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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