New ideas for Spring/summer

I started a creative writing course today. It is from Future Learn from the Open University Which should run for 8 weeks and be 3 hours commitment a week, which I doubt I will only spend that short a time. The first exercise was an odd challenge which we had to write a 50 - 100 word piece on ourselves with one fact and three fictions and then a piece with three facts and one fiction. strangely the first one was harder for me, my first attempt was nearly 300 words long and I had used lovely flowing language to describe the whole thing, but I needed to cut it down!

I would highly recommend them as some of the titles have me planning new things for my CPD, with 'managing people; engaging your workforce' listed as new courses to do. And the best yet if you miss one it is rerun again later in the year with a round a nine month gap between repeats allowing you to pick up a missed one or plan if you have the time then! I have already booked my self a space on the app development course in the autumn.

We have a youth event running today where our pupils get to vote in a mock election for the referendum, as today is our last day for the senior pupils and a few have not even come in I am not sure how we will do. One of the tables for the younger years was needing a person for a while earlier so I cover it and had to find names and cross them off and to hand out voting slips and make sure they came back to the right box. To my amusement a child asked after posting their vote 'What do I win Miss?' I explained about elections and how they are a chance to have you say and to affect the world etc but I am not sure they went away convinced. I thought it was amusing but thinking later I am not so sure, we are creating a whole group of youth who feel they only do things for something tangible, an Ipad, or tickets. They have no concept of the bigger picture, they do not seem to realize that if they don't vote they have no say or reason for complaint in how their world is arranged.

My age were part of the student poll tax protests, one of my fellow students ended up arrested and lost her college place due to how much she threw herself into the protests. My childhood education was punctuated by Strikes, miners, teachers, binmen! We saw how some methods of protest had little effect while others worked. I doubt many my age vote, but I always felt if I don't vote I am giving away something essential. I am one voice but if lots of us one voice folk vote the same way we have an effect.

Meanwhile in the real world we are at the end of the month again and I have the end of month paper work sat to do. The task is not onerous but it does sit like a breeze block on my day, a pile of paper going 'do me now, or you'll regret it' I wont take long to do but I need to get out forms and make notes and generally get things sorted. I suppose I am procrastinating. One of my cats has gone missing again and I have no idea where to start looking for her.

Living in Scotland has made us very aware of the idea of referendum, and the vote that is due this September, what I being missed is that a referendum is asking the population what they think, not what shall happen. Either side would need to win a very big majority to actually get any movement on the issues being raised, but folk keep getting caught up in it. This is the 10th referendum in the UK in the last 40 years, not new, not the be all and end all, not life threatening, (big sigh) we shall just have to wait and see.

I have become very serious in my blog so I shall lighten it. I had this shared with me today about Shakespeare and the original pronunciation (OP) when they introduced it to the Globe in London. With some wonderful lines and the jokes made more fun. The father and son pairing makes it more accessible, I would recommend a listen to it and an enjoy. And I shall just finish with a quick picture of missing cat in hope she is home when I get there!

Back up to speed

The Easter break was too short and over far too quick, the term we finished was one of the hardest I have ever seen, and that after more than 14 years in post! I do not feel we have had two weeks with no kids.

We did have study school and of course I did loads of things I can't do when school is in. Officially I had some days off but I had meetings and non work things in some of those days and also as normal when I get a few days off I fell ill. Sadly I found out a number of years ago I an intolerant to wheat, which means every so often I have to cut wheat out of my diet all together and detox, or suffer. I shouldn't eat any but I have found the odd item I can get away with and the odd weekend as long as I know I will suffer later can be done, but I missed the signs and ended up in a lot of pain. Slept for most of my days off which wasn't much fun, so in time honored tradition I meed a holiday to get over my holiday.

I do have a new fun thing to look into, The Sioban Dowd Trust are offering £6k to school libraries. The web site only asks for 50 to 250 words on what you do that's special. I am currently trying to get the wonderful things and plans I want to do into 250 words! thankfully I have been offered help and the more I look the more I find to add... If you a none fee paying school with a library feel free to go and have a go, as one of our senior staff here has said, you have to be in it to win it! If you don't enter you will never win anything, so give it a go.

The painting didn't get done but the garden did, the lawn is lawn again and the dead grass reseeded, (which means on dry days I am out watering) the hedges are now thinner and back a bit, the roses which I keep taking out and back are gone again! the potatoes planted are doing well, and the newer fruit tress thriving as well as the established ones, I must take a picture of the cherry blossom which started out last night! My potatoes are just some standard seed ones but my husband found these and had to get some, so his are blue potatoes and he is very proud of them! They came from  the group selling at the Easter fayre, mine have been chittled and brought on and carefully planted! His have been been dropped into a knocked together box at the foot of my garden! we shall see...

I plan on going to the CILIPS Conference this year at Dundee, I enjoyed myself a lot last year and I discovered that the fun I had at Umbrella in 2011 and 2013 is because they are library conferences and well run and not because they were the umbrella, I plan on going to more as I get time and enjoying myself more. I still subscribe to the idea that you have no ground to complain unless you get up and try and change it. I love the changes being brought from the main body in London and while every idea is not always right, that is fine we can try things and change, things that do not change or adapt, die! right off my soap box again :-).

With the summer coming I have found a new program to love, The Allotment, it is a cross between Kirsty's home made house idea and garden fete thing she did, and the Great British Bake off, with plants. The contestants have to grow 83 different plants and each week they get called to produce things, first a best in show for basic grown fruit, first weeks radishes was fascinating to watch, having grown radishes badly I thought that was it, but no, lots of different factors and I may try again! The next episode was runner beans and again much fun was had, they then had a flower challenge, now all the folk I know who grow either do veg or flowers, to see both was strange and so far the ones who get one haven't been the ones to get the other prize, not only do you produce a specimen flower you also have to make a flower arrangement, and two big guys made some fab ones, the judge reckoned he could make them florists! which is fun and funny. The final part is a cooking challenge, the first week was a jam and a Curd (do not ask why I like but do not make curd, ever) and this week was a sauce and a relish, which was fun. I find I like these program's, bake off was good and got better, sewing bee was good and got better and this is good, and I think has the potential to get better, unlike sewing and baking though you need time to get plants up and running and to hold the program! I would love to see next years in a snap shot, I know they are running already, as they started march 2013, I would love a 10 minutes slot of what they looked like this week, which would make a nice intro for the next show and lots of stock footage to back them up :-). I shall dream on.


I hope to get back to my Monday posts next week and normality, and hopefully study leave too.
Just a quick picture of the kitten who wanted to play while we painted. most of the paint is now off but she has the odd bitty still on her ear tips! Thankfully I bought safe paint.

Spring has Sprung yet again

Despite my best tries at being cold and miserable, the spring has sprung and flowers are up and about and the cats have all got the joys stuck in their coats and need to run round like nutters to get them out! I am currently working on my front door and am repainting it with the hope that it looks so good my husband will spend part of Easter with my sons painting all the rest! The inside needed three coats just to look okay and the outside is needing more yet so I shall be painting in the dark and cursing the whole Idea soon. Oddly found it has been very relaxing, almost meditative for me. just slowly painting the wood, getting it all smooth and even. This is after the first coat, and it started to look better! Yes my walls are bright yellow!


The clocks have changed meaning my lunch wasn't too late today but by the time my body clock resets I will be famished by lunchtime again. The sun is again low when I drive in for work and I have a really hard time getting myself out of bed. I know it will improve and when it returns in the autumn the world is so much nicer due to the extra time, but I am robbing me now to give me then a help.

The school is working to two major deadlines at the moment, and the closer of these has been fun. Next summer (2015) a group of children will be going to Belize to walk and complete their Gold Duke of Edinburgh awards, but this summer a group of children are going to Belarus to volunteer. They have been fundraising and are doing well, despite us being a small community and the kids new to fundraising they have been working really hard. The website for them is here and their latest you tube video is very funny and well worth a look (poor Anna) please go see and if you feel like supporting that would be good too.

On a library note I win!!!! I heard on Friday one of my Mentees got her qualification, and can now move on to her next bit and charter (does silly dance) and best bit is I also got my re validation through (repeats silly dance) So now I must make sure I am brushed up on the new chartership while I get the last two I have doing the paper version (old style) finished as soon as possible (Easter I hope) I do have more bits from my meeting two weeks ago but this blog is mine and not a public broadcast (even if I did that myself, and then put up a must support thing :-) just a catch up blog post). Next week is the start of Easter holidays and I will be a bit in and out for the following two weeks, I hope to still blog on Mondays but may be from home instead.

Just a cat picture to finish, with her ginger leg on show and the sun shining my baby monster wants me to love her!

Public Information broadcast or something similar

I was lucky to get to a day of information and last blogged about the third sector and how it has an effect and how it can affect Libraries and society. This week at work I have been helping host a student who is here to see about active teaching and active learning. I know that is not really my area but she is an ex pupil and I was her return point to come back and make a difference. Why I mention it is because we got into a big discussion on society and who has control and how we change and what we can do or can't to affect change, I covered some aspects of sociology in my degree course (which the type I did seems to have gone west now :-( all BSc based rather than BA) and my one change I would make in life on a redo would be to do a BA in sociology and then an MA in libraries (or MSc) as I loved the whole idea of sociology and how we see and are influenced by the world and society.

This introspection has led me to actively participate in a cause that I do feel strongly about but I may have not bothered last week more due to apathy or too busy syndrome. The Cilip are leading a drive to get the rules changed for e-books, to get them more widely available and to get them free for libraries to loan. I have signed up and will be shouting about it on and off, because in that old adage, if your not part of the solution your part of the problem!

So feel free to skim over it but if you get time do click the link and join in the drive to get things changed, it is part of the whole who runs our world and how sets the rules. We can make a change. (climbs down off the soap box).

The same day of information I was shown a Website that is fab! the skills development Scotland team have set up a web site to help them get 48 hours in every day :-) as we need them more there seem to be less of them so they have a site that allows you to get much more out of their information and support your own life. They have set it up for schools initially and more recently have expanded it out to all those who may want support int he jobs market or even to just keep check of what you have in the jobs market. The web site is called My World of Work and includes a 'DNA' test that looks at what your suited to and what you like as well as a My Strengths section that helps you tailor you choices and interests! Even with a job I found it interesting and it allows me to fill in the CV section and update as I go. The website has recently been revamped to help the post school user get more from it and I was amazing just how much is online, from how to apply for a job to how to dress for an interview and how to practice your answers etc ahead. The point of showing us was the fact that it is a tool that can be used to keep track of job searching as part of the universal credit and current job seekers requirements. Well worth a look and a try, and if your a librarian or other partner worker they have an extra section that allows you access to more tools and info to support other better, amazing tool.

I remember when I was a child getting programs on the TV pre-political broadcasts which were noted as Public Information Broadcasts I wasn't awfully aware as a small child about these but they seemed old, boring and stuffy, I know wished I had listened more :-) but this is my version of it. So in time honored fashion I now end with a note that; This is the end of the Public Information Broadcast. Thank you and Good night.

Normal Service is Resumed (I Hope)

After a few weeks of busy and none stop, fighting off colds and trying tot get as much sleep as possible, traveling over a thousand miles and still turning up on time, I am back to normal working.

My desk is full of work to do and work needing doing, the end of the financial year is more than it used to be for me, and I am needing to get my head round new processes, but despite that it is situation normal for me. The weather has been kindish but of course when I want to paint the outside of the house the snow makes an appearance! An odd weekend, the cats decided I have to be up at 6am! so fight at my door until I get up. The daylight has turned, we now get more daylight than nighttime, which is great for doing things and for plans but hard to get back to sleep when woken by furry noses! Sat in my bed on Saturday morning with a Capri sun drink and the end of a bag of Haribo, did the bad Facebook thing and put that as my status, which later cause problems when my kids found out I had Haribo and they didn't get any :-).

Last week I was lucky to hear Sally Dyson speak about how the third sector is developing in support of digital provision in Scotland. She was talking about 'digital by default' which is the new online credit and universal credit system, how folk have to go online or lose out. how this is not a good thing. Her main thrust was how to develop 'digital by desire' Now I must admit here that my own mum is very much a non digital person, her banks closed and her only answer form them was 'well you must bank online' so she shut her account and uses another bank that at least visit her village by van once a week. The thought that if she had to do anything more then post office for her government interactions she would have to find internet and learn how to is just wrong. But that is a whole other kettle of fish. Sally was talking about how support must be found and how the third sector is a good start point and how they also need help developing their own  online presence. More about her world on SCVO.

Also in the same bill was a guy called Richard Clifford form a company called MAKLab which quietly blew my mind away! They run form the light house in Glasgow and they have rooms set up for design and more for manufacture, what caught my eye was the jewelry where someone had tried to make a prototype to check it would hang and could be made, I love this idea, as a crafter I love the thought I could make a thing just to see! He was also talking about bringing 3D printing to a wider audience which would be amazing, I am sure this is not as 'tomorrows world' as I think it is and I will dream on.

There was more but I think I shall stop now as I am only a day behind my aimed for deadline :-).

I shall finish with a quick pic from Glasgow that I took, I was wandering the town center and found this, so had to take a shot. Forgive the Geeky son who had to lean on the box.

Back to processing the last few weeks before my head bursts with ideas...

Hokey Kokey world

Well I feel in out and shaken all about!

Spent Sunday going to Glasgow and Monday in a meeting, amazing place Glasgow, such a poor rep but such nice folk and clean and welcoming city. Wandered the length and beyond of Sauchiehall Street (pronounced socky hall) and saw so much and had fun. The meeting was very interesting and I am still processing some of the information. Monday night spent going home.

Work for Tuesday then Tuesday evening south on the local train to Inverness (known to the locals as Invernsnicky for some reason) Over night in the youth hostel to get an early train to Edinburgh for Wednesday. Very good value but I spent the night dreaming of Zombies due to the shuffling of feet past my door at all hours, snigger. The room next door was chatting till late but that was okay, they regretted it when I got up at 6am I am sure. The train south was nice and not busy, mind you that may have been due to the very large number of carriages!

Wednesday was spent in Edinburgh, I had a couple of hours to kill wandering the town and made the most of it, from one end of the princes street to the other, and up the mile, I made the most of the sunshine and good day and walked until I realized I would be late and took a taxi across town to the central library. The whole day was nice and relaxed even the meeting while it was heated and full of debate was good and productive.

Wednesday night was spent getting home, trains and cars and very late night arrivals again. but to sleep in my own bed was a treat. the morning came too quick, and of course I had organised things for the Thursday and so I needed to be in work early and had a training session all day, by 4.30 at night I had done so much I had to go home and sleep.

And so my week is now at an end and I haven't got much finished at all, I have done lots and made loads of links and connections, I have set in motion things I hope to report back on the future but for now I have got nothing done! My cats haven't forgiven me and I spend the home time swinging between 'love me love me', and 'I hate you' I get head bonks and face nuzzles and then bites and chews and claws in my skin.

The final bell has gone for the day and I am done in, I will post this and go home, see got one thing done today :-). Just to finish a cat picture...

Have a nice weekend.

Happy Birthday Internet

According to various sources the internet has reached 25 year old. In this Blog My friend Sara looks at what has changed in the last 25 years, and while some I agree are fun I have strangely different memories of the same time.

I was also in my second year at library school, and we had dial in LISA and some of the databases online to California, which would have been the early parts of the web, and the new invention the CD Rom! Which I loved as it was quick and you could build carousels and search several at once... Part of our course was how to catalogue, another how we used ICT etc.

But while Sara was up in the north of Scotland I was in west London, and no better place can I think of to be 20 and studying! I had yearly entry to Kew, and Royal academy of Arts, I saw the latest films and enjoyed live plays when ever we could be bothered to go. I got to see the Levelers on tour in three different venues (including their home town of Brighton due to getting a lift down) and moshed in the web at the Astoria, the palace at Camden and even saw the Wonder Stuff live the week they were number one.

I spent a busy Saturday afternoon at the site of the Rose Theater in London as part of the Save the Rose movement, and like every other things then I also got the T shirt. Sadly the T shirt later got trashed by a child, but I had it, and the levelers and the cure etc and so much fun! My friend an I were even out the day of the storms and were on streets from some of the worst carnage! but came home untouched until we saw the TV that night!

I worked in Richmond for part of my time and the summer of 1989 I worked at the Poetry Library in the South Banks Centre, which is an amazing place and I can highly recommend a visit, some of the things and info they have is second to none and well worth a nose around. The underground was my life blood and the noise bustle and life in the city what I thrived on.

25 years later I am married with 3 children (now at going to uni age!) with a job I love which challenges me and makes me think. I have a home and world that allows me to still get live plays, and latest films but also lets me curl up in front of the fire when I want to. The biggest difference is the internet, I could now work from anywhere, a friend recently got a job in Dublin company, but still working from the highlands with occasional visits to head office. I can read my mums paper in Devon while eating my lunch in Caithness, or check the latest headlines from Ealing.

The internet and mobile technology has made the world so much smaller, what we supplied in the past as librarians was access to information, that is no longer enough as any decent phone can do that, what we need to do is facilitate information, getting best info or help identify what information is needed. We need to start discussions about why they want information about a car? to buy one to see one to find an old one or just a picture to like! We need to help open dialogues and make talk more valuable, help use the skills we and other have but do not value or even use. Like the paperless office of the 'new computer age' the conversations that are not needed now we have the internet are even more valuable.

On a lighter note I have been running World Book Day things and the tokens for the children, but a few years ago I felt the small cost to get the books allows me to give the books out to all the younger years as a gift from the library, so I set up my tables this week and have been through all the first years and half the second so far, I also have older titles that they get to choose from. I think a book in a hand is valuable no matter how or why.

My camera has a panorama feature and I am still working it out but this looks okay for now :-).