I am now convinced that the powers that be have determined that I will not work at my chosen profession in Spain!
This time the teaching got nearer than the last time when the offer had to be withdrawn a few days before it was about to take place. Then it was because the teacher I was supposed to be replacing did not have to go to court as a witness. This time was different.
I actually managed to get inside the school, talk to the head, go on a tour of the school, speak to my colleagues, take a registration and start the first period. Then it stopped.
I was the victim of a difference in interpretation. The crossed wires and misread protocols meant that my stay in the school was limited by a disinclination to sign the cheque for my stay. My innate sense of parsimony ensured that I would not work for nothing (not that I was given that opportunity!) so the only alternative was a dignified retreat.
I am glad that I am in a position where I can look on this incident with semi detached humour rather than professional fury. In spite of this inauspicious start, I have not yet given up on this establishment as one which can offer possibilities in the future. When, presumably, the conflict in administration has been settled one way or another.
In these absurd circumstances it meant that I returned home before Toni (Holiday Boy!) was actually out of bed.
My attempts to get him out of bed by appealing to his better side to make a cup of tea for The Worker (i.e. my good self) achieved nothing. Life can be so unfair sometimes!
As we were now both free at the same time we decided to pay a visit to Terrassa before Toni’s mum set off on her holiday. Our arrival in Terrassa at any approximation of lunch time always prompts Toni’s mum into food production mode which was well received by the two of us.
I have made an executive decision to start preparations for Christmas. I am using the immanent arrival of Hadyn to precipitate concrete and visible representations of the festive season. And one of the elements of a traditional Catalan Christmas I find appealing is the domestic insistence on a crib.
This is not, of course, a purely Catalan tradition, but the general acceptance of something which is very much a minority taste in homes in Britain is intriguing.
Being in Terrassa allowed an exploration of the Chinese shop on the ground floor of the flats. This was a productive excursion and resulted in a collection of figures to start of my Christmas scene and a rough, but evocative stable setting to put them in. You have to understand that these crib scenes are not usually confined to the stable but take on a cartoon like extended narrative structure which takes in all aspects of the Christmas story. So you get the Holy Family, the Wise Men, the Angels, the Shepherds, the animals and a whole series of other working characters, including the notorious Catalan caganer character. These scenes take on almost a strip cartoon display as they are added to year after year with new figures developing the complexity of the story. I have, at least, started the process.
The next problems are the tree and the Christmas cards.
I will give these some thought – after all I do not have teaching to take my mind away from these concerns!
This time the teaching got nearer than the last time when the offer had to be withdrawn a few days before it was about to take place. Then it was because the teacher I was supposed to be replacing did not have to go to court as a witness. This time was different.
I actually managed to get inside the school, talk to the head, go on a tour of the school, speak to my colleagues, take a registration and start the first period. Then it stopped.
I was the victim of a difference in interpretation. The crossed wires and misread protocols meant that my stay in the school was limited by a disinclination to sign the cheque for my stay. My innate sense of parsimony ensured that I would not work for nothing (not that I was given that opportunity!) so the only alternative was a dignified retreat.
I am glad that I am in a position where I can look on this incident with semi detached humour rather than professional fury. In spite of this inauspicious start, I have not yet given up on this establishment as one which can offer possibilities in the future. When, presumably, the conflict in administration has been settled one way or another.
In these absurd circumstances it meant that I returned home before Toni (Holiday Boy!) was actually out of bed.
My attempts to get him out of bed by appealing to his better side to make a cup of tea for The Worker (i.e. my good self) achieved nothing. Life can be so unfair sometimes!
As we were now both free at the same time we decided to pay a visit to Terrassa before Toni’s mum set off on her holiday. Our arrival in Terrassa at any approximation of lunch time always prompts Toni’s mum into food production mode which was well received by the two of us.
I have made an executive decision to start preparations for Christmas. I am using the immanent arrival of Hadyn to precipitate concrete and visible representations of the festive season. And one of the elements of a traditional Catalan Christmas I find appealing is the domestic insistence on a crib.
This is not, of course, a purely Catalan tradition, but the general acceptance of something which is very much a minority taste in homes in Britain is intriguing.
Being in Terrassa allowed an exploration of the Chinese shop on the ground floor of the flats. This was a productive excursion and resulted in a collection of figures to start of my Christmas scene and a rough, but evocative stable setting to put them in. You have to understand that these crib scenes are not usually confined to the stable but take on a cartoon like extended narrative structure which takes in all aspects of the Christmas story. So you get the Holy Family, the Wise Men, the Angels, the Shepherds, the animals and a whole series of other working characters, including the notorious Catalan caganer character. These scenes take on almost a strip cartoon display as they are added to year after year with new figures developing the complexity of the story. I have, at least, started the process.
The next problems are the tree and the Christmas cards.
I will give these some thought – after all I do not have teaching to take my mind away from these concerns!
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