The horrible reality of actually being in
school for yet another calendar year is almost overwhelming. Were it totally overwhelming then one could
hide in the collapse that “totally” would ensure but, alas, there is enough of
conscious thought to make the experience truly awful!
Given my health status during the vacation,
I feel that I am now entitled to a holiday.
Alas, that is not possible and this term is packed with tedious
pseudo-teaching which will make the moments pass like eons.
However, that is enough whingeing. At least for today. Unless anything untoward happens. As it bloody well will.
Today, as a welcome back into the swing of
things, I only have five periods to teach, including a lunchtime duty. Tomorrow I have six periods to teach including
a double period with Year 9 last thing in the afternoon. These first two days are not designed to make
me feel relaxed or in any way jocose about the way the week wags.
This is one of the disasters that starting
on a Monday means. I have discussed this
with a colleague and we have agreed that it would have been “better” to have
come back on Thursday and done an extra two days in a broken week rather than
have started “cold” with a bleak Monday and with an infinite week ahead without
respite. That sort of reasoning is why
no Minister of Education really understands what makes teachers tick.
Our combined wisdom has come no nearer to
understanding the bureaucratic mind that thought that six separate payments for
two amounts of money would be a good idea.
After the Grand Statement that we would have 80% of our “extra” payment
at Christmas withheld and that we would be taxed on 100% of the payment the
Generalitat backed down and paid everything in dribs and drabs with the last
payments being banked on the 28th of December. Merry Christmas!
No one is any clearer about what might
happen and very few appear to have checked to have seen what actually did
happen to the money that they were supposed to be paid. I am prepared to bet that only a tiny percentage
of my colleagues has any real perception of the total amount that they are
paid. This again is a characteristic of
teachers: they don’t know their salaries!
But at least in Britain they fight like hell to make sure they get more
of what they don’t know they have!
I had a heartfelt conversation with a
Primary colleague just before I had to do my lunchtime duty and we agreed about
the signal evil of doing anything other than augmenting pensions (god bless
them!) and paying them with smiles and thanks.
The situation here in Spain is going to get much, much worse when people
finally start taking the present economic situation seriously.
As we are in the Euro Zone what happens to
Greece is of paramount importance to the financial situation in Catalonia and
more and more of the opinion that I trust seems to be coming round to the
acceptance that Greece is a lost cause and it should be forced out of the
Zone. God alone knows what that will do
to the situation here and it is not something which I contemplate with any
degree of equanimity.
There is, however, just one more lesson
today and then home and the possibility of my book waiting for me. Given the awful past record of the carrier
that Amazon entrusts packages to in this part of the world I think I can safely
say that there is no possibility whatsoever of it being there.
Added to that is the trouble stemming from
Robert’s infected email which blighted my contacts list and sent them all
annoying scams. My account has been
blocked and the powers that be in the Microsoft world do not seem eager to send
me the code which will unlock my frozen account. Just one thing after another!
Never let it be said that I am not man
enough to admit it when I am wrong.
The Modern Art books were waiting for me
when I got home. They arrived at eight
o’clock in the morning – and I therefore take back much of the nasty
insinuations of rampant inefficiency that I was throwing around!
The books themselves are excellent with
some brilliant full-page illustrations of the paintings and some fascinating
photographs of the artists in situ. They
are two very hefty volumes and are characterised by the typically superb value
that the publisher Taschen offers. It is
a little too early to evaluate the text, but from cursory reading it does not
seem to have the same strength of the pictorial aspect but I have already
gained a few insights concerning the artists and the movements – and there are
hundreds more pages to explore!
It beats teaching!
No comments:
Post a Comment