Save Lewisham Hospital - but don't politicise it

Yesterday I took part in the march to Save Lewisham Hospital. It was a great occasion, with around 20,000 members of the local community walking from Lewisham town centre, down past the hospital to a rally point at Mountsfield Park, where numerous speakers took the stage to speak about the campaign.

It was so good to see so many people in the demonstration, many of whom were so passionate about the hospital that has formed a central part of the community for many years. Particularly inspiring were the children born at the hospital, and the people whose lives had been saved by this vital facility. It was such an inspiring feeling to be marching with thousands of ordinary people who all felt the same way, singing songs to get behind this hospital and to save the NHS that so many of us hold dear.

What I didn't enjoy was the political co-opting of the protest by some groups and individuals. Early in the march I got stuck near one man who insisted on telling everyone in the vicinity "you all voted for Boris Johnson back in May, and where is he now??" Er, no, we really didn't. I quickly moved as far away from him as possible. I similarly tried to stay away from another loud man with a loudhailer who kept trying to turn chants of 'Save the NHS' and 'It Must Not Close' into some kind of Occupy movement. Happily, he didn't seem to getting a huge amount of response.

There was also, as might be expected, a Socialist Worker Party contingent present, and many of the banners bore their logos and slogans. This is something I'm particularly not a fan of, partly because it feels like a larger organisation co-opting something local for their own purposes, but also because it gives those against the campaign more fuel. Politicians including Nadine Dorries have already used their presence as a reason to dismiss the campaign, and it's not something we can afford to have happen.

@savelewishamnhs Demo when I was at QT totally dominated by the Socialist Workers Party who were aggressive and rude. March will be same
— Nadine Dorries MP (@NadineDorriesMP) January 21, 2013

That said, the demo was fully peaceful. For all there was a small number of people who clearly wanted to make it political, there was nobody being aggressive or rude, and the majority of attendees were there simply because the hospital is a part of their local community they care passionately about. It was so good to see a local community coming together in this way, and walking down the middle of Lewisham High Street with a mass of people chanting "Save Lewisham Hospital, Save the NHS", while cars going the other way sounded their horns in support, is something I will remember for a very, very long time.

The best piece of interviewing advice I've ever heard

Taken from http://tng.trekcore.com/bluray/01112013_robmeyerburnett2.html

"I think that when people see celebrity interviews, they don’t want to hear "Tell me about your character." We already know about their character. We watched the show; we get it. You don’t have to tell me who Captain Picard is. I know Captain Picard as I watched for seven years and I’ve seen four feature films. I get it, man. I want to know what was it like for Patrick Stewart, as an actor from the RSC, what was it like to play this part on these wacky sets with this costume on, and suddenly go to conventions… how did YOU feel about that?"

Something I'll be trying to bear in mind if I do more interviews with Eurovision stars this year. Too many fan interviewers ask the performers about their songs, what the lyrics are about, that kind of thing. We know that, we've heard the song, probably countless times.

What we want to hear is insightful information on things we don't know. Remember that, everyone. Especially me.

Learning Norwegian: reconsidering my goals

When I began learning Norwegian, I knew that it would be tough. From prior experience, I've experienced how tough learning a foreign language can be, both mentally and emotionally.

I thought I was prepared for this. I'd read a lot, and shared wry stories with fellow learners about the difficulties of motivation and the likelihood of looking and feeling very stupid. And for the most part I am ready for this - I can usually take it on the chin and treat it as part of the learning process. But sometimes it hits very hard.

Recently, while on a trip to Norway, I indirectly received some comments about my progress in learning the languages (I won't go into specifics here). It really knocked my confidence, especially as these words came from friends - they weren't meant to be personal and hurtful, I know... but the result was the same - I was hurt.

The comments were negative enough about my skills to make me question why I was even bothering to try, whether I was actually accomplishing anything and brought me very close to completely throwing in the towel. It affected me enough that, the next day, I refused point-blank an opportunity to have a conversation in Norwegian, something I'd been anticipating and looking forward to for weeks.

I'm still unsure what to think. I know full well that my main weakness is in my aural comprehension, struggling to understand what people are saying when they talk at normal speed, especially considering the multitude of accents, variations and dialects Norwegian has. The comments made me wonder if I'm ever going to 'get it', and whether it's even worth trying.

I could take it as advice, as a challenge - use this experience to drive me to improve my listening comprehension. I know that I can't get compliments all the time, and that anyone who tells me that my Norwegian is great and that I have nothing to worry about is lying to me and not doing me any favours. I need to learn from mistakes, and from failures, and try and make sure that, next time, these friends don't feel the need to make such comments.

On the other hand, my self-confidence and self-esteem have really been knocked by these comments. It's hard when you think you're doing well at something to be told pretty much outright that actually, no, you're not.

Am I ever going to get better? Am I ever going to be good enough at the language to make it worth continuing to put in all this effort? Should I switch my focus to another language, the speakers of which aren't all fluent in English anyway, rendering the learning more worthwhile? Or is it time to re-consider whether I really have those language-learning skills I've always thought I had since school?

Constructive thoughts much appreciated in the comments.

A tale of language success

Those familiar with my postings will know that I'm currently learning Norwegian, but that's not the subject of the story I want to share today.

Last week, I went on holiday to Spain. I studied Spanish for two years in school at age 16 (I'm now 26), and haven't kept up with it since beyond occasional holiday. I intended to do a quick refresher course before leaving, but other things (mainly Norwegian) got in the way.

However, I turned up and was determined to follow the mantra of Benny from Fluent in 3 Months, and SPEAK. I knew I had limited skills, but I also knew that there were some situations I would be able to handle. I knew the basics of grammar, and I still had retained a decent amount of 'tourist vocabulary', including all the numbers.

On arrival I managed to buy bus tickets and, in probably my favourite victory of the whole trip, managed the entire check-in process in the hotel in Spanish. The lovely receptionist realised immediately that I was trying to speak limited Spanish, and spoke slowly for me and let me speak haltingly back to her, and we managed to do all the necessary admin, including me beginning the conversation, understanding all her requests, providing my passport and phone number, and understanding and repeating back to her the times for breakfast.

In the town, I managed to mostly understand menus and order in Spanish, and ask for drinks and the bill in the language. There were of course times I didn't understand, but it was really great to learn the words by using the English version of the menu (a simple form of parallel texts), as well as hearing and then retaining things said in context by waiters and other Spaniards around us, and things just generally coming back to me during the week.

There were times I had to resort to English - I had no idea how to ask the receptionist if it was possible for us to leave our bags on the last day (not knowing the word for leave or bags), and occasionally waiters would just go back to English if I was clearly struggling. And in Barcelona later in the week, I found that people will often just speak English to you as a matter of course - particularly after an ill-fated attempt at pronouncing Catalan!

But it's those little victories that mean a lot to me. Checking into the hotel. Successfully having a small conversation with a waiter where I clarified I wanted still water, not sparkling. Removing a misunderstanding about a restaurant reservation. Sorting out a very confusing conversation with another waiter regarding how many more tortillas de patatas we wanted.

And there's a further lesson in all of those, but particularly the last one. I asked for another potato omelette, then a moment later another one, since my friend wanted one too. I clarified I wanted 'one more for me, and one more for him'. I'm sure I messed up the grammar completely - I said 'Uno más para mi, i uno más para el'. I knew immediately it should have been 'una', and either 'mi' or 'el' must be wrong, and possibly 'para' too. But it didn't matter. I communicated successfully, and both my friend and I did get a tortilla de patatas.

Success :)

Why I won't be buying an iPhone 5

It does look very pretty, doesn't it? And it's going to collect your e-tickets for you and have a really fast processor. It's got a great camera (just like the Samsung Galaxy S3 had when it came out), and a super-exciting new proprietary connector.

Excellent.

Unfortunately, there's one very good reason I won't be buying an iPhone 5. No, it's not because I'm an Android fanboy (though I am) or that I hate the fact everyone loves iPhones even though they do a lot of the same stuff less well (though they do).

Nope, the real reason is because I am only 11 months into a goddamn 24 month contract for an HTC Sensation which I can't even use. It was a beautiful phone, so quick, great at multi-tasking, tons of space and a crystal-clear screen. And then I dropped it and smashed it three months into the contract, so now I'm stuck using my old HTC Desire until the contract finally comes to an end.

Lesson learned? Don't get into really long contracts for shiny, swishy new phones that can make cocktails and open doors for you. One slip of the hand and they're just bits of plastic and glass all over the pavement.

*sad face*