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The world of work

January 3, 2024 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Work life balance by <a href="http://www.nyphotographic.com/">Nick Youngson</a> <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> <a href="http://pix4free.org/">Pix4free</a>In my post of December 15th – last year (how time doth fly!) – entitled ‘A metaphor for endings‘ – I promised updates on a number of the strands of our lives. There is one such left outstanding – the which I feel I must needs address forthwith…

…the world of work!

When The Girl and I ‘retired’ to Vancouver Island back in the summer of 2015 it had been our intention to be just that… retired! So – how did that work out?

Well – The Girl lasted all of six months before she started looking for some form of employment. The tale of her finding a job with a volunteer service in Saanich during April 2016 may be found here:

I held out rather longer – not re-joining the workforce until January 2018 – but since then we have both been willing (if variously part-time) contributors to our local community – and felt all the better for it. Being healthily provided for in the pension department it is not exactly that we needed additional funds (though a little extra is always good to have) – more that we both needed a sense of purpose and to feel that we were pulling our respective weights.

Until now…

During the autumn just past The Girl reached the conclusion that her eight years at the volunteer service was enough. As it happens the service was undergoing some restructuring and she was able to do a deal whereby she would hand over the reigns to a full-time replacement, with a negotiated package that would enable her to take some time to figure out what – if anything – she wanted to do next. She is thus once again retired (for now!).

I have now taught on term contracts at the College for six years and – in spite of trembling on the verge of entering my eighth decade (in but a few days from now) I am quite happy to go on so doing. This term I am teaching a new (to me!) course that will be offered online only. I am scrambling at the moment to put it all together, but I have no doubt that things will settle down – as they usually do.

Imagine my surprise, however, when the Chair of my department offered me a continuing post in place of my habitual two contracts a year. I didn’t see that coming and I am not entirely certain that I really care for the idea – rather enjoying being a free-spirit! I do, however, feel rather flattered to have been made the offer. I don’t need to decide until around April time – so watch this space…

As ever, it seems, very little of what has befallen us has turned out exactly as we predicted when we came to Canada.

Life does contain such riches…

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Cruelly sweet

December 9, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“How cruelly sweet are the echoes that start, when memory plays an old tune upon the heart“

Eliza Cook

Way back in the dim and distant past – in what was virtually a pre-historic era in blog-world-time – The Girl and I took a poor decision; that we would live on different continents for what now feels like an absolute age. In the event we managed about ten months, with her resident here in Victoria and I yet back in the Old Country.

What were we thinking?

Those whose length of service qualifies them as blog-old-timers (yes – there are a few!) will recall that her departure for the West Coast of Canada back in 2012 was indeed the spark from which this online journal took fire. Commenced as a displacement activity as much as anything it rapidly became apparent that these scribblings might be useful as a way of keeping in touch with a small community of those either related to… or long-standing friends of… this slightly odd couple with the questionable decision-making skills.

“For what reason…” – I hear you ask, somewhat warily – “is this memory playing an old tune etc, etc – at this particular time?!“

Well – I refer you to this post from December 2017 – back in the pre-COVID world. On that occasion The Girl and I both visited Puerto Vallarta together, on what was my first ever trip to Mexico. Her timeshare share (huh!) is still there and still being paid for, so it is entirely proper that she should make use of the facility… the which she is currently doing. The real question is “Why aren’t I there with her?” – looking after her and keeping her safe. The answer is – of course – that I have still the end of term to negotiate, with its concomitant group of students suddenly keener than they have thus far been to get a decent grade at the end of the course.

The Girl and I are thus once again living in different nation states – though only for two weeks this time. Whereas she thoroughly deserves the rest and recuperation after what has been a tough year – I still don’t care for the apart-ness of the whole thing.

Guess I’ll just have to ‘cowboy up‘ and get on with it!

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In between

April 9, 2023 in Life in BC | Permalink

“Reality is not always dark or positive. It is somewhere in-between”.

Antara Mali

It is Easter weekend and here on the west coast of Canada we are once again caught in between. Winter has tarried over-long and though we have had occasional glimpses of spring it has to be said that we have not yet truly broken though thereto. Even the garden seems unsure as to whether or not to really ‘go for it’ – or to wait for things to warm up a bit. Most of our daffodils took one look at the weather and decided not to bother with flowers this year. The tulips boldly unfurled themselves but are now looking as though they wished that they had not bothered. I have mowed the lawns a couple of times but even the grass seems to be in two minds as to where we are in the seasons’ cycle.

A quarter of the year has gone. The clocks are wondering if they made a mistake with ‘summer’ time, but the planetary movements are relentless and we are already more than half way to the longest day. Hardly seems possible, does it?

Our exciting trip to Africa looms ever closer but the whole thing still seems more like make-belief than reality. It will be real enough, soon enough! We (in truth, mostly The Girl) have focused our minds on the expedition to come by carefully equipping ourselves for the sort of adventure that I don’t believe either of us has encountered before (well – I certainly haven’t). Will it be a life changing experience? Time will tell (and so, of course, will I)!

I am just finishing a fairly tough term at the College, during which I have been teaching not one class but two. I feel sure that the mental exercise of maintaining overlapping schedules has been doing wonders for keeping my ageing brain sparking; a sort of fitness class for the intellect. I have certainly detected a fair bit of grumbling from that quarter – the which is pretty much how I am when it comes to physical exercise also. Ah well – at least the remuneration goes some way towards paying for our sojourn south of the equator.

Well – let us hope that things change for the better and that the year begins to feel as though it has truly sparked into life.

 

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Taking care of busy!

September 12, 2022 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Those who have been tuning in to these ‘broadcasts’ for any length of time will doubtless be familiar with certain themes that re-surface time and again with the regularity of the phases of the moon. One such is that of the writer’s (and his delightful spouse’s) state of engagement; to be specific, how busy we find ourselves at any given moment.

A quick glance through the archives shows that ‘state of busyness’ messages are posted pretty regularly and especially at two times of the year – just as August fades into September and the Fall – and then, slightly more desperately, as Christmas approaches.

This is in part, of course, due to our ongoing connections with the world of education. After the indolence of the summer months (should they indeed prove so to have been) the commencement of the new academic year and the return to a fresh term can be quite a shock. Trust me – it doesn’t get any easier the longer that one has been doing it.

So – the term has begun, I have a fresh faced group of students and I have been rushing around getting everything ready for the fray. Come Christmas-time I have no doubt that I will once again be running on fumes and anticipating complete collapse just as soon as the term has ended.

The Girl’s employ is not related to education but, for some reason, this seems to be a busy period for her as well. The end result is that we both feel somewhat weary. An element of this malaise arises from our having used up a considerable fund of energy (though delightfully so) on our our foreign travels during July and – of course – in fighting off the nasty bout of COVID that we picked in the process.

Once home again at the start of August we struggled to recharge the batteries in time for the launch of the new Anam Danu album – ‘Soul Making‘. Having been restricted by the pandemic lock-down at the time of our previous album release (‘Winter Blue and Evergreen‘) to merely raising a glass during a Zoom call we wanted to celebrate properly this time. It was decided that we should have a small reception, inviting close friends and supporters to help us with the festivities.

The Girl volunteered bravely and selflessly as prime organiser and she and the Chanteuse and I – with gratefully received assistance from old and dear friends – put together a rather splendid little shindig (if we say so ourselves). The highlight (should one discount the excellent finger food and beverages – which I certainly don’t) was a short performance of a few of the songs from the album. It was not entirely live – since we were obliged to use some backing tracks – but it was our first appearance in person in front of anyone and we were well aware of the significance thereof.

Come the end of the day, of course, we were even more exhausted than before. Ah well – doubtless we will once again get into the swing of things.

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Steady as she goes!

January 12, 2022 in Life as we know it | Permalink

No sooner has the cold snap moderated itself and the snows begun to melt than we are subjected to yet another ‘atmospheric river’. We are in for another five days of solid rainfall. Who knows if there will be anything left to wash away!

I find myself – slightly to my surprise – teaching once again… though this time a different course (albeit covering similar ground) at the College’s other campus in teaching rooms that I have not previously experienced.

I had seriously hoped that the burgeoning increase in Omicron infections – for which Canada and BC are doing their best to match what is happening in other parts of the world – would result in the College being forced to go back to online only teaching in the short term. Who knows – that might yet happen – but, sadly, we are currently face to face in the classroom.

Like most teachers I much prefer to teach face to face, but these are not ordinary times and I fear that the provincial government has reached the point at which it throws its hands in the air, stands well back and lets the pandemic rip. The hope seems to be that Omicron will cause less destruction than previous variants and will pass through more quickly – leaving us (if all goes ‘well’) with our disease status downgraded from ‘pandemic’ to ‘endemic’.

I sense a great deal of finger-crossing and wood-touching here and not a lot of truly informed scientific opinion involved, but it is what it is. After all – I don’t have to do this!

I am, of course, taking all the precautions that I can. I am double-vaccinated and boosted and I am now wearing only N95 respirators in the classroom. These I have had to source myself (not easily done!) as the powers that be have decreed them not strictly necessary. I am taking no chances! It doesn’t help that all my teaching is now on a single day a week, meaning that I have to keep the respirator on for a straight five hours and more. I can already tell that my poor nose is going to take a pounding – to say nothing of my voice!

To make matters even more complex we are having to accommodate students who can’t – or won’t – come into College. I am thus streaming and recording the classes as I teach them. This adds yet another layer of complexity to something that is already quite a stretch for me.

Oh well! I like a challenge – but there may be limits…

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School’s in!

September 23, 2021 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Life in BC | Permalink

“Respect your parents. They passed school without Google!”

Anonymous

OK – so it is college rather than school, we’ve actually been back for nearly three weeks now – and September 2021 is not long for this world either.

Apart from that… you get the idea!

I promised that I would write something about going back to college – as in actually ‘going back to college’ rather than just starting another ‘virtual’ term from the comforts of my studio at home…

…and here I am!

The College decreed that for the new academic year we should all be back face to face in the classroom and lecture hall. This is entirely understandable, given that students had started displaying (along with gratitude that their health interests were being foregrounded) some discontent that they were not getting the full college experience even though they were still being asked to pay for it. In the light of this pressure the College probably had little choice in the matter.

The decision would doubtless not have been particularly contentious had it not been for the subsequent emergence of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus. This unpleasantness has inevitably ramped up the risk level again and left us all considerably more concerned as to the best course of action going forward.

Still – face to face it is for now – but with a plethora of precautions to try to keep things safe. Masks must be worn inside buildings – including in the classrooms – and vaccine passports are required for access to sports and some other facilities, though not for the cafeterias and bookshops.

I am all for appropriate precautions and particularly keen to remain healthy myself. There are implications for teaching, however. We are obliged to wear a mask when teaching unless there is at least two metres between us and the nearest student – in which case we can unmask. Two of the spaces in which I operate are large enough that I can – gratefully – go maskless. My other classroom is a pokey little hole in which I have to deliver an eighty minute class once a week. Fun it is not!

My Chair is very keen that we should also make provision for any students who cannot attend classes in person – either because they have had to quarantine or because they do not feel comfortable being in such public spaces. There are – of course – methods by which classes could be simultaneously streamed if required, but this demands additional equipment and configuration which the department – and College – have thus far proved slow to provide. I don’t mean to be awkward, but I certainly have no intention of teaching the classes twice – once for those who are present and again for those who are not.

Oh well! No doubt we will stumble through the term in our usual manner. The odds on the term ending in the same manner that it has begun must reasonably long, I would have thought.

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Life long learning

June 11, 2020 in Life as we know it | Permalink

What the heck?!

When I stopped working in London five years ago and The Girl and I upped sticks and scampered across the pond (and a continent) to the west coast of Canada, I firmly expected to be able to spend the years ahead responding to queries as to the nature of my occupation by gleefully announcing that I was happily retired.

And that is pretty much what I did (and was) for the first two and a half years…

Then – for reasons which those who really want to know are directed to the postings of that period to to this online journal – I decided that I needed a job. Not a real, full-time, balls-to-the-wall sort of a job – just something to give me a sense of purpose and to earn a little pin money.

At first nothing suitable (ie, that met my exacting criteria) seemed to be available. Then – at the point at which I really needed to make a decision – the perfect opportunity arose. A position teaching on term contracts at a post-secondary college here in Victoria looked to be ideal; my background in education and a forty-year career in IT (the subject in which I was to instruct) equipped me suitably well for the task and the notion of teaching a single course – two days a week and then only for two terms of the academic year (keeping the summers free for other pursuits) – looked like a gift from the gods…

…which for the next two years, it was!

Then – half way through this spring (winter) term – along came the novel Corona virus.

Along with everyone else I was immediately obliged to effect a rapid transition from the sort of face to face teaching with which I was familiar to a rapidly cobbled-together form of online teaching – for the last three weeks of the term and for the remaining exams. I think that it is fair to say that we just about got away with it.

Now – here we are in the early days of my wonderful summer off and I have myself (along with many others) been obliged to go back to school.

It became very clear that we are not going to be teaching face to face this autumn (fall) term – and possibly not for the remainder of the coming academic year. What we effected in the winter term was just about ok as a stop gap, but rebuilding courses for online-only delivery involves an entirely different skill set to anything that I have learned before – not to mention a great deal of time and effort. I am now attending online seminars, classes and conferences – as well as doing a great deal of reading – preparatory to starting work on converting what was once a quite familiar course structure into something suitable for this brave new world.

It is impossible not to ask myself:

“What the heck am I doing? I am supposed to be retired. Do I really want – and need – to be taking all this on at this time of my life?”

I suspect that the regular reader already knows the answer to that question…

 

 

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All change

March 15, 2020 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Ooooooo-kay!

So – it has been most interesting – and not a little nervous making – watching the walls slowly pressing in towards us. This was not how it was meant to be.

I am of course referring to the ongoing and increasingly immediate COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

It has been hard enough watching the headless chickens (however much one might acknowledge their anxieties) stripping the stores of comestibles, but it is sometimes difficult not to roll one’s eyes. As reports filtered back to me of frantic hordes in Costco loading up their outsized trolleys with toilet paper and emptying the racks in the process I was eyeing up shelves groaning with said same items in our local store.

Of more immediate concern has been the situation at the College. There are but three weeks or so of this term remaining – and I do not teach in the summer term. As governments and authorities have taken each faltering and uncertain step towards total social isolation – shutdown in any other language – so the odds have been shrinking of us getting to the end of term without having to step back from classroom teaching.

Well – now that point has been reached. The College remains open but there is a ban on face to face teaching. What this means is that we have to find alternative methods of delivering classroom teaching materials, running lab sessions and assignments and of handling the all important examinations.

The College is well enough equipped with appropriate technology. We have a slightly eccentric but quite usable learning platform and tools for creating and disseminating distance learning materials. The issue is not with the technology. The problem is with the time and effort that must now be put into converting materials meant for face to face delivery in the lecture theatre to online only form. Given that I had still to finish the necessary items for the last few lectures of this new(ish) course anyway I now have double the work to do.

The likelihood is that not everything will run smoothly. Mistakes will be made. Things will go awry. As the students’ education is at stake – for which they have, of course, paid not insubstantial fees – such things matter.

Finger firmly crossed on all fronts? Here we go…!

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Time management

September 15, 2019 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“I am definitely going to take a course on time management… just as soon as I can work it into my schedule.”

Louis E. Boone

As I start a new term (my fourth) in a new academic year with a new group of eager(?) young (mostly) students I am made aware that the honeymoon period for this particular post-secondary lecturer is over…

…in timetable terms at least!

If I am more honest I should really admit that – as a term-contracted semi-retired part-timer – I am rightly considered the lowest of the low when it comes to the allocation of teaching slots.

I teach one course – two days a week. On each of those days I lecture for sixty or ninety minutes and run a lab session for ninety minutes. I am also obliged to spend a couple of hours a week in my (shared) office so as to be readily available to students. The rest I can do from home. Until now I have been fortunate with regard to timetabling. None of my starts has been early and on each of my teaching days the lab sessions have followed hard on the heels of the classroom lectures.

Not so this term. I teach on Mondays and Wednesdays – at 8:30 am!

Now – I really can’t pretend that the early start is an issue. It takes me about half an hour to get to the college – even in the morning ‘rush’ – and let’s face it, compared to to my pre-retirement commute this is a complete doddle.

My issue is that on both of my teaching days the lab sessions are scheduled in the mid-afternoon – at 2:00 pm and 3:30 pm respectively. This means a gap of four and six hours on those days during which I am somewhat stuck. A couple of hours are used up as office time and of course I do have preparation and marking, but I find both of those easier to do in the comfort of my studio at home.

If I lived close to the college I would simply go home in between lectures and labs. Indeed, that is what I will doubtless be doing for the longer of the gaps on Wednesdays – but that does mean wasting another hour a week in the car and the Lexus (which I love to bits) is not the most frugal of beasts…

I simply have to remind myself that this is very much a first-world problem and to get on with it. It is, after all, only for fourteen weeks… well – twelve now!

As you were…

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A little teaching

October 17, 2018 in Life as we know it | Permalink

At this point one year back we were just about to commence the intensive two week process of moving all of our furnishings and other goods and chattels into the basement of our North Saanich home preparatory to handing the main floor over to our contractors for the three month renovation for which we had been patiently planning for the preceding couple of years.

It seems like just weeks ago!

Of course – we have now been living with the completed and very lovely main floor since March and enjoying every minute of it. Somehow one doesn’t mind spending significant sums of money (quite so much!) if the results engender such happiness on a day to day basis… which in this case they do!

There was also something else on my mind at this juncture last year. It had become clear that 2018 was going to be the most challenging of our early years in Canada – financially speaking at any rate – because my final pension (that provided by the state) would not kick in until part way through my sixty-sixth year. I had as a result started looking – in an admittedly somewhat desultory fashion – for a job. This was complicated by the fact that I really only wanted to work one or two days a week for a limited period and I couldn’t imagine quite who would want to employ an aging geezer such as me!

As it turned out I didn’t find the answer to this question until we were already into the new year and a mere couple of days later I was standing in front of a class of slightly startled students at one of Victoria’s finest post-secondary educational establishments, about to launch into a fourteen week course in Computer Literacy.

In my End of Term report in these postings on the outcome of that experiment in returning – albeit on a part-time basis – to the workforce, I indicated that I had been offered a further term contract for what is here called the Fall Term (which would in the sort of school to which I am accustomed be known as the Michaelmas Term) and that I would not be averse to considering a further outing in what Canadians call the Winter Term, but which we Brits more optimistically refer to as the Spring, Easter or Lent Term.

Time passes rapidly and we are already approaching the halfway point of this term’s teaching. I have indeed been offered another contract for the start of next year – the which I have gratefully accepted. Truth be told I am rather enjoying this teaching experience. My forty years in the business has equipped me with a considerable stock of both knowledge and anecdote and the part-time, limited-contract nature of the job means that my responsibilities are pleasantly restricted.

Other benefits clearly include what seems to me (probably because I don’t need to live on it!) a decent level of remuneration for what I do, which not only pays my tax bill and covers any other shortfalls but will also facilitate some travel abroad during 2019.

I feel – as ever – most supremely blessed!

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