What happened there? It appears that December disappeared in a haze of lost time. Must have blinked, or tripped over Christmas and fell into 2013, and its already half way through the month. Did manage to write a date with the correct year on it the other day, so I must now realise a New Year is upon us.
So what has happened to me since the last post on 8th December. Well been there and back again, yes I have seen The Hobbit (1 of 3). Could give you my thoughts on it - but I am sure that there are a million other people out there who have already done that. The least I will say is that I was pleasantly surprised and would see it again (means he liked it - ed)
Have to admit I was very concerned that it would be like the first (fourth) Stars Wars film with which I had such enormous anticipation and excitement, which then failed to meet even the lowest of my expectations. So sad. Even went Up Town into Leicester Square to see it with The Chaps, ah yes, Mr C got us top notch seats at the back of the auditorium where the balcony cut off the top of the screen for added effect!
Doing Difficult Things
Prevarication appears to have been ruling the roost. When there is a problem ahead of you and you have no option but to face it and deal with it, do you just get on with it and get it done as soon as possible, or do you put it off until the last possible moment? There is a half way house where you keep nibbling away at the problem here and there, but to my mind that just makes the problem elongate and come to fill all the time and space in your head.
Anyhow, the difficult thing is done, and the next one is now coming up on the horizon, luckily a day at a time so I can do my best to try and ignore it for the moment.
'A' Level Maths Revision
Well during my blog hiatus I did more 'A' Level Maths revision papers than I expected. The eldest, tallest son was preparing for an exam a week after returning to school in 2013. The first past exam paper he attempted and I went through the paper with him to mark and help understanding, (I did 'A' Level Maths a scarily long time ago, reckon 34 years!) (Yes he is that old - ed) was very poor. It appears that the revision paper was from a different exam board, so therefore a different curriculum, doh!
Anyhow, after that wonderfully enlightening initial mistake, he got on and ending up to 2 appropriate papers a day. What was clear was that he had not been paying attention during some of the lessons as some questions elicited the teenage, 'Uh, we never did that', grunt, on more occasions than I was comfortable with.
What I have learnt from this effort is that (and in no particular order):
- Ensure that you have the correct examination board's papers
- Ensure that you have the text books that you have been taught from with you otherwise all those handy tips, hints, formula's, techniques that are in them are accessible
- Ensure that you go to all the lessons, and if you miss any, then speak to the teacher to see what was covered. Do the work and if you get it fine, if you don't go back to the teacher and get them to help you understand what it is you don't get
- Don't trust your classmates to keep you informed of what the teacher did/did not say. Not their job, it is up to you to check with the teacher
- Access all of the revision classes that you can
- Pay attention in class, being awake does help, but paying attention and getting that brain focussed on listening and understanding is key
- Do the homework that you are set - the teacher can then see which areas you are weak in and ensure that you fully understand how to go about solving the problem with the appropriate techniques.
Snow Forecast
It appears that we will be getting a good dumping of snow tomorrow, so it is very likely that the south part of the country will grind to a halt as per usual. But I have to say that the local council has doing much better since the Winter of 3 years ago when the roads were in a terrible state and they ran out of grit, even for the main roads (is that true or apocryphal - ed)
If you live up t'north they just get on with it when it snows. However, down here in the South, it ends up being carmageddon with cars abandoned left, right and centre, across the carriageways making it impossible for any of the many (few - ed) snowploughs from actually clearing the roads.
There was a guy on BBC Breakfast (Happy 30th Birthday by the way), the other day suggesting that we all buy winter tyres for the Winter months. The problem with this somewhat sensible idea is (a) the cost of buying and fitting (b) the storage of said tyres during the Summer months (c) unless everyone does it then the roads will still be blocked by cars that have no grip (d) Winter driving (rain/sleet/snow/ice) is per se not part of the driving test. But apart from that it is a stonking (very good - ed) idea for companies that do tyre sales and fitting, and driving instructors who specialise or offer winter driving courses.
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