EU Must Be Mad!

Ah, the deed is done then. The people were promised a say, but when it really mattered, of course, the people cannot fully understand the concepts involved, so the great political minds of Europe went ahead and signed the "United States Of Europe" treaty for us. Now all we need to do is sit back and reap the rewards... which will be what exactly? I'm sure that I'm not alone in thinking that countries such as France and Germany will see this as just the result that was hoped for in the last 2 World Wars. Well, there patience has been rewarded, they now have control, and perhaps us Brits can finally be made to pay for having the audacity to stand up to them in the past.

We didn't stand up this time though, just rolled over to have our tummy ticked. My worst fear is that in some point in the very near future, some country is going to find themselves receiving a bit of a raw deal from this new arrangement, and will turn around and say, "Excuse Me Herr Germany and Madmoiselle France, but we've decided we'd like out of this treaty. They may well then be thrown a bone or two, but still not happy, they will simply be crushed by our new European Army, frogmarching along to "Ode to Joy", our new European Anthem, with the European Flag borne proudly aloft.

So we'll either find ourselves in a totalitarian state or we'll have a European schism and a European Civil War, just as the Germans are claiming the last 2 World Wars were, European Civil Wars. Yes, that's right, because we were all getting along great for ages before that weren't we? These people are blind if they think it will ever work, the best we can hope for are some special new European taxes to help fund a new Eurocratic workforce and Parliament. Maybe we'll get an EU VAT on top of existing VAT, that would help build up some gigantic EU MP's pensions. To be honest, I've never heard anyone say anything positive about the whole thing, apart from the deluded madmen pushing the idea along, does any normal person think this is a good idea? I'd love to hear it!

Lidl's Ladels the Labels!

You probably have a Lidl store somewhere near you, especially if you live in Europe, judging by the map above showing their progressive expansionist policy. We've had a Lidl's here for several years now, even though no-one knows how to pronounce it yet ("leed-ills", "lie-dills", "lid-dills"), everyone has their own way of saying it. Well, that's besides the point really. They've bulit a new store here, right next to the old one, only twice the size. What will they do with the old building? Nobody knows, but it'll give the old folk something to talk about until it's decided.

The new store opened on Thursday, and I had my first chance to go in there today. "How odd" I thought, "It's exactly the same as the old store, only slightly bigger and with a different flooring!" Yes, every sale item was in exactly the same location as it would have been in the old store, because the layout was the same too. And I still had to wait too long at the checkout, so no change there either.

They do have a nice big new car-park though, so that's something different I suppose. It's all came out of common good land that the Community Council sold to Lidl's for somewhere in the region of one million pounds I do believe. Now they have a million to spend, the local councillors are in a panic about what to do with it. They should just syphon it off through vastly over-inflated expenses claims like normal councillors would. It'll never do the town any good, we almost had a Tesco until last week when the whole thing was scrapped. That's the odd thing about this town, they keep building more houses, while all the time local shops and businesses have been packing up. Now, all we have is houses for around 20,000 and the odd corner shop. So let's build some more houses then, yes there are about 3 new housing estates in the pipeline!

Networking!

Today marked "abortive attempt to set up a home network part 1"! Well, it wasn't entirely a failure, I did manage to setup a LAN, the only problem being I had no Internet connection. I was working mainly on the basis that, if you plug everything in, the rest will be easy. It was only when my computer started waffling on about IP addresses that I realised I was out of my depth. Not that I don't know plenty about both networks and IP's, just that I've no idea what the computer wants from me because it won't say what the problem actually is.

It's all a moot point now anyway, because I was going to change ISP, but when I phoned to cancel, my present ISP had to go and better the deal I was after, so I've a new router on the way now, with instructions this time, and I'll get more bandwidth for less, with free phone calls as well. Sounds good, provided I can get it all working, and that's not a certainty by a long chalk.

Bizarre coincidence yesterday. I was on the train coming home, and a guy that's in my class at Uni was sitting a few seats back. He never ever gets this train as he lives in the islands and stays in Aberdeen during term, but he was off to a party in the Highlands. Anyway, I could hear him talking all of the journey, and assumed it was with someone he knew from Aberdeen who was also going to the party. It turned out be someone else I knew from College several years ago. So, we all knew each other, but never knew that we knew each other, if that makes sense?

Cloudbusting!

Interesting things... clouds! We've all seen odd looking cloud formations at some time or another. I could have spent a little longer finding some more pictures, but you know how it is? You'll just have to make do for now!

As far as I'm aware, none of these photos were photo-shopped, but you never know, especially with that last one... looks a little dodgy to me!

Sick Again!

Had enough of my whingeing yet? No, I didn't think so, else you wouldn't be reading this would you? Well I've managed to steer clear of illness since about March I think, but it was just too bloody much to ask that I last until after tomorrow, which is the last day of Uni until next year. Not only that, but I thought that I might just skip tomorrow, because it's a long enough day travelling into Aberdeen in the best of health. Doing it while ill would be slightly sado-masochistic. Then I remembered those GTCS forms and disclosure that I was talking about yesterday. They have to be handed in, which means that I have to go in tomorrow.

Yeah yeah, laugh it up, enjoy my suffering, but remember "What goes around..." Well I suppose it could have been worse. If I'd been ill on school experience or while writing my assessment, that would have been more than a nuisance, and anyway I can console myself with the fact that it's the last day, and I have until January 7th to recover. I suspect I might also have other sel-inflicted ilnesses to recover from before that time!

Oh, and I see some great news from Labour this morning. Ed Balls, has decided that all new teachers should be educated up to Masters level. That's nice of him, I've just spent 4 years at College and Uni, and just as I'm about to make a little bit of money, someone thinks that I should start teaching and undertake a Masters at the same time. Genius idea, but why? A teacher should know all they need to know with a degree and a year's teacher training (plus another probation year before becoming fully registered). If they still can't teach, then how exactly is a Masters going to help, there's not going to be anything in a Masters which can be passed on to the pupils, so what good would it do?

The only good that could come from being a teacher with a Masters, is that it would give you a way out of the profession, probably into much better paid work. Yes, teacher's are reasonably paid, but not nearly as well paid as they could be elsewhere. People teach becasue they want to, it's certainly not for the money. If you were to do it purely for the money then you'd be a nervous wreck!

I Hate Filling In Forms!

It has just been one of those weeks so far, the kind where you think that you won't have much on, then spend most of it chasing up paperwork. In my case both professional and personal documentation. First there was that assignment I had to submit yesterday. OK, got that in! Then I had an application for disclosure to fill in, my second in less than a year ( at £20 a time). I have to apply to the GTCS (General Teaching Council Scotland) in order to be "allowed" to qualify as a teacher (that's £55 this year and £40 every year after). These are exactly the sort of things you need as a 4th year student with a family and no money, in the run up to Christmas!

Anyway, had to apply to the GTCS online, had problems with that, had to phone them up, eventually got it sorted. Had to print off the completed forms and direct debit mandate, to send off with the disclosure form. then I had to go to the library to photocopy a birth certificate, passport and driving licence to send off with that as well.

Next up, my daughter wanted some book off of Amazon, so I logged in and bought it for 1 pence. Great, no, not so great, my account had my old credit card details. Easy, I'll just change the card details and everything will be fine. Would it let me do that? No, it wouldn't! I deleted my old details then couldn't enter my new details, so I had to enter my credit card details to buy the book and then it automatically updated my profile. Ah, the wonders of technology, everything's arse about tit!

Read A Bloody Book (Again)!

You know me by now, I like to moan about the same things again and again. Well, I've finally got my assessment submitted, hardcopy and electronic copy for the plagiarism software to chew over. Now, I'm going to purchase some drink and try and read some of the books I've squirreled away over the last 2 months. I was into Waterstones in Aberdeen and was sorely tempted to buy a Conn Iggulden book that I spotted, but then I thought I should probably read the Conn Iggulden book that I have, and see if it's any good, before I buy anymore of his works.

What was I going to moan about this time? Oh yeah, grown ups who haven't read books. I know I've done this one, but it's still happpening and it makes me sick (something was said in a lecture today, that's why, triggered me off). It's compounded (or aggravated if you like) by the fact that the T.V. is virtually no longer watchable. No wonder people are detached and socially inept. I blame the parents, because it is the parents. If a mother or father never reads and there are no books in the house, what sort of message are they sending to their children? I've even heard people say that they've learned everything they know from the telly, and I believe them because they know jack-shit!

Scotland is failing miserably in the three "R's" and all that's needed is a few books on a book-shelf in every home, turn the telly off for a little while now and again and read some books. It's not hard and it can be very rewarding. It stimulates the imagination, it improves literacy and you might just learn something!

Punch Versus Staple?

The great battle has been fought and the hour of victory is at hand! The staple or the punch, which one would come out on top? Having finished my University assignment and stacked up the supporting documentation, it came out at 72 pages all told. University guidelines stipulate, "No ring-binders or polly-pockets, assignment must be stapled at top left-hand corner only!" The people who dream up this crap are living in dreamland!

So, I was at least going to give it a try, but I realised that my little hand-held stapler would never be up to the task, so I borrowed a shot of my father's staple-gun. It was a long-shot, and I wasn't convinced that the staple would penetrate that thickness of paper. I was right, it made it about halfway through. So, in the face of receiving a sharp rebuke of some sort from some unknown grey-suited boring old fart, I've punched the document and tied the holes with whatchamicallums (tier things).

So the victor is the punch, because it lets you handle bunches of paper at a time, it has a coinscience which the stapler is sadly lacking. I think staples should only be applied to documents of 10 pages or less, but that's only my "professional" opinion. Someone really should come up with an alternative solution, there's money to be made here, I'm telling you!

Escape To Victory!

Well, my daughter's only 10, but yesterday she was raising a few issues with me over the crucifixion. Like, if Mary was a virgin, how could Jesus have older brothers and sisters? Hmm, good question! So, I explained to her how the whole crucifixion was a sham, how they would usually smash the victims kneecaps after a while, and they'd leave them up there for a long time, because it could take days to die.

So then she asks why they took him down from the cross after 2 hours, and I told her how the sponge must have had some seriously strong sedative in it, because Jesus was clearly alive when they took him down. They wouldn't have realised at the time, but when Longinus speared him in the side, it bled. That wouldn't have happened if he was dead already! But of course Longinus was only looking for a purely physical reaction which wasn't forthcoming. Yes, it was all very elaborate, but the Bible has been so heavily edited and censored that it's diffciult to get anywhere near the truth.

Clearly Jesus and his followers wanted to lead a revolt against the Roman, because that was what the Messiah was meant to do, and Jesus had been doing everything he could to fulfill the prophecies (which he was well aware of). So things went badly and he had to fake his own death and leave in a hurry. He left the revolt to his brother James the Just who was murdered by Paul, the man who started modern Christianity and totally twisted the events to suit a Roman agenda. My daughter totally understood all of that though, which is scary, probably because I explained it a bit better to her than I have here! She's a very bright cookie though!

Over Both the Rainbows!

It's true I have no patience, and not only did I have to wait about a month for my Radiohead - In Rainbows boxset to come, but I received an E-Mail last Friday saying it had been dispatched, and it wasn't until 2:30pm today that I finally recieved it. But yes, it smells lovely, and I've finally had the chance to listen to CD 2. Some surprises on there, most of the songs they've played live already, but they're completely changed for this CD. Bangers N' Mash in particular has been turned into a dirty sonic orgy. Yes, I said orgy, there's all sorts going on in this track!

I'm glad to say that it arrived in pristeen condition, unlike some stories I've heard where people returned from work to find a sodden lump of cardboard on their doorstep, containing something vaguely Radiohead-ish. It's incidents like that which haunt college campuses across America.

You'll be glad to know that my Uni assignment is coming along nicely, I haven't been sitting listening to music all day you know! I just have to put my Bibliography together and then find some way of losing 500 words. The're very prissy about word count, I don't know why, but go over 10% and marks start falling off. 50% over and it's a fail. Exactly... what's that all about? It's a bit of a hit or a miss really, you know how it is? When you get to this level, they think that you should be able to decipher the coded questions before you should be permitted to take part in any form of answering them. Words like vague and ambiguous, are synonymous with assessment writing in my experience!