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Saturday, October 13, 2012

Oh no!


It’s that empty feeling; cold, a slight ache and a sick realization that time lost will not be made up.  Everything will have to be done again.

My reintroduction to the delights of study with the Open University is drawing near.  The course officially starts on the 3rd of November, while the web site for my course opens on United Nations Day.  A day as I say each year is known only to the Secretary General of that august organization and my humble self – and of course those who I have been able to corrupt with my individual view of life and what is important.

So the course is, as it were, coursing towards me and I am eager to give myself something of a head start because, if previous study with the OU has taught me anything it is that “events, dear boy, events” (thank you yesterday’s book for reminding me of that useful phrase) inevitably jump up from nowhere and disrupt even the most painstaking of self-learners – and I am not one of those.  So, any little advantage that I can gain is worth garnering.

Taking the point of least effort, and knowing that it was a part (albeit a late part) of the course, I decided to re-read Hard Times.  Hardly an imposition for me.  I think that I probably have the edition which is stipulated by the OU, but I preferred to download a free copy from the Internet and read that on my I-pad.

As I read I learned how to highlight and then make electronic notes and spent a delightful time enjoying the writing and feeling smug that I was already well into a major part of the course.

With the printer out of action and being far too lazy to go up to the rain drenched Third Floor to find another one, I printed out nothing preferring to wait for the missing part of the new printer to be replaced.

This part was, surprisingly read for me to collect today, well within the two-week period that I was threatened with when I took it back.

And, having updated my Kindle content making sure that the books were available on my computer and I-pad I decided to print out the work that I had already completed.

And I couldn’t find the book.  I searched through the electronic library and, as they searched, the more I looked the more it wasn’t there.  All the work gone.

I was loath to voice my despair because I feared that the updating of the Kindle app. on my computer had done all the trouble and I had wiped out what I had written.

Frantic clicks on various menus brought me no nearer to the missing volume and it wasn’t until I realized that I was looking in the wrong library and my thumping heart slowed down and I realized that the work was all still there.

I should by now, of course, have made a copy because who knows what might happen.  But I haven’t.  Those who believe in modern technology must have faith!

Today I wrote my first “story” for Irene to use with the kids that she teaches.  These take the form of two page efforts of about 500 words with two simple English exercises. 

Each “story” should have some clear grammatical object and, for the younger children should be written in the present tense.  It was an interesting exercise and I am looking forward to Irene’s feedback.  If it is positive then I have said that I will try and write a “story” a day for the next week or so, so that we can have a body of “work” to discuss before it is presented to the kids. 

Who knows, there might even be a book in it!




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