Unheroic

I have just had a glass of cognac to round off the weekend but am feeling distinctly unheroic.

I decided not to stand as a candidate in the local borough elections in May this year. I took advice from Best Beloved and close friends before deciding it wasn't for me. I am still thinking about county council elections in 2009 but maybe the same reasons will dissuade me then as did this time. I have a splurge personality and can throw myself into an endeavour with a will and a real fervour. I believe I could have managed the elections but then would have found holding the post difficult. I like theatrical works because they are always of a limited duration. People who don't know me see me as extrovert. However those who know me well know that I am an introvert and that I act as a means of disguising this fact. The social aspects of being a councillor would have eventually worn me down. I think I could have coped with the paperwork and reading, the committee meetings and the full council. I am not sure I would have liked the political infighting as I am not particularly thick skinned just thick! The worst aspect, however, was the imposition of a new structure of time. I am coming round to the idea of a February winter sun break, a holiday in June and another one in September, especially if these are in term time, away from families and children. Being a councillor would mean being restricted to the recess month of August. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, didn't like it that much and don't want to go there again.

I am also interested in doing an M.A. in Theatre. Portsmouth University do one but I am not sure that my second class Bachelor of Education (Hons) is a good enough entry level. I am quite proud of my degree. I went to College in the late sixties when the degree courses were just starting to be offered for teachers. At the time I didn't want to put in the extra year of study and settled for a Certificate of Education with Distinction. Looking back and knowing what i know now I would probably stay on for that degree. Instead I waited until I had been teaching for about seven years and had two daughters before signing up for a three year part time degree course at was then Bishop Otter College, Chichester. Boy, was that a tough three years but I ended up with a second class Honours degree and two toddlers. I don't know whether I have the academic cojones to do it but next Tuesday i am going to the Postgraduate Open Day and finding out.

My second hope is that I can, with the help of my mate, David, get a local touring theatre company launched. A friend, Tim Taylor, runs the cloak and dagger murder mystery company and I'd like to run a similar troupe doing theatrical things. I am already talking to Herself about doing a Conor Macpherson monologue, which would come neatly under the auspices of our touring theatre company.

Okay I began this posting feeling unheroic but I seem to have a bit of a plan coming along - a cunning plan in fact. Pass the cognac.