Various Things
Sep. 25th, 2023 07:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rosanicusAs the title implies...
- I have been wrestling with the DWP for several days now and all I want is for the Jobcentre to suffer some sort of self-contained natural disaster. Maybe a sinkhole appearing beneath and swallowing it and Jessica who won't stop making job search appointments on my journal with increasingly terrible spelling? Either way I won't be going to any of the meetings, because I will be on my knees begging the supply agency for work on every single appointment date.
- In positive news, I am at my favourite school all week this week and everyone continues to make jokes about how long it'll be before I just work there all the time. Believe me, I say every time someone brings it up, I am TRYING. I've taught this class many times before and they are darlings, it's really nice getting to spend time at a school with a behaviour policy that actually works.
- My new reading strategy is to alternate Biggles books with literally anything else, which is paying dividends. Today I finally finished 'The British Airman of the First World War' by David and Stuart Hadaway, which was a great introduction to the topic for me as someone who has mostly learned about planes via Biggles. There's a variety of topics covered in light detail, and quite a lot of info about various aces and their deaths. I'm sure next time I'm at my parents' house I will now be able to understand a little more of the jargon in my dad's WW1 plane books (he has dozens). It did annoy me when I looked up one of the books mentioned therein and found out the Wikipedia page slags off the WW1 Biggles stories, but apparently the book itself does as well so I suppose that tracks. I'm fascinated by what the contemporary reaction to Biggles was, he seems to have been a bit contentious even though from a modern perspective the WW1 stories seem fairly true to life.
- Best news in my life at the moment is that my parents are in Australia visiting my sister and her wife, who have a new baby (he's only three months old), and every single photo is an unparalled delight. Obviously will not be posting here but believe me when I say he is perfect and I love him utterly. I will however post a photo of the quilt I made him, because it's my greatest crafting achievement of my entire life including the dungarees I made in lockdown.
- While perusing the copy of Black Peril I got in my latest eBay victory, I was reminded that in the beginning of the book Biggles has to ring Algy up to suggest they go flying. I had sort of forgotten that there is a canonical period when they're not living together (alas, alack, etc) and therefore I'm now stuck wondering what their living situation was. I mean, they did spend god knows how long jetting around South America in Flies Again, one imagines sharing digs wouldn't be much of a stretch. Of course it's also possible they did live together and Algy was just away for some reason (visiting his mother?) but either way it begs questions. What are we thinking?
- I read all the AU Exchange fics and they were all wonderful so THANK YOU everyone!! Sadly my comment-writing brain has gone on holiday temporarily (and my comment-replying brain...) but I just love this fandom so much. Tiny fandom that can and does!
- I have been wrestling with the DWP for several days now and all I want is for the Jobcentre to suffer some sort of self-contained natural disaster. Maybe a sinkhole appearing beneath and swallowing it and Jessica who won't stop making job search appointments on my journal with increasingly terrible spelling? Either way I won't be going to any of the meetings, because I will be on my knees begging the supply agency for work on every single appointment date.
- In positive news, I am at my favourite school all week this week and everyone continues to make jokes about how long it'll be before I just work there all the time. Believe me, I say every time someone brings it up, I am TRYING. I've taught this class many times before and they are darlings, it's really nice getting to spend time at a school with a behaviour policy that actually works.
- My new reading strategy is to alternate Biggles books with literally anything else, which is paying dividends. Today I finally finished 'The British Airman of the First World War' by David and Stuart Hadaway, which was a great introduction to the topic for me as someone who has mostly learned about planes via Biggles. There's a variety of topics covered in light detail, and quite a lot of info about various aces and their deaths. I'm sure next time I'm at my parents' house I will now be able to understand a little more of the jargon in my dad's WW1 plane books (he has dozens). It did annoy me when I looked up one of the books mentioned therein and found out the Wikipedia page slags off the WW1 Biggles stories, but apparently the book itself does as well so I suppose that tracks. I'm fascinated by what the contemporary reaction to Biggles was, he seems to have been a bit contentious even though from a modern perspective the WW1 stories seem fairly true to life.
- Best news in my life at the moment is that my parents are in Australia visiting my sister and her wife, who have a new baby (he's only three months old), and every single photo is an unparalled delight. Obviously will not be posting here but believe me when I say he is perfect and I love him utterly. I will however post a photo of the quilt I made him, because it's my greatest crafting achievement of my entire life including the dungarees I made in lockdown.
- While perusing the copy of Black Peril I got in my latest eBay victory, I was reminded that in the beginning of the book Biggles has to ring Algy up to suggest they go flying. I had sort of forgotten that there is a canonical period when they're not living together (alas, alack, etc) and therefore I'm now stuck wondering what their living situation was. I mean, they did spend god knows how long jetting around South America in Flies Again, one imagines sharing digs wouldn't be much of a stretch. Of course it's also possible they did live together and Algy was just away for some reason (visiting his mother?) but either way it begs questions. What are we thinking?
- I read all the AU Exchange fics and they were all wonderful so THANK YOU everyone!! Sadly my comment-writing brain has gone on holiday temporarily (and my comment-replying brain...) but I just love this fandom so much. Tiny fandom that can and does!
