The Adventures of Dysfunctional Dan

Twenty years ago today, on the 11th September 2001, four US passenger jets were seized by suicide attackers. Two were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, another crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back. Just under three thousand people were killed. I have no direct connection to the event but in a way it still changed my life.  I was nine at the time and had had an ordinary, forgettable day at school. It was the lollipop man that safely guided us across the road twice a day that asked my Dad if he had seen what had happened. Whilst the internet very much existed, this was before the time when you were constantly connected to the world and no-one I knew had a smartphone. My Dad had been working and hadn't switched on the TV, which was the main source of news in those days.  We arrived home and someone switched on the TV. We'd always watched children's TV for a while before dinner tim...

I always get so much benefit from spending time in nature and every so often something truly magical happens... It was a Sunday morning and I'd arranged to meet my parents after they'd finished what they were doing in Christchurch by late morning. It suddenly occurred to me that we would be meeting quite close to one of my favourite nature reserves, a place called Stanpit Marsh, and the timing meant I could easily have a few hours wandering around there before the meet.  I was up and out the house unusually early for the school holidays and found myself parked up with my shiny new walking boots adorning my feet. Off I went and shortly after I began walking the sun broke through the clouds, which was much needed after a gloomy week.  Butterflies and bees flew between flowers in the hedgerows as I headed to the entrance of the nature reserve. Many people overlook the smaller side of nature but I have a special fascination with invertebrates. You only have to stop and look a sunn...

This time last year I stole the format of one of my favourite podcasts to be used as a blog post . Each week on 'Films to Be Buried With' host Brett Goldstein tells a guest they've died and then gets them to talk about their life in film. Since then Brett has added a new format that allows him to have returning guests subtitled 'The Resurrection' and so this week I'm stealing the new format!  You died by tripping over an uneven paving slab, falling into the road and getting hit by a lorry but good news, you've been brought back to life! Excellent. I've had a very busy year given I've been dead all this time! Everyone wants to know all about your life but they want to know about your life through film. What was the last film you saw? At the time of writing that was French lesbian drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire . I'm going through a phase of more arty films right now and this critically-acclaimed film was one of them. It's so brilliantly well...

Scars- we all have them. There's nothing metaphorical going on here, I'm literally talking about scars, i.e. a mark on the body where a wound has not healed completely and fibrous connective tissue has developed. With every scar telling a story, I thought today I would take you on a journey through time and my scars- a sort of scar trek if you will. (I am not saying I have written that post entirely because of that pun I'm very pleased with but must admit that it played a significant factor.) Most people don't realise that I actually have quite a decent scar on my face and that's because it's hidden under my left eyebrow. It's not that difficult to find though and would be very obvious if I were to shave my eyebrow off. This occurred when I was round about three years old and was having an excellent time using my Mum and Dad's bed as a trampoline. Somewhat inevitably after a little while this went wrong and I ended up falling off the bed, catching my hea...

The summer holidays are underway after what felt like a very long academic year. It was hugely challenging in numerous ways from staff changes to the ever pesky pandemic. Despite this I have found this academic year hugely fulfilling, enjoying working in a team that have really gelled together well and seeing the incredible progress our students have made. I feel quite proud to say that other than two days where we all had to isolate, I managed to be at work every single day of the academic year, through two lockdowns. I'd like to think that this is the last academic year of covid-related chaos but with the way things are, it seems likely we will have a third. Even so, after a rest I am looking forward to what the next academic year will bring. I mentioned a short period of isolation- this happened a couple of weeks back when our class had to close and both staff and students had to isolate whilst we waited for the result of a PCR test. I'd actually been quite up for a period o...

I've written fairly extensively about having dyspraxia here and the way it affects me in my adult life. I don't really think of dyspraxia that much on a day to day basis. I've come up with solutions to most challenges I face on a regular basis and have ways of going about things that work for me.  My colleagues found it amusing as I explained that I use the same space at every place I need to park at. I recognise that this is perhaps not normal practice and share some of the amusement but it works for me- I feel far more confident at parking and leaving the space if it's one I've practiced at and beside, this method means I always know where my car is. The flaw is of course that it relies on the space being empty and a wave of anxiety does wash over me if one some stranger has dared to park in the space I lay personal claim to.  Whilst I do have my own tactics for getting through everyday life every now and then a new challenge comes along. Usually these arrive comp...

Until this weekend I had a certain level of sympathy for Matt Hancock. Generally the UK's Health Secretary isn't really in the public eye in the same way as some of the other members of the cabinet but only a few months into his tenure and he had to deal with a global pandemic. There never seemed to be a moment when he looked like he knew what he was doing and he couldn't cope with being interviewed on camera at all, always appearing like his programming still had some serious bugs. There was the moment he attempted to cry on camera which was unconvincing to say the least and the bizarre moment he talked to a Sky News journalist and then suddenly jogged away down the street. Even Boris Johnson called him 'fucking hopeless'. As much as I was continually frustrated about the decisions the government made I'd felt that Hancock was just a decent man (or possibly android) attempting to do his best in a difficult situation.  But no, Hancock turned out to be a massive ...