Going back to study and a burglary at the cottage.

If you steal stop it! Don’t do it anymore instead work with your hands and mind so you have something to give to those who need it.

Ephesians 4 : 28 ( Sandy’s summary . I haven’t seen this before. I think it makes good sense.)

They didn’t happen simultaneously but they were both a jolt to the system. I was forced to think in the first instance and shaken in the second.

Roy wasn’t taking the job in America and having given up my part time work I was free from 9am to 3pm every day. It was to the nearby University that I decided to go. There was a postgraduate course made up of three modules and I was welcome to join the third one. I see in my notes about this course that I thought it was a rip off. Upon reflection it was useful. The class consisted of 11 students from different countries ( Turkey, China, Sudan, Greece, Peru ). English really did belong to the world in this class.

It was good at this time to follow, cooperate, do pair work and collaborate on assignments. I completed the requirements and earned a B grade. Perfectly acceptable considering I had come to a class that had jelled and had their ways of working.

Then there was the burglary.

I had got my teaching hours back and one particular day I came home to see the front door with a broken pane of glass next to the lock. I remember not bothering too much about the hole because my dog had my attention. He was sitting, Subdued. No wagging tail. No yap of delight! I unlocked went straight in, felt our dog over then walked over to the piano and picked up the phone. No purrrrr. Totally dead. The unusual smell of cigarettes was coming from upstairs. None of us smoked and my mind told me I needed to leave. My feet obeyed, slowly. I took our dog and went two doors down to a good friend.

Once we knew the police were coming we went straight back . This time the back door was open. All our well worn second hand furniture was in situ. Nothing was missing except upstairs was ghastly. Everything from our cupboards was tipped out on our bed. They found nothing. We had nothing of value. No jewellery. No money.

Everything well enjoyed and a very small fit for me so no use or little use to anyone.

Then fear gripped me !

On top of that pile was a hefty drill. The type for taking walls down. It had been in a box of tools under the bed. At that stage we had no place for tools…

A thought about education and then an attitude…

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

Andy McIntyre (1955 Australian rugby union player.)

Here is an interesting quote from Anne Sebba who is a British biographer, lecturer and journalist. She is quoting Winston Churchill’s mother.

After a burglary of all her most valued and treasured possessions, Winston Churchill’s aging mother wrote: ” That burglar relieved me of an obsession. For years, I’ve had to take houses big enough to hold all these bibelots (decorative ornaments) I am almost grateful to him ( the person).”

Anne Sebba