Category: 60 Before 60

Driving on the wrong side of the road

I’ve got an opportunity to drive on the wrong side of the road.

Many years ago I did a road trip through France, Spain and Portugal with a campervan.* I loved the freedom of being able to go wherever we wanted and the ease of being able to stop and sleep whenever and wherever took our fancy. In recent years I’ve had similar experiences in the UK, first with my car and tent, and now with my van. I really want to be able to expand my trips to the continent but I have no experience of driving on ‘that’ side of the road and the thought of doing it for the first time on my own, without a second pair of eyes, is a little bit scary. I’m not so worried about going straight; it’s going round corners that’ll get me unstuck. I know from cycling experience how easy it is to nonchalantly turn a corner and automatically turn on to the British side of the road. And as for roundabouts … well, the less said about them the better. It took me long enough to learn how to do them here without having to do them back to front.

But sometimes opportunities just present themselves. I’ve said before that having a list makes ideas more concrete and although it doesn’t necessarily mean opportunities appear that wouldn’t have done without the list (that would be weird and new-agey) it does make the opportunities more noticeable and make me more likely to jump at them. Also it means other people may be aware of what I want to do and they may notice opportunities on my behalf.

Just before New Year I was contacted by a former colleague who said she needed someone with a van to drive her and a load of stuff down to her new caravan in France. At first I though ‘no’ because she was asking about the Easter holidays and I already have plans. But the idea had been planted and my mind kept involuntarily mulling it over. Although it didn’t seem too feasible I decided it would be worth looking into to see if I could fit a road trip to the South of France into my plans for my annual visit to Germany.

Too late. She’d already found someone else with a trailer to do the job for her. But she did mention the February half term and would I fancy a trip then? She would be driving herself and so I could tag along, have a few days there and then fly home whilst she remains there a bit longer. This would mean she’d have company for the journey down and the first part of her stay there. I told her I was interested and she’s just got back to me with flight prices (very reasonable) and asked if I’d mind sharing the driving. So if I go I’ll get to have my first driving experiences on the wrong side of the road! (Does she really know what she’s letting herself in for???)

This is much better than Easter too, as I’d been looking for something to do at half term and so far none of the ideas I’d had were working out. So if things go according to plan, it looks like I’ll soon be getting another challenge ticked off my list.

*I couldn’t drive when I did my campervan trip, so that time I was just the passenger.

Flight Simulation

Half an hour in a flight simulator has given me a real taste for flying.

One of the presents I got my brother for Christmas was an ‘experience’ in a fighter plane simulator. I liked the sound of it so I booked myself a go too. The day after Boxing Day we drove to an industrial estate in Stalybridge where the Top Gun Flight Simulator is situated. In the small office and reception space on the first floor of an scruffy looking warehouse we were sat down and shown our flight route on a map. The instructor also explained what can be seen on each of the three computer screens that are set up in the reception area. One is basically the radar, another one shows the terrain the plane is flying over as seen from various watch towers. As the plane flies into the distance it becomes a dot on the screen, when it flies closer it can be seen filling the screen. The third screen is the view of what the pilot can see through the windscreen. 

After a briefing on where we would be flying, it was time to get changed into RAF flying suits. John decided to fly first and I sat with a coffee and watched him on the screens. The instructor’s wife explained what was going on and told me a bit about their business. Ian, the instructor, had previously flown Cessnas but hadn’t done any flying for a while when someone bought him the Microsoft flight simulator. Pretty soon he became bored of just flying with a keyboard and wanted more of the real thing. That led to him buying a 1970’s Czech fighter plane and setting up a flight simulation business. They’ve been going for less than 2 years and so far it’s been successful. They’ve recently moved into their new premises from their original location in Ashton.

After half an hour John’s flight was over and I went down to the simulator on the ground floor to take photos of him in the cockpit all kitted out in the helmet and oxygen mask.

Then it was my turn. I squoze into the front seat and put the helmet and mask on. It felt quite heavy and made it difficult to turn my head. Once I was strapped into the seat I could barely move my body – I had just about enough arm movement to work the levers at the side of me and the controls in front of me. My legs only just stretched to the peddles.

Ian sat behind and gave me instructions over the intercom built into the helmet. Although it all seemed very complicated and a lot to remember, I don’t think it’s any more difficult than in a car. I remember when I was learning to drive, it seemed like I’d never remember to watch the speedometer and roadsigns, and turn the steering wheel, change gears, use the brakes and clutch appropriately and NOT run anyone over or crash, but with time it became second nature and now I don’t even have to think about it. What did seem much more difficult however, was keeping the damn thing straight! I’m sure it was never this difficult in a car. The slightest movement sent me veering on to the grass verge at the side of the runway, or when I was in the air, would tilt the plane alarmingly on to its side.

Upside down flying

For my flight we took off from a base near Prince William’s gaff in Anglesey, flew across the Menai Strait towards Snowdonia, followed a few gorges and then the river to Conwy. Out at sea I flew along the coast learning to do rolls and loops before heading back along the Menai Strait and flying under the bridge. I did a flyby past the tower, a few more rolls and loops and then came into land and got parked up.

It took a lot of concentration and was really difficult – I could feel the instructor over-riding me with his dual controls a lot of the time. I’m actually more apprehensive now about the real flying lesson I have booked, but at the same I enjoyed the simulator and so I’m sure I’ll enjoy the real thing too.

Would I recommend this or do it again? Yes and no. Yes, I’d recommend it as a fun way of spending an hour or so and it’s a good first introduction to flying, but no I probably wouldn’t do it again as it is one of those things to really be tried once. If I want to make a hobby out of flying then it’s better to save my money and do the real thing as the simulator would probably get monotonous after a while.

It’s been a while …

Moving on to the next phase of my life.

Ok, so I’ve been neglecting my blog. I got so busy in my real life over the last couple of months that I’ve not really had time for my cyber life. I’ve been working on my house trying to get it finished and the way that I want it so my head is clear to concentrate on other things. My house has been a ten year project. When I bought it a decade ago it was a wreck, but I saw the potential and fell in love with it straight away. It’s not ideal – it’s small and not in a lovely country village or in the centre of a big bustling city, but it’s what I could afford at the time and has suited my purposes well, and hopefully will continue to do so. I’ve enjoyed putting my own stamp on it, but it has been hard work and has taken a lot of my time, energy and money. But now it’s done and I feel like I can fully concentrate on other things.

As well as my house finally being finished, several other things have conveniently fallen into place and I’m starting the year feeling really ready to move on with the next phase of my life. Sounds dramatic doesn’t it? I don’t mean it to be. When I look back on my life everything seems to happen in decade long phases for me (give or take a few years). I had a gap decade when I did lots of travelling, then a decade in which I seemed to spend most of my time studying. Now I’ve had a decade (a real one this time) in which I’ve created my home and developed my teaching career.

My next phase is to work on my own business. I’ve been thinking about this for years and so it’s always been part of my long-term plans and many of the other things I’ve done have been building towards this. This is the year in which I’m finally going to take the plunge and really do something about those plans. It’s a bit scary, but exciting as well.

As for my blog – well, I should be able to keep more up-to-date with it now and I have a backlog of posts to get typed up and online, so that’ll keep me busy for a while.

October 2012 Twelve Review

The tenth review of my 2012 Twelve challenges.

Some of my 2012 Twelve challenges seem to be morphing into different tasks. I’m not too bothered about this as at least I feel like I’m achieving something. However, there are still far too many challenges that I’ve really not made any headway with at all and I’m fast running out of year. This bothers me a bit more.

  1. Floating in a floatation tank (I’m hoping to do this in London during the February half term)
  2. Reading at least 10 books from the BBC Big Read list (if I read 10 a year, I’ll have the whole 200 knocked off in the next 12-13 years!) – Swallows and Amazons read; nine more to go for this year.
  3. Taking at least one photo every day of the year (this will improve my photography skills, be a photo-diary of ‘year in my life’, and help me to learn to use my new camera) – very few taken. 
  4. Coming up with a fitness plan and sticking to it (the start of my training for Kilimanjaro, though I may not actually climb it for several years yet) – keep making plans to go to the gym and then something comes up and I don’t get there.
  5. Leading at least 4 of my own walks (good practice for my walking group leader’s qualification) – not done any walking, let alone leading walks.
  6. Buying another house (need to get my finances in order first) – this seems to have morphed into a ‘starting my own business’ task instead.
  7. Learning to use at least 3 new pieces of technology or computer programmes (not counting my new camera) – had a quick course on using a special interactive whiteboard package. Seems really good, now I just need to use it a few times to get the hang of it.
  8. Doing a writing course (depends on the length of the course whether I’d complete it in the year or not) – as with going to the gym, I keep making plans to knuckle down and do this, and this something gets in the way. 
  9. Getting at least one piece of writing published (paid or unpaid, as long as someone else makes the decision to publish it and it’s not self-published)
  10. Making a start on sorting out my photos (putting the prints that are currently still stuffed in packets into albums and getting all my photos scanned into the computer – no way will this be completed in a year, but I’ll feel good even if I get started on it) – I’ve now decided to concentrate on my book database instead for this year.
  11. Buying a car/van that I can sleep in (and doing any necessary conversions/adaptations) – van conversions are on hold whilst I do work on my house, but I’m still hoping to have at least made a start by Christmas.
  12. Getting into cycling (even if it’s just short cycle rides along decent paths) – I’ve been reading blogs about cycling trips to motivate myself. I know this isn’t the same as getting out cycling myself, but at least it keeps it at the forefront of my mind.

September 2012 Twelve Review

The ninth review of my 2012 Twelve challenges.

Only three months of the year to go and I’m nowhere near finishing my list. I’m not going to stress too much over it as I’m happy with what I have achieved. I’ll still keep trying though.

  1. Floating in a floatation tank (I’m hoping to do this in London during the February half term)
  2. Reading at least 10 books from the BBC Big Read list (if I read 10 a year, I’ll have the whole 200 knocked off in the next 12-13 years!) – started reading Swallows and Amazons.
  3. Taking at least one photo every day of the year (this will improve my photography skills, be a photo-diary of ‘year in my life’, and help me to learn to use my new camera) – Never think about it unless I’m out and about somewhere and have a reason to take photos.
  4. Coming up with a fitness plan and sticking to it (the start of my training for Kilimanjaro, though I may not actually climb it for several years yet) – One walk and that’s been it.
  5. Leading at least 4 of my own walks (good practice for my walking group leader’s qualification) – One walk walked, none led.
  6. Buying another house (need to get my finances in order first) – started planning a business instead.  
  7. Learning to use at least 3 new pieces of technology or computer programmes (not counting my new camera) – I’ve been using my tablet and Kindle a lot and I’m really starting to get the hang of them now and I’m discovering what they can do.
  8. Doing a writing course (depends on the length of the course whether I’d complete it in the year or not) – No more achieved on this.
  9. Getting at least one piece of writing published (paid or unpaid, as long as someone else makes the decision to publish it and it’s not self-published)
  10. Making a start on sorting out my photos (putting the prints that are currently still stuffed in packets into albums and getting all my photos scanned into the computer – no way will this be completed in a year, but I’ll feel good even if I get started on it) – I seem to have replaced this with my book database.
  11. Buying a car/van that I can sleep in (and doing any necessary conversions/adaptations) – On hold whilst I sort out a woodburner for my living room.
  12. Getting into cycling (even if it’s just short cycle rides along decent paths) – Nothing done on this one.

Swallows and Amazons

This is book #57 on the BBC Big Read list.

by Arthur Ransome

This book is number 57 on the BBC’s Big Read list and is a children’s book.

The Swallows are four children, John, Susan, Titty and Roger, who are spending the summer in the Lake District with their mother, baby sister and baby sister’s nurse. Their father is away at sea but has given permission by telegram for them to take a boat and a couple of home-made tents and sail off to an island in the lake to camp by themselves.

The children spend most of their time in a make-believe world where the lake is a sea with the North Pole at one end and the Antarctic at the other. They have renamed all the places around the lake and so the river leading into it has become the Amazon, the village has become Rio and a pool part way along the river has become the Octopus Lagoon. They use sailor/pirate/explorer words for everyday things and people. The local people are referred to as natives and the charcoal burners as savages; a snake is a serpent; lemonade is grog; they don’t go fishing, instead they go whaling.

The children quickly settle into a peaceful routine on the island, but then find themselves under attack by a couple of Amazon pirates. The arrow-firing Amazons are two sisters, Nancy and Peggy Blackett, who are also staying by the lake with their mother. The Amazons have their own boat and had previously claimed the island as their own. They do not take kindly to the intruding Swallows and the two sides declare war. However, they are soon united in battle against the mean Captain Flint (aka the Amazons’ Uncle Jim) who lives on a nearby houseboat.

Adventures follow and the Swallows and Amazons find ‘treasure’ which had been stolen from Captain Flint. This endears him to the children and he gives them his parrot and agrees to lead them on a bigger adventure the following summer.

The book was first published in 1930 and the story is set in the 1920s. It always shocks me a bit when I’m reminded of how big the gap between the classes was in those days and how the working classes would be treated as so inferior. This is the case with this book. The children, with their naval father and baby sister’s nurse, are obviously middle-class. The local farmers and villagers refer to them as Master Roger, Miss Susan and so on. When a policeman comes to the island to follow up a complaint from Captain Flint the Amazon sisters, who know him, are downright rude to him and talk down to him as though he is a naughty boy – ‘as long as you’re good we won’t tell your mother’. The policeman is frightened and chastised and hastily leaves.

All in all, I enjoyed the book though I’m glad I don’t have to teach the children – I think they’d be damned annoying and precocious in real life and I doubt I’d last a day with them before I’d be sacked for insubordination!

Climbing with Kids

I took the Duke of Edinburgh Award students for their first climbing lesson.

So I took 15 kids aged 11 – 14 for their first climbing session. It was meant to be archery but had to be changed at very short notice when the archery people pulled out. Lots of last minute phone calls, emails, risk assessments and begging for funding and RESULT! … we are climbing at Awesome Walls in Stockport every Friday afternoon until Christmas.

This is part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the students taking part are all new it and so just starting out on their bronze award. As you have to be fourteen (or close to it) to take part in D of E the younger kids are working towards a special school award instead. We’re hoping they’ll still get lots out of it and it will whet their appetites for the real deal when they are old enough.

We were pretty disorganised yesterday as everything was so last minute – we weren’t sure what to wear or where to get changed, whether or not there would be time to eat lunch, if we’d worked the timings out ok, and what exactly we were going to do once there. Luckily it all went well and like clockwork. We got there on time, were able to get changed and have a quick bite of our sandwiches before we started. Then there was time to finish lunch before going to get the bus back to school.

We had a short introductory talk and then a go at bouldering to warm up. Then it was on with harnesses and the first climb on a not very high wall. They all did well and so were able to spend the rest of the session tackling much higher walls. The students were divided into three groups of five, each with its own instructor. The instructor was great, explaining things, making sure the students were safe and knew what they were doing, but still giving them freedom to push themselves.

We had a couple of students who were worried about heights but still wanted to give it a go. They did brilliantly and felt like they’d really achieved something when they got up near the top of the high walls. One girl was quite shaky and feeling a little traumatised when she came down (we’d told her she only had to do what she was comfortable with, but she got up so fast I don’t think she realised how high she’d gone until it was time to get down!), but within minutes she was wanting to have another go.

On the bus on the way home they were all buzzing and saying how much they’d enjoyed it and how they think it’s much better than the archery would have been (some were quite disappointed when I first told them we would be doing climbing instead of archery). I was buzzing because they were buzzing. The teaching assistant who’d come with me had enjoyed it as well.

I didn’t think I’d be able to have a go myself as it’s costing rather a lot and I thought I would be pushing it to ask school to pay for me as well. The students were all keen to see me have a go though and so the instructor said I can try it out next week. I must remember my PE kit. (The video ‘daft teacher stuck up a wall’ that I’m sure will soon be appearing on Youtube will be even worse if it’s ‘daft teacher in business dress stuck up a wall’!)

The students will be working towards their level 1 and 2 NICAS qualifications (National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme) and will have log books for this. I thought I’d just be watching and picking up tips so that at some point I can come back and do it for myself as it is on my list of things to do. But if I can have even a bit of a go each week I’ll get a lot further than I thought I would at this time and may be ticking this challenge off in the near future.

Climbing, archery and bad internet

There’s a lot going on at the moment.

So, what have I been up to? Quite a bit actually. Let’s start with archery.

The man at the archery club where I was going to take my Duke of Edinburgh students has let me down so I’m feeling rather miffed about it. I’d told him in my initial email before the summer holidays that it would be Friday afternoons from about 12.30. After several emails in which he’s sounded as though it might happen at the last moment he told me they can only do courses on Tuesday evenings. Arrgh.

 

After some frantic hunting for another activity I’ve come up with climbing. It all sounds very positive. The club can fit us in at the times we require. The students can gain their level 1 and 2 qualifications in indoor climbing and it costs slightly less than the archery. Only problem now is whether or not school will give me the funding for it. I don’t see what the problem is as I only need the money I would have had anyway for archery, but for some reason no-one will confirm with me whether I can go ahead and book or not.

 

Although I won’t be doing the climbing myself I’m sure to pick up plenty of tips for when I do get round to trying this for myself. I’ve put it on my list of things to do as some of my friends are climbers and seem quite obsessed with it. I thought I should give it a go to see what’s so exciting about it. Personally I’ve always preferred to walk and get from one place to another rather than hanging about (literally!) in the same place all day. But I know I shouldn’t dismiss something without trying, hence it’s on my list.

 

I’ve also been looking into doing my level 3 Basic Expedition Leader Award as this will be useful both for when I’m working on the Duke of Edinburgh expeditions and for when I get around to doing my Walking Group Leaders’ qualification. The course runs over four weekends and costs £325. As it’s work related school would pay for this so of course I’m very keen to do it. The course runs twice a year, once in the autumn and once in the early spring. The autumn course would be best for me, but it’s full. I’ve looked at the dates for the spring course and it looks as though I’ll be unable to do two of the four weekends. I’ll have to try to move things around a bit, but as some of them are holiday things and as working in a school I have to take my holidays at fixed times, it won’t be that easy.

 

Duke of Edinburgh issues aside, I’ve also been starting to think seriously about my own business. Ultimately I want to own my own hostel and I have very specific ideas about what I want. But now isn’t a good time economically to start that type of business and also it would need a lot of financial input upfront. As I don’t have any track record in running my own business I’d find it difficult to get backing for something like that. So I need to start with something that is cheaper, easier to make a turnover in the beginning and ideally is something I already know quite a bit about.  I’m thinking sandwich shops / coffee shops. Having worked in this kind of business for years when I was travelling and a student it’s the thing I know best. I’m starting to look around at businesses for sale to get an idea of prices and locations. I’m not in a position to do anything about it at the moment, but at least I’ve made a start.

 

I’ve downloaded a few books on coffee shops, sandwich shops and small business start-ups on to my Kindle. My knowledge is out-of-date and legislation and so on does change so I thought I’d better read up. By downloading the books I’ll also use my Kindle more effectively as I can use the tools for highlighting and annotating and so on, rather than just reading. This means I’ll be getting to know how to use one of my new pieces of technology and working towards achieving one of my 2012 twelve targets at the same time as reading up on businesses.

 

Another of my 2012 targets that I’m working on at the moment is reading 10 of the books from the BBC Big Read list. At the beginning of the year I set myself the target of reading ten books from the list thinking this would be easily achievable, but we’re now three quarters of the way into the year and I haven’t read any. I realise I need to get a move on if I still want to achieve this goal and so I’ve started reading Arthur Ransome’s Swallow and Amazons.

 

I’ve also been working on my book database. I’ve catalogued my books up to the letter ‘C’ and already have almost 1100 entries on my database. I knew this would be a mammoth task when I started it, so I’m not setting myself a deadline. It does feel good to be getting on with it though.

 

The other thing that’s taking my time at the moment is trying to get all my write-ups from over the summer transferred onto my blog. I found using my tablet whilst I was in the Hebrides a good way to get every typed up straight away, rather than hand writing and then typing up later, but I struggled to find internet access. In Shetland there’s lots of free wi-fi and I was expecting it to be the same in the Outer Hebrides. So I have all these posts that I wrote at the time but was unable to publish. I have lots of photos to upload too and really it should be quite straightforward and quick, but my internet keeps playing up and stopping and because I have a rubbish internet company I’m struggling to get it fixed. This means that often when I do have the time and motivation to sit down and starting getting things updated the internet lets me down. As I do manage to upload my posts I’m backdating them to when I originally wrote them otherwise it’ll just be too confusing for me when I look back over them.

 

Arabic books

I’ve bought a couple of Arabic books.

The other day when I was feeling all enthused about learning Arabic I got online and ordered a couple of books from Amazon just to get me started. I don’t have time to do a course at the moment so I thought books would be a good way for me to at least begin familiarising myself with the language. Today they arrived.
 

The first one is a child’s book – ‘The Usborne First Thousand Words in Arabic’ by Heather Amery and Stephen Cartwright. The slim volume is slightly bigger than A4 sized and consists of a series of double-page, full-colour pictorial spreads, each on a different theme e.g. the kitchen or the hospital. The main picture shows a large array of items in situ, whilst around the border there is a selection of the items which can be found in the main picture. These each have the relevant word written in Roman and Arabic scripts. At the back of the book is a dictionary with each of the words from the books written alongside the English equivalent. This seems to be a good book for me to leave lying around so I can keep dipping into it.

 

The second book is ‘The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read and Write it’ by Nicholas Awde and Putros Samano. This A5 sized slim volume has an introductory chapter on the language and then goes into detail about each letter and how to write the different versions of it. There don’t seem to be any exercises in it, but the letters are laid out in such a way that I can easily copy them to practise my writing.

I read a lot of reviews of different books before choosing these two. They both had plenty of positive reviews and they seem to fit my needs at the moment. When I improve, and when I have more time, I’ll look for a book which includes grammar and sentence structure and has exercises I can work on.

2012 Twelve August Review

The eight monthly review of my 2012 Twelve challenges.

I’ve done a few relevant things this month, but still nowhere near enough to be confident of ticking everything off by the end of the year.

  1. Floating in a floatation tank (I’m hoping to do this in London during the February half term)
  2. Reading at least 10 books from the BBC Big Read list (if I read 10 a year, I’ll have the whole 200 knocked off in the next 12-13 years!) – still haven’t done anything about this one.
  3. Taking at least one photo every day of the year (this will improve my photography skills, be a photo-diary of ‘year in my life’, and help me to learn to use my new camera) – As I’ve been on holiday all month I’ve taken loads of photos and had not problem taking photos each day until right at the end of the month when I came home. Then I forgot all about it.
  4. Coming up with a fitness plan and sticking to it (the start of my training for Kilimanjaro, though I may not actually climb it for several years yet) – I’ve done lots of walking over the past month in the Outer Hebrides. Nothing too strenuous, but at least I’ve been getting exercise.
  5. Leading at least 4 of my own walks (good practice for my walking group leader’s qualification) – I’ve still not led any walks, but at least I’ve done lots of walking.
  6. Buying another house (need to get my finances in order first) – nothing done towards this yet.
  7. Learning to use at least 3 new pieces of technology or computer programmes (not counting my new camera) – I’ve been getting to grips with using my new tablet. It’s very different to my laptop and Office so it’s taken a lot of trial and error, but I’m getting there.
  8. Doing a writing course (depends on the length of the course whether I’d complete it in the year or not) – I took lesson 1 of my writing course to the Outer Hebrides with me but did nothing on it.  
  9. Getting at least one piece of writing published (paid or unpaid, as long as someone else makes the decision to publish it and it’s not self-published)
  10. Making a start on sorting out my photos (putting the prints that are currently still stuffed in packets into albums and getting all my photos scanned into the computer – no way will this be completed in a year, but I’ll feel good even if I get started on it) – Haven’t been home to do anything about this.
  11. Buying a car/van that I can sleep in (and doing any necessary conversions/adaptations) – I’ve lived in my van for the past month, sleeping in it every night. I love it. I feel I’ve got the feel of it now and I’m ready to get it converted. I know exactly what I want, I just have to find someone to do it for me.
  12. Getting into cycling (even if it’s just short cycle rides along decent paths) – I didn’t get to do anything about this, though when my brother arrived from Germany at the end of the month, he brought me the panniers I’d bought when I was over there at Easter. So I’m getting all the equipment together, now I just have to get out and cycle!