Last Days in Visa Limbo: Farewell To A Sordid Race

"...I doubt not but in time Ardrossan will become a grand emporium; but the people of Saltcoats, a sordid race, complain that it will be their ruin". (Galt, p3). I know where you're coming from, Miss Pringle.  


Mind you, it seems that everyone in the UK complains incessantly, although maybe that's just the impression you get if you watch too much rolling news from the BBC: mostly whinging about the weather, the resultant "travel misery", (where "misery" really means "inconvenience"), and, horror of horrors, Christmas presents bought online which might not be delivered on time.  Ffs.  But there I go, complaining about the complainers.  


And it's cheap to be smug when you're in that serene state that travellers know, when the visa's in your passport and the flight's booked and you're wondering what books you'll buy at WH Smiths in Departures.  Wolf Hall's in the frame, and so is Empire of the Sun, which I read years ago but would re-read with an eye on the topography so that I can entertain visiting friends and relatives with tours of Ballard's Shanghai.  










Galt, J. (1895) The Ayrshire Legatees. London. Macmillan & Co

Comments

  1. MichaelSat Dec 18, 12:07:00 pm GMT

    Enjoy your escape, mate. Another six months of MA work and I'll be joining you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Garry NixonSat Dec 18, 12:07:00 pm GMT

    Cheers. Hard work this country, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. MichaelSat Dec 18, 03:46:00 pm GMT

    It certainly is. Luckily, we have a profession (I use that word loosely) that means we can live almost anywhere we want.

    It's a big, big world out there.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Garry NixonSat Dec 18, 04:22:00 pm GMT

    It certainly is. And I'm exhausted trying to earn a living from Our Thing in this bloody country.

    In Istanbul I had a DoS who was a hopeless drunk, but I'd swap him any day for some of the twisted fruitcakes who pass for teachers and "management" in FE and Universities here. It's always a strange profession, but it gets downright weird when you are back in Blighty.

    ReplyDelete
  5. drawjerkySun Dec 19, 10:09:00 am GMT

    good luck with the flight situation.. and you're right about the staff in FE and HE. As much as it's a well paid number and it's what I'd been doing I feel an utter reluctance to even attempt to return.

    ReplyDelete
  6. MichaelSun Dec 19, 02:46:00 pm GMT

    As glad as I am that I've got the qualification, don't think I'd ever go back to FE here. The major benefit of TEFL (and lord knows, there are surprisingly few of those) is being able to work elsewhere.

    Soon as I'm done, it's Asia again for me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Garry NixonTue Dec 21, 06:40:00 am GMT

    Yup. Don't think I'll be back here to live. Ever. Maybe retire to the Thai countryside, get an opium habit in my old age.

    ReplyDelete
  8. drawjerkyTue Dec 21, 10:35:00 am GMT

    ohh... sounds fantastic... give me a shout when that happens.. an opium habit sounds just the thing to provide some excellent distraction from whatever horribly painful disease or illness I have in later years...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LTPTP XXV: We Shall Overcome

Image
We shall indeed.  It's a lovely wee tune to learn.  I've almost memorized it this morning, the idea being, when I encounter a piano, I want something to sit down and play on the bugger.  I've a feeling that my keyboard's keys are lighter than a proper piano's, and there'll be a bit of effort transferring the skills I've gotten so far.  Probably, at some point this year, I'll be in workplace with a piano.  I'll print off some simple music and scales, and work at it, but it's likely to be in a public place so I want something to avoid making a twat of myself initially. It feels right that this should be the first tune I learn by heart.
Read more

Leech or flatworm? Ants and Swiss Chard

Image
For the 2nd time in a week or so, (1st time regarding dwarf beans ), I'm following Alys Fowler's advice, this time with regard to Swiss chard .  Long story short, after midsummer plants which often bolt if planted in spring will resist the impulse to do so, probably because of shortening days; (I say shortening, but in Glasgow, in July, we're still getting 18 hours of daylight).   I got a packet of Bright Lights , at a good price, (another reason to wait until July before sowing, lots of bargains, I've noticed). But where to sow them? Most of the 2nd bed is under a tarpaulin, but it wasn't quite big enough to cover the whole bed, so the last 5ft or so went under a sheet of plastic, (in the background of the photo in this post, here .) Transparent plastic was a foolish idea, weeds were growing underneath it, so I covered most of it with sheets of metal from the old shed. I decided to leave the tarp, but use the area beneath the plastic for the chard. Who-ah there
Read more

VINEGAR!

That wine I started a while back has turned to vinegar. Well, that answered questions I was asking myself back then, viz., 'Do we get vinegar flies around here?' And, 'Are all these little flies vinegar flies?' The fuckers. I thought I was being a clever recycler, not buying proper air-locks and using the old plastic-and-lacky-band method. Ah well, another step up another learning curve. Anybody need three gallons of white wine vinegar and two gallons of the impossibly exotic strawberry wine vinegar? It's been a 'business day', dealing with officials and filling out forms. Don't get me started! Alex came over tonight. He gave me the Aphonic CD (he's been in touch with them and they sent him several copies). I thoroughly approve of this new trend of bands getting their work known over the internet, by-passing (initially at least) the poisonous attentions of the music industry. Come to think of it, some of the people in that business are rat
Read more