Living with Academia.

Hello,
        I recall that as young as six or seven I wasn't at school just to play with sand and draw pictures but I was there to learn 'stuff' and get an education. At my junior school in year two as it was then our firm but fair teacher Mrs Penrose would call children forward to recite times tables and I distinctly remember either hiding behind the book trolley or disappearing to the toilet to avoid confrontation with sums and Mrs Penrose.

A book Trolley

 I often found my self gazing out onto the school field and enjoyed greatly watching the Councils oversized lawn mower prepare the turf for the warmer weather. I missed many an educational moment as I watched the white lines be repainted on the school yard and found it fascinating to watch grass grow over the early years living with Academia.
As I got slightly older and went into the Juniors I was carted away by a nice old lady who took me to the staff room for some one to one 'training'. She was so patient with me as I never got it, or showed any desire to do so eithier. It just wasn't happening! I wasn't thick I just wasn't interested I saw no purpose to education  and in my mind I was there for socializing and lunch.

It really didn't get much better at High School, in fact it got worse and worse, I had an intense dislike for a teacher who would purposely detain me after school so I would miss my bus home. So I took things into my own hands and decided to have 32 consecutive Wenesdays off which resulted in the involvement of school inspectors and a threatening wooden spoon from my mother. In the end of year Maths test I hit an all time low when I hit the rock bottom with a result of just 17% it was not great. However I remained optimistic and carried on entertaining my class mates with my gentle humor and jolly disposition. When it came to the end of year I proved a bit of a puzzle to the school as I was placed in the bottom set for Maths but the 2nd set for English. It was one of the few subjects I enjoyed and did okay in. We studied the book Kes and I remeber loving the language, mixing great humour with poverty and pain.

                                                                       
                                                                            KES

As the years went by the school reports got worse and the days were tediously long and incredibly uninspiring. In year four of high school I entered myself for the O level typewriting course. This was due to being given an old typewriter by my dear Granny and I would spend endless hours writing, made up football match reports and at home on a Saturday afternoons I frequently pretended to be one of the journalists sat behind the legendary Dickie Davies on World of Sport and would write made up sport reports for the great man.

Dickie Davies with me behind at the desk in shirt and tie !!!!

The typewriting course was heavily oversubscribed because in those days many girls saw the future in administration and for some reason the desire for hair services, tanning and beauty products was significantly less than it is now. So an entrance exam was arranged in the dining hall and I was late to arrive (as usual) to a room full of girls, and me! I was there because of my Grannys typewriter and my imaginary role as ITVs leading sports journalist. I did the test and for the first time in my education I passed and was in!
Sadly that is where the success story ends as placing me in a class of 30 girls and a typewriter was not a academic match made in heaven, but it was a great environment for big, big laughs and discovering the opposite sex!

State of the art word Proccessor

I left the academic world at age fifteen and began the long journey to retail maangement, delivering fridges and all things electrical for Currys and then a forray into Independant retailing for some considerable time, I took a sabatical for a short period and entered the world of Classified advertising. I was responsible for filling  the situations vacant pages in the local free paper and excelled in persuading employers to advertise the job vacancies with the local rag. It didn't last long I got bored and so back to Independant retailing, that was until I took up the role of Sweet Rep selling crisps, confectionary and Pop to businesess across Lancashire. It didn't go well, I spent far too much time getting lost in Lytham and Poulton le Fylde than I did selling sweets and gave it up as a bad job after just a few months.
I did have a very brief forray back into higher education as myself and my good lady took up Spanish lessons at night college, we went twice and concluded time would be better spent playing scrabble and going to Bingo!

Poulton le Fylde

Twelve years ago Argos become my career and has provided me and my family with a lovely home and nice holidays I am very proud of my occupation but when the good Lord called me to explore Ordination training you wont be surprised if I said I was looking for a route that maybe avoided study and learning!
Well that wasn't to be and so enrolled on a church study group called Called to Serve, where I had to listen and learn and read and write! This was new ground for me, but I just about scraped through.

Today as very youthful 43 year old man I am now studying at degree level. I do all the things in the above paragraph, I listen intently as I don't want to miss anything, I write as well as I can but frequently get into a bit of mischief for my 'Prose' but I can live with that. I read books by people with lots of letters after thier names and and can recall famous theologians at will (well almost) I am slowly but surely begining to understand The Bible.

So the message? well I am not sure really but God certainly works in mysterious ways. Until three or four years ago did I ever think I would be training to be Ordained as a man of the cloth. But I suppose there is something about letting go and giving it over to Christ. The above may sound mildy amusing but trust me I have had more chips on my shoulder about education than a Harry Ramsdens deep fat fryer. But now I have brushed them off, secure in the knowledge that by allowing Gods will to happen, I will pass this time of training comfortable in my strengths and honest about my weaknesses and relaxed amongst my academic friends who are following their calling by God just as I am. It also teaches me that setbacks, difficulties can always be overcome if we allow and want it to happen. I trust God to get me through this and by his grace I can be a good example to others who have struggled to live with academia.
Till next time,
God Bless.
Alex the anglican.