Rubbish excuses but here's why I've been quiet!

Yes, that is me. I haven't posted in 4 days, which is a lot for me. I've even missed posting the next Life Circle task because I've been so busy. In that time, I have:

- done a fair amount of work;
- agreed some work with a new client;
- attended my second ever governors meeting;
- been to a meeting in Huddersfield (more of which some other time);
- wrangled two children outside school hours;
- and spent most of a day tearing my hair out at my laptop, something I could have done without.

Something has gone on the power supply and it won't charge the battery nor will it just supply power to it, despite it being connected properly. I realised the writing was on the wall for it so I tried to get the important stuff off it and then went out and bought a new one on Saturday. I have got most of it backed up somewhere but there are a few things I'd like to get off to make the transfer smoother and easier. Remembering I have a slightly duff spare battery helped but of course, just as I was trying to copy the last file I needed to transfer to the new one and it died forever didn't it? Grrrrr..... If anyone can think of ways to charge dead batteries without connecting it to the adapter without spending oodles of money, I'd be grateful.

Oh, and I know that I could have just got it fixed but a) I'd have had to wait for that to be done and b) there are other things that are going on it and it's 4 years old, reaching the point at which everything annoys you and I really need a reliable fast PC to work on. I probably will get it fixed so that the children can use it once I've got all I need off it, and hope it doesn't die completely.

So, my day and my evening has been about me downloading all the software I need, installing it all, along with stuff like printers, setting up email accounts and hoping I can remember everything I need off my old machine. Just what I could have done without today, as I had lots of things I needed to get done. Typical.

So, if you came here looking for Life Circle, I am sorry. I need to write the post still and set the next task. Sincerely hoping I get it done for Thursday, but I have a new governor workshop to attend on00 Monday which is possibly going to set me back even further.

Please bear with me, and I promise I'll get myself back to normal soon. In the meantime, pray I can get these last few things off my old machine, OK?

3 Word Gallery

That is the prompt that Tara from Sticky Fingers has set for us this week. It's based on the three word summaries that Simon Mayo asks his listeners to contribute to summarise their day which he then reads out on his Drivetime show on Radio 2. I follow Simon on Twitter and have contributed if I see his tweet. I don't often listen to that particular show; I listen to the Mayo and Kermode Film Review on Friday afternoons as it's the best radio programme on air.

New directions, new start

Photo credit - lusi

I found out on Thursday that I had been elected as a parent governor at school. It feels like an end, but really it is just the beginning of a new phase of my life. 

I hadn't really given being a governor much thought, other than I might find out more about it one day. Then, about a year ago, I had an online conversation with Garry from The Blog Up North. He asked me if I had ever considered becoming a school governor and when I said I didn't really know that much, he told me that he thought I'd make a good school governor. We chatted about the role and what a governor does and I thought it sounded interesting.

Weirdly, the very next day, the school newsletter mentioned there was a vacancy for a parent governor. It was like it was some kind of fate. When they sent out nomination forms, I filled it out, having to write six words about myself. You try; it's almost impossible if you want it to be coherent! I enlisted Garry's help with that bit and we eventually got something together.

When the ballot forms were sent home, reality bit. I looked at the other two candidates and just knew who would win. It wasn't going to be me. I just knew who people would vote for. I was right; the letter came home a day or so after the vote closed to say I hadn't been successful.

Not being successful made me realise that I did want to become a governor at some point, but I couldn't see how it was going to happen. Going through an election is hard work and being a Brit, I can't go round asking people to vote for me. I don't even know if that's allowed!

Fast forward to a few weeks back when they announced that there were two more vacancies for parent governors. I thought about it long and hard. Should I go for it again? How would it look to stand again? Was I standing against any of the existing governors? After thinking about it for a good few days, I decided I would probably never have a better chance, and dusted off my sixty words. I still managed to rehash them ten times before I was happy with it!

This time, there were again three candidates but with there being two vacancies, the chances of success were higher. One of the other candidates was an existing governor who I know reasonably well and is well known around school. Thank goodness everyone could vote for two people!

Thursday was a long wait. The vote closed at lunchtime and I expected a letter to inform me of the result that afternoon as school was closing for half term. Of course, they put the letter in Missy Woo's bag, not Monkey's like they usually do so for a while, I thought that I would have to wait until March to find out. But there it was.

So, I'm a governor now. Right now, it doesn't feel any different - apart from being thrilled that I was elected and that I made the right decision to go for it. Right now, I know very little about the work of a governor other than in general terms, and I know I have a lot to learn. I also know I can learn and that I will try to do my very best to do the job well and give back to the school. It might be sometime before I have a meeting and, being half term, there's not a lot going on anyway, so it doesn't feel that real either.

It is a new direction for me. It is the start of something new. It may not be a paid job, but it's an important one and I hope to put in as much as I get out of it. I'm quite looking forward to the challenge, because I like challenges. I hope I can rise to it.

Thanks for those of you that supported me over the week of the election and sent me congratulations and good wishes on Thursday. 


And finally, a huge thank you to Garry, for igniting the initial spark of interest within me about becoming a school governor, for being my cheerleader, for giving his time and advice freely and offering his support and belief in me. If I can be half as good a governor as you are, I'll be doing alright. I hope I can repay the faith you had in me by doing the job (and the school) justice. Thank you.