Herefordshire

I'm not sorry that year's over with. I feel like I made positive things happen in it but overall it was a regular meatgrinder. I'm over losing Dad but not over the repercussions. Having no longer having him around means I've had to face what I want from life and with the fact that I'm going to be dead one day. Trite it may be but it hadn't really struck me previously. So I had a look at what my life consisted of, where it was going, and decided that the way I was going wasn't going to make me happy or rich, things had to change. As the changes weren't going to come from work, I think I've done the right thing by getting out. I don't want to go back to an existence of commuting and living unsustainably. I'm lucky in that I have the time to find a good answer to the question 'how shall we live?'.

On a completely subsidiary techie note, I did some work in kind for Lani and she gave me her old Handspring Visor Prism and Targus keyboard, which means a step back in the Palm OS (no separate alarm clock, menus are called from a button next to the writing area), but unlike the Palm m10x it doesn't lose its' contents when you change the batteries, and it takes a memory card so I can be independent of a computer. It'll certainly do for the time being, and is going to be a better solution than the Tungstens, which are showing no signs of getting cheaper - and which would anyway require mains recharging.

Herefordshire

Finished the CELTA course on Friday. That was some month! Very little time off, and that time was taken up with doing as little as humanly possible. It was very intensive and I underestimated the amount of work involved at the outset. The result was that I was that I now believe I have just scraped a pass grade; the results were posted out the afternoon we left, so we'll have to wait and see. The majority of students just receive a 'pass', which means that our first teaching posts will benefit from being in established schools that can provide support to our initial year or two of practice. Xenia, my housemate, got an 'A', which was good considering she was already an experienced TEFL teacher and had been working harder than most of us on each of her assignments.

The course consisted of 15 participants, split into 3 Teaching Practice groups, and over the month I came to rely on my TP partners for a lot of support; without them I would have been sunk, and would probably have quit! Because the majority of them smoked, I took it up again just to be sociable and we 'became' the smoking group, which helped with solidarity.

Now back, took the bicycle out for a mild clean and a quick spin - everything seems in order, to be tested tomorrow on the Xmas shopping run.

Bournemouth

Now down in Bournemouth, which is making intermittent attempts to be sunny. I started my TEFL course yesterday, and already it feels like a long time ago, as the course is fairly intensive, and even if you're not feeling under pressure, if most of the people around you are, it all adds up. I'm trying not to take it too seriously and wait for the tutors to give me guidance if I appear to be going wrong, instead of trying to beat myself up about making a perfect lesson. Lots of practice comes first. The day is from 9 to 5, with the expectation of 2-3 hours homework.

I'm staying in a homestay, 5 minutes from the school, with one of my fellow TEFL students, Polixeni who is Greek and the same age as me, and a younger Korean student who is here for five months. The family I'm staying with are very friendly but very busy. The food comes in lovely big generous portions as soon as you get in after school.

Following the last entries about my pathetic adventures in hospital, everything has now healed up/over, stitches out etc. I'm not lifting weights yet but I can manage to get out for a run and I sort of wish I had a bicycle down here, but frankly I can live without it for the month.

What I did manage to do was lose my mobile phone on the train on the way down, so I'm just not safe to travel on my own. I hope this attrition of possessions levels off before I start mislaying articles of clothing or parts of my body.

I'm enjoying myself. Everyone on the course is enthusiastic and interesting, and I hope that things continue as well as they've started.

Nantes

The day after the previous post, I tootled over the 2k bridge across the mouth of the Loire at St. Nazaire, then after meandering through a couple of villages beside the seaside I joined one of the trunk roads heading South. After a roadside picnic South of a little chi-chi fishing port called Pornic, I managed to hit a kerb and crash good style. Bike was virtually undamaged (lots of panniers), but I'd hit my shoulder (right), so 50k ambulance ride to Nantes, kept in overnight, fracture bound up and debridement, and then a round trip to Pornic Gendarmerie and back to pick up the bike, which had EVERYTHING - passport, cards, the lot, aboard.

I got lodged in a little 2* hotel but went back to the hospital on Wednesday because the elbow wasn't healing; the nurse started to sew it up; then got an intern; the intern had a go then got a colleague; they called a surgeon; and then my heqrt sank when they asked me when I'd last eaten... I ended up having general anaesthetic around midnight when they sewed me up, put a cast on, and I've been unable to do much for the past week. Cast is now off, I'm going to get on the boat on Friday, and chalk it up to experience. I've been bored as few times before because I haven't had the budget, the inclination or the physical resources for sightseeing. I'm glad the bike wasn't damaged, but as a holiday this has been a bit rubbish. Annoyed about the infected wound, I could have been on the road this week because the collarbone was only fractured and you can still ride a bike with that. I have made lots of observations but I'll save them for when I'm not paying cybercafe rates.

St Nazaire

It's Sunday morning, raining outside but slackening off so I'll be on my way soon. Route so far has been Roscoff - Carhaix - Quimperlé - Questembert - St Nazaire. This was my first night in a hotel. First night was in a unserviced Municipale and Questembert was rough camping behind the sports complex, so accomodation costs have been reasonable :-) Despite showers weather overall has been good and down here the oaks haven't shed their leaves yet. Mileage not going as well as I'd hoped, due to heavier bike, fewer hours of daylight than I could use, and having to pitch and strike and dry kit in the daytime. I may not even make it to Bordeaux unless I want to get a train back, which would add considerably to the tally.

My French has got a lot worse since the last time I was here, I can't remember most verbs and my use of cases and declination is abysmal. I'm nearly muttering out of shame! Not many cyclists out on the roads, ppl think I'm 'brave' to be doing this. Not really. Got a bit discouraged last night looking at progress so far, but wailing about it won't add many kilometres onto the total. French road engineering is far superior to the UK, all smoooooth tarmac, very little surface dressing, all the little rediggings for service ducts are smoothed over rather than left rough, the gradients are more lower, so you get 5k mild climb and then 5k gentle descents. And the drivers DO give you more room. Unfortunately, the IGN maps don't show minor roads and the signage is hit and miss as it doesn't give the road numbers on the approach signs, and only sometimes on the markers on the roundabouts or x-roads, so you have to keep the map handy rather than just memorise a series of road numbers. All this has got me in the mood to hit the road again. A bientot!

Another PC

It's way past my bedtime and I've just glanced up and seen that I have another computer carcass on its' side that will need to go in the car tomorrow. They're coming out of the woodwork. I have one more trip to the land of the dismantled shelving units, I've got to pick up my glasses (and remember to get a copy of the prescription), then fill up the car and chocks away. Au revoir Coventry.