The variablility of skills

Gareth writes such beautiful poetry.

I like admiring the skills he has that i don't possess. I admire the skills he has immeasurably more than the skills of my friends. He is my partner, my 'other half', the future father of our children; therefore the skills of manipulating language, musical ability and quiet patience are all things which will be passed onto our children.

I find it puzzling that some things come so natuarally to some and not to others, how the world can be viewed in completely different ways by different people. Puzzled even though i can try to explain the reasons why with science.

I suppose our brains are complicated, that the positions of the billions of neurons are really important, that as soon as they are out of place we are essentially a different person. But there are lots of really complicated things that man has created, can't they just figure the brain out, it can't be that difficult?
I've seen programmes that look into how the chemicals, the hormaones, which your brain sits in can also affect how you think and feel, this can explain how man and women tend to think in different ways, and also why i don't seem to be in control of my thoughts for a few days every month. So it's not just the position of neurons, its the chemical composition of the soup they swim in.

Too many variables, too complicated.

This is why i admire Gareth, he has a mix of variables which i don't, and i like this fact.

None Like it Hot!

My father in Law told me this morning that it is supposed to be the hottest day of the year today. This got my brain thinking about global warming, a subject, quite rightly, that i have to teach to every year and age group at school.

As animals at the top of the food chain we can have quite a dramatic effect on the world around us; it is true that if we kill off a major phylum of insect then we are doomed, if we were to be wiped off the face of the planet then everything else would be quite happy and carry on evolving - no harm done.

So we are nothing and everything all at once. We could look upon our existance and evolution as completely natural, that us reaching breaking point and killing off complex life on Earth is just a natural step in earth's history. On the other hand as the only 'intelligent' inhabitants of this planet we should feel morally obligated to control our activities to limit our impact on the other poor wreched organisms which have pulled the short straw of sharing a planet with us.

What I'm getting at is if we decide to control our activities we prolong our demise and fulfil our moral obligation; that life on earth as we know it may continue a little longer. Life has changed immeasurably over the past billion years and will change again in the next billion, our demise will come sooner or later, it's natural and no-one else will care.

Air

It's 8am on Sunday morning and i have opened the window to let some fresh air in. As i lay in bed and breathe it in it smells absolutely divine! It doesn't smell 'nice', it doesn't have a strong smell of flowers, clean washing or freshly cut grass, or at least they are not strong enough for my nose to pick them out. So why does it smell so good?
Are the 'nice' smells (mentioned above) blended perfectly so they are subtle enough not to be picked out but give it the overall stamp of 'good' air? Is it because i spent the night recycling the 'old' air in the room, continually adding to the percentage of carbon dioxide, so now the oxygen smells good? Could it be that my body has evolved to reward me for finding oxygen rich air by making it smell, to my percepton, good? This would mean that others would find the smell different, with their brains choosing a smell that they too think is good, but if compared, the smell would be completely different.
Our brains rule our perception of the world, nothing is probably viewed exactly the same by each of us, so which perception is accurate, is true? Maybe nothing is true, it's just what we perceive to be true.
The air coming through that window is divine - fact!

'Goofballs'

We brought Mista a 'Cat' christmas stocking. It contained 3 dreary plastic balls which have now lodged themselves securly underneath the radiator, a festive red and white mouse and some cat nip treats.

We fed him some of the cat nip chocolate and cat nip crunch balls. This had the effect of turning him into a rampaging monster with pupils the size of dinner plates!

I managed to capture the 'tail' end of one of his crazes on camera. Gaz calls these episodes being 'wacked up on goofballs'. He says that i don't help by sticking my hand in (as you will see in the clip). Please ignore the lack of light and any background TV noise, wierd TV watching going ahead.

Happy new year
Char x

Pest control

On my way to and from work i pass many shops and buisnesses.
I have a favourite...

.... 'Pest Control', which, i presume, is where you call if you have an animal pest in your house or office etc.

What i love is the sign they have outside their office, next to the road. It has in big letters 'pest of the week', then a gap where the 'pest of the week' can be displayed. I find it funny that someone has a pest of the week, usually these sorts of titles are for good things, but i suppose pests are a good thing for 'pest control' because thats their job!

When i first passed by and saw this sign the cynic in me thought, "i bet that sign never changes, it'll be the same pest for months".
But i have been prooved wrong, there has been many pests given the coverted title of 'pest of the week'; german cockroach, house mouse, mite, bed bugs...

Presently it is the brown rat.
Oh joy of joys, the daily commute!

Poor old earth

As i drive to work in the mornings i bask in the life giving glow of the sun as it pops its head over the horizon. "Whoopee, good for you" i hear you lovely people say. The problem is the picture i get to see every morning could have been cut straight from a national geographic article on the state of the planet.
For many parts of my journey on the morning the golden orb of the sun, sitting low on the horizon, has many silhouettes of black smoke belching chimneys cut into it. The sky, which at home (harb) would be that washed out winter grey or pale blue, is smudged brown along the tops of the city blocks. I can't describe just how nasty the colour looks, suffice to say that what i used to cough up in the morning, when i was a smoker, comes close!
This shouldn't come as a shock to me, i know. London is a city, it has industry, it still has smog. The thing is i really didn't think pollution was that bad, that factories were actually allowed to burn things and that cars still kick out loads of crap.

I really shouldn't be so naive, i really need to get a prius.
Charlotte

The dreaded 'O'

Yesterday my head teacher told us that Ofsted will be visiting us this week. The school has been waiting for this for over a year now, before i graced them with my presence.

Previously, at my last school, i found the news of an imminent Ofsted inspection a joy. I knew that the head and other senior leaders, who were not pulling their weight, would get found out and get a shock. I loved watching them squirm and look sweaty for the days the big 'O' were in. I listened to their 'motivating' speeches and knee-jerk policies, knowing deep down that their previous incompetence cannot just be glazed over, that the inspectors will spot it a mile off (and they did)- therefore i left with a smug smile on my face.

So i found myself this morning in a impromptu staff briefing at the start of the day. I sat there waiting for the familiar happy feeling as i regarded my new head and leaders mooching around getting their notes together with slightly tense faces. This time it was different, i didn't get the same feeling as before. This time i actually believe that the school is brilliant, that we deserve an 'outstanding' grade, that the senior leaders all work extremely hard and don't deserve to feel even a little bit stressed. So i didn't feel happy at their predicament, our predicament, i just wanted to do my best to help the school look great.

We had an assembly straight after, topic: remembrance Sunday. There was music, films explaining the symbolism of the silence and poppy, a poppy man created by students (like in the add), the head talking about his own family caught up in wars and pupils reading war poetry. It was wonderful, i almost shed a tear!

How many other people got through anything like this before 9am this morning?
(Excuse my french) teaching is fucking great!

Char

Two fingers to the 'fans'

And here's what everyone has been waiting for... me to post another entry.


There have been comments alluding to the authenticity of my entries from 'friends' and 'family'. I took these as negative, Gaz poo pood my feelings and said to take it as a compliment, that people are obviously confused because of the automatic spell check on this thing. Oh I feel better!





Halloween yesterday, and in true fully grown up style i took great pleasure in carving my pumpkin.

There is evidence behind me of the poo weather were all having at the moment.

We met up with Simon and Dan in the loaf last night, good night. My highlight was the 'who am i?' guessing game. This morning i was a gremlin, it took Gaz half an hour to guess, i thought, what a good choice i had, until i found out he hadn't seen the film! Who hasn't seen Gremlins?!

Charlotte

The Purley Gates

Yesterday we visited our good friends Jim and Laura McRae. It wasn't easy, there was engineering works at their station so we had to get off at Purley. After a lovely meal we started to make our drunken way home.

My title suggests that this station was akin to the pearly gates, that this station too represented the entrance to heaven. Nothing could be more wrong.
11:30- Me and Gaz were not in the best shape mentally due to alcohol and argument. With our train into the depths of 'heaven' cancelled...we awaited salvation.
12:15- We boarded a train to Victoria, on our journey we were serenaded by a one armed, and very eloquent, tramp. He told stories of hidden foes, cold nights and a sharp surgeons knife.
12:45- Having resisted 'temptation' we traversed the system of night buses. By this time we had put aside our differences to help our survival. We stood close to share body heat and to reduce our exposed surface area to muggers.
2:55- Muggers fooled and £2 lighter we got off at the stop at the end of our road and literally ran home, giving the night back to the homeless, drunk and completely insane!

Char

"British" museum

Me, Gaz and Steve visited the British museum today for a whirlwind tour. The speed of which was dictated by how long Gaz could make it without food. He seems to have worms at the minute, either that or he has shares in Tesco express. Good for him, he will be the only one with money left in a few months.

Mista has graced us with a lot of his presence today. He's so gorgeous sometimes, i just want gobble him up cause gorgeousness must taste great! I'd love to be a cat, i would also sit around with smug self righteous looks on my face.

Char

Three weddings and a grave yard.

This is the first Saturday for a while where we've had the chance to do whatever we like, so how fitting it was that today we ended three weeks of beautiful weddings, the very start of peoples lives, with a trip to Highgate Cemetary, the very end of peoples lives.

We visited Karl Marx's grave, it reminded me of old set material from Dr Who.

It looks like the face of Bo.

Steve Barraclough has come over and we went to see the new film with Ricky Gervais in, Ghost town. Good flick. If i was a ghost i wouldn't hang around being in 'limbo', i would scare nasty people by making stuff float and i would go to museums and mince around the parts that mere mortals have to pay extra for, cause i just don't seem to have to time or the money to do it now.

Char