The weather was set fair on Monday (and today actually) and therefore it was time to do the usual construction of a patio. This time not for me but friends down the road, who I thought I would muck in and help with. I feel this morning like I have been 5 rounds with Tyson!

It seems as though for the last 2 summers I have constructed (with considerable help from friends and father) 2 patios. The first was the lower half of the patio on our house and the second was the upper half, after the conservatory was built. Anyway this summer the trend just had to continue and therefore yesterday we set to work digging out the soil for the foundations of the patio.

The area of the patio was going to be 25 square metres. The size of this on the ground doesn’t look that much but it is surprising how much soil comes out of that area of ground.

So off I went down the road armed with spade and boots. A minute into the digging the Asda’s best spade snapped in half. It obviously couldn’t cope with the stress of the clay terrain that we were excavating at the time. So off to Homebase across the road to buy a new space and a wheelbarrow.

I have forgotten how much hard work digging actually is. It really takes it out of you. In order to keep motivation high we decided to bring out the DAB radio in order to listen to the Test Match on Radio Five Live Test Match Special. Excellent though that was, the quality of the cricket let us down with England sliding towards a loss against India. Stopping for lunch at around 1500 was a welcome break however it was hard to get back into it after the break. Fluids were needed throughout, and I rediscovered just how refreshing a simple lime cordial and water was, which did the trick in replenishing the fluids.

The day finished with the majority done and dug out. The ground would just need a few minor preparations prior to materials arriving.

Waking up today I feel like I have been 5 rounds with Mike Tyson. Digging must use all those muscles in your body that never normally get used. Still I am sure that with another hard days labour to come it can only be good for the body.

Flicking through the latest edition of FHM this morning over a wake up cup of coffee, I noticed a rather different but highly interesting article about Centurions. That is Britain’s that are over the age of 100. In amongst them was a gentlemen named Harry Patch, the Last Tommy.

I remember watching a BBC programme about a year ago called the Last Tommy. It was all about Word War One (WW1) and the last surviving soldiers from British army. Harry Patch is now the last surviving soldier to have fought in WW1. He is an incredible 109.

I remember doing about WW1 in History lessons at high school. It was the one topic in History that really grabbed my attention and I loved studying all about the battles that took place and the conditions that these soldiers endured in order to bring order to the world. Watching the series “The Last Tommy” it just makes you realise how lucky you are. Men in WW1 were not really asked to sign up to fight. They were basically told a tale that is would be wonderful to fight. They did not really understand the terrors that waited for them out on the western front. In total almost 8 million people lost their lives fighting in the first world war. That is truly tragic. The men that fought in those battles deserve to all the credit going. To endure what they did, come home and still lead normal lives is remarkable. Harry Patch never talked about the war for 80 years and you can understand why. However I think that it is a good thing is has now spoke out the describe all that happened. It is only from learning the truth that we may learn something for the future.

The other morning I was watching “The Wright Stuff” (when you are on holiday you get to watch all the day time rubbish!). They were talking about Knighthoods, OBE, CBE and MBE awards and who should and should not get them. Take Alex Ferguson for example. A fantastic manager who has done magnificently well in the work that he does. A true managerial great. He has a knighthood. Why? All he has done is been successful at his job. If I was to be the best teacher in the country would I get a knighthood? I doubt it. These medals and awards should go to those that have gone above and beyond to help the nation.

It was with horror when reading the article in FHM that I saw the article addressed Mr Patch simply as Harry Patch. Why had they left the Sir off? Well they hadn’t. For some reason soldiers like this who risked, and often lost their lives in order to allow us to live like we do now are not knighted. This is truly terrible. Gentlemen like Mr Patch should be made a sir in my book for what he went through and succeeded.

So Mr Patch if you happen to be reading this (maybe not!) they to me you and other soldiers like you will always be Sirs in my book. Thank you for what you went through Sir Harry Patch.

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Harry Revisits the Battle Fields

It is a big happy 1st birthday to Penny4Them. On the 28th July last year this blog began, all be it in a different form.

The blog started out life using the very popular blogger.com format. However I found this increasingly less useful as time went on. I also started looking at other peoples blogs and found them to be better.

It was Simon’s BeforeiForget.co.uk that introduced me to the world of Wordpress. This blogging software that you host on your own server was definitely the way forward. It was installed and then I was a away.

I have obviously tweaked the design of the page many times to give you the look that we have today, called Penny4Them. Another customisation that I have made is with the administration pages. I have customised them to make them different colours and different images etc.

To date I have 147 posts and 233 comments. Thank you to all that have commented and lets hope it can continue into the future. This is a great way to hear from new people and record memories and scenes for the future.

Mark

These days the web is full of what have rapidly become known as social networking sites. You know the ones that I mean - MySpace, FaceBook and others. I have question about the safety and security measures that these sites are, or aren’t as the case may be using.

Anyone that knows me will know that anything and everything to do with computers and the web I am into and want to get involved with. I am the first to embrace new ideas and technologies and give them ago. I have to say that when these social networking sites came out, I was also thinking what a good idea they are. However have we really stopped and thought of the problems that they could cause?

My main issue with them is the problem of identity theft. We are all told (rightly so) to make sure that any documents with personal details on, should be shredded or burnt in order to destroy them. This is because people can get hold of your details and steal your identity, committing criminal offences in your name, which you are then responsible for. We seem to have forgotten about this on the web with the sites in question.

If you are reading this blog post then there is a good chance that you are using the web to express yourself. You may already have a website with information on it - who knows? Therefore it is likely that there is personal information about you on the web. I don’t me addresses and bank details I am talking about sensitive information such as your name and photograph etc. This is usually information that anyone with minimal knowledge or surfing the web can get hold of. My issue with identify theft is anyone could take these details (name and photo) and create an account of one of these social networking sites and pretend to be you. They could then get involved with conversations with other people that could eventually get you in trouble.

Lets take this example. The reason I am thinking about this is being a teacher maybe you are vulnerable. Someone creates an account as me on My Space and then starts entering into conversations with other people (maybe children) using inappropriate language, that I wouldn’t use and even maybe gets someone to meet them. If this was to get back to a police investigation how would you prove that it was not you. In the grand scheme of thing, in the fact that you are never unidentifiable on the web you could probably prove your innocence, however in the meanwhile you would be suspended from work while it was sorted out and it would become a great hassle and cause of upset. This has to change.

You go into a bank to create and bank account or get a loan and you have to prove who you are using known standardised identification means. You apply for a mortgage or move house and the solicitors want identification, again using specific identification means for money laundering purposes. Yet we can create allsorts of identifications on the web that are nothing to do with us with no security or identification checks at all.

Discussing this with others the other day, friends said to me, “but who would you prove identity over the Internet?” What they mean is that when you sign up for a social networking site (or anything for that matter e.g. email account) how do you prove that you are you? This is a question which I have thought long and hard about, but have still to come up with the answer. Until this question is answered these social network sites are providing and opportunity for criminals to cause problems for people. Any ideas would be welcome.

Last weekend at the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in Germany saw the return of the much loved Murray Walker behind the microphone, commentating for BBC Radio Five Live. What a joy is was to have Murray back again.

There are not many sports in the world where there is a commentator that almost out shines the competitors. But in Murray Walker formula one has just that.

I started watching formula one back in the early 1990s. This was when Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna were at the pinnacle of their careers and Murray was in full voice behind the mic of BBC Sport. The way he talks about the sport and voices his passion for it, but at the same time staying fairly neutral so that you can make your own mind up about what is happening is fantastic. The sound of his voice and the enthusiasm he has for describing what he is seeing is great.

I was listening to the Five Live 606 podcast last night and Murray was talking phone calls from Formula One fans. The call that caught my attention the most was when a fan rang in to ask Murray to recreate his famous “go, go, go” phrase that he used at the start of races. Murray responded y saying that it was not a catch phrase that he used. He said that he never consciously said that every race it was just what came from the heart at the time. That I think sums up Murray Walker’s passion for the sport rather than for the celebrity that he is, which is great to see.

Lets hope that Murray can have more appearances on the radio or even on TV on the races to come in the remainder of the Formula One season.

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Murray Walker - Wikipedia
Chequered Flag Podcast
Murray Walker 606 Phone In
[Video] Tribute to Murray Walker

Walking in the garage the other morning and the rabbits were in the bad books again. It was a repeat of their performance a few months ago, chewing through a chair.

It funny how animals have facial expressions and you can almost tell what they are thinking even though they can’t speak. If would be great if they could just to see if I am reading their signs right! I went into the garage on Wednesday evening and Jeremy was sitting on top of a bale of straw which was on one of the sun loungers. He turned and looked at me with a guilty look on his face as the last time he was sat on one of the loungers the foam was everywhere. It was as almost as though he was saying “I know I am not meant to be here but I just couldn’t resist. George’s face was even funnier. He was cowering down on the top of the hutch and his facial experssion and body language was saying “I told you George, I told you not to go on there and that you would get caught”.

Anyway the other morning one of them (we are yet to find out who) has had another chew at the [new] lounger that was purchased to replace the other one. It is hard to angry at them when they can be so cute. They were both curled up next to each other this evening when I saw a photo opportunity.

Well it has been a long year at work but finally the holidays are here. Six weeks of free time to travel, have fun and enjoy myself. Yippeeee!

People always say that us teachers have it easy with all the holidays that we get. Maybe they are right, as I have never done another, different full time job. However I will say this. Teaching is not the job that everybody thinks it is. I am fairly certain that there are not many that could do it. Only today someone mentioned that they had go through some of the training and then dropped out. It is surprising how many people couldn’t make it through. I am not having a go at them or anything as it wasn’t for them.

Teaching has changed so much even in the half a decade that I have been involved in the job. The best way that I can describe it to people is that it is 100mph and then stop, and then 100mph again and then stop, and so on. The workload that teachers are subjected to is crazy at the moment.

I am glad of the holidays however I will have to spend a lot of time over the break working. Teaching is such a dynamic profession that things change all the time. New courses, new ideas and new people all mean that new things need to planned in order to keep the school ticking over, and keeping up with the latest ideas and developments.

Anyway whether you think I have the good life or the bad life being a teacher I intend the enjoy the 6 week break and take the maximum benefit from the time that we have. As our Head said today “Teaching is not a job it is a way of life”. He is spot on and fortunately for teachers part of that way of life is plenty of holidays!

It seems as though the roads are littered with young drivers that are quite literally causing havoc. Like many youngsters today, they care little about other people around them and behave terribly when driving their cars.

Before I get loads of complaints, I know that not all young people are like this. In fact it is probably the minority letting down the majority however it does seem that there is an increasing number of youths of the roads in modified cars out to cause trouble.

It is probably mainly 17 -19 year old drivers. They acquire a car (god knows how as they probably haven’t a GCSE to scrape together to get a to get the money) which, for some unknown reason, has to be a Vauxhall. 10 years ago it would have been a Nova, but now it must be a Corsa - usually around 7 - 8 years old. They then spend what must be thousands (again were the money comes from I don’t know) modifying various parts and adding as many chav car features as possible. These often include enhancements to the engine which make the car go way too fast. They then proceed to drive round like lunatics at tremendous speeds causing hassle and often fright to other road users.

Now don’t get me wrong I have speeded once or twice in the past but there is a difference between the everyday ’slightly over the speed limit’ to what these youngsters are doing. There are seriously in danger of hurting others around them. I heard on the news this morning that the government are worried that they are going to hurt themselves. Well I say that isn’t the issue, if they are flying along urban roads at 80mph then they deserve to get hurt. My concern is that they are going to end up hurting or even killing someone quite innocent. What’s worse is that the attitude of some of the young people is that they seem not to care.

Some MPs this week have called for the driving age to be increased from 17 to 18. Sounds sensible. Older people are more mature and this thing wouldn’t happen, but this is punishing the respectable, law abiding 17 year old who has waited and waited in order to be able to drive, perhaps so that he/she can go to college etc.

Why not introduce the following in order to make youngsters drive safer on the road.

1. All cars should have speed limiters on them - lets face it, legally the fastest you can go on any public road is 70mph on the motorway, so why make cars that go faster?
2. People under the age of 21 should only be allowed to purchase and drive cars with a maximum engine size of 1400cc. This would reduce the performance of their cars, be cheaper for them to run and help the environment a little
3. People under the age of 21 should not be allowed to modify their cars in any way in terms of performance enhancing features e.g. spoilers, and engine tweaking

I just feel that it is people like this that are ruining things for others and it really frustrates me about living in this country at the moment. You go abroad and this just doesn’t happen.

Today was the annual sponsored walk with work. The walk is 10 miles and I was walking this year and not on a check point. It was very muddy.

The walk itself is a lovely walk along to banks of the River Ribble, in the Ribble Valley. It is not too hilly as it is along the river and it is usually a very enjoyable experience. Also we usually get back before the end of the day and therefore get to leave early.

However this year the walk was a little different due to all the rain that we have had pretty much across the UK over the last month or so. There were parts of the walk that were tremendously muddy and I was hanging on to trees in order to prevent myself from slipping.

Anyway we managed to (almost!) complete the walk in the slutch and now sat here typing I can feel my legs aching. I will sleep tonight!

It is 0536 in the morning and I can’t sleep, so like any true computer geek I decided to get up and do some research on my latest project. Podcasting.

It has been around for a while now and I have used podcasts to listen to on my iPod such as Jamie Oliver’s video podcasts and also the BBC Sport ones such as football focus but I have yet to try and create my own. You may well think “what on earth would the average Joe Blogs podcast?”. Nothing really but being a teacher the possibilities are endless.

First of all you need to understand what a podcast is. Many people will tell you that it is just any audio or video file however it is more than that. What makes a podcasts different is your ability to subscribe to that podcast so that you automatically receive the latest edition. This is done through RSS or Really Simple Syndication (which proved a little less simple than I had first thought!).

The first step is to record your podcast. This is the easy part as I have been recording audio (and video for that matter) for a while now. There are lots of free pieces of software out there, perhaps the best and most popular being Audacity. However I like to use Quicktime Pro, but I have just discovered (well I say discovered but I always knew it was there) Garage Band on my iMac. So you create and upload your MP3 file ready for your podcast feed.

The feed is the file that people subscribe to and contains information about your podcast and also the link to the podcast (MP3 file) itself. The standard very basic format for the feed needs to be like this (from about.com):

Download this rss file here (it is .txt at the moment. Edit and then save as .rss)

You replace the bits inside the tags (e.g. title, description and enclosure url) with what is relevant to your podcast. Then you just save this file with a name and the file ending .rss (e.g. feed.rss) Upload to your webserver and then visit the URL. In FireFox you are asked what you want to do with the feed.

You can even subscribe to your podcast in iTunes. Go to the ‘Advanced’ menu at the top and click ‘Open Stream’. Then just type in the URL of the .rss file you have created and the podcast will appear in your podcasts library from the left hand panel.

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Audacity
How to create your own podcasts