I had a Toyota Avensis a few years back and I always had great time for the brand. I believed the ‘best built cars in the world’ tag.

That was until I had braking problems with the Avensis.

Nine times out of ten everything was fine but it was the one time out of ten when things got a little bit hairy.

My problem was always at a reasonable speed. I’d be coming up to a turn or a top and I’d happily press my brakes but the car would keep going as if it was sliding on a gravel surface …. speed was not a factor.

I went to my Toyota dealer …. ABS braking they said kicking in …. a system that took me further than I wanted to go? Not a hope …. I was told that there was nothing wrong with the car …. ’twas my imagination.

Try blaming imagination when the car is sliding its way towards the back of another! I lost total confidence in the car and was only too glad to change it …. and change it I did … a lot sooner than I’d have expected to.

Up until then I had owned two Carinas and that one Avensis.

I changed makes totally …. I’ll never again buy a Toyota.

With all this negative publicity I feel my braking complaint those few years ago has been vindicated.

For the record it’s: receive

The rule ‘ i before e except after c ‘ would cover it me thinks!

When you get an email from your bank asking you if you recieved their request for your login details be afraid … be very afraid!

I know I said I wouldn’t comment on mail received in school to date but I can’t let this one go.

An enterprising person in the wee county of Donegal mailshot the school with an ‘amazing mini-laptop offer’ …. buy 10 mini-laptops at €199.00 each and get another one free for your school!

Sounds great doesn’t it? It would be if the laptop wasn’t available from his supplier at $99.00 (approx. €78.00) …. that a rip-off profit of approximately €121.00 per mini-laptop. (I know the argument of importation, V.A.T. etc. can be argued but more than double the price …. come off it!). Buy 10 laptops … you pay €1,990.00 and the intermediary pockets approx. €1210.00 ….. nice work if you can get it!)

The specs are quite basic …. well of course they are …. they are mini-laptops I hear you say ….. but other than basic word processing and basic internet access and minimal storage they aren’t much use for anything else. Forget your foray into web design, high graphic dependent presentations etc.

No doubt some poor sucker of a school will invest or get their parents to invest …. sure they’ll be ignorantly happy and your man in wee Donegal will be quite happy to part with one laptop in eleven as he skips along quite happily to the bank!

And another thing …. I can forgive the mis-spelling on the Chinese manufacturer’s website but the mis-spelling in your man from wee Donegal’s website is unforgivable. ‘Receive’ is how you spell receive. The site itself is badly ‘finished’ ….. and ‘badly punctuated’ …. pity he/she copied some of his text/content/images from his Chinese supplier.

Now your man from Donegal may be a nice guy/gal but schools are going to be codded by the high price for a machine that will do the very minimum for them.

What’s that they say? Caveat Emptor!

George Bush has some cheek to come out telling people that things will be ok.

Things would have been ok if he’d minded his own business and stayed out of Iraq et. al and stopped interfering in the affairs of the world.

Who made America the minders of the world?

‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone’ comes to mind. Sort out your own country first George. Destroy your nuclear armaments first George.

Get off our backs George. You’ve turned the world into shit.

I hope to God that McCain doesn’t get elected. If he does the world is fucked. He’s a worse war monger than George.

Thankfully it has never been my desire to visit America and it still isn’t!

A Tesco customer is being sued by a delivery driver who claims he injured his ankle on the man’s driveway while delivering his groceries.

The customer remembered the incident as being ‘insignificant’ and that the delivery driver at the time made little of it.

Tesco, it appears doen’t support it driver’s action.

The world is indeed fucked up.

This time their focus is on screwing the elderly.

Prime Time highlighted the abuse of our elderly citizens by banks tonight.

Permanent TSB came across as being blatant liars.

Have a look at the broadcast and judge for yourselves.

Short answer to a long explanation ….. ‘cos Microsoft Education Ireland shafted me, my pupils and my school!

I genuinely want to advance I.T. in my school. I don’t want to do the usual stuff with the pupils.

I wanted them to get really hands on with I.T. …. develop an interactive education, perhaps have them involved in coding, …. whatever …. just as long as it linked in with the curriculum and was planned!

I contacted Microsoft Education for help/advice etc. (I didn’t look for soft money).

A year of promised visits never materialised.

I had told the pupils that Microsoft’ were visiting ….. then I had to tell them they weren’t!

Up until that moment I had every confidence in Microsoft and in my naivety expected Microsoft Education to have the answers to my questions.

I reckon we were one of the first schools in Ireland to have all our Windows operating systems and Office products fully licensed/legal.

I didn’t screw Microsoft ….. I made sure that the school didn’t screw Microsoft …..

Now I use Open Office with the pupils in the school and I have directed them towards the free alternatives that are available.

I promote Firefox …. not Internet Explorer.

I hate companies that believe their own PR and are doing nothing ‘real’ on the ground.

Another self clapping on the back IT business group in the south was approached by me also …. I needed advice on where I could take the school website … advice not a handout.

Help was promised …. again, it never materialised. I ended up revamping the school site the hard way …. I did it myself.

The one thing I’ve learned over 20 years of teaching and 40 years of life …… asking for help from people who have another agenda is a waste of time.

My only agenda when I ever ask for help in my school is to make education better for the pupils in my care.

I’ve never hesitated to ask for school.

I’ve even sold tickets door to door for my school.

I asked a friend of mine to sponsor a laptop for my school …. he did … and for that I’m grateful. It was hard for me to ask for that but the pupils use it daily so it was worth the asking.

I see the larger schools buying multiple interactive whiteboard at €5,000 each. I could open the world to my pupils and my teaching if we had one but we can’t afford it.

I.C.T. is mentioned in every curriculum document that we have … and is promoted as a tool but the financing of it is shameful.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) were/have piloted an I.C.T. plan in primary schools ….. can I get information on it? No!

No wonder I’m looking forward to early retirement ….