2006

There seems to be a tradition of rambling on at this time of year and vague attempts to put things in order, make lists of things to do and not to do and generally finish up in a huge to-do after being to a do. So this is my contribution to the cause. The holiday's too damn short - can't believe I have to do the Dunstable trek on Tuesday. Did manage to make the College site a bit more respectable and solved the scrolling problem and things that refused to align properly but now need a server a bit more substantial that doesn't get switched off when the cleaners need somewhere to plug the vacuum in. Trying to get people to put their course materials on-line proved really much more difficult than I'd imagined but, just as both I and the year were petering out, I had an opportunity to play with something called moodle which I shall now use to revive the project and so give me some hope of getting somewhere at last. First efforts here for anyone that's interested. First month back'll be dominated by staff development sessions I'll have to organise on that theme and trying to persuade a range of people to talk to each other about sharing data. Boy, will that be fun!

On the LSDA front, I have to do the third of a series of training sessions covering the barriers to moving e-learning forward in organisations. This one's to LSDA staff so could be a toughie. I also need to put enough stuff onto a CD to justify the pay and that's pretty urgent as that was due to be done by 31/12 according to my contract. Oops. The sessions are OK but they're in London which is a real drag. Stuffy trains, miserable tubes and idiots bawling into mobile phones. Two dry sandwiches for lunch. I keep suggesting that they hold these things in the village but to no avail. I could ask Rob to chauffeur them up here and back. He'd love that. With little chance of any extra dosh coming from College activity, LSDA's metamorphasis into QIA and LSN in April offers the only clear chance of earning anything extra so I'd better put on a decent show.

Russell's back in pizzas, I understand, in Hove. That's as much as I know, although I believe the Hymer's gone and I look forward to the screech of other tyres before the year is still new.

Saw Katie in York just before Christmas and had a brilliant meal at the Blue Bicycle. Great city, great food. A lot of mist. Of course, finished up walking miles, despite my daughter having acquired a brand new Golf!

Wireless broadband is working brilliantly in MK and Kirri's in his element now. Bryony's beginning to realise that she can now do whatever she wants without having to wait for him to finish shooting Cogs in Toontown. Matti's wrecked one mouse but is learning fast and can turn on, tune in and shut down properly - not bad for age 4.

Maybe I'll get through this year without disasters happening to cars. I've had this one for 12 months now and there's a chance, finances permitting, I'll keep it for another year and even beat the record two and a bit years for the two BMWs. I can now use S1XAH again but not sure what to do with it as I actually think I prefer T1GRX.

Looks increasingly likley that I'll have to move my base to the MK annexe pretty soon. I'm slowly transferring all the stuff I'd been storing here and it's looking a bit bare. Someone's supposed to have made an offer but, after last year's experience, I'll believe that when I get a signed contract! Short of a miracle there's no way I can continue to keep both places going .

One thing I really must do this year is give E-Bay a try. There are all those stories about people selling stuff there and it would be great to clear the huge pile of boxes in the MK garage - maybe even see who offers what for the registration plate. I'm not interested in trading in a big way but I should at least make a decent job of setting out the unwanted 'wares'.

Mum and Dad are still getting by well in Doddington, although I can see that I may have to warn the villagers there whenever Dad takes to the road! I still can't figure out what's going to happen. They've got a lovely spot there and even if the garden gets a bit overgrown it doesn't matter much, provided Dad can find where he's planted the vegetables.

No more resolutions. No predictions. Let's just see what happens. (No change there then?!)