tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36481842011-07-31T01:57:48.184ZWorking to enhance the CuL Experience; check out the 'best of' links, click the banner from any archive page to return to this home page...&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<br> There are two sorts of EFL Teacher; one spends all night with scissors and glue, cutting out paper letters and making worksheets. The other sort doesn't. And probably can't spell Mississippi.&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<br> Peripheral tales from 40-something ubercyberslacker, webnaut, English Language Teacher, itinerant musician and traveller.Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.comBlogger3821100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-47203314708122430382010-01-01T17:25:00.003Z2010-01-01T17:37:24.699Z

This year's Christmas toon is here, with apologies to Holst.I borrowed a mandoline over the Christams hols. Next year I'm hoping to borrow a book on how to play it...I did exactly 12 posts to CuL last year. That's nearly one a month.Shame, 'cos it was a hell of a year....

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-70470448925632852222009-07-13T17:06:00.006Z2009-07-13T18:22:20.193Z

Out on the Treader, inspired by yesterday's gripping TdeF stage (Go Bradley! Forza Mark! They don't make Blue Smarties any more, David!) Down to Addenbrookes hospital, and then along a dedicated cycle track to the village of Shelford (very Chandlers Ford - specifically, very Hoccombe Road). Written into the path is an announcement that it forms the 10,000th mile of the National Cycle Network (

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-46328471905064369452009-07-09T06:27:00.002Z2009-07-09T06:32:03.822Z

Right... the bus has stopped, and I don't seem to have been on an aeroplane in the last ten minutes... OK, right, this must be Cambridge.This morning I am running a class for teachers on Blogs and Wikis, and plan to show them CuL. Is this a good idea?Cycled into the city centre yesterday. A surpsrisingly hairy journey for such a soppesedly bike-friendly city. There a bit with road works, where

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-28842566282534939862009-06-15T09:55:00.002Z2009-06-15T10:06:11.208Z

Is falling everywhere today, not just on that soggy plain, and here in Oviedo, where it's hilly, and looks a bit like Devon or South Wales, it's a tad muggy and still drizzling.Unlike Italy, it's seems to still be legal for people to smoke in a bar in Spain. Feels a bit quaint, really ...

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-85696649849376350462009-06-14T09:02:00.002Z2009-06-14T09:11:20.820Z

Here I am at Paris Charles de Gaules, waiting for a connection to Spain. CDG is an incredibly futuristic airport, but it`s greqt to see that the washrooms keep up the sanitory conditions traditional to this great nation.French FHM is running a story - sonething on the lines of "What happened to Second Life; anatomy of a flop". I wonder if David Wossname and the LanguageLab guys have reqd this

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-6960216463512144852009-06-13T09:07:00.000Z2009-06-13T09:08:32.750Z

It's now over six months since we moved.The giant 'Vote Tory' sign that has been put up on the wall in front of number 79 is nothing to do with us.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-81429660472479541572009-06-07T17:19:00.003Z2009-06-07T18:01:08.650Z

Flew back on BA from Bari via Gatwick, with interesting travelling companions. On the first leg the band Gong were on board, who I have always been very fond of. Gong have been around since the 1960s, and gone through many lineup changes, and it was pretty easy to tell the 60(plus)- something original members from the newer musos. As I got off the plane I said 'hello' to leader Daevid Allan (now

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-4141825683578805862009-06-04T16:45:00.006Z2009-06-04T17:42:01.503Z

If ever there's been a year in which I should have been blogging, this surely is it. Since my last posting I've been to Munich again, cycled across Holland and met up with James and Helene, and over the last three weeks have been travelling round Southern Italy - mostly down in Salento, the 'Heel' of Italy though now I'm in the Northern half of the same province, Puglia - on an examining tour.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-23222625226951118352009-03-09T08:16:00.004Z2009-03-09T10:37:59.446Z

To Wyboston (where?) for an examiners selection event. Wyboston is actually in that very particular middle of nowhere on the borders of Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire where East Anglia starts; it’s all big skies, grain silos, muddy fields, roundabouts, warehouse distribution centres and B&Q and Carphone Whorehouse sheds. Think Peterborough, without the city of Peterborough. Clearly conference

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-70895212476636063872009-03-03T19:28:00.010Z2009-03-03T20:12:42.494Z

To Munich over the weekend for a publishers meeting (no, really!). It’s a very handsome city with lots of fine buildings and parks, and the River Isar running through the middle, though it’s not the time best of year to see anywhere, with the grass a dirty khaki and piles of grubby snow around – this was how Germany always looked when we’d drive through in the winter to and from Greece. But it’s

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-36785153027464982412009-02-14T09:09:00.001Z2009-02-14T09:11:09.727Z

Googling has just revealed to me for the first time that it was actually "the sweet taste of her cherry chapstick" in that Katy Perry song, and not "the sweet taste of her cherry chopstick".I had been wondering what exactly a cherry chopstick was, and so, apparently, had at least 100,000 other people who posted about it across the net. Girl needs to get her vowels together.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-64108843542317779522009-01-25T14:58:00.002Z2009-01-25T15:20:16.441Z

One thing people on newsgroups such as Alt Usage English regularly bang on about is which decade years like 1970, 1980 and 1990 belong to. Was 1980 the first year of the 80s, or was it, in fact, the last year of the 70s? The argument is based on the fact that we count "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10"; not "0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9" and thus any sequence of ten numbers should begin on 1 and

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-46644936027537872602009-01-01T22:30:00.000Z2009-01-01T22:31:01.091Z

Happy New Year!

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-18584059552754538232008-12-31T10:48:00.003Z2008-12-31T11:09:26.381Z

1. A drum sample lasts 3.78 seconds. What does the song tempo have to be in beats per minute (bpm) to stretch it over two bars of 4|4?2. All those musos like the Chems who say they create music while off their faces on various substances... how do they work out stuff like that?

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-46734738845057097082008-12-25T10:06:00.001Z2008-12-25T10:07:58.713Z

A Joyous Christmas and All Good Things for 2009 to all our readers.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-17173187627180029192008-11-04T21:02:00.001Z2008-11-04T21:03:47.662Z

Let's hope that that Lewis Hamilton wins the US election...

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-18210659409769274902008-11-04T20:51:00.003Z2008-11-13T22:51:10.634Z

I’m just back from the Johnny Marr lecture. Many of the Manc rock intelligentsia were there (well, at least some of the ones I recognize). Professor Marr was very good; though to be honest it does have to be said that his thesis – that the established music industry creates nothing, and all innovation in music, and by extension all the arts, comes from ‘outsiders’ - was stretched a little thin

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-71518616140441036442008-11-01T15:57:00.003Z2008-11-01T16:06:29.156Z

I've got tickets for the inaugural lecture by Salford's new Visiting Professor, and I'm really looking forward to it.He's Johnny Marr.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-30157064832690723632008-10-15T20:05:00.000Z2008-10-15T20:07:41.761Z

Dear Oh Lord, how did this happen?

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-60891034042508521322008-10-12T18:52:00.004Z2008-10-12T20:40:34.223Z

Gor blimey, it was a struggle, but we finally managed to move. Where to put everything? Homes have to be found for the contents of a three-bedroom house (this one is two), a garden shed, and all the tons (literaly) of stuff we kept in Brenda's house next door to 79. Then again there's all the pot plants we kept in the front and back gardens of the two houses to distribute across a small

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-41543960425033819122008-09-27T15:16:00.001Z2008-09-27T15:17:37.365Z

Ullswater. We're in the Lakes again. Now in a Cybercafe in Glenridding. Just had a banging walk and a boat trip. It's all jolly nice.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-86084504635929338442008-09-15T17:32:00.005Z2008-09-15T18:12:38.437Z

To Liverpool to watch the finale of the Tour of Britain. After giving up trying to see the riders go through Southport, we get to the city centre in time to watch three out of the six circuits and then it's the sprint... as I notice we're just up a street that makes a short cut straight to the finish line, and we run down just in time to see something that might be the top of Alessandro

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-50013841255804557742008-09-09T06:30:00.004Z2008-09-09T06:53:30.493Z

While Yahoo News get the wrong picture with the wrong caption on a daily basis, you do start wondering if they're doing it on purpose. Last time I saw knees like that was on my Action Man...

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-48463009126759273952008-09-08T17:43:00.007Z2008-09-08T18:11:36.153Z

The great feature of Bath this year has been the local version of Cow Parade, King Bladud's Pigs. Here's some piccies from Saturday:Sue bought teddy bears in Edinburgh and Salisbury, and now wants a Bath bear. We find Bladud the Bear for 50p in a charity shop, and take him to The Bell to celebrate. The poor bear ends up totally Bladud:

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-76482468944959477892008-09-08T17:23:00.007Z2008-09-08T17:43:33.865Z

We stayed on on Saturday and had a brilliant final day, seeing parts of the city we hadn't visited before. It rained buckets and we didn't have brollies or waterproofs, so dodged the showers and spent time sitting in cafes. Blue skies and sunshine are fine, but sometimes a city looks at its best when wet pavements bring out the reflections:

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-46513221342426873192008-09-08T07:45:00.007Z2008-09-08T18:22:59.721Z

Back from Bath for the final time last night. Today is a good day to blog and reflect, not to mention avoiding shifting boxes into 59.If there’s one thing I should have learned by now, it’s that different times are not the same. I move around and I work in a lot of different places, and I tend to apply existing paradigms to each new context. That’s a mistake; here are two examples from this year:

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-42727555237673023022008-08-31T09:09:00.007Z2008-08-31T09:57:48.137Z

Great to meet up with Jem and Ben for a lads night out in Bath (hi, guys). Looking for a curry we hit what surely must be the best Curry House in Bath - the Eastern Eye. Not only is the scran incredibly nice, but the main dining room is an exquisite Georgian interior, with three domes in the sculpted ceiling. You can well imagine Jane Austen sitting in a corner of this elegant room, quietly

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-5693068364177917882008-08-31T08:48:00.003Z2008-08-31T08:59:08.050Z

I'm flattered to learn that I actually featured in one of the student skits from last week, done as a radio play. Here's an extract...Good to hear the spirit of the Goons is alive and well amongst Japanese kids. Funny how I was talking about liking 'Rock the Casbah' in a staff meeting recently...

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-50404414192158963972008-08-31T07:25:00.009Z2008-08-31T10:07:49.638Z

Here's that scene from Minority Report. This is the ultimate example of personalised marketting (don't laugh; how many loyaty cards in your wallet?) It's also a blatent, in your face example of product placement.and this is the bit in Gap (or The Gap, as Americans seem to call it).By this point Tom Cruise's character has had a dodgy iris transplant - that's why the system avatar (who is that

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-36326011959745233812008-08-22T10:29:00.002Z2008-08-22T10:48:56.219Z

The international captains of industry who come to Riversdown haven't got to be where they are today without pretty good deductive skills. Cédric, a French executive based in Romania, was fun to work with. The phrase 'tied up' came up, as in 'busy':"What do you think 'tied up' means here, Cédric?""Well now, let me see... the man has come for an important meeting... he is wearing his best suit..

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-31367791343336656642008-08-21T11:38:00.002Z2008-08-21T11:46:55.172Z

To Riversdown for a few days teaching and grace and favour. The main house is full, so I get put up with a retired couple in the village. He's ex-Army; I've no idea what rank he left with, but the concept of 'retired colonel' fits very well. She has a cut-glass accent. In fact they're both incredibly nice, very relaxed, and make me and the other teacher billeted on them feel very welcome.Chatting

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-84287503093128868762008-08-02T11:46:00.010Z2008-08-04T08:49:08.951Z

I've just finished reading Excession, one of Iain M Banks Sci-Fi 'Culture' novels. Members of the civilisation Banks creates, the Culture, live charmed lives where they don't have to work. Instead they spend their centuries-long lives wandering through beautiful sunny environments living brilliant lives full of art exhibitions and charming conversation at dazzling parties. Culture citizens can

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-7312922368390005242008-07-25T17:33:00.004Z2008-08-31T10:00:59.739Z

By bike to Bristol, 16 miles along the Bath – Bristol Railway Path. This is the first route Sustrans ever opened, and it’s very much what they’re all about – an urban motor-traffic-free corridor that lets people commute into the city or get out from the city centre into the countryside. It’s actually also about the best of their routes I’ve ever ridden – gentle gradients, nice views of the

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-37150067547935360762008-07-10T10:37:00.006Z2008-07-10T11:04:11.383Z

Nice to see Yahoo News continuing its fine tradition of getting the wrong caption on its lead picture every day:

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-81126125111419578142008-07-06T06:35:00.015Z2008-07-06T07:10:38.739Z

Jay-Zee at Glastonbury last week was pretty darn good. Now it has to be said that despite being a big dance music fan, hip-hop doesn't really float my boat. As a genre I think it exists as a function of the fact that almost everybody alive today grew up to some kind of rock n' roll soundtrack; Sue's Dad is a big Who fan, and he's 76. So today's teenagers have to search around for more and more

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-14399332461211450282008-07-04T16:14:00.003Z2008-07-06T07:01:03.592Z

Meatloaf is performing tonight at the Rec, home of the mighty Bath Rugby Club. I just went outside - you can hear him doing a sound check on the other side of the city.F*** knows what he'll sound like when they give him a microphone.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-45490583254570337912008-07-03T18:41:00.002Z2008-07-03T18:48:52.762Z

Back in Bath, now with the bike. I just cycled down to Sainsbury's. That was the easy bit. Oh yes indeed. Down and down and down and down. Then I came back again.Back on Somerset Crescent all the home students have gone home for the summer. No more young lovelies and gawky lads sitting out on benches drinking lager through the evening any longer. It's just me, Alan the friendly security

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-10882877520855498772008-06-26T18:20:00.004Z2008-06-26T20:13:42.641Z

This here is Django Cagney, my Second Life avatar.I think he looks well cool, and only today he was entertaining a lady avatar at a small Greek taverna. Note absence of umbrella, barbecue, rain and signs of a mispent youth. Anyway, he's an improvement on most male avatars, who look like Mad Max on Steroids. That or ambulant cardboard boxes, R2D2 or giant sheep.I hope this is all clear. It's a

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-38190381115164060222008-06-25T05:45:00.004Z2008-06-25T06:07:55.533Z

This is me attempting to cook lamb chops in the pissing rain last night. Now, it's 6.30 in the morning (I sleep a lot less these days) and it's a beautiful June day. The rain has washed the air out and you can see clear across the valley to the sheep grazing below Chisworth, tiny spots of white in the fields. It's a lot like a big green head, with dandruff.So why am I waxing lyrical about the

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-87880681369844368622008-06-09T07:57:00.004Z2008-07-06T07:16:27.276Z

OK, yes, and who knows, I'll probably forget what I'm doing if I'm still around in a few years time and want to look back...I'm still working on the Virtual Doctorate Project (see below) for Salford. This is a lot of fun, but involves sitting in front of the computer at home for long hours getting a sore bum.On Thursdays and Fridays I work in Bath, driving down and staying over for one or two

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-84724139023812696762008-05-31T06:38:00.003Z2008-05-31T06:47:22.736Z

that I am now a published writer? And I mean published, on shiny paper in a magazine you can read on the bus, none of this chickenshit internet virtual stuff. Rush out now and subscribe to English Teaching Professional and read all about it...

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-39258142816470356012008-05-27T11:28:00.000Z2008-05-27T11:28:16.651Z

Have spent the morning making CDs out of old vinyl albums. This takes forever, and the CDs still sound shite. However, it's lovely to hear 'Before and After Science' again, one of my all-time favourite records. And somebody seems to have set up an Oblique Strategies generator. Always worth trying...Random Strategies - Oblique Strategies - blackhat-seo.com: "[...] More: Random Strategies -

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-6332528829882702008-05-25T10:53:00.001Z2008-05-25T10:56:17.822Z

Oh My God. There is another one. Bet I'm still the only bloke, though.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-42980442079368403662008-05-24T07:27:00.004Z2008-05-24T07:58:11.223Z

Bought the Saturday Guardian - a Sunday paper that comes out on a Saturday - for the first time in ages last week, and I still haven’t finished reading it.I’d forgotten the joy of weekend magazines. For one thing, they’re full of weird words you’ll never encounter anywhere else, like ‘chutzpah’ whatever the hell that is. (Actually I think I once bought a chutzpah from a deli in Golders Green, and

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-87659531846245291322008-05-15T08:31:00.006Z2008-05-15T08:56:34.570Z

(I’ve just finished reading Ecstasy by Irving Welsh). More happy tales of casual violence and necrophilia, drug abuse and swearing amongst the deadbeats of Leith. Actually, Welsh writes brilliantly, I'm just not sure I want to read about that stuff any more. At one stage of my life all that druggie stuff seemed hopelessly glamorous and romantic; these days it just seems hopeless.Surprisingly,

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-55493313724436711802008-05-14T07:54:00.002Z2008-05-14T07:56:46.745Z

Ever wondered why Americans look like that? The clue may be here.... (The second one this week I wish I hadn't looked at before breakfast).

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-52996660992558606962008-05-13T21:37:00.010Z2008-05-13T22:11:23.708Z

To Salford for a meeting. It's the UEFA Cup final in Manc tomorrow, and all along the M60 & M602 cars are flying unfamiliar football scarves trailed out of the windows; they're full of Glasgow Rangers fans. Later on, as I come out of multi-ethnic, multi-faith, multi-just-nice-people Salford Uni and I'm walking down The Crescent, a coach load of fans pull up at the lights next to me. They're

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-33931690427511720482008-05-10T08:54:00.002Z2008-05-10T09:00:28.771Z

Have I mentioned Garfield minus Garfield?

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-84097873564674522272008-05-09T06:57:00.012Z2008-05-09T07:45:39.759Z

I just watched that Camino del Rey thing again. Not wise before breakfast.And now, a rather more sedate posting...To Ullswater for Sue's birthday. Great lunch, and a boat trip on the lake. Ah, the pleasures of Middle Age.The pleasures of just having a day off, for that matter. All I ever seem to do is work these days.Well, enough of that. For starters, here's a fascinating blog from a lady who

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-12399542376413869712008-05-07T11:43:00.004Z2008-05-07T11:48:46.193Z

This from those reliable folk at uk.media.radio.archers (aka The Umrats).Just watching it has made me feel distinctly queasy. If you don't have vertigo now, you will have...

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-5777645878914727562008-05-06T07:51:00.003Z2008-05-06T08:08:34.453Z

So, I’ve been working in Bath for a month now, surely all sorts of adventures and impressions should be going down on CuL?Well, yes, though adventures are fairly thin on the ground at the moment. Current excuse for not blogging is the horror that is the 'Virtual Doctorate Project'. This is a suite of online study-skills modules designed to help ESL PhD students, which I’m developing for the

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-47331495186364270482008-04-20T16:09:00.003Z2008-04-20T16:36:58.918Z

My new job isn't here:Or even here:

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-22094148185805518082008-03-23T08:04:00.006Z2008-03-23T08:54:48.837Z

Deep 'n crisp 'n Steven again:

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-4318363940571138242008-03-07T18:33:00.002Z2008-03-07T19:14:56.596Z

I've been taking piano lessons the last few weeks. I can now have a hack at timeless classics 'The Woodchuck' (if a woodchuck could chuck wood, how much wood, would he chuck? If a woodchuck could chuck wood, how much would he chuck?) 'Crunchy Flakes' (almost identical to Jingle Bells , but with the difficult bits taken out) my absolute favorite Hannah from Montana (poor Hannah was caught in a

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-80637803714762373462008-02-03T11:30:00.000Z2008-02-03T12:06:57.618Z

This is a piece of sheer genious.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-8849858175021083702008-02-02T07:45:00.001Z2008-02-02T07:45:54.043Z

It's 7.45AM and there's three inches of snow on the ground. No weather for Susans.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-18157537014329002702008-02-02T07:42:00.000Z2008-02-02T07:45:01.838Z

"Today, I want to use the time for a workshop session".Translation: "I've not done any prep. Anybody got any ideas?"

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-74129541133410946772008-01-17T21:12:00.000Z2008-01-17T21:14:12.619Z

What will they think of next?

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-87136022496793905172007-12-24T19:22:00.000Z2007-12-24T19:24:10.093Z

Ah, yes, Christmas. Christmas Eve in Hyde ASDAs...

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-27573346144041431662007-12-15T16:40:00.000Z2007-12-15T16:56:04.680Z

... got a new motor? For the second time within the life of CuL I can record going out today and buying a car. Given the infrequency of such events it suggests that Cul really has been going for a long time (too long? Is this the moment to migrate to Facebook?)The car is a Ford Focus. It drives really nicely and has a suitable amount of honk with a 1.8 Zetec engine, but I have to admit (and I can

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-45234929740891456572007-12-10T20:28:00.000Z2007-12-10T20:33:58.495Z

I'm afraid I can't get enough of this:(What a great bass line. Ahem.)

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-10705554291608333442007-12-06T13:39:00.000Z2007-12-06T13:45:38.398Z

Just back from London, and walked past a van on the Salford campus with 'Student Removal Services' written on the side.Sounds like someone's finally taking notice of what I've been saying for years; universities would be great to work if it weren't for the darn students cluttering the places up...

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-70131536085670802312007-11-29T15:12:00.000Z2007-11-29T15:21:13.595Z

Astonished to find this old Captains of Industry site with four tunes was still online, after yonks and yonks. Maybe somebody else regularly opens it. Or not. And what context is the context-specific advertising about dolls picking up? (Currently featuring 'Potty Training Dolls UK'...)Anyway, a couple of goodies there - Filthy Disguting Boids and From Japan Land of Microelectronics are worth

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-33014434615831116662007-11-25T11:48:00.000Z2007-11-25T11:52:23.800Z

Too much time on your hands? You need Ian's Shoelace Site... (no relation to our estimeed postmaster...)

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-43565266853360498232007-11-24T20:48:00.000Z2007-11-24T20:50:12.346Z

I just read further down the postings, 'interesting to note Blogger now allow direct uploading of videos'. And so they do, so they do. Tant pis. My aunt is still incontinent.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-51077617506871667632007-11-24T20:31:00.000Z2007-11-24T20:38:54.602Z

Thanks to Ian, I finally worked out how to post your own videos to the blog. Simple; stick them on YouTube and then put the embed code into the blog. In fact, I’ve used Metacafé, which is a clone of YouTube and so felt a bit more… private. Dunno why I didn’t work this out for myself – hosting elsewhere is exactly how I used to put pictures on CuL before they allowed you to upload them

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-19360895439427458602007-11-21T22:16:00.001Z2007-11-21T22:16:49.027Z

stupid bloody game

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-27215071863050952432007-11-21T12:37:00.000Z2007-11-21T12:41:03.096Z

Please let Croatia win tonight. I can't bear the idea of months and months of Thirty Years of Shirtism, followed by the inevitable snivelling defeat.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-60728902855273776202007-11-20T20:45:00.000Z2007-11-20T20:48:07.274Z

How many girl singers does it take to sing “Somewhere over the Rainbow”?Apparently all of them.Meanwhile, I also like one of Jim Sweeney’s Edinburgh stories. Somewhere on the fringe, a misplaced American comic is working the room. He’s doing the old “what’s your name and what do you do?” routine around the audience. He asks the question to Keith Allen and gets this response: “My name's Keith

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-43579567705954089602007-11-10T23:28:00.001Z2007-11-13T12:33:44.673Z

My computer has always been crap, and is currently dying. One thing that’s gone (again) is speech recognition, which is a major pain… migord, I’m actually typing this… maybe I need to reinstall Microsoft Orifice…Sue is away for the weekend, so it’s a chance to make some music. I’ve got a huge pile of marking to do, I need to clear all our stuff out of the B2L, there’s a million other things to do

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-51824971206443091762007-11-02T13:04:00.000Z2007-11-02T13:13:16.338Z

I've sometimes regretted naming this blog 'Cut Up Letters'; the title refers to a regular activity undertaken by EFL teachers, maybe with a hint of that William Burroughs cut-up thing; what it wasn't intended to suggest was that the blog would consist of whingy 'distraught communications'.Five years too late, I've just thought of the ideal title, instantly comprehensible to all EFL practitioners.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-67424314837735004762007-10-15T14:37:00.001Z2007-10-15T14:38:47.754Z

49. I'm not pleased, not pleased at all. At least my wobbly tooth fell out on Friday - this was something to feel good about. I'll have to change the CuL logo before long. Sigh.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-8004883014709227752007-09-09T16:39:00.000Z2007-09-09T17:28:01.329Z

Well, we liked it a lot and who knows, might be back. Meantime here's some piccies:- Natives having al fresco barbecueNetley Chapel The Glory that is Southampton Water We bought an amateur painting of this scene, including the strangely posed figure... (that's enough captions)Totton gets nuked... Interesting that Blogger now allows direct uploading of video: I must try taking some. Meanwhile,

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-30301634457689144352007-09-06T07:58:00.000Z2007-09-06T08:00:49.323Z

Just passed one of the porters here at Manc, pushing a trolley load of bins, and whistling 'Nessun Dorma'...

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-64755256176837271782007-09-04T08:03:00.001Z2007-09-04T08:03:55.533Z

speech

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-34224632930041041172007-08-25T11:39:00.000Z2007-09-04T08:03:46.536Z

... there's a troll about. I believe heavily in free speech, it's nice to know that once in while someone I don't know reads CuL, and I've always posted any comments, whether I know who they're from or not. But anonyomous and unfair put downs I can do without, so the weird comments on the next post are now going to Room 101 (if you've not read the next posting already you won't know what I'm

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-66827230397086702572007-08-21T15:50:00.000Z2007-08-21T16:09:34.172Z

And now, a typical day in the life of an EAP pre-sessional teacher:Get in to work half an hour early to prep materialsFind worksheets in huge four-ring lever-arch file, carefully filed in slippery plastic wallets.Drop file on floorSpend half an hour getting each sheet back in the folderFinally find video and audio tape for listening project; topic is 'democracy vs one-party systems'; note that

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-13312743113838721112007-08-21T15:25:00.000Z2007-08-21T16:20:57.968Z

I just posted this to AUE:Then again there's hyperspace. I was only thinking about this - likeyou do - walking round IKEA in Ashton under Lyne the other evening.If you believe in the concept of hyperspace, there are neat little worm holes knocking around which quickly pop you round the back of real time and space to where you actually want to be. In this respect, the way IKEA stores are designed

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-5117651049814105322007-08-15T07:17:00.000Z2007-08-15T07:22:49.923Z

Ian the Broadbottom postmaster posts to a blog here, currently with some great pictures taken around Broady, but sad news for Black Cat lovers everywhere.Drove into work this morning after two days heroically getting the train to Piccadilly and walking - pedometer read 6313 steps yesterday. Manc a grimy smear on the rainy horizon as I hit the motorway at the Hattersley roundabout....

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-73077228280684874482007-08-14T16:58:00.000Z2007-08-14T18:58:43.670Z

I was back at RDH for two weeks. It was fun; like they say, a change is as good as arrest. Very little had changed; the only real difference is that 20 years ago all the other teachers were the same age as me - late 20s; now they still were the same age - late 40s. This can only but be a Good Thing, as back in the day it was all a tad Rock and Roll. I was also expecting to be greeted in the

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-64541435795141631522007-07-31T13:16:00.000Z2007-07-31T13:22:07.061Z

Up at 6.00 (five hour time difference) to take a call from Kazakhstan (yep, that Kazakhstan) while walking along the beach (best reception) at Weston Shore (pay attention here). Then I rang the bank, who told me I'd been with them 12 years to the day. Gosh. Far more exciting is that CuL was five years old two weeks ago, and I never noticed. Should have a party sometime.Here I am, also, back

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-91163822217865907182007-07-26T12:56:00.000Z2007-07-31T13:24:48.624Z

A seagull crapped on my head as I was cycling through the Royal Victoria Park in Netley yesterday. This is not the only time I have been shat on from a Great Height lately; I seem to be making a habit of this just at the moment.But the trip up the Tarka Trail in North Devon was brilliant, and recharged a lot of batteries, even if with four consecutive bed and breakfast breakfasts, and a pub meal

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-30842557710861874472007-07-20T17:24:00.000Z2007-07-20T17:31:40.133Z

In fact the mitts performed remarkably well in the wet, as the heavens openned when I was out in the open on the way to Braunton. The mitts actually did enhance the cycling experience, as they stop ones hands going numb on the bumpy bits. Passing female cylists, meanwhile, fainted dead way at the glow of electric blue lycra, so all in all the best 16 quid I've spent in a while. Today, despite

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-74020382050980980062007-07-19T12:06:00.000Z2007-07-19T12:14:30.423Z

Here in Barnstaple net access is 1.00 for 20 mins, which while still a tad pricey is better than your man in Bideford. Of course, Tourist Info did say the Library was free, but then I doubt if they'll do you a latte. (Not that I'm entirely sure I'd describe what I'm drinking as a latte though. There's lattes, and then there's milky coffees...)Five mins ago I finally bought a pair of cycling mitts

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-29994930443689583932007-07-18T14:27:00.000Z2007-07-18T14:37:50.127Z

I am in a Cybercaff in Bideford. They charge 5.00 per hour for online time. Gorblimey. I mean it's a long time since I last blogged on the move, but that still strikes me as a ripoff. Hence I will wait for a cheaper moment to bloggerate my current bicycling epic up the Tarka Trail.I have just learnt something interesting though. When I sat down at this terminal there was a piece of white A4 paper

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-46840982075677313972007-05-17T13:27:00.000Z2007-05-17T13:34:14.266Z

I once went out with a girl whose parents lived round the corner from here (here, today, being Avenue Campus of the University in the sunny city of my birth).One day when we were walking down London Road she pointed to a shop front and said "Look, there's the fascist solictors".This remark didn't actually click till several years later. The firm were called 'Young and White'.That's what it feels

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-47582879529822665122007-05-13T11:10:00.000Z2007-05-13T11:13:41.760Z

I've often said that I'd like to be able to play like Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani or Steve Vai. And then, not.This, however, is a thing of joy.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-18162178140951313112007-04-24T13:42:00.000Z2007-04-24T13:43:42.328Z

Go here and search on SK14 6BB.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-18440198990939953372007-04-20T10:53:00.000Z2007-04-20T10:59:04.293Z

and partly in explanation of why I still haven't written up my expedition up Pendle Hill [1], despite the fact that it was nearly two weeks ago, and I had what I was going to say all planned out, and I was going to call the posting 'A Nice Day Out in Witch Country' which is both undeniably snappy, and very CuL, I offer this.[1] The fact I had to take every single thing out of Mottram Road by hand

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-32134226333395985422007-04-01T13:01:00.000Z2007-04-01T13:07:16.531Z

I’ve been back here on my own for the last two weeks. The idea is to get the place ready to put on the market, but I’ve also got three large proof reading projects on which is taking up a lot of time; it doesn’t help that I’m having to work on the ancient P75 on a dial-up internet connection. And despite taking box after box out of the house, down the steps and into the car, it doesn’t look any

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-88783838360046173242007-03-13T16:46:00.000Z2007-03-13T16:50:00.754Z

In fact it's the Year of the Golden Boar, but you wouldn't know it in Southampton, where the streets are thick with rats. At first we thought this was only because Netley - where because of one rat's relative size we've named the thing 'Birmingham' - was next to the Water, but I've just seen half a dozen on Southampton Common.Whither cats when you need one?

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-24588573579126487242007-03-06T16:14:00.000Z2007-03-06T16:21:04.079Z

And it's back to Southampton... Extrordinarily, we really didn't want to leave the house in Broady, it felt really strange to just be able to relax and chill out in our own home for the first time in two years, not to have that awful knot in the stomach everytime we came home or wanted to go out. Lots of work done round the place by Anthony, the place is looking good.Back to the ol' caravan

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-52668431266239623852007-03-03T11:13:00.000Z2007-03-06T11:55:15.841Z

Back to Broady last night. Dane and Beth, the neighbours from hell, have moved. We'd known they were going for several weeks, but there's been several false alarms before, when their house was put on the market and then taken off again. However, this time they really have gone, and new folk have moved in.Our house shares a common access with Brenda's next door (she's in San Francisco most of the

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-51042458881489480872007-02-22T09:24:00.000Z2007-02-22T09:31:27.731Z

It's a soft day, and the petrolchemical reek of the refinery, only three miles away from Netley as the oil-soaked seagull flies, was strong in the air this morning.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-91519690930357258882007-02-19T09:34:00.000Z2007-02-19T11:10:39.520Z

We had this truism in our family, that Southampton didn’t feel like a port. We said that it was a city that turned its back on the sea, and that from the city centre you could have been in any boring UK town, except for seeing the very occasional mast of a cruise liner between the insurance office towers. The docks themselves were hidden away behind high gates and out of public access. When Sue

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-56133348069827029852007-02-18T20:26:00.000Z2007-02-22T09:32:41.978Z

Netley’s resident ghost is said to have been a nurse at the Military Hospital who fell in love with a patient. One day she gave him either the wrong medicine or an overdose of the correct one, and the soldier died. Driven to distraction, she ran to the top of one of the Hospital’s gothic towers (who knows, maybe the one that’s the sole remaining piece of the hospital still standing), and threw

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-15751444147266663142007-02-18T20:14:00.000Z2007-02-18T20:21:21.413Z

“It’s nice to know its there” was the title of a song by Flanders and Swann, or more likely Instant Sunshine. Right this second, I can’t check as we’re still here in the no longer Broadbanded Broadbottom house and Sue is hogging bandwidth – OK, talking to her brother on the phone – and I’m writing this offline.The song is about how, if you live in a city, you never actually visit the sights or

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-14822969207427519672007-02-17T12:05:00.000Z2007-02-19T10:55:40.434Z

To The Jolly Sailor for a late evening pint with Nigel.They have a new pump on the bar. Yup; Pimms on tap.Drove back to Broady last night - longest trip ever, it took nearly nine hours. Hopefully, a chance to use the ol' P75 to catch up on CuL from here.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-91240794745899721512007-02-16T11:33:00.000Z2007-02-16T11:34:33.242Z

And now, something more exciting than words can ever express.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3648184.post-19439011617604101132007-02-09T10:10:00.000Z2007-02-08T12:37:19.691Z

Yesterday I was chatting to Julie in e-Languages and explained that I was actually prioritising teaching and marking for the day, rather than working on the e-lang metadata project they've given me:"I'm not having a metadata day today".Try saying that with your teeth in.

Viv Midlanenoreply@blogger.com0