Gifted and Talented
7 November

Ross and I were up in Blackpool yesterday.

The firm of Clark and Guy were delivering four workshops under the Gifted and Talented banner to groups of 8-12 year olds on the theme of sustainable space travel. Having talked them through a few principals, the main part of the session was to make a small space craft out of basic materials. There were some very imaginative efforts and some standard cone-on-top-of-a-cylinder products.

I think that this is about the third one of these events that I have had a hand in. Last time, in Lancaster, I actually did some of the presenting. This time, I just took to it like a duck to water which, I have to say, is a product of all of the work that I have been doing in schools. It just feels perfectly natural to me to be in a room full of children.

In the previous week, I had a meeting with my tutor at Hugh Baird College. I started a CTLLS course there in September this year. I have become increasingly unhappy with the content of the course. I feel that I am simply replicating material that I covered last year when I gained my PTTLS qualification. So, I have negotiated with my tutor not to attend any of the classes and just to attend two tutorials before the end of the year.

Apart from wasting time (and my own time at that - I'm taking annual leave to attend these sessions), I'm also being asked to stump up £275 for a term's worth of tuition which I have not required (and it's my own money at that - not grant aid provided by the college).

In the commercial sector where I have worked for the past decade, this would be unthinkable. If I have required half the support of other students, I would not expect to be charged at the same rate. To be blunt, as a customer of the college, what am I getting for my money? Not a lot from my perspective and so I'm arguing that, in essence, I am being penalised for excellence.

So, the matter has gone into dispute and I have been asked to follow the College's complaints procedure. I'll compose my letter and wait it out to see what they decide.

Part of my reason for undertaking the CTLLS course has been to prepare myself for the PGCE course I have applied for in the 2011/12 academic year. It's the same reasoning behind taking out the Building Society loan. I've also spent quite a bit of time and effort over the past year renewing my wardrobe so that I won't have to think about clothes for quite some time.

Best purchase by half has been a simple pair of slippers. I know it sounds terribly middle-aged but it's really nice to slip off the shoes when I return home from work and pad around in the kitchen without feeling the cold tiles on my bare feet.

I've also made a great purchase in the late autumn (or early winter) sales at Debenham's. I figured that they wouldn't have their sales during school half term and so I bided my time until now and snapped up a very good padded winter coat for about half price.

On Saturday, Ross and I had had a meal with Jamie and Sam (once again) at the Fat Italian. I'm honestly not sure about Jamie. There is something in his make-up that I don't get. I don't dislike him; I just can't say that I actively like him. Still he's not my boyfriend so it hardly matters.

I tried to take a photograph of Sam and Jamie together but he (Jamie) wouldn't have it. So, here's a recent photograph of Sam on his own taken by Jamie with Whitby Abbey in the background.

Welsh National Opera came to the Empire and I went to see Ariadne auf Naxos. Like most of this company's work over the past few years, it wasn't poor but it wasn't magnificent. Good but without any extra sparkle. The best interplay of the evening came from the commedia dell'arte character.

Then I had a couple of days off work and started putting the back garden to bed for the year.

A couple more things worth noting. Firstly, Liverpool FC has a new strip this year which appears to have a padded and reinforced gusset in the shorts. These are generally neither form-hugging nor flattering. However, young Fernando tries his best to entertain.

How long he will remain with the club must be open to debate. It can only be his propensity for injury and his ensuing lack of form which is preventing another major European side from snapping him up.

Secondly, on the recommendation of Radio 3's Building a Library, I have bought a couple of CDs of Beethoven Violin Sonatas played by Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien live from London's Wigmore Hall. They are simply excellent and have hardly been off my turntable.

The third and final disk is due out next year. Without a doubt, I shall make the purchase.