Bryn Y Mor

almost time for work at my second home, the Bryn Y Mor pub. it is an amazing place and the best part is that you wouldnt think it so many people dont see it, which i think makes it special.
i cant figure out why its so great. its like a soap opera crossed with a church and a bit of family thrown in. working there has been such an experience, its made me question things and think in different ways and i really wasnt expecting that when i started there.

there is every different type of person there, teachers, laborers, artists, drs, dealers of different sorts, ive got to know them in a way i probably never would have been able to otherwise. i guess the main thing is that everyone is there socially so relate differently then they would at work or other setting.
the main characters:
mr v - the millionaire, art dealer, landlord and boss to half of swansea, very troubled. a wife he bought from the internet. i didnt think things like that actually happened, how naive was i?! he laughs about it himself so i dont feel bad mentioning it. it is crucial to understanding him. major drink issues. however one of the most perceptive men ive met. sees a psychiatrist regularly and likes to tell me about it.
hamlet hamlet hamlet dave - repeats everything he orders at least three times. on first meeting him i thought he was your average swansea elderly man. he cant speak very well and has troubles understanding people. some people pity him in, but he is so happy. he is always alone, always laughing and talking to himself. im not saying this to make a joke of him, but he is so satisfied. and ages ago he tried to ask me some things about myself and so i told him, a year later he remembers every detail. he dosent know what day it is but he can remember everything about everyone he has met. a great man.
the laborer's - they can come as a package. mainly men 20s and 30s. most of which have at least one child who lives else where. its always the womans fault. ive never met a group of such hard done to men! most started building as a side job, but swansea, the graveyard of ambition. not that being a labor is a bad job, but none of them actually want to be doing it. the main down side is the lifestyle it leads to that seems unavoidable. casual work hours, every night in the pub, broken relationships.
dread rob - a man that represents many others in the bryn. a wise and almost slightly past it surfer. a lifestyle of casual jobs, too much pot, but so many stories. great stories and great adventures. one of my favourite characters. a weekend dad who loves his son more than life itself. such crazy passion and enthusiasm for life and can be found partying the night away well after the rest of us have gone home.

and so many other but now i have to go and spend the day with them. such a great job, everyone should work in a pub!

mondays, eh

so this is my lift home from work, or rather WAS my lift home before we were in a head on collision opn the way home today. thankfully no-one was too hurt. the seat belt saved me much injury, although leeanne the driver cracked a bit of her sternum. anyway thought it would be worth putting the photo up. this is just after the other car was pushed away ( just incase you were wondering what we had a head on with) oh and lisa had to call the police to get a guy removed from the pub. mondays eh!

the post with no title

ok i concede. these pgce's are really quite hard. after a weeks teaching im exhausted (at that on a half timetable). and i probably shouldnt even mention how many times this week i've thought about jacking it in. that said some of my lessons went really well (even got quite a few 'goods' on my lesson observation forms from my mentor). but it is the weekend now so no more talking about school.

apart from that our rocky has some family to stay so there are now two little things with sharp claws to greet us in the morning ( and of course twice the amount of poo) . Thankfully one the relative a smaller sister going by the posh name of lady montegue by her previous owner is bound manchester way to lisa's mum's house this weekend. so although it's only a flying visit you might be able to catch us this weekend if any of you are missing us too much.

there was another significant event to my week. the latest robert jordan book came out- book 11 in his wheel of time series and thankfully the penultamate book. the series has taken about a decade to get this far. he's the type of author who thinks why use 1 word when 20 will do. but the whole thing is addictive no matter how long it is. am i right deirdre?

1066 and all that

d-day is coming. that is teaching d-day. maybe a shouldn't use historical metaphors when i'm writing about my history teaching- it could get confusing. another invasion is in fact coming. On monday i begin teaching a variety of year 7's about the Norman conquest, and then later in the week some year 9's about the first world war armistice (did you know jelly babies were originally introduced in 1918 as "peace babies" to celebrate the end of the war, they only changed their name in the 50's).

I should have started this monday and i was all psyched up and prepared to but the classes hadnt got to the right point to hand over yet- which isnt surprising as the history teachers at the school do some completly random topics that go off in amazing tangents. I also have the privilage of having the very latest of classroom technology to work with on this placement. yes i know you will be amazed. we a have a roller blackboard. i bet you teachers thought i was going to say we had an interactive whiteboard and a projector for powerpoint (or even a whiteboard for that matter).

I even got to sit in on my first parents evening today, although we were mercifully allowed to bow out early.

so yes indeed. monday morning the normans shall be invading a classroom near you.- well near me.

quite exciting

Feel excited right now about so many things.

jones, emma and doug in aus, argentina and china, that makes me excited. three beautiful friends, well and happy in amazing places.

im excited about the ridiculously blessed lives steve and i get to live.

ive been disillusioned about 'development' over the last couple of months, everything that ive studied and pretty much spent the last two years thinking about seemed pointless. caring about people in lesser developed countries, wanting to work with the people in these countries to develop the lives they want and the things they need and have an absolute right to, was suddenly being called a 'profession'. how is that a profession? as though you have to have a qualification to be part of these things. and it struck me that if this is the case, then what are we saying? that the actual people of the country arent qualified to help themselves? or that a person with a qualification from a developed country who has never even lived in a developing country is better qualified to 'develop' the country than a person who lives there and has participated in the country and the community all their lives? that bothered me. i dont want to be one of those 'developer' people. i really have no intentions of ever being a professional!
but then that really excited me, because i can still take part in all those things that i said, without living up to this western, london office job, fat cat arrogant and oh so wrong mentality. and i feel like somehow ive got one over on these people. maybe that makes me more arrogant than them! and maybe ill change my opinion. but thats ok.

and im really excited about moving back up to manchester next year. i love it here in swansea and really wasnt looking forward to leaving, but now i have more community / youth / cafe ideas and i really see no reason for them not to happen.

and a really nice and cool and incredibly talented friend has just had his second book published and the website is http://www.sawhorse.co.uk/

and there are other things, so you see, its all quite exciting

connection terminated

i think roxy must have noticed me playing an old Mission Impossible game on a N64 i borrowed from the guys upstairs and decided that the international espionage life was for her. let me explain....yesterday we finally got our broadband connection up and running (after a couple of hours of plugging and unplugging stuff and calling the technical helpline).

all was fine and rosy until we walked into the room this morning. Roxy had infiltrated the other side of the room that is normally cunningly sectioned off by a surfboard. Here she was confronted by her first challenge- which wire to cut? is it the black wire or the white one? we can only guess that after minutes of nervous sweating she decided that it was best to err on the side of caution and chew through them both- the broadband wire and the phone cable. so ended our utopian internet connection. Fortunately those saturday afternoons as a child watching McGiver paid off and we were able to cobble together another connection.

we are certainly going to have to watch this one closely.

Me and the Doc

20 years of Neighbours. Who'd have thought it?

Through the good times and the bad, Neighbours, a faithful companion.

Here is a salute to Dr Karl.....

He's had it tough with that "jezabelle" (to quote Suzzie K). Yes I know he left good old Suz for a younger model but blame the script writers, not the Doc. And not to be confused with his fake band The Right Prescription, his real life band "Waiting Room", begin their second UK tour in November. Check http://www.alanfletcher.net/ for details.

As for me, I have Costochondritis. That's a real thing. Its poorly ribs. But to have an 'itis' always perks you up a bit. Apart from that things are pretty great.