... as I am now only a week (okay, a week and about two hours) from being guaranteed the result of my last course and, of course, degree.
I know that the OU publish the result online early, as the date they give is when the letter confirming the result should have arrived by. Or so it used to be before they promised to publish the result online. In fact, the letter often arrives a day or so early. Second class post, mixed in with Christmas! So would it be posted maybe on Tuesday? Monday? Wednesday? And when would the result be online - when the letter is posted or due to arrive?
It brings to mind the paradox of the unexpected hanging, where a Judge sentenced a convict to be hanged on a day in the next 7 which would be unknown until the hangman arrived that morning and if it was expected, the convict would be released. The defendant's lawyer claimed that his client was as good as free, as on the 7th morning, it would not be unexpected if his client had not been hanged for the hangman to arrive. So, if the 7th day was not possible, the 6th was not either, by deduction. And so, not the 5th day ... and so on. So it was unexpected when on the 4th day, the hangman arrived and the convict was hanged.
So the day I don't expect to receive my results will be the day that they arrive. However each day, I expect it to be that day. The countdown begins in earnest!
Thursday 9 December 2010
Monday 15 November 2010
They think it's all over - it is now!
A while ago I contemplated what it would be like to finish studying for my OU degree and now it has become reality!
Is it how I expected? No! It is a bit of an anticlimax.
Since beginning this post, we've had visitors staying with us for Halloween, been for a week's break in Shropshire, but there still does not seem to be any more time available in the day!
I am still quietly trying to forget that after one month, I still have to wait yet another month for the result.
... waiting ...
Is it how I expected? No! It is a bit of an anticlimax.
Since beginning this post, we've had visitors staying with us for Halloween, been for a week's break in Shropshire, but there still does not seem to be any more time available in the day!
I am still quietly trying to forget that after one month, I still have to wait yet another month for the result.
... waiting ...
Tuesday 7 September 2010
Getting ready to relax
I’m getting ready to relax. This is something that I do have to work at. In fact, I’ve been working towards this point for the last nine years. I’m about to complete my Open University degree and, for once, I will be really able to devote my time to my own projects, initiatives, hobbies etc.. Oh, and … relax. But I’m so busy getting ready to relax and think of all the things that I can fill my time with, I rather think that it will be a bit like the switch from being busy at work to having a stressful holiday and then going back to work to relax, only to find out that it really is no picnic. Not that you had one on holiday, if you take my bizarre analogy. Anyway, the real reason for writing this is that I’m testing out the Windows Live Writer software to write to my blog. Good luck, Microsoft – I’m a hard customer for you to please :-)
Friday 23 July 2010
Heal, heel
I've been suffering a bit recently.
...
Sympathy over?
Well I can reveal that it must have been self-inflicted.
For my birthday party (barbeque) I bought a new pair of boots to go with my new jeans and shirt. I thought I'd better wear them before the day, so wore them on my actual birthday walking to the pub (well, local Thai Restaurant) and back. On the way there, the left boot felt uncomfortable, so I loosened it a bit and ended up with a raw and bleeding heel.
On the day of my birthday party, I wore a pair of trainers that I knew did not really support my feet properly, but never thought twice about it. For the evening, I put back on the new boots (with a plaster where the heel was rubbing). When I took them off, my tendon was tender, but again, I thought nothing about it.
Anyway, the next time I went for a jog I came back feeling almost lame in my left leg. I blamed everything but the new boots, but a week or so later after continual stints of resting, exercising, limping and walking in the new boots, I discovered that in the heel of the left boot at the top on the inside, something was sticking out from the seam which was a sharp point responsible for (at least) the initial pain.
I've had the boots replaced (thanks, Amazon), but I still have not totally got rid of the sensation in my left tendon that it is not quite right. It even appears to be not quite straight, but difficult now to do a "before and after" check. I'll carry on with a combination of rest and exercise (managed to run 5 miles last weekend for the first time since this started), but it really does show how important it is to look after your feet and ankles, especially if you want to rely on them for exercise.
So, please heal, heel! And really soon, as I don't want to have to keep thinking that I might not be able to run as far as the rest of my body is able to.
Let us pray. O Lord, give me patience. Now!
...
Sympathy over?
Well I can reveal that it must have been self-inflicted.
For my birthday party (barbeque) I bought a new pair of boots to go with my new jeans and shirt. I thought I'd better wear them before the day, so wore them on my actual birthday walking to the pub (well, local Thai Restaurant) and back. On the way there, the left boot felt uncomfortable, so I loosened it a bit and ended up with a raw and bleeding heel.
On the day of my birthday party, I wore a pair of trainers that I knew did not really support my feet properly, but never thought twice about it. For the evening, I put back on the new boots (with a plaster where the heel was rubbing). When I took them off, my tendon was tender, but again, I thought nothing about it.
Anyway, the next time I went for a jog I came back feeling almost lame in my left leg. I blamed everything but the new boots, but a week or so later after continual stints of resting, exercising, limping and walking in the new boots, I discovered that in the heel of the left boot at the top on the inside, something was sticking out from the seam which was a sharp point responsible for (at least) the initial pain.
I've had the boots replaced (thanks, Amazon), but I still have not totally got rid of the sensation in my left tendon that it is not quite right. It even appears to be not quite straight, but difficult now to do a "before and after" check. I'll carry on with a combination of rest and exercise (managed to run 5 miles last weekend for the first time since this started), but it really does show how important it is to look after your feet and ankles, especially if you want to rely on them for exercise.
So, please heal, heel! And really soon, as I don't want to have to keep thinking that I might not be able to run as far as the rest of my body is able to.
Let us pray. O Lord, give me patience. Now!
Friday 16 July 2010
Thursday 15 July 2010
50 - am I old?
I recently reached the glorious age of 50. Now don't get me wrong, I neither think I am old nor young. In fact I am probably more ambivalent about my age now than I ever have been. True, I am older than I ever have been, but then I am also younger now than I ever will be (unless time travel is invented/discovered or if the mythical elixir of life can de-age as opposed to prolong life).
So why do I feel the way I do?
Firstly, I am certainly more experienced, especially life skills. When I was younger (probably most apparent in my mid to late teens and very early twenties) I was very shy. I overcame this by putting myself in places where I was forced to interact with people. The most extreme of these were as a wine waiter in a restaurant while I was at University and as a direct salesmen selling Life Assurance and Pensions. Talk about kill or cure! However, I still think that it has taken me another twenty-five to thirty years to stop feeling that I am simply pretending not to be shy and to actually be comfortable in group situations. That may sound a little sad (which was what I was thinking as I was typing it) but I have moved on to a level of confidence that allows me to even enjoy being the centre of attention when I am in a group of people.
Secondly I've also discovered in the last year what it is like to be fit. Now for the last few years I've been relatively healthy, with only occasional blips (the 'flu a couple of years ago which affected my balance and prevented me from driving to work; it did not stop me from being driven to church to play the organ) and an unbroken run of about 15 years without a single day off work until the 'flu incident, even though I am a chronic asthmatic. My asthma is, and has been for a long time, well under control and very few people who know me realise that I have it. But I've pushed the boundary even further in the last year by turning to exercise, in the form of running (well, jogging really), cycling and swimming. The cycling has yet to take off; swimming has got to the point where every time I swim I will swim a mile breast-stroke (64 lengths of a 25 metre pool), although I tend to only swim during the winter. Jogging, I am up to a regular 5 mile trip, with 7.5 miles being the furthest and my idea of a "short" run (to the next village and back) is about 3.5 miles. I jog two to three times a week.
Thirdly (and lastly) I am about to complete an Open University degree which I started eight years ago. I have taken my time and am on track (on my calculations) to obtain a first class honours degree. I just have to last this year and pass the course, including an exam in October. I will get the result in December, just before Christmas. This is not exactly a flash in the pan. Since I left school and University (with a mediocre degree in Music) I have never stopped "collecting" qualifications and certificates through work and even funded myself (as is the degree), but it will be the icing on the cake to me.
So from where I am, I probably have as much to look forward to achieving as I feel I have achieved in all of my life and now I feel equipped with the skills, knowledge and fitness to achieve them. Life can only get better.
Why should I feel old?
So why do I feel the way I do?
Firstly, I am certainly more experienced, especially life skills. When I was younger (probably most apparent in my mid to late teens and very early twenties) I was very shy. I overcame this by putting myself in places where I was forced to interact with people. The most extreme of these were as a wine waiter in a restaurant while I was at University and as a direct salesmen selling Life Assurance and Pensions. Talk about kill or cure! However, I still think that it has taken me another twenty-five to thirty years to stop feeling that I am simply pretending not to be shy and to actually be comfortable in group situations. That may sound a little sad (which was what I was thinking as I was typing it) but I have moved on to a level of confidence that allows me to even enjoy being the centre of attention when I am in a group of people.
Secondly I've also discovered in the last year what it is like to be fit. Now for the last few years I've been relatively healthy, with only occasional blips (the 'flu a couple of years ago which affected my balance and prevented me from driving to work; it did not stop me from being driven to church to play the organ) and an unbroken run of about 15 years without a single day off work until the 'flu incident, even though I am a chronic asthmatic. My asthma is, and has been for a long time, well under control and very few people who know me realise that I have it. But I've pushed the boundary even further in the last year by turning to exercise, in the form of running (well, jogging really), cycling and swimming. The cycling has yet to take off; swimming has got to the point where every time I swim I will swim a mile breast-stroke (64 lengths of a 25 metre pool), although I tend to only swim during the winter. Jogging, I am up to a regular 5 mile trip, with 7.5 miles being the furthest and my idea of a "short" run (to the next village and back) is about 3.5 miles. I jog two to three times a week.
Thirdly (and lastly) I am about to complete an Open University degree which I started eight years ago. I have taken my time and am on track (on my calculations) to obtain a first class honours degree. I just have to last this year and pass the course, including an exam in October. I will get the result in December, just before Christmas. This is not exactly a flash in the pan. Since I left school and University (with a mediocre degree in Music) I have never stopped "collecting" qualifications and certificates through work and even funded myself (as is the degree), but it will be the icing on the cake to me.
So from where I am, I probably have as much to look forward to achieving as I feel I have achieved in all of my life and now I feel equipped with the skills, knowledge and fitness to achieve them. Life can only get better.
Why should I feel old?
Monday 5 April 2010
Sad Saturday
Following such a good beginning to the long Easter weekend and celebrations, a firm dampner was put on the whole weekend when one of my choir suddenly passed away. Tony was singing with the choir for the first time, although he had been a friend for a number of years. Larger than life, very generous and always a shade from the edge of risquee, Tony had his own strong personality and we shall all miss him a great deal.
Rest In Peace, Tony.
Rest In Peace, Tony.
Saturday 3 April 2010
Good Friday
Every year on Good Friday I take a number of singers to St John Timberhill, Norwich to sing the Passion and Veneration of the Cross. The choir comes together about four or five times a year to sing for services, usually at St Giles-on-the-Hill, Norwich and have become known as the St Giles Singers. This year I was lucky to have four singers (out of the fourteen this year) who had not sung in this service before. I'm not putting all the credit to them, but this year's service was the best we have sung over the six or so years that I have been associated with it (first as singer, then as conductor). It was, indeed, a Good Friday.
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