New Year for the 2 point five age of man

Resolution time

Time of the year when thoughts are turning to the new year of 2013.  We have survived the Mayan Calendar predictions.  Saw a good pic on Facebook "If the Mayans were so good at predicting the future, where are they now?" or words to that effect.  The continuing austerity imposed in 2012  is according to the UK politicians starting to work. So here's to a more affluent time for 2013.

Top five Key "moments" for the UK in my opinion in 2012

1. Queens' Diamond Jubilee celebrations.  Not just for UK but for the whole of the Commonwealth
2. London Olympics and Paralympics
3. Signing of Better Broadband agreements across the UK
4. UK not getting involved or "taking the lead" in Syrian Civil war by sending troops
5. Continuing Bank misconduct exposure (not really one key event)

Top Five Tech moments for 2012 again  IMO

1. Rise of Android as the leading mobile OS
2. Google Plus Communities feature launched 
3. Start of first Online Universities such as edX and Coursera
4. Apple not winning all it's legal cases
5. Rise of Phablets and Tablets over Desktop PCs

Obviously there are a myriad of other events that have shaped 2012.  The defining  moments may change through time as their impacts are felt. 

The major personal milestone for 2012 has been the setting  up of Haverhill Online Learning Community. This is going to occupy quite a bit of time through 2013.  Have look and if interested join or copy the idea for you own local community!

Will resume normal content of blog from now on based on good food, well being and stories about my home county Suffolk.

Ten year Plan - How it is going!

With Hindsight!

Word Count 833 

A friends wedding nearly six years ago  prompted me to start considering where I was heading.  It may have been the beginning of the "mid-life" crisis or a realisation that we were heading for major changes in my career path at the time.  At the time I did not realise quite how much of the crowd I was!

An interesting career that had experienced a lot change up to that point http://www.linkedin.com/in/philipspalding66, was about to become more interesting.  I sat down in the pre-wedding gathering in Weymouth (it had only just been announced as an Olympic venue) and contemplated the 10 year plan.  I made a statement that I would not be teaching full time in the classroom by the age of 50 (Eddie Izzard's new 40!).  I had an early night on the final night went back to the B & B.  Early next morning I boarded the ferry from Weymouth to Jersey.

In Jersey I stayed at my usual hotel in St Helier, the Mountview, and contemplated my statement.  I had a few pints in the more traditional pubs in the West End of St Helier.  A very good one with sporting prints from "antique" times was the venue to watch the Test Match and listen to the sage at the bar who also turned out to be the chairman of the Jersey Cricket Federation.  Picked the right pub!  But then you only have to look at the outside of the pub sometimes and know it is not going to be just q quick half to test the beer and atmosphere.

A few days of visiting my distant cousins in the north of the island (http://www.durrell.org/).  The orangutans seemed well, the funky gibbons were being funky.  They share an enclosure to simulate the Sumatran and Borneo rain forest habitat.  By the end of the break as I flew back into Stansted I had a bit of a plan.  Not quite a cunning plan but one that had light at the end of the tunnel which did not seem to be generated by a Eurostar! 

Another year on from this the following August and certain career paths appeared to be getting narrower (now we see the result good or bad?  http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/suffolk_cabinet_member_under_fire_after_suffolk_slumps_in_league_tables_1_1472060 ).  I was sitting in the bar in Pefki, Rhodes with a good friend shooting the wind as we  prepared for the Wedding.  A Rhodian escape started to be planned.  The mad engineer friend of mine combined with the agri-IT-scientist-teacher came up with a cunning plan.   A sustainable living/ well being plan, but in essence still a plan.

Two days alter back at work and the plan was shelved for another year until I went to Crete.  Fabulous island, cradle of European civilisation (forget mainland Greece)!  Schools Organisational Review (SOR) was just stating to come in and Haverhill along with Lowestoft was in the firing line.  A little bit of relaxation in Hersonissos led to realisation that work-life balance was really not balanced favourably on the cliff edge.  A couple of good nights spent in the company of a very attractive and relaxed Irish girl from Dublin and we started planning again!

The plan was expressed graphically in the Logo above. Sometimes you do not always need to write things down since the written word can always be misinterpreted by "experts".  Visit to a local print shop, and day later had the plan on a disc, five polo shirt (I went there and got the Polo Shirt, T-shirts were not good enough quality).  Scratch Rhodes, Crete would appear to be part of the plan! 

So back to work and another year of battling career change I finally hit the buffers.  An article in the Harvard business review started me thinking.  A position I had occupied through major career traumas such Ofsted, special measures, six (not really sure if some were actually allowed to be) head teachers and school federation was that of a Middle Manager.  The Harvard Review produced some insights (http://2pointfiveageofman.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/death-of-middle-manager.html).      I had started to blog by this time.  The following March, I made a clean break and walked away from the pressure of achieving continual goals against the trickle down management culture of similar to First World War Generals.  Whistle goes and then over top! (Blackadder Goes Fourth clip here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IglUmgYGxLM).  

Two years on from the break with the treadmill and the BlackAdder goes Fourth clip seems apt in the context of the East Anglia Daily Times article  http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/suffolk_cabinet_member_under_fire_after_suffolk_slumps_in_league_tables_1_1472060.  

Still have weathered all this, the ten year plan is half way through!.  I have achieved the stated aim of not needing to be in the classroom full time or managing change (for change sake?).   Last time I jumped out of a plane I definitely had a parachute, this time I have to construct it on the way down!  Necessity does become the midwife of creativity and invention!  Here is to more blogging and on ward and upward up with up hill skiing!

Καλημέρα σας και είναι εδώ για τα επόμενα πέντε χρόνια! Ή θα έπρεπε να είναι ένα νέο σχέδιο δέκα χρόνια!

The Friday Analysis

Started Friday 27th January  2011  0936 GMT
Words 296
S.I. = 59.2

Have I got to Friday yet?

Websites that have been visited and thought to be useful

Olive trees - they can be grown in this country Villagio Verde
Teleworking Association -  http://villaggioverde.co.uk/

Looking back to Monday, have I had a non-reactive week?  It certainly has been a very busy and hectic week.  The tracks that I talked about in the blog four days again had literal truth. On Tuesday I attended the AGM of the Teleworking Association.  This was just off Haymarket.  In order to reach this destination I had to train it.  I returned back to Cambridgee station by way of Liverpool Street, the tube to Haymarket followed by another journey underground to King's Cross.  They seem to have sorted the one system of people flow well ahead of the 2012 Olympics.  I passed the by the  Emirates stadium on the way back on the non-stopping train to Cambridge.  I was therefore back in Haverhill (my home town) by 4.30 pm having taken the bus on the final leg of the journey.

On Wednesday I attended in the afternoon a  lecture on Steam in Agriculture delivered by Tom Doig  at my Local Arts Centre (see Link in near the title above).   This reinforced my growing conclusion that things do not really change in production only the distance the end user is from the field.  As with everything the further you are the way from the event the more like magic it appears to be because of the disconnectedness.  Hence we now have a lot of children answering surveys who do not connect cows and milk.

 So in conclusion for today, yes, I have had a week that was non-reactive since I did  not have to perform Newtonian mechanics and send the problem back in the opposite direction after meeting head on.