Mr Fergus was a PE teacher. He was a classic sports lunkhead who assumed everyone wanted to be the worlds greatest footy or cricket player. Nothing was ever good enough for half of the class. There were a few athletic stars who could do no wrong, a few who "had potential", and the rest were too slow, too weak, went the wrong way, couldn't catch, couldn't hit, couldn't throw.
I hated PE.
One time I was daydreaming when Fergus was babbling on about the rules of lacrosse. At some stage in his babble he said which half of the class was to get red sticks and which were to get yellow ones. Everyone got up and started getting sticks so I went and picked up a red one. Apparently he said people on my side of an imaginary line were to get yellow ones and when I grabbed a red one he asked if I was listening. That's what teachers like him did.
I said "no" without trying to be smart. It was pretty obvious I wasn't listening and would have been hard to bullshit my way out of it. And he was probably looking right at me when he said it because he knew I wasn't listening.
The trouble was when he asked why I wasn't listening. Again I was caught for a bullshit answer so honesty seemed like a good move. "I never listen to what you say" was probably a bit too honest. Still, it was a good lesson in facial expressions of a teacher who clearly had no response other than "go and stand over there" as he pointed to the library.
I remember hoping that my punishment would be to stand there for the next 20 minutes while they played with their sticky basket things as he yelled at half of them for doing everything wrong.
Just my luck the vice principal walked past and asked why I was there. Mr Fergus told me to stand here because I wasn't listening to him. He just tilted his head up a bit, did a bit of a hummmpf, and walked off. He was Mr Leonard and wasn't a bad bloke. In fact when I look back, he was a good bloke. One of a few good teachers.
The game stopped and the class were sent to the change rooms. I joined into the crowd as they ran back, got changed, and that was the last of that episode of the Harry versus Fergus saga.
Looking back there was an understood mutual disrespect for each other. We both went along with the motions and didn't push each other too far. There were a few teachers like that.
In 1983 Fergus found out that I had won the 16 class Vic BMX title and mentioned it to me. He asked why I wasn't interested in PE when I obviously had some ability. I said it was boring. We get an hour, 10 minutes each side to get changed and to and from the change rooms, 10 minutes of warm up, 10 minutes lecture about the rules of some game that most people don't care about, and 20 minutes to play a game full of interruptions while you criticise people for doing something wrong. Then he gave me the head tilt and hummmpf. I've seen that head tilt hummmpf many other times since. It pretty much means "thanks, I'll think about it". If the eye roll is exaggerated, it means "typical", or "that's bullshit but I can't be bothered discussing it any more".
Friday, 3 January 2014
Introduction
I feel a bit lame creating a blog using a pseudonym.
Why have I done it this way?
I'll write about more things this way. I don't generally talk or write openly about my thoughts and experiences.
Some of what I think, and so will write about, is related to work. It's not professional to make disparaging comments about my employers and in some cases doing so could get me into serious trouble.
In the past some of my thoughts have resulted in responses that I found very frustrating. I enjoy healthy and rational debate and have often changed my view having listened to other people. A lot of people are very fixed in their views and become very nasty and attack anyone who they think has a different view. And to them, anyone who isn't in total agreement, is in complete disagreement. It's a situation that I avoid by generally keeping my thoughts to myself.
I have no idea how I'm going to promote an anonymous blog. It's not like I can post it on Facebook and say, hey look, I found this random blog. Or maybe I can.
If you read it, please add comments. Preferably something positive or that rationally adds to a topic or is part of a sensible debate.
Why have I done it this way?
I'll write about more things this way. I don't generally talk or write openly about my thoughts and experiences.
Some of what I think, and so will write about, is related to work. It's not professional to make disparaging comments about my employers and in some cases doing so could get me into serious trouble.
In the past some of my thoughts have resulted in responses that I found very frustrating. I enjoy healthy and rational debate and have often changed my view having listened to other people. A lot of people are very fixed in their views and become very nasty and attack anyone who they think has a different view. And to them, anyone who isn't in total agreement, is in complete disagreement. It's a situation that I avoid by generally keeping my thoughts to myself.
I have no idea how I'm going to promote an anonymous blog. It's not like I can post it on Facebook and say, hey look, I found this random blog. Or maybe I can.
If you read it, please add comments. Preferably something positive or that rationally adds to a topic or is part of a sensible debate.
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