Expect anything!

There is always somebody who, when you have netted what you consider an exceptional bargain will trot out some sort of platitude like, “The Only Thing You Get for Nothing Is Nothing.

My last purchases of the summer (which were forced on me by Emma’s insistence on going into Barcelona) were in my favourite store in the classical music department.  Emma virtually forced me to buy “Shakespeare at the Opera” which was a box set of 14 CDs for some ridiculous price and which comprised 7 operas including Bellini’s “I Capuleti e i Montecchi”; Wagner’s “Das Liebesverbot”; Verdi’s “Macbeth”, “Otello” and “Falstaff”; Nicolai's “Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor” and Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette.  As the singers included Domingo and Gobbi I realized that they might be oldish recordings but at least they had real singers in them.

I also bought a box set of recordings called “Snapshots – Developments of contemporary classical music” which comprises 10 CDs including such composers as Bentzon, Ligeti, Varèse, Nørgäård, Stockhausen, Berio, Schnittke and more.  The “more” bit hides the fact that there were only three CDs where I had heard of all the composers featured on the individual discs.  I obviously have some musical homework to do – but they do look like a stimulating collection and at the price they were irresistible!

It was Smetana than was my undoing.  10 CDs, again for a bargain price and featuring not only the old favourites like “Ma Vlast” and “The Bartered Bride” but also things of which I have never heard like the symphonic poem “Richard III”; the Triumphal Symphony in E major; March of the Prague Students’ Union and the Shakespeare Festival March – as well, of course as the usual ethnic Bohemian dances.  I was gloating over all these possible riches when I noticed the date of the recording of “The Bartered Bride” – 1933!  But the Overture is from as late as 1941.  To be fair, although there are a few recordings from the 1950s there are others from only a quarter of a century ago!

As I have only downloaded the recordings to my computer and not listened to a thing I am in no position to say what the eventual quality is like.  I live, as ever, in hope – but I hear the dissenting voices of the self satisfied Cassandras telling me that perhaps my bargain is more of a white elephant and that I am going to listen to things once and then consign them to the “un-listened to but historically interesting” which is the deathly category for any music!

As you might have realized, the chore of putting music on the computer is basic displacement activity rather than face the horror of acceptance of the fact that tomorrow is the start of term.

Everyone, without exception, has an element of their lives which harks back to a fresher and more innocent self, well, younger anyway.  There is some aspect of the way that they live which is slightly juvenile and something which, if discovered, is treated in the slightly dismissive, yet ever-so defensive way that people exhibit when a guilty secret is discovered.

I was never a stamp “collector”, though I did collect stamps.  “Real” stamp collectors are interested in things like the size of the perforations and almost invisible phosphor bands which can only be seen when the stamp is tipped towards the light.  I collected them because I thought they looked nice: not the “right” response for the fully initiated!

Eventually I settled for getting the Philatelic Bureau to send me a First Day Cover for each new issue of stamps: the Post Office Covers were always well designed and the stamps were at least used for the purpose for which they were designed – even if a little over-financed for a mere envelope with one piece of card inside it!

All my collecting needs is me to open an envelope take out the stamped cover and place it in a special album.  Aesthetically and artistically I do think that British stamps are very well designed and I think that we can be justly proud not only of producing the first stamp but of continuing to publish astonishingly elegant examples of philatelic art.

It was only when I received some publicity from the Bureau that I realized that the stamps which had been issued to commemorate Gerry Anderson and his puppet creations had not been sent to me.  I had received the miniature sheet FDC with extraordinary stamps which appeared to have moving pictures when you tipped them but not the ordinary issue of stamps.

A telephone call to the Bureau revealed that they had been sent but they certainly did not arrive.  The person to whom I talked said that as the issue was as long ago as January I would have to report this in writing – but he did give me an e-mail address.

A paean of praise to the British Philatelic Bureau!

Within an hour of my sending the e-mail I had a response saying that my comments were being noted.  Within a couple of hours I had another e-mail from David (we are on first name terms now) saying that he had organized a replacement for me and it would be sent within a couple of days!  God bless the British Post Office and especially the Philatelic Bureau!  Makes you proud to be British.

Though if one wanted to be picky, one could comment on the ethics of manufacturing a FDC with a date on the special stamps in January when it is actually being sent in September – but let it pass, let it pass – let us instead wallow in prompt, efficient and friendly attention from a caring organization!

Well, it is said that "Present fears are less than horrible imaginings" though I am not sure that this operates when you are a teacher facing the first day of term – even when the first days for us are without the raw material that we are supposed to be changing into human beings!

The motto of our school should be, “Begin As You Mean To Go On” because after fulsome and kiss-laced greetings we got down to the serious business of our establishment: meetings.

The first one was a two-hour talk by the Directora which went over aims, objectives, statistics, achievements, initiatives, developments, pay, and assessment.  So far, so forgettable.

Then she mentioned that we would, in future have a new “platform” for documents, mail and internal communications.  A new sense of awakened interest mixed with a certain amount of panic gradually grew in silent volume as people registered the fact that past systems were not only going, but also access to them was going to be impossible!

One colleague who was sitting opposite me said the only time that my stony meeting face twitched into something resembling a smile was when I considered the technological confusion that was being meted upon the hapless survivors of the summer holiday!

The one fact which caused me pause was the projection of our wages remaining exactly the same until 2015 as the rest of the public (government) school sector gradually reduce the reductions of wages that they have imposed and we gradually reach parity again with a small increase in 2015.

Of course, as any fule kno, inflation is not subject to the Draconian whims of an exhausted government and so, year on year we get paid less and less as the imbecilic governors of this surrealistic economic state spend time and money trying to get the barbaric spectacle of bull-fighting reclassified by UNESCO as something of an essential element of the patrimony of humanity rather than the degrading glorification of animal cruelty which it is.  I speak, of course, as a disinterested observer.

As is usual during times of financial crisis the management of our school expects more for less: some things never change!

Where is the fire in the belly of a boy brought up with the slogan, “Not a minute on the day; not a penny off the pay” ringing in his ears?  Aye, where is he!

I am now teaching 24 periods a week with an extra period scheduled as a departmental meeting time.  Three of my lessons are last thing in the day, and two of those are with the equivalent of Y9.  Oh joy!

I still have my Media Studies class; my Current Affairs class and my History of Art class; my English Language Arts now renamed something else in a title chosen from a vast list that I typed out for the Department but I can’t remember which title they chose – all the rest are English as a Foreign Language: Y7, Y8 and Y13.  The only plus side that I can see is that with two early starts I will continue to have the last period on Friday “off” and thereby give a kick start to the weekend!

They have not yet allocated “duties” which include things that I fought long and hard in the NUT in Cardiff to make sure that we were not landed with!  The words of a colleague ring in my ears, “Remember Stephen this is not Britain!”

How true!

Lunch was in the Maritime and the excellent gentleman waiter who found and took my wallet to the police station refused point-blank to take 10% of the money inside that I offered him as a reward.  I know that doing right is its own reward – but money is surely useful!

As a colleague in school remarked today, “It is very comforting to know that there are honest people around!”

I’m not sure if that thought is enough to keep me going throughout the next school year though!