I don’t just like Fridays, I love them

Reason being that the weekend is here. No work until Monday. Brilliant! Spent the day interviewing for our HND Social Sciences course. It’s dead easy, if a bit tedious. All candidates have been with us a year on HNC, so there are no issues. Just pass the first year, and you are ‘in’. Nice to meet the non-psychologists, whom I don’t teach. Saw one guy who wants to leave after his HND and do a degree in archiving or similar. I was able to tell him about becoming a chrtered librarian, but if anyone else in the UK knows of even more pertinent degrees, please e-mail me and I can pass this information on. Best laugh doing the interviews this year happened last week. One of my students failed to show at 9.30 a. m. He arrived at 12.30 p.m. looking a bit harrassed. On enquiry as to where he’d been he said ‘I was still drunk.’ I killed myself laughing and gave him an place on the course for his honesty!!

Had my usual Friday lunch of fish, chips, salad and coleslaw. Great start to any weekend in my view. Sat with Charlie and Jim. Been told that I’m teaching a wee modern studies class next session, which I’m looking forward to. Haven’t taught politics for years. But it should be little hassle. Was asked to consider teaching Higher sociology as well, but I declined. Even if you are ‘Superteacher’ it is not a good idea to teach something that you are ill prepared for. When problems arise you get no support from the folk who persuaded you to do it, Candidates’ grades then suffer, and that is not a professional way to do things.

Caroline then picked me up and it was ‘Home, James.’ She’s now away to buy us a new Hoover. We have had three in the last 12 weeks, all of which eventually died, or so she tells me. I am not close to Hoovers. But I’m sure she’ll pick a nice one to which she becomes very attached. Toni should be home from school soon. She was meant to go to a sleepover at her friend’s tonight, but has been misbehaving. Mum has thus said ‘no’. I wonder if Tone will be able to change her mind for her? Wee bugger, who is the apple of my eye.

It was the best time of my life when she was at St Columba’s Primary. Because the College was just across the road I took her to school every day from age 5 to age 11. When she saw her school on the horizon she was off like a bullet, she enjoyed it so much. We drive this enthusiasm out of our learners by the time they are 13. Questions need to be asked about this if Scotland is ever going to be a tiger economy. 1: 5 adults in my country can’t read and write, and is a shocking statistic for somewhere that alleges the best education system in the world. Not so.

Weather is dull and humid. Must get my grass at the front cut tomorrow. I’m letting down the cul-de-sac! All the old retired geezers have immaculate gardens here. They are out all day every day during spring and summer. I get some in when I can. It would be nice for once to have the garden up and running before the summer starts, rather than chasing your tail during it. Fat chance.

Anybody want a job creosoting my boundary fence aka the Berlin Wall?!

Now to relax and play a new Christy Moore CD that Joe Lappin lent me. No grass cutting this evening, I doubt.