Back in the saddle for 3 days.
So despite giving up teaching full time in the summer I have been strong-armed (by a charming colleague who played to my ego by telling me I was indispensable) into leading a group on the Year 9 battlefields tour this weekend. Always a moving and sobering trip; it is for these 13-year-olds the first time they come properly face to face with something so horrendous in scale and horror (unless they have been very unlucky in life). So it is with mixed feelings that I set the alarm clock for 3 a.m.! I had consigned this sort of responsibility and timekeeping to the past but I am gladdened that I am trusted to deliver the stories that tell the history of the people involved. Anyone can deliver the facts, but getting young minds to begin to comprehend such things is a privilege that I take very seriously. The more we educate about the reality of war and wars, the more we stand a chance of nurturing leaders who may be the generation to finally find a solution to mankind’s seemingly inherent need to kill each other. I am not looking forward to the coach journey through Dover as we process through the reams of bureaucracy all gladly appreciating the fact that ‘at least we have our sovereignty back’ FFS!!! I am looking forward to a small glass of Belgian beer.
This week’s radio show featured as many mistakes as usual but as my listener reported ‘one of your best, not too much talking…’ Damned by faint praise. It features Petty, Brown Horse, Sparklehorse, Crosby /Nash, Young, Bruntnell and many more. I have also been listening to Splinter following the excellent article on vinyl treasures and this led me to The Pearlfishers, not sure why but it’s probably that they both surf that poppy, harmony end of the musical spectrum. And we are, indeed, in the last days of September. As ever take what you want or need.
