Some thoughts

Today was the last day of the summer holidays. The past few weeks have been busy preparing for results days, and then ensuring everything is ready for the start of the new school year.  I went to Brussels for the bank holiday weekend last week, primarily to visit Waterloo and its battlefield:   The Lion Mount and Panorama on the battlefield. The Hougoumont Farm Memorial at the farmhouse Napoleon's last headquarters And Wellington's HQ (now the museum) I also went to Liege for a day, while there I was wandering around a park on Sunday afternoon and came across a group of  ‘ puppy players ‘. It definitely, IMO, comes under the category of ‘do what you want in the privacy of your bedroom, but don’t frighten the horses.' Liege was pretty, with an impressive station, and a very old school aquarium. Finally, I went to  the Cantillion Brewery, Autoworld, And the Basilique Nationale du Sacré-Cœur. Overall a nice weekend away. 

 I was going to start a QL post this weekend, but have noticed that of the links I've collected over the past two weeks, about 80% were from the same 3 sites (Spectator, Unherd, and The Critic), and the rest were mainly culled from Guido and Instapundit. At this point, I have to wonder what value I'm adding collecting a handful of stories from these sites if I'm not going to do more than add pithy comments and quote a few lines. So for now I'm going to pause this series and try and resume posting more of my own thoughts, the trouble I've had lately is that spending all day at work staring at a screen really tires my eyes, and most evenings I don't feel like adding to my daily screen time.  This past 2 weeks I've been fairly active, going to a concert in Canterbury and spending a day at Kent's castles, while this yesterday I took my niece out for the day. Tomorrow I'm off on holiday to Croatia for 10 days, so there will be no posting until my return.

I finally moved out of my London flat on Sunday, for the last 4 months it has been mainly empty due to my new job back in Kent so I've only been using it for weekends. I drove back Friday night and after a final fry-up in the local cafe, I went to a nearby vintage fair, before heading into the city center. The main thing I did was check out the Yayoi Kusuma x Verscae collaboration at Harrods, for which the outside of the store has been covered in dots, and a giant statue of her erected: They also had a (slightly creepy) animatronic robot of her as well:   Later on, I went to a PopUp Painting  class, where I created this: I haven't painted for a while, and not in acrylic before but I was pleased with the overall result. Sunday I was packing up the final bits and cleaning the flat before dropping the keys back at the estate agents. Overall I was renting in London for 18 months, and while it was nice to be able to do stuff in the evenings and weekends am glad to be back in Kent.

 On Saturday I was at Olympia attending the Destinations show, looking for ideas for my next trips. Afterwards I has some time to kill so went to  Leighton  and Sambourne  Houses. These are well worth visiting if in the area, and a good glimpse into what daily life was like back then and the domestic styles of well-to-do households. The latter is full of political cartoons from Punch and the like (the owner was the artist who created them), you need a good knowledge of the era to get the context!  Here are a few photos I took:' Leighton house: Sambourne house:

Over the past year or so I have been getting into Classical music, this began on a long drive to Suffolk where I couldn't pick up Radio X, and found myself enjoying Classic FM. Since then I've also started going to classical concerts, most recently on Saturday when I went to see the  City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra Rochester Symphony Orchestra  New Year Concert of Viennese music. Here was the program: Mozart- Marriage of Figaro (Overture and Three Soprano Arias) Beethoven- Symphony Number 5 Johann Strauss II- Overture to Die Fledermaus and  Walz: Wiener Blut Franz Lehar- Soprano Aria Vilja from The Merry Widow Johann Strauss II- Pizzicato Polka Johann Strauss I- Radetsky March Carl Zeller- Sei Nicht Bös Johann Strauss II- Blue Danube It was a good evening out.  I have a few more concerts planned for the coming months

 How has it really been a year since I last posted here? This past year was a mixed bag, work was hell but I changed jobs to one much less stressful in November that has given me much more free time. With this in mind, my new year's resolution is to resume) writing and blogging.  Apart from work I didn't do much this year, I only went on holiday abroad once, to Antwerp in August. I also explored more of the UK, going to Manchester (April), the Isle of Wight (June), and Portsmouth (July), plus I just go back from a few days in Cardiff. I also started learning to play the piano.  Looking ahead I have trips planned to Barcelona and Croatia, carrying on with the piano and trying to get a book written this year (yeah I know that's been on the cards for a while...

 Yes, I am still alive. Despite my best intentions posting here dried up around September. The main reason for this was my new job, which started in July. For the first half of the year, I basically didn't have much to do at the temp job I was doing, which gave me time to read a lot of stuff online, gather links/ideas for posts, and draft material. Since then though I've been too busy at work to do any of this, and too tired to write much in the evenings. Having had the last two weeks off has given me time to reflect and compose this look back on the year. I can't promise that I'll post more in 2022, but you never know. Work and career  I started the year working 1 day a week as a supply teacher at a girl's school in Dartford, plus a bit of online ESL. This made things a bit tight, but things picked up in March when I got a part-time temp job as receptionist/administrator at an SEN school in Sevenoaks. Finally, in July I hot my current job as an exams/admissions off...

 Am writing this in my new room in my shared house. It has been a busy weekend; yesterday my car had its MOT as well. I dropped it off just after 9, by 10 I'd been informed that it needed two new tyres to pass., which the garage didn't have in stock. After quickly phoning round I took it to quik-fit, only to hit another problem. Turned out the locking wheel nut key was missing, so they had to cut them off and get a replacement set driven over. I really can't fault their service, I was done in about an hour and a half and was able to get back to the original garage to get my MOT certificate issued before they closed at 1.  The only downside was the cost, £380 for the types, wheel nut and service!  After a spot of lunch, I drove up to the house to meet the landlord and get the keys. I brought up a load of bedding and kitchenware, leaving around half 4.  This morning I had 4 online lessons, of which only 2 showed up, spend the rest of the time sorting out clothes and ot...

Another super manic week! Monday to Thursday was working, am getting used to the early starts but still very tiring. The workweek culminated in a two-hour drive home, then after changing quickly I drove down my brother's prior to the wedding on Friday. I made the foolish mistake of forgetting to turn my alarm off so I was woken up at 4:50 in the morning! Despite this, I managed to get a few more hours of kip before the wedding. The wedding went very well, my speech was well received and I performed all my other tasks competenlty. It was a very long day, after getting home on Saturday I then had to drive the bride's flowers to a place where they will be preserved. Had an early night then a lie-in today, had a good 12 hours in bed before spending most of today sorting the garage out. Just one more week until I move, and I won't be spending so much time travelling or have such early starts. Hopefully, this will be the last shorter weekly roundup. Space: Bad news- Launch of Boe...

Today marks a year since I came back to the UK. Since then I've worked for 3 different teaching agencies, as well as an online EFL school, and even did a few shifts at a Royal Mail sorting office over Christmas. I also completed a part-time graduate certificate in History of Art, which I got a merit in, while sorting out my long-term plans. Having now secured a permanent role of the type I was looking for, I have also now found a place to live in London, which I'll be moving to in two weeks' time. Therefore I am updating the handle I use for commentating on blogs and other websites. I had previously used Andy in Taiwan, Andy Ex-Japan, and Andy in Japan depending on my situation. Currently, I use Andy Ex-Taiwan but henceforth will use Andy in London. 

A momentous week for me, started my new job and completed my remortgage on Wednesday, and I found a room I liked on Friday, so will be moving to London in three weeks. Until then I'll be commuting for 2-3 hours every day, which will be very tiring so might not be posting much. For now, here's this week's link roundup. The teaching of Critical Race Theory is America's new battleground A guide to conservative commentators Want to Save America? Don't Act Like a Conservative The American descent into madness The 'Silent Majority' Is Rapidly Becoming the 'Angry Majority' Institutional amnesia The surprising legacy of the neocons 10 Reasons to Question the Election Despite Tuesday’s flight, Jeff Bezos is running out of time to save Blue Origin How Science Lost the Public’s Trust The End of "Cancel Culture"? Humour: THE WEEK IN PICTURES: BLOWOUT EDITION Videos: The Left are Sure They’ll Win and finally, They Wrecked Doctor Who

Went well, tiring though. Not helped by having to get up at the crack of dawn to drive there. Took an hour going but an hour and a half coming back. Most of the day was spent being shown stuff and going through my predecessors emails and clearing out. Had a wander around the local ara at lunchtime. Also today the remortgage of my house was completed, so it's now officially on a buy to let one rather than permission to lease. Tomorrow I am viewing some more rooms that I might move to, can't do these drives long term!

 Last week ended up being typically busy.  Wednesday morning I went to view some rooms for rent in London. The first was OK but more expensive than I'd have liked. The second had a live-in landlady who was a hardcore anti-vaxxer, and the room was a bit small and full of her books. The third was in a grotty-looking estate and all the bedrooms were locked so I couldn't see them, while the final one was ok but above a curry house.  After reviewing these options I've decided to look further out, that way I can (hopefully) get something nicer, bigger, or cheaper. Plus my new work has sorted me a parking permit so I can drive in for now, so I might as well make the most of it for the next year at least. Wednesday evening I went to visit some friends who had a baby last year that I'd not seen yet, we got a Chinese takeaway and watched a movie. Also last week I got the official results for my course, an overall grade of 64.5% and a merit. Was quite pleased with this although I...

 As I'd previously mentioned, it was my brother's stag do this weekend just gone. I've been busy planning this with the other best man for the past few months, it was postponed once due to Covid and numerous guests dropped out for various reasons. In the end though it all turned out fine and he had a great time. I picked him up Friday afternoon and drove to the south coast city we'd chosen. Was a minor incident on the way down; I got a stone chip on my windscreen. A chunk of glass a quarter-inch square flew out of the bottom of the screen and 3 inch long cracks formed. Thankfully the chip didn't go all the way through the glass so it's still drivable. I couldn't get an appointment to get it replaced down there so it'll be fixed this weekend coming up. On arriving at the hotel we up met the rest of the group and went out for the evening. I'd booked a German-style beerhall that had 2-pint steins and a yardlong hotdog challenge, with we got the stag. Th...

 After over a year of searching, I finally have a new job!  It was all a bit of a rush, I got invited to interview yesterday, had it this morning and offered the position tonight. Am not going to divulge too much here, just that its a non teaching role at a school in south London (so I'll be looking to move up town). Going in again tomorrow morning to sort out contracts and confirm a start date. Exciting times ahead!

6-month anniversary edition! Another busy week, had to do my final take-home exam by Wednesday, then was sorting out stuff for my brother's stag do (which is next weekend), as well as a load more job applications (2 more interviews next week). This week's roundup is therefore lighter on commentary, as I have my final lecture next week I'll have more free time after the stag do. The myth of the stolen country The economic illiteracy of anti-capitalists  World's largest sailing ship Golden Horizon in Dorset The UK's immigration figures are a fantasy The Northern Ireland Protocol partly repeals the Act of Union Rhodes still stands Angela’s ashes: Merkel is leaving the EU in chaos The fightback against Critical Race Theory McWhorter: Wokeism is a religion; the problem is that it's a 'sh***y religion' Here be humans Can more local self-rule save a collapsing, ‘late Roman’ America? What happens when your currency collapses? Space and the new struggle for civil...

 Was in a foul mood all day yesterday for two reasons. First, I overslept as my alarm didn't go off (I'd accidentally set a weekdays only one on my phone), so missed my first online class. The firm is pretty strict on this and considers it a breach of contract, hopefully as this was the first time it shouldn't be too big a deal. Later on I realized that this would mean I'd lose my bonus payment for July- we get £1 per lesson on top of the hourly rate, so that's currently £40 lost. Second, when I went for that job interview last Friday (that I didn't get) I forgot to pay for the Dartford crossing and got 2 penalty notices yesterday (as two crossings that day). Total bill: £75. All in all not a good day for my bank balance.

 On Friday I got up early to drive to Essex for a job interview, repeating the event of the previous week when I had a similar trip to East London. Each trip ending in disappointment, with nothing to show for my time and effort apart from a toll receipt for the Dartford Crossing and a higher petrol bill on my credit card.  It has been roughly a year since I began applying for non-teaching roles in the UK. In that time I've had numerous interviews but never any joy, always getting the 'you were good but we picked someone with more relevant experience' answer. I'm reaching the point now where I'm thinking it is pointless to keep applying for these roles. With that in mind, I've done a few applications for ESL roles, and have another interview on Tuesday for a job in Budapest. I'm still not sure if I want to keep teaching but a year in Europe does seem tempting right now...

 Today I received feedback on my 5000 word essay which I submitted 3 weeks ago: I got a merit, and a very similar score to the previous cone. This means I got an overall merit grade for the core module, just need to do the exam next week for my option module (and I should get the grade for that course's module this week too).

 As previously mentioned, most of last week was spent working on my final essay. Despite this, I still managed to do a fair bit of other stuff. To start with I had my usual online lessons on Saturday and Sunday. then went and met some friends down the pub Sunday evening. On Monday I took my Mum to the Kent Garden Show at Detling, and on Tuesday I had a skype interview for a job in Budapest. My brother and his family came round for dinner in the evening. Wednesday I caught up with another friend down in Rye, East Sussex which was very pretty to wander round. Thursday I took Mum to the Ashford Designer Outlet to look for outfits for the upcoming wedding, and we went out for dinner on the way home. Finally, on Friday I had another Skype interview, this time for a summer school in the UK. Hopefully, I'll hear back about those interviews soon.