I'm just going to have to trust you completely...

  

I am very excited because I have just become a student (yet) again.
I enrolled today for the GCSE and was given an identity card and start date.
So, the ball is rolling...
I've been finding out about places to do the PGCE as well, and after initial concern that my degree (being non-curriculum) was the latest thing to prevent me from actually getting on a course, I was delighted to find that wasn't the case in all University/Colleges.
There's a very long way to go, but at least I have set myself on track.

I must now somehow, be more productive with the time I have left at home, and also be sure to really enjoy it. Working life will be very different, and I'm sure I'll look back at these days and wonder what on earth I used to do...

 

Current luxury worry....
Why on earth, and what ever, made me choose self-portrait as a theme for the photo comp?
I've been taking photos like a nutter, which I have to say, is really good, but I certainly haven't found a potential winner yet.
A poor workperson always blame her tools, I know, but yesterday I was out at the park taking pictures of Tea and my shadows, and I was desperate for some degree of control. If I continue with this, I willl have to get a new camera. I'll have to try and squeeze it in after the holiday and before saving starts for Christmas....
I've entered this one (above), but I'm doubting the wisdom of it.

The very next day was my Vees' 15th birthday.
Hective took us all out for dinner at yo shushi, but was a bit mean about it, kind of wincing every time someone took another plate off the conveyer belt. It didn't matter though, because Vee absolutely loved it. We all played a family game of Scrabble when we got home, which was quite a rare thing these days, and Vee won which seemed perfect.

So it being a nice day and all, we decided to join the trade unionists, autonomous block and fit team on the Mayday march.
There was a pub at the meeting point and we enjoyed a pint whilst watching the masssive police cordon assemble around the black block.
There was a great little sound system, which packed some punch for a twelve volt, and pumped out tunes like Chemical Brothers' "push the button", and some Chris Liberator techno and a bit of gabba, which combined with the larger and general freindly atmosphere of the whole thing, got me quite excited.

I soon realised however, that this basically was an excercise in being photographed and logged by the forward intellegence team, (funny how you never forget an old face eh?) and the various and many other police photographers present, and as ever I began to wish I wasn't so damn tall, and the thick flourescent yellow line that flanked us either side started to get my goat, and before long we decided to chip off early and go home for a nice roast dinner...

The wonderful month of May begins with the beautiful sight of cherry blossom on display outside my living room window.

Was absolutely chuffed to bits to actually WIN!!!!!
the Urban75 April photo competition with this shot of the Reclaim the Streets party at Angel Islington in the summer of 2005. Hective reminded me that it was he who had brought the water key to switch that thing on in the first place, and how it was well appreciated in the baking hot sun...
I felt a tiny bit guilty entering a picture so old, but the competitions' theme was wet and that shot, one of my all time favourites, kept staring at me exuding wetness, so I put in in on the last day and it was a landslide victory.
It made me think about the days when I took it, fresh out of film school, I actually considered myself a photographer back then. I feel sad that I've virtually given up shooting stiuff on my SLR camera, and feel it was no accident that a picture taken the old fashioned way should be a winner for me, there simply isn't as much control with my little digital Sony...
The challenge for me now, is to win with a recent shot, then I will feel more justified...
As winner, I got to choose this months theme, and I went for self-portraiture, for some reason which is baffeling me now, because I cant bear to look at my self in photos now I'm getting old, and am reluctant to enter another archive shot.
Also some regulars really objected to my choice of theme, saying it was to close to what had gone before, and there was a bit of an argument about it, but enough people liked the idea, and the competition is going ahead...