Day 1 Continued

Day 1, has, as I said earlier, extended for a whole month, because I have been so busy that I have not had the time (energy?) to record my activities. The biggest task has been doing stuff for Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. Naturally, to have been doing the work I have been doing for the past six and a half years, I had the old qualification (Certificate IV in Workplace Assessment and Training), but to be current everyone has to have the new qualification by the beginning of 2008. The Job Network organisation I worked for offered it to me for free, as long as I slogged away at it by myself – as one would doing it externally – but having considered the material in the light of what I know about my learning style, I chose to pay $2100 to do it in regular sessions, driving to Ballina twice weekly, to interact with people in the learning process. I already knew that the new qualification was a lot more involved than the old one, but, even so, it has taken a lot more of my time than I anticipated. The other major undertaking has been getting two websites up. Neither are there yet, but only because the Hosting organisation that we chose seems to have gone walkabout. I tried to upload the site before Easter. When I couldn’t I emailed the Host organisation and got a reply that they would get back to me within 24 hours. It is now five working days and still counting. I would love to tell you the name of the Host organisation, but, for obvious reasons, I can’t – not here anyway. Anyone wanting to get a website hosted should call me personally and I will tell you who NOT to pick for the job.

Another major task has been spring cleaning the house. Yes, I know, it’s autumn, but, as everyone knows, it’s Easter – well it was at the time – and Easter is a festival of the Spring Equinox, so it must be spring – just like it must be winter at Christmas when we send cards with pictures of snow on them. (There’s probably a PhD that could be written on the psychological effect of living out a northern hemisphere time table in the southern hemisphere.) The house looks squeaky. And there’s a lot less in it now than there was when we started. In Townsville we had to spring clean every year, so vigorous was the mould that grew on the walls of the house. It took us seven years to get around to it here. Not a square centimetre of mould in sight. But lots of fly spots and stuff like that. It was a job that needed doing, but no one else would have known. We’ve had lots of people here since the job was finished. No one has noticed the difference, so we have to enjoy our virtuousness (or is it virtuosity?) in silence.

An unexpected setback, particularly this late in the summer season, was my getting heat rash. I quickly realised that it was probably because the average surface temperature of my body was higher since leaving work than when I spent most of the day in an air conditioned office. If anyone has a cure that doesn’t involve installing an air conditioner in the house I’d like to hear about it. Rolling in a bath tub of ice is also not an option. Fortunately winter is just around the corner and the problem will probably go away.

Deep thoughts about the four courses I hope to run, to fund my retirement, have also been sloshing around at the bottom of the well. For those who don’t know, the courses are: How to get a job you don’t have to hate; Practical Philosophy – why do we believe what we believe and why does it matter?; Practical Mythology – connecting with the whole of what exists; and Plan to live to 100 – without caring whether you do or not. I now have another one to add to that list: Love your enemies. No sub-title needed – though an explanation might help. It’s about the use and abuse of power, and the merits of cooperation and conflict. Conflict? Yes. The popular, or common-coffee-table, understanding of the word Shalom is peace. But it means a great deal more than that. It means the state of mutual accommodation that exists just on the verge of conflict between competing interests. I mention that to illustrate why conflict and cooperation go together in loving one’s enemy. I’ll say more about the other courses in due … well, course – of course.

I have been telling people that my medium term goal is to become accredited as a Registered Training Organisation. I probably shouldn’t have said that. The more I find out about what is involved, the less I like the idea. I know it’s possible, because I know two people who are one-person RTOs. And I know of many others. But as I look into the compliance requirements it is becoming clear to me that I will spend the rest of my life doing paper work instead of facilitating courses.

I guess I had better bring Day 1 to a close. In my next I’ll tell you about the most fabulous theatre experience we had recently.