The Adventures of Dysfunctional Dan

In which I reflect on things... Hello, I hope you are well. October half term has arrived and I'm excited to have my first proper Autumnal holiday in my flat. I often find that the start of the holidays for me are a time I can slow down and reflect on things so that's really what this post is about- abstraction is the "state of being lost in thought" This time last year I had the dreaded Covid a year on I can reflect that it was one of the very worst weeks of my life. It definitely changed me in some ways, not least with the fact I haven't spent a day just sat in my flat since because I can't face that cabin fever ever again. I've also tried to avoid the isolation I left and have reconnected with old friends and regularly attended social events in a way I haven't done many years.  I'm somehow already 25% of the way through my teaching course. Whilst I'm still ultra-cautious about what lies ahead, I'm amazed at just how brilliantly things ha...

In which I have a dyspraxic discussion... Today marks the start of Dyspraxia Awareness Week 2022, a week dedicated to raising awareness of the condition I and millions of others have. Whilst most neurodivergent conditions have an awareness week it feels like this one is especially important. There's still plenty of work to be done but conditions like autism, ADHD and dyslexia are now pretty well known to the general public and even more so to those working in education. But dyspraxia has been somewhat left behind and to many remains an unknown condition.  I've discussed dyspraxia quite a bit here in the past but a quick recap feels important. Dyspraxia has been historically known as 'clumsy child syndrome' though that's not a very useful or accurate name. Essentially it is a condition which affects how a brain processes information and this is often visible in the way it affects both fine motor skills (like using a pen or sewing) and gross motor skills (like catchin...

In which I reflect on the death of the Queen... Queen Elizabeth II died this week. In principle, I would say that I am not in favour of a monarchy. It's archaic, a waste of taxpayer's money and tied in with centuries of bloodshed. I've never had much of a strong feeling about this though and I think that's mainly because the Queen was just so fantastic at her job.  It says a lot that just days before she died Her Majesty met new Prime Minister Liz Truss. Truss was, just, the fifteenth Prime Minister of the Queen's reign- she started with Churchill, Eden and Macmillan and ended with May, Johnson and Truss; it's difficult not to think that the standard of PM has declined significantly during her reign. The point is though the Queen was so dedicated to her role even in her later life when I suspect most people would have grown tired of saying "and what do you do?" and being part of the same ceremonies year after year. The moment where I really thought ...

In which I discuss a new green goal... Last week I talked about my turning vegetarian. A week on and it seems to be going well. Physically I actually seem to be feeling better than I have for a long time. This may be because I am eating more healthily in general but the most significant change has been cutting out meat and it seems to be doing me wonders.  Becoming a vegetarian is actually just part of my plans to be more eco-conscious. As I have said, I probably already do a lot more than most people but I'm still being much more wasteful than I could and probably should be. I have therefore set myself the goal of getting as close to producing zero waste as possible. The idea is to get to a point where my rubbish bin is empty and I don't send anything to landfill. In all likelihood there will probably always be some rubbish but I am pretty sure I can reduce it significantly. Since living in my flat I generally fill my wheelie bin about three quarters full by the time it is emp...

In which I make a lifestyle change... Summer 2022. I walk past the local park, a slice of British recreation ground that currently looks like it is auditioning for the Australian Outback. Everywhere is dusty and brown rather than the vibrant green it should be at this time of year. I cross over the river and note that I've never seen it with so little water in. Every now and then there'd be a plume of smoke in the distance as another local heathland caught fire in the tinder dry conditions.  This summer has been unlike any I've ever experienced. In the UK you expect it to be raining constantly but here at least we went over two months where no recordable rain fell. 2018 was one of the hottest summers ever and it's thought that the chances of the UK experiencing a summer as hot or even hotter than 2018 is now one in ten. Due to the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that's about thirty times more likely than it was before the industrial revolution. Some scena...

In which I consider how to move forward... This week I had a free day and found myself heading for a day trip to the university city of Oxford. I concluded that it's my sort of place with overheard conversations being especially high-brow what with discussions on molecular physics and a tour guide discussing the connection between Edmund Halley and 'Captain' James Cook (though I did have to restrain myself from correcting the aforementioned guide for his information wasn't very accurate- I should know given my committed impersonation of Cook in a Wiltshire school in 2011).  The only place in the city I'd been before was the Pitt Rivers Museum, which is unusual as it displays it's huge collection of anthropological artefacts from around the world by type. This means you get display cases full of musical instruments, or looms or anything you can think of. It's a remarkable place that was easily worth a repeat visit given you could probably go a hundred times a...

In which I discuss by ongoing self-confidence struggles... Self-confidence. Confidence comes from the Latin  fidere  which means 'to trust' so self-confidence is to trust yourself. Some people seem to find this really easy but it's not something that comes easily to me.  I was getting ready for a party recently when I had a complete crisis in body image. For a moment I looked at the person in the mirror and thought that there was no way I could make it presentable and considered whether I should just give up and stay home.  Fortunately I managed to force myself past this moment but it's occurred to me since then that barely a day goes by where I don't despair at some aspect of my appearance. Body image in women is a subject that is rightly discussed quite a lot but it's not something that is discussed anywhere near as much for men. Research by the Mental Health Foundation found that 28% of men over the age of 18 have felt anxious because of body image issues. I ...