Thirst for Knowledge

I love to learn, oh, how I love to learn.  I am 46 years old and have done educational courses close to all my life.  Starting school at 4, I carried on in education till I had done my 6th form, then college, University, night school, on-line distance learning courses, day schools, part-time courses to fit into everyday life.  I have done it all.  This year is no exception.

I have started to do many courses this year, so far the list is Physics (Higgs Bosun), Forensic Science & Criminal Justice, English Literature (Shakespeare) and Mental Health.  Quite a varied set of subjects, but I have decided that this will be my year for learning, and as such I have signed up for many more courses to complete throughout the year.  Time is of the essence in all of them, and, of course understanding the subject.

Physics so far has been the main challenge, trying to get a grip of things like Newtonian Dynamics & Conservation Laws, and Harmonic Oscillators.  So far so good, and I have scored 89% on the tests, so I must be getting something right, but boy, it is tough going.  Literature on the other hand really is my bag.  I love literature in its many forms including classics, poetry and contemporary works.  Forensics is something I always wanted to do and was considering it at degree level, but instead opted for English Language and Literature.

I will see how I get on and see where this journey of education takes me.  One of the courses finishes next week, so I will be looking to fill that gap with another course, I wonder what it will be, maybe history? or more science? maybe something completely different, but one thing is for sure, I will fill that gap and I will succeed in my challenge.

Overpacking…

Now, do not get me wrong, I like goods to be packaged to protect them, but I have found lately that everything is so overpackaged it is becoming outrageous.  My example today is for goods from Amazon.  I love Amazon, the convenience of having things delivered next day and to one of their lockers, if I am to be out, it is an astounding service.  They also do 1 hour delivery on certain products which may become a boom one day. However, this is where my feelings become a little, shall we say, sour?

I decided to declutter some of the boxes that were sitting in the spare room, 5 boxes in total complete with packing.  Now, the items that were in these boxes, delivered last week, were quite small in comparison with the container, needless to say, the items were in their own box, then inside an Amazon box, usually the size of a small car.

I decided, since I have time on my hands today, I would measure the paper packing that held the boxed goods within.  The total came to 187 feet of paper packing, which has no use apart from re-packing things back again.  In the past I have meticulously folded the paper and put it in the paper recycling bag, however, after the feat of measuring the packing I decided to put it all in a bin bag, a large bin bag at that, ready to go to the recycling plant along with all the boxes past and present.

Again, I am not trying to be a killjoy or indeed being taken over by Victor Mildrew and shouting all over the house “I don’t believe it” as I unpack and unfurl the items being delivered. I just feel a little common sense should really prevail.  I had two items from amazon delivered on the same day to the same place, both could have fit in one of the boxes, yet they deemed fit to pack each item in its own protective box.They did send me a feedback email regarding packing, options of packing “too big” which I could not resist in clicking, and having a quick point by point synopsis of what they could have done differently, and better for that.

They did send me a feedback email regarding packing, options of packing “too big” which I could not resist in clicking, and having a quick point by point synopsis of what they could have done differently, and better for that, also asking the questions “are the boxes and packaging from recycled materials?”, “If not, are they from sustainable sources?”, and finally, “do you want all your boxes and packing back to save me having to dispose of it?”.  I hasten to say, they never came back to me, but that would be the size of it, or oversize of it if we are going to be precise.