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Still in VT!

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Yes, we are STILL in Veliko Tarnovo. It is now the 20th of March and I am wondering if we will go back to Daveri in April. Or maybe May. The other week we had a good walk with the VT Walkers, so I am including a few photos. It was great to be able to offer them some hospitality in our apartment when we did a walk around VT. Bad news. Ira has some serious problems with her teeth (or rather the lack of them). She has had quite a few X-rays and they have made her feel rather ill. She needs quite a lot of work done to repair all of the damage to her teeth, so maybe she will have some implants. More bad news. The car sounds more like an old tractor and I am planning to take it to Stanislav on Thursday. Adrian reckons that Stanislav is the man. We shall see! Although I would like to keep that old X-Trail on the road a bit longer, I might not have any choice and so I could have to get rid of it and buy another car. As for my pension arrangements, I filled in the S1 form and the pension ap...
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Spring is here!

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Yesterday we went for yet another lovely walk, one that Peter has never done. Here is Assenova, our particular district of Veliko Tarnovo, we do have some beautiful countryside very close to us. The sun was shining in a blue sky and it was gloriously warm. I even saw a butterfly. Tina enjoyed herself, that naughty little fat doggie. The day before was not so enjoyable. First I went to one of those exhaust garages, the ones that mostly repair and replace knackered exhaust systems on cars, and they said that they really could not find anything wrong with the exhaust. Well, they lifted the car right off the ground, so I was able to see for myself. Anyway, if it is not the exhaust that is making the noise, then I suppose that it really must be the engine. Bad news. More bad news awaited me when I arrived at the hospital. Our GP, Doctor Ivanov, said that we really ought to have some tests and so we had a blood test and various things monitored our hearts. The results? Well, generally we...
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Winter is here!

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The weather has been decidedly wintry for the last few days. We had a fair bit of snow and some of it has not melted, as the temperatures have been so low. Happy anniversary, Mr Putin! Three years of war, destruction, death, mutilation, wives becoming widows and children losing their fathers. What a bastard! What a scumbag! It made me so angry when Trump said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was really Ukraine’s own fault, just as Hitler tried to say that it was all the fault of Poland. (The Nazis arranged a number of "false flag" operations, so that they could have excuses for their aggression and their attacks on Poland and other European countries.)  The good news is that the Americans are gradually learning what a piece of filth Trump really is. Elon Musk is even worse. The mid-term elections are not so very far away and a lot of Republican senators and congressmen are going to face re-election. It should be interesting. As for Europe, my guess is that many countries ...
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Another reply from Markoi

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Simon! I was just getting ready to reply to your most recent missive when, in my search for it, this email with an interview of you popped up.  For some reason, I hadn't seen this, and so missed hearing you and your wife's dulcet tones (admittedly mostly drowned out by the commentator talking in Bulgarian) extolling the virtues of Bulgaria, particularly vs the overcrowded little island that is Britain. On the subject of how little Britain is, I am reminded that it is impossible to locate yourself anywhere in Britain more than 75 miles from the sea. Sobering when you think about it.  Loved the interview, loved hearing your voice, loved seeing your adorable pad in the Bulgarian countryside, loved the views. And burst out laughing at your Grand Prix driving skills as exhibited on your lawnmower. Delightful. I will revert to you in reply to your more recent emails.  Cheers, Markoi And here is my reply to Markoi's email. My Dearest Markoi,   Monday, 10th Februar...
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Another letter to Markoi

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Dear Markoi,                     Imagine my disappointment when I get a message from Malcolm Cooper, aka the Gibbon or the Capon, telling me that you are in fact still alive. As you can probably imagine, it really spoiled my day to receive this news. Well, maybe they have not put out all of the fires yet, so there is still hope! Of course, you are absolutely useless at replying to emails, so I am not surprised that I did not receive a reply to my last missive. In fact, it rather encouraged me to hope that you might perhaps have been burned to death, but now I have accepted the unpleasant fact that probably are still alive. You might be surprised when I tell you that Bulgaria used to be cheap. That was one of the reasons that we decided to retire here. The bad news is that Bulgaria is becoming more expensive. A lot of people say that this is some sort of preparation for joining the Euro. Perhaps you, like me, are just old enough to r...
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Creative Schools? Part 2

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The creeping standardization and privatization of education in the UK is coming about because companies are taking over the running of more and more schools. Of course, there are "economies of scale" if a larger organization is involved. Everything is easier and cheaper if all of the schools (and all of the teachers) follow the same plans and codes of practice. Instead of expensive textbo oks, everything is projected onto the whiteboard. Men in suits double-check that everyone sticks to the company's policies. Gordon Beningfield was a famous artist. His beautiful drawings and paintings of the English countryside were reproduced in a series of books. Beningfield's Butterflies , Hardy Count ry,   The Downland Shepherds  and quite a few other books were very popular, especially in Japan, of all places. So what has all of this to do with creative schools? That is a very good question. When he was a boy, the headteacher of his school called him into his office and said to ...
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Creative Schools? Part 1

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What a lot of nonsense and hot air! Assuming that they are not all replaced by robots in the near future, what schools really need are good teachers. How can teaching become a more attractive profession for talented young people? Does Ken Robinson say anything about this in his book? No? I thought not. In the UK, a significant number of teachers prefer to teach in private schools, as the salaries and the working conditions are often better. So what does Ken Robinson suggest? Close down all of the private schools? All schools, state and private, need to consider how to hang on to their brightest and best teachers. And how can we celebrate good practice, so that more lessons are engaging, effective and fun?  Everyone knows that OFSTED stands for Overpaid F*****s Shafting Teachers Every Day. When a school has an OFSTED inspection, it is often incredibly stressful for the teaching staff and it involves a lot of extra work, usually unpaid. An OFSTED inspection certainly does not encoura...
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