A dilemma

SO my boss, the Head of Geography, is leaving after being my boss for 9 years and that raises some interesting issues. I don't know what thoughts the Head has had yet but as there is a need to save money the cheapest thing would be to appoint from within whilst hiring an NQT to teach the lessons. The thought of someone coming on as a Head and re-arranging everything that works nicely is not a pleasant one (why do they feel they have to change things) but the only person in the department who would be interested is me due to either family commitments, illness or having other jobs in the school but I already have 1 new job for next year as well as a full workload as OUP have asked me to write them some exam questions. On the other hand I am buying a new house and extra income is always useful. A decision needs to be made.

The Now Show

Clearly the best way to prepare for a job interview is to listen to Punt, Dennis and others make jokes about the election. This section made the people of Cambridge fear for my sanity.

Possible election parties
New Adventure Park for Plymouth Party - looking for a big swing
Chairs not Benches party = looking for a large number of seats
Improve facilities for overweight train spotters party - standing on a broad platform
Fair deal for amnesic sperm donors - lost their deposit

and the Conservative candidate for Hove who hopes to end the downward spiral of unemployment, crime and coastal erosion.

How can you be nervous after that.

The Art centre

On Saturday we went to see a triple bill of bands playing. The first were a folk duo called Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou. Although we only heard the final two songs that they performed they were tight as a duo, were good on their instruments and as his voice was a slightly unusual register made a folk sound that was a little different to the usual. Watch below and see what you think. Are there really a man and a woman singing?


They have their first album out and are the reason why Simon Cowell is evil. Why are musicians this good playing venues of 300 when Jedward are famous (albeit temporarily)

The second band up were Danny and the Champions of the World who featured the first duo with another lead singer who was a bit more of a showman and really worked hard to help put on a good show as well as being excellent on the banjo and guitars. The lack of a drummer makes an interesting sound that is sweeter and purer and avoids being too loud putting a premium on vocals. There are other Champions who come and go but they a;; know what they are about. See what you think below. This clip is from a larger festival and has more Champions on the stage than we saw.



The final band were called The Duke and the King. They were good and I loved the flexibility of the band with all but the violinist swapping between guitar singing and drums so when the songs moved between soul/ gospel/ pop and folk depending who was singing and who was playing what instruments. It also appeared to be a complete love in with various members hugging each other at the end of each song foe no real obvious reason.

39 Steps

A lovely jaunty comedic thriller loosely based on the John Buchan novel on the same name following the desperate plight of Richard Hannay and his attempts to evade the police and stop the 39 Steps spy ring succeeding. Overall very entertaining and it passed the Mark Kermode laugh test of at least 5 hearty laughs needed to make a good comedy. The lighting was pure film noir, a subject I have been learning about from an expert, and other aspects such as shadows, femme fatales and private eye/cop/ spy character. It was also fun to spot the Hitchcock references and although they were not overly subtle I am sure that I missed a few of them. I was also love the way that there are only four (or are there) member of the cast so they all play multiple roles sometimes in the same scene. The Hannay/ Bra salesman/ police/ newspaper boy scene is very funny and beautifully choreographed. I also love the way that the make up for the fact that cannot get some props on the stage so the scene set on top of a moving railway carriage is priceless.

Away goals

I hate the away goals rule. It says that after both legs of a tie are played and the scores are level then goals scored on your opponents ground are considered double.

I am currently listening to the radio and Lyon are playing Bayern Munich. Bayern win the first leg in Munich 1-0 and have just scored again in Lyon so they are leading 2-0. This means that if Lyon could score a goal to make it 2-1 then they could made make Bayern feel nervous and force them into an error. WRONG Lyon have to score 3 because if it is 2-2 then Bayern win on away goals. This means that the excitement levels are reduced and teams play defensively or negatively and the game excitement is shortened.

School could be closed tomorrow?????

So Rachel is Miami
Richard is on Jamaica
Alison is on Gran Canaria
Simone is in Lisbon
Andy is in Copenhagen
Kate might be in Austria
and Bruce is supposed to be in New Zealand
and these are the ones I know about

Good old volcanoes. Don' think the kids are going to struggle with any questions on the economic consequences of volcanoes.

The Ghost

An excellent political thriller that really was very atmospheric. It was set in a very desolate sand dune almost moon like sand dune landscape that was supposed to be Massachusetts but was actually Germany. The plot plays features Ewan (with a shifting accent) McGregor travels to the US to write the memoirs of a former UK Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan) who is accused of war crimes after the previous writer died. It reminded me of Hitchcock films in the tone and Roman Polanski was able to shoot the film with a very washed out and dull palette. It reminded me of Wallander (an excellent Swedish detective series). I loved the landscape, I loved the house especially the floor length window looking out over the sea and I loved the tone of the film. The point when he finds the shoes of the previous writer was a fun moment - literally dead man shoes. I only wish that they did not kill characters as it is often more fun to work out what might of happened if they had stayed alive.