Ashford

Well, we had an uneventful journey down to Ashford, where we are staying overnight in the Travelodge, which is conspicuous by its lack of air conditioning! It has been about 28C here today and the heat is humid and heavy. Keith was hooted at loud and long by white van man because he had the audacity to slow down on the roundabout to the Travelodge - they must be really stressed down here in the south east! Glad I live in the relative sanity of the wilds of North Wales!
We had a bite to eat in Pizza Hut - loud music, loud voices and too many children running around and since then, Keith has been working hard at creating an internet link through one or other of our mobile phones, but, would you believe it? - no signal for either T mobile or Three!! Thought this was supposed to be the civilised part of the country!! lol. Tomorrow - a leisurely drive to Dover and the ferry. France, here we come!
That was yesterday. The night presented us with a choice - window open + air to breathe + noise or windows closed + no air + sleep without noise but also without breathing! I alternated between the two and so did not have a good night. Keith, on the other hand, unusually, slept like a log! More later, hopefully, if I manage to get this uploaded! Au revoir for now.

Ready for take off

Preparations for our departure for France are in their last stages. At the moment, I am at home waiting for a delivery of a car-mount for our camcorder, ordered by Keith for our trip so that we can film while driving (Don't ask!!!). Unfortunately, he forgot to specify that it be delivered to the shop, hence my enforced house-sitting.
House and dog sitting arrangements are finalised.
Packing is mostly done.
GPS is programmed.
My laptop, mobile phones, PDA, camcorder, digital camera, relevant leads, chargers and adaptors, memory cards, traveller's cheques, euros - all are ready and waiting.
Alarm set for an early start tomorrow because we need to arrive in Dover at 2.30p.m. as we sail at 3.15.
Phone call from Keith: What date do we leave?
Me: Tomorrow, of course.
K: And what is the date on our booking?
Me: The 5th. Why? What's the problem?
K: And what date is it today?
ME: (as realisation dawns slowly) Oh........the 3rd. See what you mean.
So, on to plan B:

Depart at a later hour for a leisurely wander down to Dover and overnight stay somewhere along the way!
Well done, Keith - you spotted my deliberate mistake then!! :)

Mad customers

I had this conversation with a potential customer yesterday:
The customer wanted to know if we had a particular sound card and what the price of it was, which I told him.
"What time are you open until today?" he asked.
"Half past five," I replied.
"Oh, half past five?" he said.
"Yes, that's right," I said.
"Oh good," he said, "I'll pop in at lunch-time tomorrow then."
True...honest!!

Life after exams

The usual furore over GCSE and A level exam results got me thinking about my own children's experiences with exams. Elder daughter always wanted to be a doctor but had to redo one of her A levels due to poor teaching, so she had a gap year doing chemistry A level and working in a local bar. Elder son always wanted to go into the army and so he did, but as his was a summer birthday and the army wouldn't take him until he was 16 and a half, he spent a term helping me in school, which he thoroughly enjoyed and he proved himself to be really good with the children. He had done his GCSE's and could easily have done A levels and gone to Sandhurst but that was not what he wanted.
Younger son got his GCSE's and was given a place in the 6th form but left within weeks, complaining that he wasn't being treated like an adult (Yes, I know!). He has always had an entrepreneurial side to his character and had a few different jobs, including working in large pet shops before eventually settling to the job he has now, concerned with the sale of mobile phone accessories. Along the way he has picked up a lot of expertise on computers and I.T., supporting the theory that, in the world of learning, boys tend to devote their time and effort to what interests them rather than what the system dictates.
Younger daughter worked hard at GCSE's and A levels and won a place at university to study drama and english, but within weeks, realised that she wasn't happy either with the course or the university and came home before Christmas. To her credit, she picked herself up, got a job for the rest of the year and pestered her current university to give her a place. which they duly did.
I'm not intending to get into the argument about exam standards here. I have my own views but I feel some sympathy for pupils who are caught up in the discussion year after year. They have worked hard within the system as it is and that is all that can be expected. Meanwhile, politicians will always use statistics to support their own views.
But I am proud of my children's achievements, whether they've benefited from the exam system or not. They have all shown, in their own ways, that if you have strength of character and belief in yourself and your abilities, you can make it - not always in the way you expect, but you can get there in the end!

It might as well rain until September

Those of you of more mature years may remember that song by Carole King. I was reminded of it this evening when I realised that today is the last day of August which means that tomorrow September begins - the first month of autumn.....and we haven't had summer yet! Or did I blink and miss it! Ah well, down in Sete, southern France, where we are headed in just a few days, the temperature is around 26 degrees.....bliss!!!!

Email link

Well, I have just spent most of the evening messing about with my blog trying to enable email post links like this. You know, the little white envelope next to the comments which is coming soon to a blog near you. All my blog can manage is a little white line. So then I decided to try it on my photoblog. It worked like magic - no problem at all! So WHY didn't it work on this blog?????

Why God never received a PhD

Received this last night from a friend who IS doing a PhD! I thought it was very good.

Why God never received a PhD
1. He had only one major publication.

2. It was in Hebrew.

3. It had no references.

4. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.

5. Some even doubt he wrote it by himself.

6. It may be true that he created the world, but what has he done since then?

7. His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.

8. The scientific community has had a hard time replicating his results.

9. He never applied to the ethics board for permission to use human subjects.

10. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it by drowning his subjects.

11. When subjects didn't behave as predicted, he deleted them from the sample.

12. He rarely came to class, just told students to read the book.

13. Some say he had his son teach the class.

14. He expelled his first two students for learning.

15. Although there were only 10 requirements, most of his students failed his tests.

16. His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountain top.

17. No record of working well with colleagues.