Study

It's been a little while since I accepted my Open University degree. It doesn't feel like it, but apparently it was 2009. So now I've almost completely forgotten the pain of study, it must be time to do another course.
     If I choose the right course, then that should leave me with a BA (Hons) Literature rather that the non-honours BA Open that I currently have. And according to the online calculator, I just need a bare pass (grade 4) to get an overall 2.1 grade for my degree, or if I manage a Grade 2 pass or above, then I'll get a First.
     I'm sure that this all seems rather unlikely if you knew me at school, particularly if you ever tried to teach me anything - but there you go.
     So, course chosen, EA300 Children's Literature.
Main reason for going for this course is that I've already read half the course material, and I'm worried that some of the other courses might be a bit dry.
     I've fired an email off to the OU to check that I can do what I think I can, and I've pre-registered for the course, starting October 2011.

Update 26/01/11:
     Got a reply - Normally, If you've got a degree you can still use some of the courses to count towards another degree or other qualification - but some courses must be unique to the new qualification, in the specific case of the BA Hons Literature, 120 points, or 2 courses. But because my current degree is specifically a Non-honours Open Degree, then I can do this with only 60 points.
     My original question was 'Can I upgrade my 300 point Open degree to a 360 point Literature degree by doing a single 60 point level 3 course?'
     The answer is No. Because we don't call it upgrading. But if you do the 60 point course (from a choice of 4) then you will then have the qualification you want.
    
So that's Yes. Hopefully.

The first photo.

Looking through some old photos the other day for an earlier post, I came across this:


I know it's not very artistic, or technically great, but it is significant to me. I believe this is the first photo that I ever took.

The subject is my Dad at Wisley Lake in Surrey, probably about 1976 when I would have been about 6.

The Boys. When we were actually boys.

So Justin, you asked if any of us had photos of us as kids... I had a couple, and I borrowed one of Mums albums to get a couple more...


Here, evidence that Kingfield SHOULD be much better at pool than we actually are. This is the bac garden of 59 Selwood Road.
In the photo: Jason Shaw, Justin, Paulino, Andrew Long, Me, Err... No idea who this kid is, My sisters, Nick and Deb, and cropped out of this shot, Situl. Click it to go to my Flickr page where you can see it bigger. For info - this is early 1982.


My big sister Deb's 21st Birthday party in 1st Old Woking Scout hut. October 1985.
In the Photo: Justin, Ant, Me; just out of shot is Glen.
I seem to remeber Justi having a cigar at this party. Tell me again, what did it taste of?


Tessa Ledger and Joanne Page on the way Swanage on a school trip. Not sure of the year, probably 1985.

 
Justin, on the same holiday.


Me and Eddie, I think in the front room of home, 5 the Moorlands. This is about 1986.

Happy New Year

So, Christmas is over - been back at work almost 2 days and I've got a cold starting. Smashing.

Here's a picture of our Chritsmas tree (which is now back in the loft) to try to wring out the last of the Christmas cheer.


I don't do Resolutions - but I've set myself a task this year, in an effort to keep my weight at a reasonable level. I'm aiming to cover 2,011 miles in 2011, and although this would traditionally be Walk/Run/Swim/Cycle, I dont run or cycle and my favorite pool doesn't reopen until 2012.

So far I'm about 20% down with 5 days gone and 360 to go. Maybe I'll need to fix my bike up later in the year to catch up.

And just for reference, I made a huge effort to walk more in 2010 and managed 1495 miles, so the 2011 challange will be a big one.

This year I will not be donating to charity instead of buying cards...

I've seen a few posts, mostly from Facebook contacts saying something like "this year we are donating to charitiy instead of sending Christmas cards."

Well done.

But I really don't see the point. If you feel that you should be giving to charity, and have some spare money, then do so. If not, then don't.

But please don't tell me that you've decided to give the £20 you would have spent on cards and stamps to charity instead, because that just doesn't make any sense.

Not that I'm disappointed to not get a card - Facebook, Linkedin et al have largely blunted the point of sending Christmas cards to those people whom I only ever said hi to at Christmas - I can randomly say hi to them anytime I like now, and I don't have to buy a stamp, or try to remember where they live.

And that's a good thing, as quite a large proportion of my friends have moved abroad. These are exactly the people that I would normally want to send cards to, but wont, partly because I'm not organized enough to buy and send the cards in enough time for them to arrive by Christmas, and partly because I'm too tight to spend all that money on postage.

So, if you didn't get a card from me this year its not because I gave the money to charity instead, its simply that you're not on my Chritmas cards list. I would like to now formally wish you a Happy Christmas and all the best for 2011.

Oh, and one last thing - if you sent me a card this year but didn't get one in return, then this is simply an oversight on my part, or a problem with the postal system - you WILL be on the Christmas card list next year.

Either that, or I just don't like you.

A Trip to the V&A

So, its time for another Walking in London post.
We've visited the Victoria and Albert Museum a couple of times recently, and I used our second visit to experiment with some shallow depth of field shots.

I can recommend a visit to the Renaissance exhibition - there are some truely spectacular things on show. The selection I give you here are are slightly random...

This is a detail of iron railings, just to get my eye in with the DOF.


A Statue with a rather friendly looking dragon.


This statue is made of wood - lime, according to the V and A's website. Its St. George, originally was part of an altarpiece. Here he's shown after defeating the Dragon which hangs limply from his rather delicate hand.


And here he is again, shown in a relief from Genoa. This one seems an altogether more scary vision of a dragon, and unusually, is almost the same size as the Saint.


A detail of a Knights spurs from a memorial


Another alterpiece, this one showing scenes from Revelation.
I'm guessing this isn't a church that I'd enjoy a sermon from...


And this is the facade of a house, built around 1600 for London merchant Sir Paul Pindar. The house was built on Bishopsgate, outside the city. Like many London houses, it was deeper than it was wide, with stables and a garden extending behind. The house was pulled down in 1890 to make room for the enlargement of Liverpool Street station. There's an old photo of the house before demolition here: http://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/11/05/a-room-to-let-in-old-aldgate/


And this little gem was for me the most surprising of all - it's one of Leonardo Da vinci's notebooks. 


But of course for us, this is the most important part of any visit:

On Order

I have ordered this, a few minutes ago:

Volkswagen Scirocco GT 2.0 TSI 210PS 6Spd manual

With:

Sumatra Metallic Paint

Black Merlin Cloth Upholstery

Rear Parking Sensor

Panoramic Sunroof (tilt only)

Electric Folding Door Mirrors

DAB digital radio receiver

I would post a picture here of what its going to look like but my choice of  paint colour has been discountinued, and there are no pictures of the replacement Black Oak Brown yet.
I have found this though - on the German VW website on the Configurator.



Is this an acceptable colour for a Scirocco?
This will be my first new car purchase. The very long and painful wait starts here...


edit:
Actually on Order now....

I'm not waiting any longer - my Scirocco is actually on order now, in Reflex Silver. Should look a bit like this...



Update 06/01/11:
Incredibly, my dealer (Colbornes of Guildford) still can't give me a build week for my car. Not even a guess. This is not good news as I have no idea when the car will actually be made.

Update 17/01/11:
Call from the dealer a minute ago (well, a call back from a message I left) and my car is still unconfirmed. For the first time he had mentioned a build week - 8, and from what I've read elsewhere I should get the car 3 weeks after the quoted build week. But obviously I can't start counting weeks until its confirmed. I think I'll start a new blog specifically about the Scirocco, my impressions of buying it, and then later, owning it.

New blog specifically about the Scirocco: http://silverscirocco.blogspot.com/

Scotney Castle

We braved the rain on Saturday to take a look at Scotney Castle in Kent. We've been a few times before, but this is the first time since the new house was properly opened. I can also happily report that the tea room is now up to National Trust standard.


The new house was build in the late 1830s

The interior is very interesting - much less polished and tidy that the average National Trust property, and it really felt more like looking around someone's house that normal.







With the weather being a bit changeable, I think some of outdoor photos worked really well.









My attempt at being arty with a set of glasses in the new house.

2,517,407 Steps

Quick update on the steps front - I am currently on 2,517,407. That's a little over 1,250 miles since January 1st and well on target for my planned 1,500 miles for the year. That is as long as we don't get torrential rain for the rest of the year.

I'm still not sure how I'm going to manage 2,011 miles in 2011 - I'm guessing I'll have to keep up the 7500-8500 step average and then go for some massive walks to top it up. I'll be interested to see how that works out.

In other news:
In the 12 months since 14th October 2009 to 14th October 2010 I've managed to go from 196lb to 178lb, increasing both water intake, and fruit and veg and I've smoked nothing in that period as well.

So well done me.

The target for the next 15 months is to loose some more weight. I'm feeling much better than I did at 14 stone, but at over 12 and half stone I'm still on the heavy side. According to the BMI calculators I should be between 10 and 11 stone, but I think that's probably optimistic. So target weight is 160lbs.

If that goes well then the only thing left would be to get the alcohol intake down. My average units per week are probably between 3 and 4 as they should be, but too much of that tends to be in one sitting. Anyway - no plans to change that until 2012!

Happy Birthday to me.

Yep its my birthday today, which I'm spending at my desk at work. Not too exciting, but this evening, we are going for dinner to Smiths of Smithfield.

Looks like it should be excellent.