A Minor Journey dot com.

I know I’ll moan about it when it actually comes but I really could use some end of term vibes. Tomorrow is the end of term at one of my schools, but sadly not the end of term at all of the others. That will occur in a few weeks’ time.

A lack of posting on my part yet again. I do love you all really. But life has been hectic and fun. See, I’ve sold the El *cries*. I really miss that car in some ways and not in others. Now I’ve got to pay a gas bill like regular people I’m missing it even more. Can you believe I had to spend £40 to fill up the other day to do 551 miles? Yes? Oh. I’m out of the loop. Last time I had to regularly fill up petrol was only 70 pence a lire and I could fill up the minor on under £30. *sigh*

Velma is doing well though. She’s currently at the garage in Slough getting her driveshafts replaced under warranty. This folks, is why you should always buy a used car from an official dealer if it isn’t one of those cars you can fix yourself. She’s also now got some shiny sign-writing on her, which will mean I really should finish the PHEV conversion sooner rather than later. Right now she’s just got the CANview installed. While Velma is being fixed I’ve got a Yaris. It’s a loan car. I’m rediscovering why it’s dangerous to give me a car with a manual gearbox and any sense of sporty handling. While the Yaris is barely sporty I have found myself going… faster than I would in the Prius. Yup, guilty of stirring the box.

Things at Kate’s office have been hectic and as a consequence I’ve not seen much of her. I really hope all her hard work and the hard work of her colleagues pays off. I’d like to go walking with her at weekends and spend lazy summer afternoons doing fun trips to places we’ve never been before. I want to go flying kites on the beach and see theater shows. Right now all we’re both doing is work.

That brings me onto the subject of work. I rock. Starting in September I’m going to be working at two new schools. Well, one new school and one new local authority. It amounts to about a day and a half extra a week of work, or a really full timetable for me. How I’ll cope is something I’m not thinking about at the moment but the plan will be to stop taking on evening students. I’ll teach the ones I currently have but try to reserve evenings for Kate and the dogs and eventually, hopefully, our children. The reason why I am particularly jazzed is that one of the new positions is at one of the UK’s top specialist music schools. To start with I’ll only be teaching beginners in the non-music part of the school (The school has a regular part and a part for really talented genius musician sorts, and I’ll be introducing oboe to kids who are as yet non genius - if that makes sense). It’s a foot in the door as you will at a school I have always wanted to be involved with and never though I would. So yay for me. Plus all of this new teaching is going to be oboe. No more stinking flute or clarinet. Whoooo

On Sunday our TV passed on. We don’t know what exactly happened, but it was probably the power supply as it wouldn’t even turn on on the set or buzz. Rather than take it apart and try to fix it we took the plunge and purchased a new Sony Bravia 40 inch LCD. Our bank balance is now very very green around the gills and threatening to spew all kinds of mean and nasty stuff at us. This summer is going to be one where we spend little money….

Having said that the TV is truly awesome. The Hackintosh now displays a delightfully high resolution image (Civilization IV looks awesome on it) and the XBox 360 finally has a chance to stretch it’s legs in full 1080p glory. Halo and Forza have never looked so great. Yesterday I even managed to pick up an XB360 steering wheel for £10 at a second-hand game shop. That’s about £70 cheaper than they cost new so I’m really happy at that.

Anyway. Work calls. Last day of term for some of my kids and then it’s off to London tomorrow. I’ll be around Baker Street at Midday if anyone fancies a drink with me and one of my Undergraduates.

And before I forget. Kate and I would really love to come visit some of our friends in August. We’re thinking of a road trip, taking in Kate squared, Laruen & Chrissy, Mum and a few other friends. Any weeks seem better than others?