The wheel is turning but the hamster is dead
It feels like this could be one of those weeks when I have little (no) inspiration-so I shall prattle on and hope that I can tie a few things together in the vain attempt of producing a coherent summary.
If that works, I shall stand back, say 'Ta-dah' and erase this opening.
Into the second week of electives, I am starting to get a routine going. It's not a very good routine granted but it's a start. I had been warned that there is a noticeable drop in work from now on and based on the last couple of weeks that this does appear to be the case. This brings problems of its own since I don't work as well unless the pressure is on. Sure, it's 'teeth gritted, moaning and swearing as I go work' but at least it gets done.
If that works, I shall stand back, say 'Ta-dah' and erase this opening.
Into the second week of electives, I am starting to get a routine going. It's not a very good routine granted but it's a start. I had been warned that there is a noticeable drop in work from now on and based on the last couple of weeks that this does appear to be the case. This brings problems of its own since I don't work as well unless the pressure is on. Sure, it's 'teeth gritted, moaning and swearing as I go work' but at least it gets done.
In reality all that's happened is that 4 subjects have dropped to 3-but importantly that's one less day at college. This is the big difference-without the big panic to get things done I'm doing dribs and drabs at the start of every day (Sundays included) and feeling a bit guilty since I'm doing the work but not feeling that I'm working anywhere near as hard. This has the knock on effect that I'm kidding myself that I'm not reaching the same 'quality standard' as for the compulsories.
So far, the electives have had an incredibly comfortable feel. In terms of prep I could even argue that I'm ahead of it. Yes, please sit down if you must, it makes me go quite faint too. That's not to say that they are easy. Immigration is still a nightmare-but more to come...
Monday starts with employment. For those that have read this from the start (not recommended if you have a dodgy stomach (or a life)) you will known that one of my major reasons for studying law was to do with the problems that I (and others) have encountered with the workplace. For those who have read more recently, you will know that I was dreading this workshop because my group had drawn the short straw and got the worst tutor in the place.
(disclaimer-the views expressed in this blog do not reflect those of the management. We acknowledge that Mr Salmon wouldn't recognise a good tutor if one bit him on the backside)
Now, I'm not saying she's bad-well I am actually. But the phrase 'wetter than a haddock's bathing costume' is entirely appropriate. True to form-at no stage did she take control of the group. We had a 2 1/2 hour workshop that contained about 40 minutes work-the vast majority of the time was spent on our 'tables' discussing the various exercises (both of them). In fact we spent close to 1 1/2 hours involved in this 'highly useful chat' (read this line dripping with sarcasm please).
As I have noted before, after about 2 minutes work related chat-all groups just sit and gossip.
My group (there are 5 including me) consists of 2 good students (not referring to me by the way) and Biff and Carla (not their real names).
Biff (or Brad if you like) is a good looking guy with pearly teeth, a deep tan, a weeny bit of a public school accent and a deep loud voice. You wonder where he put his surfboard. Carla knows him (for some reason) and spends the workshop staring up adoringly at him. Well, Biff started like a house on fire, taking control and answering the tutor's questions. By about an hour he was flagging-he probably hasn't done this much work for a few weeks. He then spent the rest of the workshop playing with his phone and letting Carla worship him.
Perceptive readers will notice that I don't care for him much.
This is an old fault of mine. He probably is a lovely guy-generous, kind, good to his mum etc. I just have a deep fear and loathing of people who are ultra-secure in themselves. I spend all my time hoping that they trip up over their self-satisfied smugness and end up looking like a pillock. I cannot imagine a world where I would have that degree of self-confidence. If I ever start to feel confident then I veer into arrogant. There is no middle ground for me.
And this has a dangerous flipside-alongside Biff's unbelievable confidence I start to retreat into a shell. I turn into snail-boy and become unable to speak. I took over 1 hour to contribute to our group. They must have thought that I was some form of mute...
Right, off the couch I get...
Anyhow, we stretched this feeble amount of work to fill the workshop-and overran!!! Yes, unbelievably, the tutor managed to stretch 40 minutes work to 2 hours and forty minutes.
But there was some good news. She will not be taking us again (please note that this was nothing to do with me), she is simply handing the reins over to a different tutor, who cannot (please god, no) be any worse.
Her final act was to hand out our first group assignment. I loathe these but it appears that they are very popular in the electives. Bugger.
Tuesday is 'grown ups' criminal. This starts early by CofL standards and involves me leaving the flat by about 8:15. the tutor is the man who takes us for the large group lectures and I was rather scathing of his lecturing style last week. I would like to take the opportunity to apologise (generally), he is a brilliant workshop tutor. We chatted a little before the workshop, during the break and after and I found him charming and authoritive.
He even let slip that giving lectures makes him nervous.
With this in mind I can see how I misread the situation. It certainly made him come across as more human. Even this week, when he was in discomfort (he had broken a tooth and when he spoke certain syllables his tongue would move across the tooth and be cut) he was still informative and helpful.
The big news from this class? Although I am separated from the two people that I know who are doing 'Big boys' criminal I am also separated from the two divs who I was dreading being in the same room as. These are the same two spods who helped squeeze me from doing the PLS route. So I lucked out on this one!
Incidentally, I walked back part of the way with one of my friends and he recited the woes that one of the div-brothers had inflicted upon his group and tutor. In fact I have reviewed my opinion since it appears that divvo number 2 is actually an OK person, so I shall give him the benefit of the doubt and not refer to him as divvo number 2 again (apart from then).
But divvo number 1, well he is a different kettle of fish (a strange expression now I think of it). He is early middle aged, single (obviously) and someone who simply must talk whenever he can. I was told that he had an opinion on just about everything-and was 90% wrong on every single one of his answers-but rather than sit back, take stock and learn from his mistakes-he decided to argue every point with the tutor (and his classmates)
The lecture that followed the workshop was OK but it was obvious that the tutor's tooth was getting a bit much and his heart wasn't in it. His lecture didn't have any bite.
Sorry.
It was a bit weird getting home by about 2.30-I'm not at all good at working in the afternoons having come back from college. Hmm.
Wednesday is the legal morass that is immigration. Last week, I was a tad scathing over the fact that all 8 of us were going to be split into 2 workshop groups. Yet again, the power of a good whinge on the net proved invaluable and the powers that be decided that all 8 of us should be in the same group. Hurrah for the little man and the power of the printed word!
**cough**
I was also scathing that the tutor managed to go half an hour over for his one hour lecture.
Luckily this week he surpassed himself.
He managed to go over for both his workshop and the lecture.
No word of a lie, it was getting close to 6pm when we finally left the campus.
And even though we are short on numbers, we still have to prepare and give presentations. I think that one of the reasions that I hate them is that always seem to be involved whenever we are late. I started brightly but faded fast. I'm not sure why-the room wasn't too hot, I didn't feel particularly tired-but I certainly didn't shine. Strange.
I do hope that this doesn't turn out to be a 'bunny in the headlights' class (although it is the same tutor...)
Thursday is results day!!!
The marks for interviewing, letter writing and solicitor's account were posted. These are purely pass/fail assessments and the good news is that I passed them all. They were posted alongside my old advocacy score (nope, I still failed that-damn, I keep giving them a chance to change it...)
I've decided that Thursday is to be my consolidation day-all the changes to my prep tasks are written up as well as word-processing the workshop exercise and writing up the large group lecture notes. It does take a time-could be 6-8 hours every week. But that does give me Friday and Saturday to get the following weeks prep done. As I said, not much of a routine but a start.
Friday was a really big day for me. I went out and bought a 'leatherette' swivel chair. This may sound a bit fatuous to be put in the blog but throughout my undergraduacy I studied in one of these. When it came to move the fact that it was a bit battered meant that I thought it best to pull it to pieces and get rid of it. I have really missed that style of chair and being the compulsive shopper that I am went out and bought one on a whim.
It had nothing to do with the fact that two of my 4 wooden chairs now creak alarmingly when I sit on them...well not much anyway.
The joy that I have now is to wheel myself across the carpet from the laptop to the desktop and to push myself backwards and rotate round and round to my favourite music.
So far, the electives have had an incredibly comfortable feel. In terms of prep I could even argue that I'm ahead of it. Yes, please sit down if you must, it makes me go quite faint too. That's not to say that they are easy. Immigration is still a nightmare-but more to come...
Monday starts with employment. For those that have read this from the start (not recommended if you have a dodgy stomach (or a life)) you will known that one of my major reasons for studying law was to do with the problems that I (and others) have encountered with the workplace. For those who have read more recently, you will know that I was dreading this workshop because my group had drawn the short straw and got the worst tutor in the place.
(disclaimer-the views expressed in this blog do not reflect those of the management. We acknowledge that Mr Salmon wouldn't recognise a good tutor if one bit him on the backside)
Now, I'm not saying she's bad-well I am actually. But the phrase 'wetter than a haddock's bathing costume' is entirely appropriate. True to form-at no stage did she take control of the group. We had a 2 1/2 hour workshop that contained about 40 minutes work-the vast majority of the time was spent on our 'tables' discussing the various exercises (both of them). In fact we spent close to 1 1/2 hours involved in this 'highly useful chat' (read this line dripping with sarcasm please).
As I have noted before, after about 2 minutes work related chat-all groups just sit and gossip.
My group (there are 5 including me) consists of 2 good students (not referring to me by the way) and Biff and Carla (not their real names).
Biff (or Brad if you like) is a good looking guy with pearly teeth, a deep tan, a weeny bit of a public school accent and a deep loud voice. You wonder where he put his surfboard. Carla knows him (for some reason) and spends the workshop staring up adoringly at him. Well, Biff started like a house on fire, taking control and answering the tutor's questions. By about an hour he was flagging-he probably hasn't done this much work for a few weeks. He then spent the rest of the workshop playing with his phone and letting Carla worship him.
Perceptive readers will notice that I don't care for him much.
This is an old fault of mine. He probably is a lovely guy-generous, kind, good to his mum etc. I just have a deep fear and loathing of people who are ultra-secure in themselves. I spend all my time hoping that they trip up over their self-satisfied smugness and end up looking like a pillock. I cannot imagine a world where I would have that degree of self-confidence. If I ever start to feel confident then I veer into arrogant. There is no middle ground for me.
And this has a dangerous flipside-alongside Biff's unbelievable confidence I start to retreat into a shell. I turn into snail-boy and become unable to speak. I took over 1 hour to contribute to our group. They must have thought that I was some form of mute...
Right, off the couch I get...
Anyhow, we stretched this feeble amount of work to fill the workshop-and overran!!! Yes, unbelievably, the tutor managed to stretch 40 minutes work to 2 hours and forty minutes.
But there was some good news. She will not be taking us again (please note that this was nothing to do with me), she is simply handing the reins over to a different tutor, who cannot (please god, no) be any worse.
Her final act was to hand out our first group assignment. I loathe these but it appears that they are very popular in the electives. Bugger.
Tuesday is 'grown ups' criminal. This starts early by CofL standards and involves me leaving the flat by about 8:15. the tutor is the man who takes us for the large group lectures and I was rather scathing of his lecturing style last week. I would like to take the opportunity to apologise (generally), he is a brilliant workshop tutor. We chatted a little before the workshop, during the break and after and I found him charming and authoritive.
He even let slip that giving lectures makes him nervous.
With this in mind I can see how I misread the situation. It certainly made him come across as more human. Even this week, when he was in discomfort (he had broken a tooth and when he spoke certain syllables his tongue would move across the tooth and be cut) he was still informative and helpful.
The big news from this class? Although I am separated from the two people that I know who are doing 'Big boys' criminal I am also separated from the two divs who I was dreading being in the same room as. These are the same two spods who helped squeeze me from doing the PLS route. So I lucked out on this one!
Incidentally, I walked back part of the way with one of my friends and he recited the woes that one of the div-brothers had inflicted upon his group and tutor. In fact I have reviewed my opinion since it appears that divvo number 2 is actually an OK person, so I shall give him the benefit of the doubt and not refer to him as divvo number 2 again (apart from then).
But divvo number 1, well he is a different kettle of fish (a strange expression now I think of it). He is early middle aged, single (obviously) and someone who simply must talk whenever he can. I was told that he had an opinion on just about everything-and was 90% wrong on every single one of his answers-but rather than sit back, take stock and learn from his mistakes-he decided to argue every point with the tutor (and his classmates)
The lecture that followed the workshop was OK but it was obvious that the tutor's tooth was getting a bit much and his heart wasn't in it. His lecture didn't have any bite.
Sorry.
It was a bit weird getting home by about 2.30-I'm not at all good at working in the afternoons having come back from college. Hmm.
Wednesday is the legal morass that is immigration. Last week, I was a tad scathing over the fact that all 8 of us were going to be split into 2 workshop groups. Yet again, the power of a good whinge on the net proved invaluable and the powers that be decided that all 8 of us should be in the same group. Hurrah for the little man and the power of the printed word!
**cough**
I was also scathing that the tutor managed to go half an hour over for his one hour lecture.
Luckily this week he surpassed himself.
He managed to go over for both his workshop and the lecture.
No word of a lie, it was getting close to 6pm when we finally left the campus.
And even though we are short on numbers, we still have to prepare and give presentations. I think that one of the reasions that I hate them is that always seem to be involved whenever we are late. I started brightly but faded fast. I'm not sure why-the room wasn't too hot, I didn't feel particularly tired-but I certainly didn't shine. Strange.
I do hope that this doesn't turn out to be a 'bunny in the headlights' class (although it is the same tutor...)
Thursday is results day!!!
The marks for interviewing, letter writing and solicitor's account were posted. These are purely pass/fail assessments and the good news is that I passed them all. They were posted alongside my old advocacy score (nope, I still failed that-damn, I keep giving them a chance to change it...)
I've decided that Thursday is to be my consolidation day-all the changes to my prep tasks are written up as well as word-processing the workshop exercise and writing up the large group lecture notes. It does take a time-could be 6-8 hours every week. But that does give me Friday and Saturday to get the following weeks prep done. As I said, not much of a routine but a start.
Friday was a really big day for me. I went out and bought a 'leatherette' swivel chair. This may sound a bit fatuous to be put in the blog but throughout my undergraduacy I studied in one of these. When it came to move the fact that it was a bit battered meant that I thought it best to pull it to pieces and get rid of it. I have really missed that style of chair and being the compulsive shopper that I am went out and bought one on a whim.
It had nothing to do with the fact that two of my 4 wooden chairs now creak alarmingly when I sit on them...well not much anyway.
The joy that I have now is to wheel myself across the carpet from the laptop to the desktop and to push myself backwards and rotate round and round to my favourite music.
Yes, I know that I am 42 and 5/6s
Well, that's gone better than I thought when I started. All I have to do is go back and remove that scrappy start.
Oooh, the doorbell...
Oooh, the doorbell...
posted by Paul Salmon at
5:24 pm
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