What do you want to be when you grow up?

This prompt from Post-40 Bloggers appealed to me, perhaps because as a child I was always nonplussed by the question: What do you want to be when you grow up? As an adult, I don’t think it is a particularly helpful question. Some questions, which might be more helpful in leading a young person to choose a suitable career include:-

What are your favourite subjects and your hobbies?

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

My own experience of being asked the question in the title resulted in some memorable exchanges. The first was when someone asked me shortly after a family outing to Bertram Mills’ Circus at Olympia. I replied, “A trapeze artiste”. The horrified expression on my mother’s face said it all! I think she had something to say about it as well.

Later on my ambition was to be a writer. This did not go down well with my family either. A relative, who had been an English teacher, produced her copy of ‘The Young Visiters’ by Daisy Ashford aged nine. Her implied message was: if you can write like this, then perhaps! I was twelve. Other reasons not to pursue a career in writing were that self-employed writing didn’t pay enough to live on and I hadn’t a tough enough skin to be a journalist. It would have been considered impudent of me to voice my opinion that someone, who had a degree in English and was not working outside the home, ought to be writing for fun if for no other reason.

The fact that I had produced a ‘school magazine’ with a friend, including pictures from magazines alongside writing and puzzles we devised ourselves, when we were both ten years old, seemed to have been overlooked.

I was more fortunate than many young people in the careers advice, which was available in the area where I grew up. At the state girls’ school I attended from the age of eleven, there were regular visits from people, who told us about the kinds of things we should take into consideration, when choosing a job or a career. Did we want to work indoors or outside in all weathers? With animals or children? I remember a talk about the General Post Office (GPO) as it was then and the range of employment that the Post Office and telephone service provided and another about the Civil Service. I also received some one-to-one advice.

Unlike someone I met later, who told me she had become a teacher, because the only professional people she had met were teachers, I had also met at least one accountant, architect, civil servant, engineer, probation officer, stock-broker and a few clergy. I was happy to be able to eliminate Vicar from my list of possible careers as at that time women were not allowed to be fully-fledged clergy. (I didn’t consider being a deaconess or a nun.)

I spent many a free lunchtime in the tiny careers room browsing the lists of courses offered by universities all over England. The A-levels required for each were set out. The range of choice was bewildering.

After making various decisions and gaining some qualifications, I ended up with a challenging job, where some writing was required. I had made most of my decisions before someone made me aware that God is able to guide us to make good decisions if we ask. (Sometimes we can be guided without being aware of it.)

It is only since I left paid employment that I have been free to pursue my own interests in writing. The lack of encouragement from my family and the fact that I did not gain as good grades at O-level in English as in most other subjects has not helped my confidence in writing-related matters. My next step ought to be to move on from being a blogger to being an author. Then I might consider myself properly grown-up!

Looking back over my experience, I would advise any young person to consider the interests they had by the age of ten, twelve or (at the latest) before they have to choose between subjects for examinations. Which careers are related to those interests? Enjoyable paid work is surely best for the individual and society.

What I read in November 2016

So far this month I have read six books.  That is perhaps too many for a single post.

The books are three I have reread, having located them on the bookshelves at home and three from the local library.

I shall review the ones I reread in this post and save the library books for next time.

Three books I reread

It was a long time since I had read Puck of Pook’s Hill and Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling.

These books make a set.   In case you haven’t read them, two children in Sussex stumble upon a fairy ring on Midsummer’s Day, accidentally calling up the mischievous Puck from William Shakespeare’s play.  On different occasions he introduces them to characters from the past, wiping their memories afterwards, lest adults think they are mad!

It was possibly the third time I had read these books.   Reading them as a child I missed a great deal of the background and simply enjoyed them for their atmosphere and vocabulary.  This time I was amazed by the links with some of the books I have read recently.  I found the whole experience of rereading these two books fascinating.

Weland’s sword was mentioned in Puck of Pook’s Hill and in Edoardo Albert’s  Edwin: High King of Britain.  There is a Roman centurion in Puck of Pook’s Hill, which tied in with the book by Hunter Davies, which I read in October.  The final story in Rewards and Fairies is set in the same period as Accession by Livi Michael.  Also in Rewards and Fairies there was mention of people being brought for safety, because they were nonconformists, from the Low Countries to Romney Marsh in Kent, England.  The Heretic by Henry Vyner-Brooks is about some of these people.

I am by no means a historian.  In fact I failed my O-level in history.  However, I do enjoy historical fiction.  It is interesting to find the places where authors overlap in their treatment of the various periods.

The next book I reread was Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.  This is another book I first read as a child.  The dust cover is missing, but I can remember the picture in some detail!  Again I must have read it more than once before.  However, only the first part of the story had really stuck in my mind.  It was like reading a book for the first time.

It is an adventure story with a historical setting.  There is a lot of background information about the Scottish Highlands and Islands.  The reason I read it was that the coach driver on the Isle of Mull (on our recent trip to Iona) had told us that we should read it.  David Balfour travels through Mull in the story, which I read with a map of Scotland to hand, so that I could follow his route on the mainland as well.  (For more of my pictures of Scotland and the Scottish Islands please consult the contents of Sue’s words and pictures.)

I was also struck by the information about Scottish culture.  The language is not simple, being a sort of Lowland Scots dialect.  Footnotes explain the most obscure words.  Coincidentally I heard a trailer for a BBC broadcast about Kidnapped.  The points which had stood out for me from the background to the story were mentioned.

I do not own a copy of the sequel, Catriona.  I read it at school, possibly in English lessons.  I have ordered a copy from the library.

These are three great classics, but not a light read.

How to take control of your own (computer) updates

Every month I read the same complaints – mainly from writers – that they have been interrupted from working due to updates being installed.  Every month I refrain from replying to them with unsolicited advice.  Instead I decided to put up these guidelines!

Whatever electronic device(s) we use, they all have to be updated from time to time.  There is not much more annoying than finding that just as a Skype date (or even worse an interview) is looming, for example, the computer decides to update Skype without asking permission.

To avoid this and other more seriously disruptive updates, it is necessary to check one’s settings.  There is often a setting, which stops automatic download and/or installation of updates.  It is particularly important with mobile devices to make sure that updates are only allowed over wifi and not as data from a mobile provider.  Also when travelling, it is often useful to turn off automatic updates.  A roomful of people sharing a wifi connection may be slowed down by someone downloading large files.

I have heard stories of inconvenient upgrades to a new version of Windows.  I wonder how many people, who have been inconvenienced by having to wait for an automatic update to complete, have bothered to take preventive action afterwards.  To be inconvenienced repeatedly is not necessary.

This is not a technical article.  There are plenty of forums, help pages and the like, which may be found to address specific update settings problems.  What I am trying to do is increase awareness that electronic devices are tools, which we are able to control.  We do not have to allow them to disrupt our time management by leaving default settings unchanged.

On the other hand the updates are provided for good reasons.  It is always a good idea to install updates which address security soon after they become available.  My own view about accepting new systems, such as Microsoft Windows 10, is to wait until others have been using it for long enough that any teething troubles will have been fixed.

Sometimes updates are issued between the usual monthly updates for Microsoft, but usually these are on a Tuesday in the second week of each month (if you are in the US time zones) or the next day (Wednesday) in the UK.

I also like to check that all the updates have been installed successfully.  Occasionally there are problems. Persistent problems may be sorted out after consulting help pages or forums.

I hope you found this latest update to my blog of some interest.  Do you have any stories about ill-timed computer updates?