Tony_S

Aditi had a colleague who liked to comment similarly on the doctorate Aditi was working towards usually “they are not worth the paper they are written on” and only teaching experience counted. Aditi said when her “colleague” had the range of experience she had , from teaching. infants and on masters courses and had taught as long she could comment. Of course now it seems that the person who derided higher qualifications is now in charge of teaching and learning in that college. Aditi retired just in time.

I was advised that leaving a fixed amount to a charity was fine but never leave a percentage.

I had one of those for a few years and when it was relatively new or had new foil and cutters fitted it was great, for about 6 months. It was quite an expensive razor too. In the end I purchased a Panasonic razor. That has separate foil and cutter replaceable parts. Last longer than the Braun . Beware of counterfeit parts though. I am pretty certain the rotary cutters for my previous Phillips razor were not genuine. Shavers.co.uk seem to be a good source for such things.

At the next (and last) college Aditi worked at he might have got in trouble. There seemed to be a culture of complaining and involving disciplinary procedures. Aditi was once reported to a disciplinary committee by a colleague (same team, same role) for “embarrassing her, making her look stupid”. The “colleague’ had asked her to look over an Excel Spreadsheet she had developed for team use. Aditi looked,at it, made a few comments using the Excel comment feature. She also a couple of other colleagues if she had missed anything. Aditi returned the spreadsheet with comments. To the original colleague, who at the next team meeting presented the original spreadsheet and said Aditi had looked at it and returned it unaltered. Somebody else said they had seen it and read Aditi’s comments. Hence the complaint of embarrassment and “making her look stupid”. The poor line manager had to deal with this and said it was not a disciplinary offence. But he asked Aditi to apologise and much to his surprise she said “No”.

First of all, I hope Sherry is feeling better now the ring has gone. Aditi hasn’t worn her wedding ring for over 40 years now after it got a bit squashed. She isn’t really bothered. However it did bother one of her colleagues. He said it was “wrong” for married women not to wear a ring as they could lead men astray. He was an Anglican clergyman who had started lecturing at the college after losing his curate job.

At one point there was something called the Institute for Learning. (IfL), and its membership was compulsory for teachers and trainers in post compulsory education. There was a registration fee which colleges paid, allowing people toiadd MIfL after their qualifications. As Aditi had a Level 8 qualification she automatically became a fellow and could add FiFL. I suspect she didn’t but unlike MiFLs she had to pay her own compulsory registration fee. The institution disappeared a few years before she retired.

I used to occasionally teach students who after finishing compulsory education at age 16 needed to go on a course to prepare them for access level vocational courses.

May help https://www.cityandguilds.com/qualifications-and-apprenticeships/qualifications-explained/qualification-comparisons

When I taught on vocational courses (GNVQ and NVQ) the students knew that no employer was going to look at a pass grade, it had to be merit or distinction.

I don’t seem to have any problem sleeping. I used to. But even then, Aditi assured me I had actually been asleep when she got up to visit the bathroom, so I concluded I was dreaming about being awake. One recent occurrence is getting late night acid reflux if I have eaten certain things (mainly pastry) later than 8pm. Until it settles I prefer to sit up but I can even fall asleep sitting up. Tony

Morning all. It is a fairly dull morning here. Not raining or windy though. We cut the grass yesterday. The blade on the mower needed replacing so one has been ordered, ready for the next cut. I recently purchased another 3 years of satnav map updates. They are updated every month . I think it was about £130. Maps cover Europe and Russia. Not a lot planned for today but I expect some of the interior window cleaning will be subcontracted to me. Tony

I haven’t had a report frm the Cincinnati Zoo hippos recently but have just received one. . Today’s hippo fact was that the collective noun for a group of hippos is “a bloat”

Most radios have an option to cancel traffic announcements globally rather than each time. Probably in the FM menu or a button marked TA.

The fault codes on domestic appliances are similar even now.

I was like that for about 10 years. Eating anything outside a very restricted range of items made me more ill than I was. Then the gastro consultant in 1985 said there was new use of an existing medication for people like me coping with lots of steroids. Otherwise it was surgery. Well, it worked. I can eat almost anything now. However I am fairly careful about eating out, not because of the food but being immunosuppressed catching whatever contagion is about!

MiL has suggested that as she survived all kinds of things including plague in 1930 she is protected against quite a lot of diseases . Considering she survived all those germs , and a few accidents, the dementia is rather cruel.

Our Miele washing machine also came with a 10 year parts and labour warranty. The main control board went “bang” and let out smoke a week before the warranty expired. New upgraded board fitted and what was interesting was that it came with all the latest programs including one for Lego brick cleaning. Our other appliances are Miele except for the fridge which is Liebherr. Small appliances are all sorts of make. The De Dietrich oven we really liked died and we discovered so had the company so we got a Miele.

The online suggestions for removing potting compound are hilarious. I won’t repeat them here in case anyone takes them seriously, apart from one “Access to an X ray scanner would be helpful…”.

I think on domestic products the Bosch name has been devalued somewhat. If you want what was the sort of quality that Bosch used to be like you need one of their Siemens labelled products. We have a lot of Bosch power tools and garden stuff. The power tools in an attempt to standardise batteries and the lawnmower as I was fed up of failing Flymo. After a succession of rubbish strimmers I bought a Stihl. Heavy and needs a shoulder strap but actually has a cord feed that works. Tony

I didn’t think Champagne Cognac was fizzy.

There are sharks in the Thames Estuary and a few were swimming around in the SeaLife Centre when we last visited. I think Tope are the biggest but the one on display at the aquarium wasn’t 2metres long. I just looked up what else had arrived and it seems there are venomous sharks in the Thames Estuary now called Spurdogs.

I was surprised how many said that I could have bought 10 hamsters for what I paid in dental expenses. Matthew had said I could use all his pocket money if necessary. When Zippy died of old age (for a hamster), Matthew said he didn’t want another hamster. About a month later he decided he would like one so Coco was selected to be family pet.

Aditi came the other way. The ship she came on in 1958 from India to Tilbury was one of the regular ships sailing from the UK to Australia and back. She had to travel from Delhi with her Mum and younger sister to Bombay, as it was still called, where the ship stopped to collect passengers. Aditi said the Australian waiters were very kind to them. Aditi and her sister wouldn’t eat the British style food served in their restaurant so the waiters got Indian food from the crew mess. Tony

Essex is a big county, Jaywick is on a different estuary! I have been to Jaywick and I assure you it looks better in photos than real life. Your photos do of course look very pleasant.

I can see why so many people went to Australia from South Essex in the past. Apart from the Harbour bridge and the warship it looks just like the Thames Estuary…