I got my laptop back from Apple today. It’s had a few little problems and was supposed to be away getting fixed, only they returned it in a worse state than when it left. I was so mad! I leave for America on Tuesday and need the laptop working for the trip as I have to work while I am away if needed. My options are limited. Apple can’t fix it before I leave so it looks like when I arrive in America the first thing I’ll need to do is buy a new iBook and transfer my data from the PowerBook onto the iBook – what a drag!
It wound me up so much that come 5 o’clock I decided to go to the beach for a little walk to chill out. I found a nice little spot and watched a selection of joggers, cyclists and other walkers go past. It was just what I needed to chill. The sun of my face and a light sea breeze to keep it all fresh.
I walked on for a while and came upon a piece of lined paper on which some kid had obviously been told to write the same thing over and over and over again as punishment, apparently for not bringing their homework to class.
‘I will brieng my homework in’ declared the misspelled lines in not the best handwriting I’ve ever seen. But how come these lines ended up fluttering their way along the beach? Weren’t they supposed to be turned in to a teacher somewhere? And if that was indeed the case, then I can’t imagine that teacher is going to buy the excuse that the lines were lost on the beach. It sounds as believable as ‘the dog ate it.’
I was no angel at school and seeing these lines reminded me of the thousands I must of written in my school days. It put a smile on my face recalling the excuses I used to come out with. Elaborate tales of drama and excitement just to get out of some task or homework assignment. My end of term reports made for humorous reading, well maybe not at the time, but in retrospect I mean. At the time of course I dreaded getting them because it would mean another talk with my parents who would then spectacularly mismanage the whole situation.
I wandered on a little further. Picked up a few rocks here and there and skipped them over the surface of the retreating tide. Then I decided to wander back to my car just as some horse riders slowly walked along the beach in the other direction.
I’ve still got loads to do before I leave. I really shouldn’t be going for walks on the beach but what can you do?
Wrote the following comment on Jun 23, 2005 at 12:09 pm
Is this the trip when you come to Houston? If so…I happen to know a GREAT Apple store…..hehehehe…
Wrote the following comment on Jun 23, 2005 at 12:47 pm
Hmmmm, being a teacher myself I sometimes find myself amused by the elaboration of a pupil who is wiggling with his/her own interesting story of “my dog ate my homework.” In the essence of grace, and if the story gives me a bone rattling laugh, I will accept the excuse. Reading your post brought back some sentence writing memories of my own!
Wrote the following comment on Jun 23, 2005 at 3:33 pm
i want that sunset picture! it’s fantastic….. please post a larger version of it… unless it’s for sale. *grin*
Wrote the following comment on Jun 23, 2005 at 11:23 pm
Glad you all liked the pic. If you’d like the full res version just send me an email (via the contact page) and I’ll send you one right back. Consider it a gift :-)
Wrote the following comment on Jun 23, 2005 at 5:54 pm
A wonderful beach shot, Simon. The sky is spectactular.
And the homework paper – priceless. It reminds me of a situation with two students at the school where I work. They were in the cafeteria, in some type of in-school suspension. I walked over to them to see what they were doing because they seemed to be having wa-a-a-ay too much fun for school. They were writing sentences, if you could call it that. I didn’t know what their infraction was but each had to write the same number of sentences. The bummer of it was, one kid’s sentence was about 6 words and the other kid’s sentence was easily twice that long. Hardly seemed fair to me, but maybe the one kid was twice as bad. However, it didn’t seem to be bothering them too much because they weren’t bothering to write much anyway.
Wrote the following comment on Jun 24, 2005 at 12:25 am
That is a beautiful picture and a funny one about lines. I was such a swat at school but I couldn’t wait to leave. Education bored me to tears and high school isn’t the best place in the world. I couldn’t wait to leave. I only have one friend from School still in my life, the rest I never chose to hang out with pretty much from the day I left.
Wrote the following comment on Jun 24, 2005 at 10:27 am
super pic !