Crepes and Mulled Whine in your pants

[Auriga]

Somebody had to do it

Bugger Herbs, just bugger.... I'd still try - even better try to make contact with someone who teaches on the course and sell yourself....

Yes - more £££ and nearer home would be too much to ask ;)

I have had the convo - they will put me on the top of the scale, but then there is no where to go.... leave is slightly less (by a couple of days) and pension is okay (transferable...) Need to think on it tonight and make a decision.

I've contacted the SLT I'm volunteering for, who used to be a tutor on the course, to get her take on things and possibly instigate levers...

Now I'm wondering about doing a PGCE to become a primary school teacher. That would open a number of doors to other tutor/teaching stuff... I wonder if 20 years of enduring painful office politics is good grounding for the crap teachers have to put up with?

Herbs, do you think if you got a year's worth of volunteering in they might look at your application more favourably? I know a fair few people round here who have gone into the same or similar occupations as late entrants, but did an NVQ and a lot of voluntary work before they got on a course.

Dd at home today doing coursework that should have been done ages ago. She got ready for school but couldn't make it out of the door. I spent 2.5 hours trying to talk her down from an anxiety state this morning. I have so much work it is not funny. Tomorrow I have to take dd to a Camhs appmt and ds to a piano exam and then various other after-school blah. Large project is currently at a standstill as I have something to squeeze in for someone else first. Am trying not to compete with dd as to who may develop the most weird anxiety-related symptoms.

The bathroom is extremely grubby, the lawn needs mowing (in November?), I have no blardy idea what we're having for supper tonight or when I'm going to cook it (have to spend the early part of the evening on cubs and band practice taxi duty). Which means I will have to work until 11pm. I can't do later as my brain clocks off at that time, whether I like it or not.

For Christmas, I would like a wife and a secretary, please.

Herbs, in answer to your last question, imho, no.

Wilbur, most impressive peacock! That must have taken ages.

BD, good luck with making your decision.

Stropps, if you are offering a decent salary I'd be all for it ;)

Herbs - as Stropps says, IMHO, no..... (I was a secondary school teacher in the dim and distant past - I still bear the scars...)

Oh. That bad, eh?

I'm trying to work out how to teach literacy to adults, but get bogged down in a quicksand of acronyms and blather. What they need is some Plain English training...

And another day passes unproductively, as I set off on the school pick up. And Sainsbury's run. But Strops - I don't envy you. What a hideous juggling/packhorse burden you have...

Herbs, thank you. But I know it would be infinitely worse if I was still a teacher, so I take comfort from that.

< weep >

(well, apart from the small matters of paid sick leave, holidays and a pension, obvs)

Yes Wilbur, fab peacook...

Herbs, this may have been because I was monumentally crap at it - might not be the case for you!

(I absolutely admire good teachers who make it look so easy - but it is bloody hard work!)

I worship at the feet of ds's current class teacher. She is brilliant. Multi-talented, enthusiastic, creative, inspirational, very hard-working and very clear-sighted. And she has 2 young children. And I've never met anyone who has a bad word to say about her.

I worked damn hard when I was a teacher and I like to think I managed at least the odd day when I was reasonably creative and enthusiastic... but that's about as positive as it got, I think.

As with everything - YMMV. :)

And yes, I should NOT have spent the last 30 mins faffing around, I should have been working. Off I toddle.

I myself am just realising why I don't have a proper job. Have been to a meeting and am feeling irritable. Had to keep reminding self this is a tiny charity and pays me a pittance to do its quarterly mag. Not one to get into a froth about and definitely worth saying No to when unreasonable demands are made.

I just ran into someone I vaguely know, and her son is doing a mix of study and apprenticeship to do aircraft maintenance and engineering.....I was sort of envious at such a very solid job...defined, recognised as useful, will always be needed....anyone else?

Good luck in your quest herbs.

I'm with you there, lalsy. I have always longed to be able to say, proudly, I am an X (lawyer, teacher, architect, aerospace engineer, hairdresser, whatevs) instead of always having to say I work for a company that does XYZ. My roles have always been so undefined, and hazy and the result of random career wandering. The closest I have ever got to that is when I was a waiter. I was a really good waiter.

I would really like my dcs to know a lot about something (anything, just something they have a passion for) and to be useful and recognised as such. I think real contentment lies down that path.

CV - peacock feathers came courtesy of MIL's peacocks. She breeds them, they make one hell of a farking noise and are spectacularly stupid - if you have a shiny blue green car they will attack it as they think it's another peacock . Project is on an aspect of Roman life and ds1 has chosen feasting. He has worked really hard on it, bless him.

LOL at the stupid peacocks!

I am an X and I hate it. Maybe the grass is always greener?

Or maybe I am the wrong X and should be Y?

We had a white peacock suddenly appear in our back garden a couple of years ago. It was very tame, would take crumbs from an outstretched hand, and spend a long time clattering up and down our roof, trying to see what we were doing in the garden.

Eventually, someone knocked on our door and told us it belonged to a friend of hers across the village, and as long as we didn't feed it (oops), it would eventually push off home. Which, after a couple of days, it did. I was quite sad to see it go, until I read up about them, about what a neighbour-annoying nightmare they can be.

I agree Wilbur, about contentment. I think the other problem with my hazy type of jobs is that in a recession they can fade away (or be done elsewhere ludicrously cheaply and badly) and the consequences won't be felt for some time and then will be hard to link back to the policy.

The grass is probably always greener though!

Herbs, don't let those ex-teachers put you off - I love my job! But it is a rather niche setting

If you are serious, I suggest you do as much volunteering as you possibly can as it will give you an insight into what the job demands are like as well as useful experience to put on your CV. But you know that anyway

Wilbur I can imagine you waitressing! I used to love working in a pub - I would definitely be a barmaid again if I had to change careers!

I have been talking to DD about the prospect of work experience. It seems that just about every setting is boring... She is right, of course - if you go to do work experience in most workplaces, you just get to do the tea-making and photocopying. Any ideas?

I have had a selection of jobs/careers... I kind of feel I have come full circle which is depressing. I, too, wanted to be able to say I am 'x' - I have had my moments, but it's always been the wrong 'x' :)

Wilbur, completely agree - keep wondering how I can help the dcs down that sort of path – although I can see if you end up as an X if you should be a Y, that's hard. my dd says she loves doing history but think she should do a nursing course next as that's useful (and tangible to her I think).

Gm of an ex-boyfriend used to wonder loudly how I could ever make a living out of 'spelling and grammar'. Obviously she has proved to be right.

Oh addle, I was thinking DD might want to do history at uni. Apparently it's one of the better degrees for a wide range of careers.