Here it (finally) is, a list of the books that captured my attention last year. A subjective selection out of a hundred books read in 2015, in order of reading. If there is no English title, there is no translation of this book yet and it might be a long wait as translations still make something like 3% of the UK book market. Shame! Anyway, here goes:
1. Agnieszka Grzelak - Herbata szczęścia
Polish fantasy that is not Sapkowski and is perfectly readable is always a good find.
2. Hugh Howey - Wool/Shift/Dust
A grim post apocalyptic trilogy about humanity living in underground silos to avoid the wastelands of Earth's surface. Read and feel lucky.
3. Michelle Lowrie - The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters
Seven sisters with long, luscious hair and heavenly voices making their way in the world of late XIXth century. Apparently based on a true story. Captivating.
4. Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl
Forget the movie. No movie can capture the twists of this story as well as a book.
5. Gillian Flynn - Sharp Objects
The revelations in this one will make you cringe. But you will keep reading...
6. Rod Duncan - The Bullet - Catcher's Daughter
A steampunk with a bit of a western flavour and some very effective cross dressing. Don't question, just read.
7. Charles Stross - Neptune's Brood
If I have to introduce you to the most imaginative Scottish sf writer of right now... do I? This book will introduce him better.
8. Stephen King - The Wind Through the Keyhole
If you miss Roland the gunslinger's world. A short novel.
9. Gillian Flynn - Dark Places
Yes, yes so I turned into a fan.Try not to.
10. Jack Vance - The Moon Moth and Other Stories
Classic science fiction at its best. These stories stay with you.
11. Richard Morgan - The Steel Remains
Fantasy story with not one likeable character and yet you can't put it down.
12. Jon Courtenay Grimwood - Stamping Butterflies
Twists and turns of time and space and chaos butterflies. This one is impossible to describe without revealing too much.
13. Kate Atkinson - One Good Turn
It took me long enough to discover this author. This crime novel is set in Edinburgh which always adds to the story as you visit familiar landmarks with the characters.
14. Brandon Sanderson - The Final Empire/ The Well of Ascension/ The Hero of Ages
Epic.The world, the story, the magic, the characters, the plot twists. You will read well into the night and take it on the bus the next day despite each of these being 600 + pages long. Epic.
15. Izabela Degórska - Pamięć krwi
A surprise - a vampire story for adults. Turns out this Polish author can make vampires more gritty and less shiny and engage them in a proper plot. Well done.
16. Paolo Bacigalupi - The Water Knife
Another post apocalyptic story, this time about a world that dried out and water is a resource everyone is fighting and killing for. Chillingly realistic.
You can find more information on each of these on the amazing Goodreads website by finding a cover on my list of books or typing the title in the search box.
Saturday, 16 January 2016
Friday, 27 November 2015
Big Cyber Brother is watching you closely this Black Friday
The internet marketing went mad today.
Biggest sale of the year! 50% off clothes! Limited time only! 35% off luxury goods! Free delivery! You want this! Your pet needs it! You really want that! Buy now! Buy today!! The offer will expire at 23 59!!! Buy!
And when it will all go back to normal tomorrow, we will be expected to oversee how sinister this normalcy of the internets has become as far as the marketing is concerned.
How when you go to any online shop and look at anything it will then follow you around as a little ad, jumping from one website to another after you, reminding you of what you just wanted to buy and not letting you forget.
How when you scroll down your social media the sponsored content is barely marked as such any more, so that you skim it with the same open mind as the rest of the posts from people you chose to be friends with.
How the emails you're subscribed to receive cleverly tailor your offers to hook you and then reel you on to the right website.
How when you put something in your virtual basket but then change your mind and not buy it, you will still receive a reminder that you forgot to check out but not to worry, the item is still there waiting for you...
How your personal data gets used to create these digital marketing ghosts coaxing, reminding and enticing you to buy, buy, buy, all day, every day, using information about which internet shops you visit, where do you buy your morning coffee and what do you like to watch in the cinema. Remember these virtual tailored ads in Minority Report the movie? They already exist. There must be one or two right here, on your browser tab to the left.
And after today's explosion of offers, sales, special, buy, off, only, buy, be quick, special, today, now, sales! it will all seem mild and normal.
But is it really?
Biggest sale of the year! 50% off clothes! Limited time only! 35% off luxury goods! Free delivery! You want this! Your pet needs it! You really want that! Buy now! Buy today!! The offer will expire at 23 59!!! Buy!
And when it will all go back to normal tomorrow, we will be expected to oversee how sinister this normalcy of the internets has become as far as the marketing is concerned.
How when you go to any online shop and look at anything it will then follow you around as a little ad, jumping from one website to another after you, reminding you of what you just wanted to buy and not letting you forget.
How when you scroll down your social media the sponsored content is barely marked as such any more, so that you skim it with the same open mind as the rest of the posts from people you chose to be friends with.
How the emails you're subscribed to receive cleverly tailor your offers to hook you and then reel you on to the right website.
How when you put something in your virtual basket but then change your mind and not buy it, you will still receive a reminder that you forgot to check out but not to worry, the item is still there waiting for you...
How your personal data gets used to create these digital marketing ghosts coaxing, reminding and enticing you to buy, buy, buy, all day, every day, using information about which internet shops you visit, where do you buy your morning coffee and what do you like to watch in the cinema. Remember these virtual tailored ads in Minority Report the movie? They already exist. There must be one or two right here, on your browser tab to the left.
And after today's explosion of offers, sales, special, buy, off, only, buy, be quick, special, today, now, sales! it will all seem mild and normal.
But is it really?
Tuesday, 10 November 2015
A praise of proud loners
Apparently the nasty, devious internet AD 2015 is still killing socialising and making more and more people more and more isolated, says yet another research in a very concerned tone.
Well. (As it is not clear in type - it is a rather sarcastic 'well' with a prolonged 'e' sound.)
Here's an idea - we are a first generation that can choose being on one's own as a viable living option. And another generation is hitting an age of making this choice as well. Or not, as it is a choice.
For centuries and millennia human monkeys used to huddle for warmth, safety, comfort and not necessarily out of preference for constant physical company of one another. Lack of living space would also be an issue and cultural and financial constraints. Not any more (I'm going to focus on developed countries here, as these are the ones where terrible digital loneliness is trying to consume us, doomsayer simon says).
I think there's more people who like and choose to not spend their every waking moment crushed amongst random others' body heat, odours and monkey chatter than it was previously noted. It used to be impossible to step away from the crowd if you lived in a crowd, worked physically in a crowd and relaxed in a crowd. Now, it is possible. You close the door and leave the crowd of random others outside.
An yet, when was the last time you felt like you're truly alone, between your bleeping mobile, pinging facebook, chirruping email, plonking Skype, plurping calendar reminders and, last but not least, actual phone ringing? As you juggle work people requests, family duties, friends needs and organising this once a week physical meet up and drink up on a Thursday, why does it matter that most of it is dealt with via a device these days? Just like kids growing up with touch screens right now will expect every flat display surface to respond to their touch, I understand someone working from home and communicating with friends/family/work colleagues mostly via social media, mobile and blog and somehow NOT feeling terribly isolated.
Ans so I remain sceptical when I hear about such one sided research, because where is the study of how many people died early of stress induced heart failure after a life time of constant presence of others in their somewhat larger than average personal space in the past hundred years? How many people liked it when their spouse stayed at work later to finally have that evening to themselves in the past fifty years? How many in the whole of human monkey history would be simply jealous to hear of a future in which you can live on your own and still be surrounded by digital shadows of the people you choose to stay in touch with?
And every so often even you, the proud loner, gather these shadows closer and go see them because there is a little bit of chattering, huddling monkey left in each of us, that the devious internet will never conquer.
Well. (As it is not clear in type - it is a rather sarcastic 'well' with a prolonged 'e' sound.)
Here's an idea - we are a first generation that can choose being on one's own as a viable living option. And another generation is hitting an age of making this choice as well. Or not, as it is a choice.
For centuries and millennia human monkeys used to huddle for warmth, safety, comfort and not necessarily out of preference for constant physical company of one another. Lack of living space would also be an issue and cultural and financial constraints. Not any more (I'm going to focus on developed countries here, as these are the ones where terrible digital loneliness is trying to consume us, doomsayer simon says).
I think there's more people who like and choose to not spend their every waking moment crushed amongst random others' body heat, odours and monkey chatter than it was previously noted. It used to be impossible to step away from the crowd if you lived in a crowd, worked physically in a crowd and relaxed in a crowd. Now, it is possible. You close the door and leave the crowd of random others outside.
An yet, when was the last time you felt like you're truly alone, between your bleeping mobile, pinging facebook, chirruping email, plonking Skype, plurping calendar reminders and, last but not least, actual phone ringing? As you juggle work people requests, family duties, friends needs and organising this once a week physical meet up and drink up on a Thursday, why does it matter that most of it is dealt with via a device these days? Just like kids growing up with touch screens right now will expect every flat display surface to respond to their touch, I understand someone working from home and communicating with friends/family/work colleagues mostly via social media, mobile and blog and somehow NOT feeling terribly isolated.
Ans so I remain sceptical when I hear about such one sided research, because where is the study of how many people died early of stress induced heart failure after a life time of constant presence of others in their somewhat larger than average personal space in the past hundred years? How many people liked it when their spouse stayed at work later to finally have that evening to themselves in the past fifty years? How many in the whole of human monkey history would be simply jealous to hear of a future in which you can live on your own and still be surrounded by digital shadows of the people you choose to stay in touch with?
And every so often even you, the proud loner, gather these shadows closer and go see them because there is a little bit of chattering, huddling monkey left in each of us, that the devious internet will never conquer.
Sunday, 25 October 2015
For your internet security this post will self destruct in...
The worst thing about internet security these days is not that it is so unsafe in a big, bad digital world.
It's the passwords.
Every time you want to buy online from a website you use once every two years, put through codes from packets of cereals or post a reply in a vaguely interesting comments' thread, you have to register and pick a password for your new account.
Ok, so let's make it a standard password that I use for every such account...
Oh wait, this password has to have a capital letter, a number, a symbol and not end in 'a'.
But it can't contain my initials, two numbers in a row, a hash tag or a dollar sign.
Or a pound sign.
Or a 'K'?
Or a 69??
After half an hour of playing a "make-a-password' game that seems to be a strange love child of sudoku and scrabble....
How about *********?
Great, here we go.
Oh no.
I misread the bunch of tiny squiggly "prove-you-are-human" letters that appeared for a second and typed them in wrong, so now I'm a bad robot and I can't have an account.
No worries, I can always start over, at least I have now chosen the password.
So I type ********** smugly.
"You can not use the same password twice."
...
I hate you, internet security AD2015.
It's the passwords.
Every time you want to buy online from a website you use once every two years, put through codes from packets of cereals or post a reply in a vaguely interesting comments' thread, you have to register and pick a password for your new account.
Ok, so let's make it a standard password that I use for every such account...
Oh wait, this password has to have a capital letter, a number, a symbol and not end in 'a'.
But it can't contain my initials, two numbers in a row, a hash tag or a dollar sign.
Or a pound sign.
Or a 'K'?
Or a 69??
After half an hour of playing a "make-a-password' game that seems to be a strange love child of sudoku and scrabble....
How about *********?
Great, here we go.
Oh no.
I misread the bunch of tiny squiggly "prove-you-are-human" letters that appeared for a second and typed them in wrong, so now I'm a bad robot and I can't have an account.
No worries, I can always start over, at least I have now chosen the password.
So I type ********** smugly.
"You can not use the same password twice."
...
I hate you, internet security AD2015.
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Definitely NOT procrastinating
I'm NOT procrastinating.
It's just that:
It's just that:
- My back is all knotted and gets annoyed with me if I sit on a chair for longer than 20 minutes at a time.
- I have four cats to entertain and they start pushing things off the stairs when bored, things that I later trip on.
- The plant looks like it needs watering.
- I better sort through this paperwork and send some invoices to actually be paid next month.
- Oh no, it's the end of the financial year! I have to find out who didn't pay me and chase them for the money.
- It's quite entertaining to write politely threatening emails that mention small claims court.
- One cat just tumbled another one down the stairs *sigh*
- After dispersing the War on the Stairs it's time to tend to my scratched hands.
- Is this delivery at the door?
- ...
What the hell is it I was supposed to be doing ...?
See, NOT procrastination at all. Just the art of selective remembering.
Sunday, 4 January 2015
Best books of 2014
A subjective list, not in any particular order.
1.Tim Lebbon - The Island - Fantasy, conspiracy and a dark secret from the past. Yum.
2. Alexander Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo - Yep, I've never read it before and I was pleasantly surprised by this witty study of cold blooded revenge.
3. Harlan Ellison - Deathbird Stories - This man published over 1700 short stories, so he knows how to write them good.
4. Scott Lynch - The Republic of Thieves - Book 3 of Gentleman Bastard series so I won't spoiler the fun, let's just say there's even more politics, intrigue and skilled thievery in it.
5. Kim Stanley Robinson - 2312 - A classic space opera from one of sf heavy weights.
6. Beth Vaughan - Destiny's Star - I admit that's this book does not boast a very original plot but it's a well written heroic fantasy. Also, there's a cat in it that's basically Ginny...
7. Ken Grimwood - Replay - Imagine you wake up twenty years earlier... but with all your memories intact. And it happens again. And again. And again....
8. Kate Danley - The Woodcutter - An intriguing play on fairy tales' motifs.
9. Justina Robson - Natural History - The world of the future where humans as we know us live side by side with the Augmented. All is kind of well until a new planet is found, that can be colonised - by just one of the human species...
10. Kurt Vonnegut -Welcome to the Monkey House - Another master of short stories that aged well.
11. Chris Adrian - The Great Night - Three people get lost in the night in the park that's a fairy realm and it's a very bad night to get lost there.
12. Elizabeth Gilbert - Eat, Pray, Love - Yeah, yeah, imagine my surprise... I did like the book, it's essentially a well written, thought inducing, travel diary. The movie is crap.
13. Paweł Jaszczuk - Marionetki/Plan Sary - Well I do read Polish books as well. Look out for the translation as these criminal novels set in pre-war Lwów are a gem.
14. Elizabeth Gilbert - The Signature of All Things - A stubborn 19th century woman does all it takes to lead her life the way she wants to and study mosses. More interesting than it sounds.
15. Ian McDonald - Ares Express - Sf which takes place mostly on gigantic interplanetary trains.
16. Hillary Jordan - When She Woke - ...she was red from head to toes, as in this brave new world criminals get dyed, different crimes, different colours and have to live, or die, with it.
17. Spider and Jeanne Robinson - The Stardance Trilogy - Who would have thought that dancing in space is such a hassle and also a way to communicate with aliens.
18. Philip K. Dick - A Maze of Death - Phillip K. Dick. Need I say more?
19. A Roger Ekirch - At Day's Close. A History of Night-time - I didn't realise how terrifying and dark and full of thieves and death nights used to be even a mere hundred years ago...
1.Tim Lebbon - The Island - Fantasy, conspiracy and a dark secret from the past. Yum.
2. Alexander Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo - Yep, I've never read it before and I was pleasantly surprised by this witty study of cold blooded revenge.
3. Harlan Ellison - Deathbird Stories - This man published over 1700 short stories, so he knows how to write them good.
4. Scott Lynch - The Republic of Thieves - Book 3 of Gentleman Bastard series so I won't spoiler the fun, let's just say there's even more politics, intrigue and skilled thievery in it.
5. Kim Stanley Robinson - 2312 - A classic space opera from one of sf heavy weights.
6. Beth Vaughan - Destiny's Star - I admit that's this book does not boast a very original plot but it's a well written heroic fantasy. Also, there's a cat in it that's basically Ginny...
7. Ken Grimwood - Replay - Imagine you wake up twenty years earlier... but with all your memories intact. And it happens again. And again. And again....
8. Kate Danley - The Woodcutter - An intriguing play on fairy tales' motifs.
9. Justina Robson - Natural History - The world of the future where humans as we know us live side by side with the Augmented. All is kind of well until a new planet is found, that can be colonised - by just one of the human species...
10. Kurt Vonnegut -Welcome to the Monkey House - Another master of short stories that aged well.
11. Chris Adrian - The Great Night - Three people get lost in the night in the park that's a fairy realm and it's a very bad night to get lost there.
12. Elizabeth Gilbert - Eat, Pray, Love - Yeah, yeah, imagine my surprise... I did like the book, it's essentially a well written, thought inducing, travel diary. The movie is crap.
13. Paweł Jaszczuk - Marionetki/Plan Sary - Well I do read Polish books as well. Look out for the translation as these criminal novels set in pre-war Lwów are a gem.
14. Elizabeth Gilbert - The Signature of All Things - A stubborn 19th century woman does all it takes to lead her life the way she wants to and study mosses. More interesting than it sounds.
15. Ian McDonald - Ares Express - Sf which takes place mostly on gigantic interplanetary trains.
16. Hillary Jordan - When She Woke - ...she was red from head to toes, as in this brave new world criminals get dyed, different crimes, different colours and have to live, or die, with it.
17. Spider and Jeanne Robinson - The Stardance Trilogy - Who would have thought that dancing in space is such a hassle and also a way to communicate with aliens.
18. Philip K. Dick - A Maze of Death - Phillip K. Dick. Need I say more?
19. A Roger Ekirch - At Day's Close. A History of Night-time - I didn't realise how terrifying and dark and full of thieves and death nights used to be even a mere hundred years ago...
Sunday, 27 July 2014
Post birthday musings
Another birthday, another realisation that as my age goes up, my levels of tolerance for certain things goes down. Most recently I realised that have no patience for:
- People posting vague status updates on social media, just to get attention and worried comments. Get a dog. Dogs will give you attention whatever you say to them. Or even borrow someone else's dog, cause you probably can't take care of one being that needy.
- People who blame all their woes on mythical Rich, but slobber all over the privileged half brains on so called 'scripted reality shows' with easy to remember titles such as TOWIE or MIC. They ARE these Rich that you hate in general, you moron...
- People having opinions on books/movies/music they haven't read/seen/heard. Just... no.
- People assuming that because I'm over 30 and childless I love babies because of some sort of 'auntie syndrome'. I have no specific feeling towards babies. But I do prefer when they stay near their biological templates. I might growl if they get too close.
- Fat people trying to put their giant wobbly asses next to me on public transport, when there's other seats free. Can. You. Not. See. My. Hackles. Rising? I don't want to have intimate hip area discourse with your fat for the rest of my journey. Yuck!!
- People who think that as soon as sun is out it is ok to behave like deaf twats and put that radio/car radio/tinny sounding phone speaker on as loud as it gets. Living next to a road it's like being submerged into a constant stream of aural aftershock. Where's that rain we supposedly have too much of in Scotland?
- Charity muggers. Really, there is no need to smile all over me and jump in my path to attempt yet again to convince me with annoyingly soothing voice to part with my hard earned money to support a good cause. I'm going to start to carry cards with me that will say 'I already support x and x and x charity and I'm not interested in giving you a chance to earn commission on my good karma gesture.'
I'm looking forward to see in which directions this list will go next year.
- People posting vague status updates on social media, just to get attention and worried comments. Get a dog. Dogs will give you attention whatever you say to them. Or even borrow someone else's dog, cause you probably can't take care of one being that needy.
- People who blame all their woes on mythical Rich, but slobber all over the privileged half brains on so called 'scripted reality shows' with easy to remember titles such as TOWIE or MIC. They ARE these Rich that you hate in general, you moron...
- People having opinions on books/movies/music they haven't read/seen/heard. Just... no.
- People assuming that because I'm over 30 and childless I love babies because of some sort of 'auntie syndrome'. I have no specific feeling towards babies. But I do prefer when they stay near their biological templates. I might growl if they get too close.
- Fat people trying to put their giant wobbly asses next to me on public transport, when there's other seats free. Can. You. Not. See. My. Hackles. Rising? I don't want to have intimate hip area discourse with your fat for the rest of my journey. Yuck!!
- People who think that as soon as sun is out it is ok to behave like deaf twats and put that radio/car radio/tinny sounding phone speaker on as loud as it gets. Living next to a road it's like being submerged into a constant stream of aural aftershock. Where's that rain we supposedly have too much of in Scotland?
- Charity muggers. Really, there is no need to smile all over me and jump in my path to attempt yet again to convince me with annoyingly soothing voice to part with my hard earned money to support a good cause. I'm going to start to carry cards with me that will say 'I already support x and x and x charity and I'm not interested in giving you a chance to earn commission on my good karma gesture.'
I'm looking forward to see in which directions this list will go next year.
Friday, 9 May 2014
Occupational risks of being a public service interpreter
Yes, being a public service interpreter is a varied, interesting job, but it can be challenging when you are:
- standing in the cess pool of a court corridor for hours with all the pond life brushing past
- watching a placenta being tugged out by the cord
- being asked out by desperate males, usually alkies after two failed marriages
- dodging spurting blood, puss and flying bits of teeth at dental appointments
- being asked out by males who not only see souls but devour them or think that god is giving them a free hand to change the world
- having your hand squeezed into pulp by a patient having a biopsy
- being dragged to the police station in the middle of the night to listen to someone claim their name is Lech Walesa for three hours
But hey, if you still would like a go at my job, just learn a popular community language and go for it!
- standing in the cess pool of a court corridor for hours with all the pond life brushing past
- watching a placenta being tugged out by the cord
- being asked out by desperate males, usually alkies after two failed marriages
- dodging spurting blood, puss and flying bits of teeth at dental appointments
- being asked out by males who not only see souls but devour them or think that god is giving them a free hand to change the world
- having your hand squeezed into pulp by a patient having a biopsy
- being dragged to the police station in the middle of the night to listen to someone claim their name is Lech Walesa for three hours
But hey, if you still would like a go at my job, just learn a popular community language and go for it!
Saturday, 12 April 2014
The state will take care of you, comrade!
This week UK Government announced that it will introduce new criminal penalties for tax evasion, so that these horrible rich people can't avoid paying what they should.
It's great to live in a state that is so protective of its ordinary citizens, isn't it?
The government will help you financially when you're struggling, provide more affordable childcare for working parents, ensure roof over your head when you're homeless.
The government will patiently explain that cigarettes and alcohol are bad for you, you silly, and that you should eat five to seven portions of fruit and veg a day, three portions of fish a week and have a meat free day, for your own good of course and the environment, avoid fat, sugar and take-aways, but really don't worry too much because public healthcare is free too!
Well actually, why not put minimum pricing on alcohol, so that you can't afford this nasty poison? And let cigarette prices soar, it surely will convince them stupid smokers to quit. And let's get the ever widening smoking ban rolling, which is now going to ban people from smoking in their own cars if they have kids and even in their own homes, but, hey it's all for the kids welfare!
So is the intrusive social work system based on the assumption that kids don't tell lies about their parents. But it's for everybody's good, bad people have to be caught and punished! In fact, why don't we cut legal aid so that these nasty criminals can't afford lawyers to talk them out of a just punishment? And let's make civil legal aid almost inaccessible, so free legal representation during divorce proceedings is so hard to obtain people will be forced to stay together. And signing benefits over to a single parent takes months and months anyway, so it's better to stay together, parents, all for everyone's greater good!
An speaking about crime, why not put these nice cctv cameras not only in public places but also on staircases and on moving vans that can zoom right through people's windows. Well, you don't want anybody to misbehave, right? And crime levels will surely go down if we put more police officers in the community, possibly allow them to use a bit more force in confrontations, just like a trained dog or five. No, stupid, they don't bite unless you've done something.
And the issue of papers! Newspapers and magazines, they shouldn't be allowed to just print whatever they want, surely? They have to be kept on a leash by this government agency because if you let them freedom they go and hack people's phones! Like, yes, they will hack your phone and make your mundane life into a story, oh horror! And internet, should we not restrict good British citizens access to some nasty,dirty websites like pornography ones and independent news? All for everyone's greater good, comrade!
...
Considering that all the above paragraphs contain plans that already have been or will be or could be introduced in UK, at which point should we realise that we're living in a police state?
Now...?
Saturday, 11 January 2014
Kids in UK: in classroom for 190 days a year, running riot for 175 days a year.
So, finally, the schools went back this week after two long weeks of tripping over kids in shops, practising dodge to avoid the small snotty ones accidentally wiping their leaky noses on your crotch level on the streets and warily watching the hooded ten year old vandals hooting at each other across the street. But no worries, it's not long until next school break, bank holiday, random Monday off, half day on Friday or another religious holiday in a secular country.
I'm genuinely curious, who decided that kids need that much time off? What for? What is it that they do when they are not in school that's so important that it has to be repeated time and time again with barely any week in the school year when they actually spend their time learning Monday to Friday?
These days it is illegal for kids to work and they often don't have money to play. So they get bored. So they get destructive and dangerous or at least annoying.
What do they learn about realities of adult life from that?
It's hard enough to sign your first contract and realise that you now have a right to 7-14 days off a year on top of weekends/two days off a week and an odd public holiday. How much of a slap from reality it is, if you're used to weeks and weeks of time for yourself, I can only imagine.
Incidentally, how much longer is it going to take us all to dig our way out of economic recession when a third of the workforce is tied into unemployment or working short hours by the holy 3pm school run? Why don't parents stand up to schools and demand that school hours be extended to allow them to work a normal working day?
I personally know people who would gladly go back into full time employment, but they can't because they have to be home by half 2 and race to the school gates.
Of course we all need time off to rest and pursue interests and catch up with people. But in UK AD 2014 we live in some bizzare world of public education, where there's more easily accessible knowledge than ever before, but kids' curiosity and work ethics and learning abilities get blunted by forced 'free time' lasting days and days on end. Not so much in private schools, but if you pay, you can demand, as usual. Not fair on smart kids from normal families. Not fair on childless people having to deal with kids who have no money for fun other than attempting to burn a motorcycle with fag ends put in the fuel tank (I've seen it from the window last week).
Oh well, nothing new about that.
("Children happily run out of the school
Lit their cigarettes, took out their booze
Spat all over the pavement, chased everyone away,
They are sitting on their benches
Hollering at each other.")
I'm genuinely curious, who decided that kids need that much time off? What for? What is it that they do when they are not in school that's so important that it has to be repeated time and time again with barely any week in the school year when they actually spend their time learning Monday to Friday?
These days it is illegal for kids to work and they often don't have money to play. So they get bored. So they get destructive and dangerous or at least annoying.
What do they learn about realities of adult life from that?
It's hard enough to sign your first contract and realise that you now have a right to 7-14 days off a year on top of weekends/two days off a week and an odd public holiday. How much of a slap from reality it is, if you're used to weeks and weeks of time for yourself, I can only imagine.
Incidentally, how much longer is it going to take us all to dig our way out of economic recession when a third of the workforce is tied into unemployment or working short hours by the holy 3pm school run? Why don't parents stand up to schools and demand that school hours be extended to allow them to work a normal working day?
I personally know people who would gladly go back into full time employment, but they can't because they have to be home by half 2 and race to the school gates.
Of course we all need time off to rest and pursue interests and catch up with people. But in UK AD 2014 we live in some bizzare world of public education, where there's more easily accessible knowledge than ever before, but kids' curiosity and work ethics and learning abilities get blunted by forced 'free time' lasting days and days on end. Not so much in private schools, but if you pay, you can demand, as usual. Not fair on smart kids from normal families. Not fair on childless people having to deal with kids who have no money for fun other than attempting to burn a motorcycle with fag ends put in the fuel tank (I've seen it from the window last week).
Oh well, nothing new about that.
("Children happily run out of the school
Lit their cigarettes, took out their booze
Spat all over the pavement, chased everyone away,
They are sitting on their benches
Hollering at each other.")
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