My choice of reading materials varies considerably. I am a well educated young woman and I know my way round the classics but I have a confession to make….I love showbiz gossip. I have another confession…so does The Boyfriend.
As I have spent the past year bored senseless by my job I have come to know my way around the Daily Mail showbiz website extremely well. Working on an industrial site with nowhere to escape at lunch time I spent at least half an hour every day wading through the rubbish they post on there. I would frequently relay the important headlines to The Boyfriend by text or occasionally by email (he particularly enjoyed the first glimpses of Anne Hathaway in her cat woman outfit). I myself, I have grown what I like to call a fascination (and the boyfriend likes to call an obsession) with Kate Middleton. He thinks it’s a lesbian crush. I have tried to explain that it isn’t sexual; I just want to stroke her hair and wear her clothes (if I could fit into them).
Two weeks after I had finished work me and The Boyfriend had to have a serious talk. I hadn’t been on the website once. It started when we saw a magazine cover in a shop. Katherine Jenkins was supposedly having an affair with David Beckham. I had no idea. The Boyfriend let this slide this time.
The following day The Boyfriend was listening to the radio. He came storming downstairs.
“Russell Brand is sleeping with Geri Halliwell – why didn’t you tell me?” he said.
“I didn’t know,” I admitted.
“That’s it,” he said, “We can’t go on like this – get yourself back on that website.”
We both knew it was time. I had no idea what K-Midd had been wearing for the past two weeks. An hour later I filed my report.
“They met at the Olympic Closing Ceremony and they’ve bonded over yoga,” I said. The Boyfriend smiled.
“Well done Princess,” he said, “That’s more like it”.
(Do not worry – we had been aware of the Prince Harry fiasco – we hadn’t been living on another planet).
I’ve also signed myself up to the local library. This is partly to curb my Amazon habit. My kindle is linked up to my credit card and I have been tending to believe that it uses imaginary money. It doesn’t. It has to stop. I did, however, see that the library was having a book sale. 15 books for a £1. I dragged The Boyfriend with me (so he could cart them all home). There was one book he insisted I take home – Notes On a Scandal.
“No sleeping with teenage boys,” he said wisely.
After my induction day I am a little worried about the whole reading situation in schools. A phrase that was new to me was being banded about – “Teach to the Test”. This was not something that our tutors were encouraging. They were just letting us know that some of the schools we will be place in do not encourage their students to read the whole of their set texts. Course-work on Romeo and Juliet – they might only read the odd scene. Naively I was horrified. The tutors advised us to stick to our guns and become the teachers that we want to be. I am not getting on my high horse at this stage. I went to a grammar school and I know girls who passed A-Level modules in Emma after having only watched the video.
I have taken it easy regarding the pre-course reading. The Boyfriend told me he hadn’t bothered before his own PGCE. He also advised me against buying any books as his had been a complete waste of money. The past student that we met on the induction day said exactly the same thing.
“Only work hard when you absolutely have to,” he advised – “No point burning yourself out too soon. The course is hard enough”.
Being a bit of a book worm, I have read a couple of things on surviving the year but that is it. I am hoping my years reading endless set texts and human rights texts books will have set me up for any future speed reading that is required.