Seeing trees

After visiting David Hockney's 'A Bigger Picture', it's like I am starting to see the bare branches of trees through his eyes, or at least as he presents them in oil, water colour or through an i-pad drawing. When I put my attention on the maze of finer twigs on the ends of branches it's like being back in the Royal Academy again.

Busy

Lesson planning, marking, family, physio, trips out, union, too much telly, sleep...ahhh sleep. Why aren't there more hours in the night?

A pleasant weekend. Went to a great party last night where three old friends celebrated their 50th birthdays. Great DJs and band. Nice to meet up and chat with friends and even enjoy a bit of a boogie.

Was a bit tired this morning but by lunch time was ready to take part in the RSPB's Great Garden Bird Watch. Pleased to record that, between twelve and one o'clock, eleven kinds of birds visited our garden.

The vulnerable in a virtual world

Spent the afternoon doing special training about safety on the internet and just how much kids, and adults, need to be aware of its 'dark side'. It's easy to imagine how kids, and adults, can get sucked into out of control situations.

There's something about the internet, which, fan as I am, has often disturbed me. Perhaps it comes from the solitary element combined with opportunities for communication? Whatever it is, there's a potential temptation for individuals to create a fantasy world, project an image of themselves, or blur the boundaries in ways they'd never dream of trying out in 'real life'. The internet mashes up the real and the virtual in some very strange ways. Virtual life doesn't seem real. It can seem like a game, a pastime, a secret world even; a place where an individual can create or even confront a secret self, and even find others on-line with whom they can try out aspects of their personalities which they might suppress or find hard to express in real life. That might not be such a bad thing in itself, if the participants are adult -although it surely carries it's own dangers - but statistics suggest there's lot of unpleasant, disturbed and manipulative people out there who are waiting for a chance to 'do their thing'. Shadowy flatters lie in wait, to exploit the vulnerable - hence the numbers of groomers preying on the young and vulnerable. Plus the bullying, which can include manipulating images and hounding others.

Nasty. Horrid. Thank goodness that agencies have been set up to help deal with it. Although given the commercialisation of social networking and gaming sites, there's still a way to go.

An audience?

According to my stats, modest as they are, this month I've had thirty-six hits from Russia. Wonder why? Maybe it's part of an exercise helping Russians improve their English? I'm sitting here, tapping at the keyboard, visualising thirty-six English students flicking through English blogs, reading extracts aloud to the tutor, who is encouraging them to tackle tricky diphthongs and explaining unfamiliar idioms to them. Or could it be that the Moscow branch of The Sherlock Holmes Society have stumbled across last year's entry on their hero? Then again, could it be a natural history group reading up on dunnocks? My entry on the sexual habits of the dunnock is one of my better read posts, though I've often suspected it's the term 'sexual habits' which attracts hits from punters, Russian or otherwise, in search of more erotic fare. More likely it's some kind of internet 'drone' mining Western sites for goodness knows what purpose.

Fresh fields

Lots of rest and a little less tiredness. I feel like I can start making an effort again.

Enjoyed New Year's Eve with friends. Good company is indeed a wonderful thing. One of the guests was back to visit his friends in England for a few days. He gave up his office bound job here in England, went back to France, worked on farms for a while and has now returned to college to study agricultural. He is hoping, eventually, to start a commercial small holding of his own. His descriptions of life in rural south-west France are really engaging, and he looks fresh and revitalised like he's found a real sense of purpose, which is lovely to witness. So many of us sleep walk through our lives and stay stuck in situations that don't bring the real rewards of a life well lived. Not that I want to up sticks and start a farm but I need to remember that life is for living and not just working and slopping about in front of the TV.

Afterwards, we got dropped off from the mini-bus and walked down the lane home. It had stopped raining and we had a wonderful night view across Cheshire and West Lancashire. It was so very quiet and peaceful.

Mid Winter or my imaginary life as a cat

Mid winter. I wish I was a cat, so I could curl up at any time of the day and fall asleep under the Christmas tree, wake up and stretch, yawn and fall asleep again. Actually I did get to lie in this morning - first day of the holiday. I read The Moonstone (not sure I can stick with the narrator much longer, my mind keeps wandering even more than his) and watched the birds from my window. I guess I'm very lucky to have a spouse who climbs a ladder to hang the feeders so that we get a great view of wild birds from our bed. The sparrow population seems to be increasing, the starlings went crazy over the RSPB suet block and the goldfinches have started to turn up again.

I've wrapped almost all the presents now and will drop a pile off tomorrow, go and buy a free range turkey from BBC Radio 4's market of the year, along with some goose fat, a pound of chipolatas, some bacon and some veg, visit my mother and then go home, pretend to be a cat and fall asleep under the tree again.

http://www.nabma.com/bolton-take-radio-4-award/