Have you seen the most recent post on
Liz Steel’s blog? I don’t know if you follow Liz’ blog, but it’s very good, and
well worth your time. In her most recent post she asked about how easy people
find it to sketch every day. The answer to which, in my case, is not very easy
at all.
On reflection, I think that I found
it easier when I had a specific goal or purpose, as with the recent One Week
100 people 2018 challenge. Trawling round the net, as I am wont to do when I
have an ideal moment, I’ve found a number of people who have undertaken to
produce one sketch (at least) every day for a whole year, reflecting their
year’s journey. Hmm – says I – that’s a good idea. And being as there’s no time
like the present, I decided to start today.
To be fair, I didn’t really find much
of an opportunity until about 5pm this evening. In my day job I’m a teacher –
not Art, I add, since I have no qualifications in the subject. Today we had a
Parents’ Consultation evening. I had large gaps between my appointments, and so
I used a couple of them to make this sketch.
This is the new charger for my
Surface Pro computer. The school in which I taught for several decades was
recently amalgamated with 2 others in a brand new school. Part of our embracing
the future has been that each teacher has been given the use of a Surface Pro. The
way it was presented to us was – this is yours until such time as you leave the
school – use it as if it’s your own. (Within reason. I would imagine that, if
you’re a devotee of the seamier side of the internet, it’s probably a good idea
not to go there with your school Surface) To be fair, mine has become pretty
well travelled, being much lighter and smaller than my laptop. It’s travelled
with me to Belgium, Spain, Czech Republic, Germany and Hungary just in the last
two years. This is actually a very
powerful wee machine, and there are many pros to using one in class.
However –
Although the battery can keep it
going for hours, it still needs charging. And the chargers are fiddly little
buggers. Back before Christmas I accidentally shut the business end of mine in
the car door. I went to see the technician, who said that he could order a new
charger, but it would take weeks before I got it. Now, even allowing for the
fact that I could charge it up in the staff room, where would that leave me at
the weekend? So, I decided that it was my own fault for shutting it in the car
door, and went on Amazon (other online retailers are available) and ordered an
official Microsoft replacement.
An official Microsoft replacement
which cost the best part of £30 and packed in last week, after about 4 months
of work. This one was not caught in the car door, or mistreated in any way. You
can maybe understand how I wasn’t so eager to buy a replacement this time. But.
. . the fact is that I needs the machine. So this time I bought a cheap(er) and
cheerful generic charger for about a third of the price. This is it. I used it
today, and it worked for today. So, fingers crossed . . .
I also decided to try to write a
little verse – let’s not call it poetry – to accompany each sketch. This one
is: -
O Surface charger,
I hope you’ll go
Far longer than
Your expensive bro.
(I was going to do some of Dylan
Thomas’ stuff, but then he never does any of mine.)
