Let me shake your hand! And also the auto-complete function. This almost provokes me to acts of violence and I seriously consider behaving like one of those machine-breakers from the industrial revolution.
Now for a little tale which might encourage some of the younger ‘Downers struggling through school – long as you don’t say “Oh, it’s that mad old lady again with her tales”
. I once had a dreadful English teacher who thought a good lesson consisted of answering comprehension questions on the book we were reading. Obviously we all grew restive and our interest slipped and we stopped doing our homework. I was always what in the US might be called a ‘straight A student’ (or
swot in this country) so I was dismayed to find I only had a C in my end of term report. I challenged it and my teacher told me I would fail my O levels because I failed to ‘toe the line’. I
tried to toe the line after that, but I hated it. Luckily, my usual teacher came back from maternity leave, and when my O level results came through I had two As in English. I later got an A level and a degree in English, I’m even a qualified English teacher! What this tells you is that sometimes it is hard struggling with a poor teacher, or even with a teacher you simply have a personality clash with, but never give up, as that would be to admit defeat!
About getting work back covered in red pen and sarcastic comments – I get this at work. I think all managers here have teacher fantasies, and they simply cannot resist the temptation to make mincemeat out of your reports and briefings. At first it is a horrible thing to have to take, but eventually, you realise that their manager does it to them, and so on all the way up the hierarchy!
I just love the semi colon though, as anyone who reads my RPGs will know. It’s just, somehow…right to me. It allows a pause between thoughts. I recommend the book
Eats Shoots & Leaves to anyone interested in punctuation; it
sounds like it might be deadly dull, but its very wittily written!