What do you listen to while you work?
I am a teacher so I will often be in the classroom with no opportunity to listen to anything other than the sound of my own voice and the occasional interjections of the students! When I am planning I will keep background noise to a minimum, even escaping from my old staffroom when the conversation became too distracting.
However, I will often be found with headphones on or, if I am on my own, music coming out of a CD player or speaker if I am marking. I am one of the quickest markers around and part of the reason for this is my ability to focus. Music helps immensely with this process, but it has to be music without any lyrics. If there’s lyrics in a song I listen to them and completely lose my thread! So, what do I listen to? Two types of music, classical and electronic.
My Spotify Playlists for Marking
I love making Spotify Playlists and I have three in particular that I earmarked for the marking process. First up is this one
I have always loved synth instrumentals and the first track, Alpha by Vangelis is my absolute favourite. For anyone who wants to concentrate whilst being taken on a journey that track is the absolute best. I have included soundtrack tunes and a number of the 80s greats to create a playlist that will wash over you while keeping you focused.
Next we go classical
It’s a selection of my favourite pieces of classical music, some familiar, some not. My favourite on here is Vltava by Smetana which I loved from the first time I heard it in music class. It is sublime and perhaps the only piece of music on here that I can be distracted by because I love it so much!
Finally we come to one of the forms of music I grew up with, the TV Theme Tune.
This is an instant nostalgia rush with tunes from the 70s in the main, the tunes that were so familiar to my younger self. If I had to pick a favourite it would probably be Galloping Home, the theme from Black Beauty, but there is some absolute gold on here.
So there you have it, three playlists that fuel my concentration when marking. Please feel free to add these to your playlists and if you do please let me know what you think, or perhaps give it a like on Spotify. Happy listening!
What’s your favorite game (card, board, video, etc.)? Why?
When I saw today’s prompt I thought how little I play board games. I never choose to play them but when I do play them I always enjoy them. Why do they stay in a chest gathering dust? Well, I suppose it’s for two reasons. First, I associate them with children so they tend to come out at Christmas when, as Dickens observes in A Christmas Carol, it is never better to be a child than at Christmas, which is why we tend to play games during the festive season. Second, I was an only child so I had no one to play board games with on a regular basis so I never really developed the habit. Even at Christmas games never came out of the box because our Christmases were grown up affairs.
So, I will make the effort to play games more without waiting for Christmas. We have some games that definitely hit the sweet spot like the Love Actually version of Monopoly, Simpsons Cluedo and The Game of Enlightenment, which is about collecting chakras and achieving ultimate peace. The latter is fun and thought provoking and is one of the best board games for a calmer, more reflective games session. A while ago I got a Jenga game with a variety of questions, varying from the silly to the profound. That was great fun and we played that for about two hours and laughed a lot at the answers everyone was giving.
So, in the future I will get these games out more often. After all, a board game is for life, not just for Christmas!
What foods would you like to make?
I love cooking with fresh ingredients and I love the feeling of putting together a really good meal. When I was commuting to London I tried to get home to cook at least a couple of days a week, but once it got to the weekend the kitchen was where I relaxed. Now that I will not be doing the same journey I can do more in the kitchen and experiment with more meals.
Spicing it up
I have always enjoyed cooking chilli and curry, especially the former, and I love the smell of the spices. Years ago my wife hit upon a mix of spices that was perfect for our curries. She wrote it down on a piece of paper and that piece of paper is still in our cupboard to refer to, having ensured that our meals have the right balance. The chilli was always made with packet spice mix until I found jars of chilli garlic sauce when we lived in Hong Kong. Since then nothing else will do.
Christmas Dinner
In the picture you will see a fairly normal Christmas Dinner from my kitchen. Turkey, whether a crown or a full bird, together with loads of side dishes for people to help themselves to. Actually, this isn’t my kitchen, it’s the kitchen of the holiday apartment we were in when we spent Christmas in Australia. Yes, even on holiday there was no chance of me missing the cooking of my favourite meal of the year. When we got married I asked Janet if there was anything she would like in terms of splitting up the household duties and she said she never wanted to cook dinner on Christmas Day. We have had 35 Christmas Days together and I have cooked every single Christmas Dinner. The feeling of happiness when I see everyone enjoying their food is indescribable.
My weaker areas
I can cook pretty much anything but I am nowhere near as good as my wife when it comes to baking so I leave that side to her. Everything I enjoy most about Christmas is taken care of before the big day as she bakes Christmas Cakes, makes mincemeat for her mince pies and makes Christmas Puddings. She is incredible at that side of the festive season and nothing shop bought will do. I absolutely refuse to eat anything other than her homemade delights and we haven’t bought a mince pie from the shop in well over 20 years!
No idea what I will be cooking this weekend but I bet it will be tasty!
Dogs or cats?
This is Albus! We have had him for over 7 years now, having adopted him from the local Cats Protection shelter. We were never able to get a cat before as we lived in rented accommodation and my daughter was adamant that a cat would be one of the first things we would do!
Since we brought him home he has steadily and successfully achieved the aim of every cat, namely making the household run completely to his requirements 😹😹 He wakes me up to go out at around 3 or 4 o clock and I usually find him in the conservatory when I get up again. The waking up never bothers me. It’s part of the rich tapestry of cat ownership… Of their humans! 🤣🤣
Albus is not the first cat I have had. When I was 8 years old a tiny kitten found its way to our house. My parents were determined not to keep this new arrival so they called her Thing a name that guaranteed they wouldn’t become attached! She was feral when she found us, but she became steadily more domesticated and seemed to enjoy the food and drink available on demand even if she remained fiercely independent. She ended up with our family for 15 years so it wasn’t the most successful idea and she would not answer to any name other than Thing for the rest of her life.
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 