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!