by Yesterday I got a phone call from Florin, the guy I play tennis with. They’re seeing in the new year at the same place as last year. They already need numbers. Do I want to come? Of course I don’t, but it’ll only be a few hours and won’t it be good to at least show my face? It couldn’t have been that bad last time, surely? Luckily I have this blog to remind me, and there it is, in black and white and orange. It really was that bad, and I even vowed not to put myself through that again. The difficulty is finding an excuse. A way out. There’s also the prospect of Christmas in the UK. A horrendous time of year to go there or be there. My brother doesn’t particularly enjoy Christmas with his wife’s family because they really go to town with party games and other activities he can’t stand, and I totally sympathise with him. I hope if I decide not to travel there for Christmas and instead go over at Easter, he won’t think I don’t care. Sometimes I really miss Covid.
The UK Covid inquiry resumed this week. Patrick Vallance, the Chief Scientific Advisor, spoke unflatteringly of Boris Johnson. The former prime minister didn’t get the concept of exponential growth, or a heck of a lot else by the sound of things. In Vallance’s words, he was bamboozled. I liked Vallance’s comment about the heavy bias in government towards people with humanities backgrounds at the expense of science and maths. He said that it should be a 50-50 split, emphasising that a bias towards science and maths wouldn’t be a good thing either. Next week should be an absolute doozy – twat-in-chief Matt Hancock will be making an appearance, among others. The inquiry, or the bits I’ve seen so far, have thrown into sharp relief how dangerous the ministers and senior advisers were. The contrast between them and the general public, who were extremely compliant, could hardly be starker.
Maths last night. Plenty of bamboozlement there, as I started teaching my 15-year-old student the basics of probability. There are very few things in this world that I get, or that I’ve come somewhere close to mastering. Probability might just be one of them though, so you’d think I’d be on pretty firm ground. But there was one snag – this is Romania, and probability involves a whole ton of fractions. She really doesn’t get fractions, even at the most basic level. A half plus a quarter? Huh? I learnt about basic fractions when I was six or seven, before I ever touched decimals, but Romanians obviously didn’t, so when they join a British school where fractions abound in their maths classes they face an uphill battle. I’m in the middle of making a fractions worksheet (or workbook, as it might end up being). These things are all over the place online of course, but they’re (understandably) targeted at rather younger age groups.
Romania won their final qualifier against Switzerland 1-0 to finish their group in first place, with an impressive haul of 22 points from 10 games. It’ll be Romania’s first appearance in a major tournament since I arrived here. It was funny to watch the game against Israel on TV, where the local commentators didn’t even attempt to appear impartial.
A nippy start to the day as I had my lesson with the boy on the fifth floor. The lesson went well, though. Next week I’ll be starting lessons with her husband (a total beginner, she says, but I’m always skeptical about that).
