Journal Entries
How things change
Posted Oct 7, 2013
Spent a little time in Huddersfield A&E yesterday after an Iago special (tripping over and injuring myself) and whilst I was being treated for a fairly impressive cut to my chin I was chatting about my job (I suspect they were testing for a concussion).
The nurse asks me if I work in a nice school (I think the "boys' school" bit catches people out) and my response was pretty telling: "God no, it's awful, but I love the job." and I meant every word. There's no denying the place is very difficult with a lot of severe issues but at the same time I genuinely love my work. I've managed to carve myself a niche at the madhouse and gotten to a place where I'm passionate and proud of the work I do.
It also struck me that in February I'll have been there for 5 years. How far I've come.
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: Oct 7, 2013
HonestIago's Scottish adventure, sponsored by hootoo.
Posted Jul 28, 2013
I'm procrastinating right now, instead of packing (though packing seems an awfully grand word for throwing a few t-shirts and the laptop in my rucksack), I'm messing about on here. I've realised that since Ed the Bonobo is hosting me in Glasgow and the Zens are putting me up in Edinburgh, this is a trip that hootoo made.
I'll post updates in this journal, rather than making new ones each time. In less than an hour I'm off to Leeds for my first train - to Carlisle - and in the next 6 days I'll be travelling something like a thousand miles by rail. As luck would have it, there's a cultural festival going on in Glasgow this weekend (and one in Edinburgh at the end of the trip - personally I've never heard of the Edinburgh one) so I'll be checking that out.
I've lived in Yorkshire for nearly 6 years now and I've always had a hankering to travel the Settle-Carlisle line. The first time I got a chance: a) there was no view because of fog and b) I was bricking it over a job interview I was going to. Today is torrential rain in Leeds but at least the visibility seems pretty good. I suspect if I let a little rain put me off, I'd end up having a rubbish week.
Discuss this Journal entry [16]
Latest reply: Jul 28, 2013
Summer holidays
Posted Jul 24, 2013
So after months of talking about it and weeks of dithering, I've finally gone and booked my tour around Scotland. It'll be my first proper holiday in about 5 years and I'm both nervous and very excited. Can't fit in the trip to the Outer Hebrides that I wanted, but I'm doing the really important parts - Edinburgh and the West Highland/Kyle of Lochalsh train lines.
I'll have a couple of days on Skye, going to use one of them for a boat tour and the other just mooching around. Been looking on Google Street View and realising I'll be there in a few days. Also got one of those delightful occasions where it's only a few quid more to go first class on the trains, so I've decided I'm worth it 
I know the weather forecast is very changeable but that doesn't bother me too much: so long as the visibility is okay it's the scenery I'm after. So folks, any recommendations for stuff to do in Glasgow, Skye, Inverness and Edinburgh?
Discuss this Journal entry [4]
Latest reply: Jul 24, 2013
It's what I go to school for
Posted Jun 28, 2013
So my job is hard and takes a certain kind of person to do it well. I'm not sure I'm that kind of person yet but I seem to be getting closer all the time. The sheer amount of abuse, insults and general craziness I have to put up with on a daily basis makes me wonder why I bother.
Then I have days like yesterday. We said goodbye to the departing Year 13s (last year of secondary education, they're 18 years old) with a little awards ceremony and then the lads had arranged a meal at a local restaurant and invited some staff. The awards ceremony took a lot of preparation: we wrote the lads a testimonial each, we found old photos of them from 5 years ago (I don't delete anything!) and put them up around the hall. The awards themselves were a good laugh, a nice mix of the irreverent and the slightly more serious.
The meal was a great laugh too: the lads were very relaxed, very happy - like normal teenagers. One of the nicest aspects was seeing some lads who've been a pain turning into decent young men and seeing some lads who've been through hell smiling and enjoying themselves. These guys were my very first Aimhigher group - I've worked with them since my first week in the job and they've been our guinea pigs for the new regime in 6th form. They've done us proud and we've done right by them. We've welded them into a normal 6th form that's started to achieve decent results and go to university outside the local area.
Now I've got to go in and deal with the normal nonsense but I've got half an eye of next year when we'll be doing the same with the next lot. It's gonna be great.
Discuss this Journal entry [5]
Latest reply: Jun 28, 2013
Jai Ho!
Posted Jun 9, 2013
If anyone was watching BBC3 tonight at 9, you might have seen me bouncing around in a really garish shirt. The BBC put on a live production of Carmen, done Bollywood style and with modern music, right in the heart of Bradford city centre and me and a friend had front row tickets. It was amazing - like an explosion of sound and colour. The atmosphere was sensational and someone must have sacrificed a goat or something because the weather was perfect. They wanted audience participation so they taught us all a few dance moves - as well as being great fun I got a lot of exercise.
I know working in the job I do gives me a sometimes skewed view of the city where I only see the worse sides of it, but Bradford can really put on a show when it wants to. I was sceptical about the new city park, I thought it was a waste of money the city didn't have but I was wrong. It's restored part of a city centre that was really going downhill and when there are events like these, which is fairly often, it's packed and the business are thriving. In the past year I've been to an outdoor art exhibition, an open air screening of Coraline (which was wonderful but *cold*) and now this.
I can now say in all honesty I've shared a screen with Preeya Khalidas and Meera Syal, albeit briefly and in a really ugly shirt. I can die happy.
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Jun 9, 2013
HonestIago
Researcher U215204
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."