As I write this it is Sunday evening and I’m watching highlights of last week’s Reading Festival on the television. Specifically I am watching Liam Gallagher’s set. As I discussed in last week’s post, even though it takes place a mere ten minute walk from my house, I didn’t make it to the festival itself…
Tag: work
Of Bubbles And Bubbly
As I write this I am a little inebriated. I’m currently sitting in my garden on a Saturday afternoon drinking a bottle of pink sparkling wine, which does not appear to subscribe to such platitudinous labels as Champagne, Cava or Prosecco but is rather its own thing. Not that I could tell the difference between…
Virtual Participation
The other day I had to attend a conference of sorts. It’s not a regular feature of my job but it happens once in a while. In normal times ‘attending’ would have meant driving or travelling by train for an hour or so, rolling up at a venue, enjoying some free coffee (and hopefully a…
A Cinquain That Encourages Procrastination
When tasks Seem like too much Do one bit at a time And soon you’ll find that you’ve achieved Not much
A Haiku About How I Miss The Administrative Red Tape Of Having To Book A Room In Order To Have A Meeting
Did we really have This many meetings back when Meetings needed rooms?
A Haiku On Why You Should Give Up On Your Dreams And Pursue A Sensible, If Ultimately Unfulfilling, Career Instead
Hope springs eternal But hope does not really help To pay the mortgage
A Cinquain About The Futility Of A Work Ethic
Effort Overrated No point in trying hard No reason to get out of bed Give up
Just Call Me Mr Milestone
In recent weeks I have passed quite a few significant milestones in my life. The milestones are, of course, metaphorical. I haven’t passed any real milestones. Or possibly I have when I’ve been out and about, but if that is the case I haven’t really noticed. In real life, actual milestones are a somewhat dated…
A Haiku About A Lack Of Equilibrium
I enjoy weekends But a five:two work/life split Seems to lack balance
A Haiku About The True Villain Of The Working Week
You survive Monday Only to discover that Tuesday’s even worse
I’ve Finally Achieved My Dream
Last week I disappeared from the blogosphere for a few days. You may not have noticed. Why would you? I’m not a blogger of any particular consequence. Besides, even though I wasn’t really around, my writing still was, as I made use of the rather helpful ‘scheduling’ feature on WordPress and my posts appeared everyday,…
A Clumsy Limerick About Having Too Much Work To Do
That Sinking Feeling This limerick is something I wrote In work when trying to stay afloat My quest for buoyancy Meant metaphorically Because I’ve never worked on a boat
Monday Morning Mollification
Never love Mondays But find them tolerable When I’m not in work
Teams Spirit
There is no ‘i’ in Teams Although there is an ‘i’ in time And when I am in Teams I often feel like I am stuck in time Sometimes I’m literally frozen in time At least that is the impression I give to others I wish I were more like ‘i’ And not in Teams…
As Per Our Policy…
There has to be a policy For people to be able to adhere to the policy But it’s a theoretical exercise And no-one reads the policy So no-one adheres to the policy But it’s important that they could if they wanted to For some reason Frankly it’s annoying when anyone actually does read the policy…
Much Like A Stopped Clock, He Was Right Occasionally. Although Not As Often As A Stopped Clock…
I used to have a boss. For the sake of anonymity, we’ll call him Brian. He wasn’t called Brian, but he wasn’t a bad guy and I’m about to do something of a character assassination on him. He deserves it for being a rubbish boss, but not for being a rubbish human. I mean, I…
‘Working’ From Home
When last I blogged, I did so from my office in a very much still open, though poorly attended, school. That same day the government decided to close schools, although they did give us the remainder of the week to keep things ticking over, which was nice of them. It was not at all challenging…
Most Melancholic Monday
Today is Blue Monday and therefore officially the most depressing day of the year. This is based on actual scientific fact and not a slap in the face to those people who are actively campaigning to raise the profile and reduce the stigma of mental health. I actually wasn’t feeling that bad when I woke…
Surely Monday the 13th is as bad as Friday the 13th? Or worse? Cos it’s Monday….
It’s the second Monday in January and Christmas is now but a distant memory. Although my bank balance might disagree and pay day does seem to be a frighteningly long time away. Also, my 17-month-old daughter, who is continuing to make impressive leaps in terms of her vocabulary acquisition and likes to make use of…
Mind Over Body
As I’ve mentioned in one or more of my previous ponderous posts, I’m currently in the process of attempting (but not really succeeding) to write the dissertation bit of my MA. In truth it’s not actually my MA. Not yet. I need to write a dissertation first. I also have a full-time job, because I…
Quality Of Life
Neville rubbed his eyes wearily. It had been a long day of meetings. Meetings about progress, meetings about strategy, meetings about personnel, meetings about finance, meetings about data and at one point, Neville was fairly certain, there had been a meeting about meetings. The majority of these gatherings had followed a similar format. They began…
Distractions
Tim looked longingly out of his window. The sky was blue, the sunlight was reflecting brightly off the white wall of the convenience store across the road and the trees that lined the more affluent streets at the far end of his own were swaying gently in the breeze. There was still something of a…
Coping With Stress
It’s best not to ponder All of your fears That way lies madness It’ll all end in tears Beating stress is quite simple A doddle in fact Just forget all your woes And you’ll have it cracked There’s no need to focus On tasks uncompleted If you attempt to achieve them You’ll end up defeated…
Something About Nothing
A few weeks ago, in order to maintain a regular blogging schedule, I committed to regularly writing short posts about ‘not very much’, instead of longer posts that pretend to be about ‘something’ but aren’t really about anything. Since making that pledge, I have written anything much. So the plan didn’t work. And now I’m…
There’s Always A Bright Side
It’s already five past eight I’m running rather late I overslept this morning Ignored alarm clock’s warning Had no time to eat my toast Now coffee is the most I’ll consume before my break So I’ll be hungry but awake And the traffic will be slow But I’ll just go with the flow There’s no…
James Complains About Not Having Written Anything
It’s the first Monday in September and like many teachers I’m obliged to go back to work after a six-week hiatus. Obviously, I expect very little sympathy from the non-teachers out there. Clearly, it’s hard, if you don’t get six weeks off, to sympathise with anyone who hasn’t had to go to work for the…
Even I Don’t Know What This Post Is About And I Wrote It
I’m in work as I write this. Which might seem a bit naughty, because one should never use work time for blogging and I absolutely never would. It’s not ok to blog during work time. The above paragraph was written on the basis that although there’s no chance my boss ever reads my blog, if…
The Elephant In The Room
Hello people of the blogosphere. I’m back after something of an unplanned hiatus from the world of blogging. I wasn’t sure what to write about for this post – on the one hand my first post in a while ought to be a spectacular affair, both witty and profound, irreverent yet informative, offering reassurances to…
Birthday Blues
Hello blogosphere! Today is the 4th April and therefore it is my birthday. My birthday is on the 4th April every year and I fully anticipate maintaining this tradition for many years to come. One of the main reasons, indeed possibly the only reason, that I went into the education profession was that the 4th April…
Stuff I Used To Do But Don’t Do Anymore (Or How I’ve Become A Less Interesting Person Over Time): Part 3b: More mendacities on multilingualism
So this is the second part of the third part of my series of posts on stuff I used to do. It might help to read ‘the first part of the third part’ for this post to make sense. It may, or may not, help to read parts 1 and 2. Then again, it could…
Con-For-Us
The conference is a noble thing A day when experts confer knowledge In allocated slots To us know-nothing mortals Who have had the nerve Up to this point To work without their wisdom Although in truth There is little conferring of knowledge Or new knowledge at least Just a purgatory of PowerPoints Regurgitating redundant recommendations…
