutes.

Wonderful.

I took out my notebook and, trying to blot out the sound of screaming child, wrote another scene for my zombie book.  Somehow I did not include young mothers and brats in the scene - aren't I good?

Tried to phone work to let them know I was going to be late, but the network was up the creak and I did not get through until I was already half an hour late.  Ho hum.

Playing catch up after a crappy journey - my favourite way to spend a morning.

Nearly there - doing this while the copier does my work for me!

Have a better morning than me!

If you've got it, flaunt it!

To prove that size DOES matter, my Big Boned, Under Tall babe shows what she's got...

 

Full frontal...

 

 

And the close ups...

 

(Hm, wonder what my hit rate will be today!  :-)

Apparently, I have a fat frame

Not something I have ever been told before.

No matter how hard they tried, they have not been able to get hold of the size I need, nothing quite stretches far enough.

I will have to make do until they can find the extra large size that I need to fit around my fat frame...

Even so, it will be good to have my old, solid, no-rear-suspension bike back - even if the front mech has seen better days!

Squelch....

Been a bit wet here.

I was up early this morning, taking the dogs for a nice, bracing morning walk.

In a monsoon.

OK, not that bad, but we all got pretty wet.

Frou Frou and Bryn were not pleased with me, but Custard did not care, he led the way, squelching around the fields, soaking up the mud and rain.

One odd thing about Custard is that he doesn't shake.  Every other dog I have known will give itself a good shake when it gets wet.  Not Custard. He just becomes waterlogged and waits for a good rub down when we get home. It took 2 towels to get he even remotely dry this morning...

Once dry, It was time for some breakfast - a nice warm drink and a couple of Struffins.  These were made by Mrs RC, and are a wonderful cross between a muffind and apple strudel.  She invented them, I came up with the name.

Then it was time to head to work - after feeding the rabbits, of course.  I was just saddling up when a text arrived, asking me to stop off at Humphrey's field on the way to sort out a new delivery of hay.

At least the rain had stopped...

Then the journey to work, amid spray from the road that made me at least as wet as the rain.  Argh...

Oh, and just to make life a little harder, I was not riding my own bike which is in the workshop having new gears, chain, front mech and bottom bracket fitted.  I was riding Number One Son's bike, which is nice but has a smaller frame than I am used to.  And it has rear suspension, which I am not used to - I keep thinking the back tyre is going down...

And it is raining again out side...

Squelch...