Day 162 – 26 September 2014 Today was ‘European Day of Languages’, or ‘Eŭropa Tago de Lingvoj’ as they say in Esperanto, a language I toyed with in my youth in a desperate attempt to become multi-lingual. I suppose it appealed to my idealistic view of a Europe united under a set of common values … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 162
A year of work in progress – day 143
Day 143 – 26 August 2014 One of the disadvantages of driving to Durham every day is that I rack up a fair few miles and need to get my car serviced frequently. Today was the day and I also needed some new discs and pads. Of course it’s very difficult to do without my … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 143
A year of work in progress – day 99
Day 99 – 3 June 2014 Broadband Delivery UK keeps telling us that we are running one of the best programmes across the country. Apparently we are in their top five out of forty four. I’m not sure how they judge this or how we could get to number one, even if we wanted to. … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 99
A year of work in progress – day 75 (Xenophile)
Day 75 – 28 April 2014 and day 24 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. X was always going to be a difficult letter. I could have chosen a word with an x in it like extraordinary and started from there. I could have chosen a more obvious word like x-ray and used it … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 75 (Xenophile)
A year of work in progress – day 66 (Home cover)
Day 66 – 9 April 2014 and day 8 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. The insurance market in the UK is dysfunctional. It works well, there’s lots of competition but it is still dysfunctional. I say this because every time my insurance is due for renewal I have to go through the same … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 66 (Home cover)
A year of work in progress – day 63 (Dutch)
Day 63 – 4 April 2014 and day 4 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. Learning Dutch is number ten on my ‘Ten things I’m going to achieve this year’. Why? Because it’s there. Actually it’s a little more than that. I enjoy learning languages even though I don’t think I’m very good at … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 63 (Dutch)
A year of work in progress – day 61 (Braille)
Day 61 – 2 April 2014 and day 2 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. Today I want to talk about braille burgers but before I do I must mention Benny the Irish Polyglot only because he is such an inspiration. He has a simple mantra for learning a language and that is to … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 61 (Braille)
A year of work in progress – day 56
Day 56 – 26 March 2014 I’ve started to read ‘Fluent in 3 Months’ by Benny Lewis (Benny the Irish Polyglot) with the promise of tips and techniques to help you learn any language. I’m still persevering with my Dutch but progress has stalled even though I’ve been through the CDs twice now. What I … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 56
A year of work in progress – day 46
Day 46 – 11 March 2014 Twelve days without paper now if you don’t count the odd bits that people shove in your hands from time to time. Last night I had my first Area Action Partnership meeting in Stanley without the white stuff. The cold sweats and night terrors are diminishing but I still … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 46
It’s all Dutch to me
The CD disappeared into the slot in the dashboard and some unknown yet familiar sounding music emanated from the speakers. A woman’s voice with just the faintest hint of an accent welcomed me to ‘Learn Dutch in 3 months’. Her name was Leif. This is it, the start of my latest learning venture. The task … Continue reading It’s all Dutch to me
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 