31st International Tina Day

While we're still in the prettiest month of the year, I thought I should tell you about the prettiest day of the year - 22nd July.

As I mentioned before, I went to Dublin. But first of all I got to go to the Transport Museum with John and Kiera. Karen and David came too. They won't mind me saying they're less exciting than John and Kiera. John was hilarious, he was in wide eyed wonderment looking at all the trains, buses and cars. And he even had a new mode of transport to learn - the tram. It's tricky to learn the difference between a tram and a bus when you're only two. Kiera was as smiley as she ever is. She likes being wherever her people are.

After the afternoon there, it was straight to pick up Karen and Lynsey and head to Dublin. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there's no finer place to bypass than Newry. I love that road, you don't even have to set eyes on Newry!

After arriving at Chez Jools (and it should be pointed out his directions were tip top) we headed into the city to get dinner and maybe a few cocktails. 

Oh we do like a laugh.

The next morning we were up and at 'em. Well not quite. We headed back into to wander, eat and be cultured and I think all three aims were successful for we wandered, ate and became more cultured. 

Eating at stop 1 and who should be beside us. Only Lloyd Langford. What?! He's a stand up comedian! I've seen him on the television and everything. You can go here for a You Tube video of him (I can't embed it). He might have seen me take a photo of him. Oopsy. I'm not a very subtle person.

You can just breathe in Dublin and get some culture. Or look at these folks who were filming some sort of music video while pretending to play their instruments.

Some wandering required a pit stop in the park.

Lloyd Langford was in town for the Comedy Festival. We got tickets for Whose Line Is is Anyway? with Steve Frost, Phil Juiptus and Josie 'the legend' Lawrence. My cheeks hurt from laughing.

Afterwards we all went for dinner. Our table was bigger than this photo would make it seem.

So after that, it was time to return north so Karen could work the next day! But suffice to say the 31st International Tina Day was fantastic. 

Yet more exam answers

You'll not be surprised to hear that once again this year there were some cracker exam answers. Honestly, if you've never done exam marking it's hard to explain the joy, the laughter and pure frustration in getting answers like these.

Just plain wrong

Wronger than a wrong thing that's got a special reason to be wrong.

Nationalists grew to like internment.

No, no, they didn't.

By signing the Anglo-German Naval Agreement GB  allowed Germany to build up its ships to 35% of theirs. That's how they invaded Poland.

Oh you were doing so well. It was the second sentence that let you down, incase you're interested.

Hitler used his televised speeches to condemn the Weimar government and spread his actions.

Right, your general overview of history is poor. And 'spread his actions'? Actions are not like Nutella. You knew that, right?

Nationalists were angry that the first unionists were not imprisoned until February 1934.

I would have thought they were having too much fun in their time travel machine to be angry.

Civil rights protesters had placards which read 'houses in need' and sang songs like 'We shall not overcome'.

Hardly the right attitude to protest with.

There was a naval base where ships could leave or enter Omagh.

I am going to make it my life's mission to educate students that the counties of Fermanagh and Tyrone are land locked.

Eire did not undergo blackouts. This worried Britain and NI as it meant that Luftwaffe were able to see the position of Belfast and London in relation to neutral Eire.

Bit of a stretch, that.

Collective responsibility is a long time ago convention that means that everything that happens in parliament stays in parliament.

No, see what you're doing there is confusing Parliament and Vegas. And parliament and cabinet for that matter.

Think it through

Double dare you.

Chamberlain asked Hitler twice if he could help Britain out in return for NI.

Right, so let's think about that one again. 'Hitler, help us fight the war against Hitler's Germany...' Yes, see what you did there?

British RAF pilots knew the land they were flying over better than the Luftwaffe pilots so they could take advantage of the airspace.

Right, so land, air, land, air. One you can walk on, one you fly through.

Stresemann had to face difficult problems when Wilhelm formed a new government and made him the Kaiser.

Right, so remember World War One, Germany lost, the Kaiser ran away? NEW government, you said it yourself.

Direct rule meant that the Irish government was taken over and everything was handled by the British government.

Right, so remember 1922, the Free State, 1947 and independence? This all could have been sorted with one word: Northern. It's not what you wrote though, is it?

Violence increased in the summer of 1969 because this is when Britain wanted to unite with NI.

Right, so remember 1922 and NI stayed part of the UK? And the war when NI fought with Britain? Now, put all that together and tell me about 1969 again.

Facebook status syndrome

This is on the rise. I blame the Social Network.

Although people knew how to 'play the stock market' most people where normal Americans who had not got a clue.

You know, they're not the only ones who don't have a clue.

The Provisional IRA was born in December. They believed that violence was the answer to all NI's problems but they hadn't noticed they were actually making it worse.

Well with them being but an infant...

What they believed was wrong and they were blitzed by German planes.

Ah yes, to blitz. I was blitzed, you were blitzed, he was blitzed, we were blitzed, they were blitzed.

Hitler built the western wall around the Rhine to ensure it was never invaded and afterwards stated 'He who dares, wins'.

Rodders.

The Lib Dems practically threw their manifesto out the window to remain in power with the Cons.

Ah the old out the window trick, it's very common in politics.

After the hyperinflation Germany's currency was messed up.

Like, so messed up?

Unionists and nationalists didn't like direct rule because they wanted NI to be its own boss, they thought that it was stupid being ruled by another country.

I think you forgot to write 'lol' at the end of that.

The age of the understatement

Like the last shadow puppets.

Hindenberg appointed Hitler as Chancellor in 1933. Some may say it was a bad decision.

Some? Really? You're trying to sit on the fence with that one?

To be imprisoned for standing for your beliefs is unacceptable in a nationalist view.

Just out of interest, who views it as acceptable?

Dear Examiner

Alas, not actual letters, but there was an increased fear that I wouldn't be able to work out how an answer booklet works. Let me tell you, dear candidate, I didn't get to my lofty position of marking your exam paper without having to turn a page or two. 

Here are just some examples.

France? And then what? Don't leave me hanging. Oh wait, this helpful arrow tells me to continue on the opposite page. Phew.

Stresemann? What about him. Oh thank goodness. Now I know that I did indeed need to read what I just read. One continuous sentence you say?!

Well thank goodness you told me. I thought you were done.

Very polite. But I am not an idiot.

You know, the writing on the opposite page was enough to tell me to look over there. I didn't need this arrow, nor did I need it circled. But thanks.

Call that an arrow? Sure I'd hardly notice that.

Good to know. You spell it 'writing' by the way.

No, you're (w)right, you have nothing to apologise for.

Like I might have mentioned before, exam marking is stressful, boring, and pushes you to the edge in ways you thought not possible.

Well there I go again

You thought you had me and then I disappear again. I didn't even make it here for the 31st International Tina Day. Eek.

I have been meaning to blog, about loads of things actually. And look, now it's CHW week and I haven't. So I'm going to attempt to write a few posts for while I'm away and at the very least get my July blog count upped past one, which, I think anyone would agree, is piss poor.

This past week I travelled was in Dublin. I haven't been in Dublin, like proper Dublin (not counting airports and concert venues) for about 18 months. This week I spent 4 days out of 7 there.

Trip one was for my birthday. I had the super idea after meeting Jools in the airport at Christmas to spend my birthday at his house. Why? Well, birthday roadtrip? I love a roadtrip, I love my birthday! Notch up another location for ITD? I love new locations for ITD! Have super fun with friends? I love having super fun with friends. Win. Win. Win.

Trips two and three were for meetings. They're not wildly exciting for blogging. For the first one I got the train down. Like Julia Roberts would say, big mistake, huge. My two hour meeting took 12 hours of my day. Mostly because it took two and half hours to get home from Lisburn. Got to love Translink.

Aside from delays, it was a hateful journey home for another reason. Mostly because of the man sitting beside me. On the way down I had a smoker sitting opposite me. Bad. The way back was much worse. In fact, I was moved to writing this letter to the man. I didn't actually give it to him, but he might have seen my phone screen at one point. Oopsy.

Dear man sitting next to me on the 16.50 Enterprise from Dublin whose leg has been annoying me for the past hour,

You haven't travelled on public transport much, have you? I have some experience so let me pass on some of my knowledge: if you were to move your bag to the overhead shelf you'd be able to move you leg away from mine. This would also solve the problem of your foot being practically on top of my handbag.

No offense like, but, you see, I'd prefer if our legs weren't touching. I don't know you and I'm a personal bubble kinda gal with new people.

Every time I move away from you, you then take that as as invitation to fill the gap. In a while I'll be stuck to the window like Spidy himself. I wouldn't even mind your complete dominance of the arm rest if you could just ensure our thighs were independent from one another.

Kind regards and happy future travelling,
Tina

Touching, touching. I can get mad because you're touching.

How long have I been away?

I thought it was only a couple of weeks but I came back on here tonight (at Jud's insistence, poor girl is in Ibiza with nothing to do but to read my blog apparently) and Blogger is all different. Honestly six years on here and it's hardly changed but tonight when I came on...bam! I didn't know what I was looking at. I couldn't find my dashboard, when I found that I couldn't see where to press to get a new blog. Heck, I even had to pause the DVD so I could concentrate on it. Even now I'm sitting open mouthed at the changes. Sorry if you don't blog and this means nothing to you, but it really is different. I feel like an emigrant arriving back to the old country to find there's a motorway through your father's farmland. It's the same, but it's so not the same.

Anyway, yes three weeks I've been away and 'where have you been?' I hear you cry. Well let me tell you:
1. I marked exam papers.
2. I went to Wimbledon. Yes again! I know!
3. I marked more exam papers.
4. I graduated.
5. I marked even more exam papers.
6. I met up with Clare and the girls from Singapore. Not in Singapore you understand.
7. I marked yet more exam papers.
8. I watched The Kennedys.
9. Yes, you guessed it, I marked more bloody exam papers.
10. I got sucked in and watched some golf. What the what?!

So I think we can skip on past the dullness that is exam papers, until the now annual exam answers post. And Wimbledon will probably be a post on its own, so we'll start at point 4, graduating.

Graduation
Good times. It seems a lifetime ago I graduated with my undergrad and as Queen's robbed us of a graduation for our PGCE, so I enjoyed this one. It was nice to see the girls who were on the course with me, especially after the lonely year of dissertation writing. James Nesbitt was the honourary grad at my BA and it's good to see he's traded that in to become Chancellor of the University now. I, along with every other graduate, got to shake his hand as we walked in front of the stage. After the Arts PhDs, I was the sixth person and I desperately thought of something witty to say in my 0.5 seconds, but instead settled for 'Thank you. Thank you very much' which might have made me sound a bit Elvis. Excellent.

We had front row seats, it gave an opportunity to take a few surreptitious photos. Yes, I'm sure Jimmy didn't notice me at all. 

At the end of the ceremony, we got our Bucks Fizz and so happened to be at the door where our dear Chancellor emerged. To scared to ask for a photo, we (oh yes, more than just me) settled for this instead.

That's me and my friend Jimmy there. He just had to step away for a minute.

Our honorary grad was the Director of Amnesty International UK, Kate Allen and the actress Susan Lynch. Kate Allen made a very nice speech and was clearly there to please the academics, Susan Lynch...well she said thank you and that was about it. Awkward. (Turns out Susan Lynch plays James Nesbitt's wife in Monroe. Wonder who suggested her for this award then?)

A big change I noticed since undergrad was in the hat throwing rules. I think it was the first or second year of the hats when I graduated first time, and it was forbidden to do any sort of American movie style throwing of the hats. Not now. In fact I saw one official photographer expressly ask for it from a group of graduates. If you can't bet 'em, join 'em eh?!

Getting ready for the catch, my face isn't as carefree as it should be.

Clare and the girls
They're getting so big now (I'm talking about the girls here). Fionn is 6! Caoimhe is 8! Clare is much the same I suppose. We went to Carrick Castle and they loved it (again the girls, Clare could probably take or leave it, like most of us I imagine. Makes me miss them. Especially as Fionn as absolutely no memory of me ever being in Singapore. Not even for the return trip in 2009. Sad face.

[At this point I'd put a picture of us, but I haven't imported the photos yet and my camera is all the way upstairs.]

The Kennedys
I had this on Sky+ for ages but hadn't watched it. Then our Sky+ started to die a slow painful death, you know the kind that's hard to watch (believe it or not, no pun intended). But you know what I mean, I was forced to watch them all this week, box set style, in that I nearly ODed on them. If you haven't seen it, I wouldn't bother. It's not brilliant. I can't really put my finger on why; Greg Kinnear is decent, maybe labours the MA 'cah pahk' accent, Katie Holmes is nearly convincing as Jackie, Bobby kind of emerges as the star of it, albeit with some remarkable teeth. So all that considered, it must be the script, it's just a bit...well fake. No wonder the US History channel dropped it.

With our Sky+ dying we're upgrading to HD. We don't have an HD TV but never let that stop you in upgrading to something you don't really need. True to form Sky offered us an engineer a matter of weeks after we phoned up, so in the meantime we've a Sky+ box that only sometimes records programmes set, won't pause or rewind live TV and won't work on half the channels. Good, good. Oh and we daren't turn it off for fear we'd lose even that.

Golf
I'm sorry, I don't know how this happened. I don't even really understand the rules of golf. Well, yes, less hits the better but somehow I've been drawn into it even though I don't even consider a sport. Conclusive proof of this came today when Darren Clarke, leader of the Open, on his third round was caught on camera having a smoke. I'm sorry, any sport where it's acceptable for the leader to be having a smoke part way through is not a sport. Sports need to be physical, get your heart racing a bit (not through nicotine intake) and some degree of physical fitness. They don't even carry they're own bags for pity's sake! That said, something about it has had me watch about eight hours of it today and yesterday. I blame Rory.