Day 151: A day of distractions

Day 151 (6 May) Monday, South Bank day, previously the May Day holiday. But, it is off to class, to talk about a republic. 

It is a day of distractions. But I'm not sure why. As I was about to step onto the bus, I realised I'd left my security card at home, just across the road. Embarrassingly, I had to apologise to the driver and go home. Better I remembered before the trip rather than later I guess. 

Reviewing notes, at 6.12am

I do like to give this particular lecture (but let's face it, I like anything to do with talking politics). It recalls the history of the constitution, nation-building, the many times we've attempted or talked about becoming a republic. I also like to toss up an idea at the end...that if we didn't become a republic, and we didn't want to be a constitutional monarchy anymore, what might we otherwise look like? It sets a challenge. 

At 6.12am, I was reviewing the notes. Although not a lot has been said about the republic of late, I still like to be sure I have some important talking points. 

We still don't have the IT quite right at the Institute yet. Setting up takes a little longer than I like and that distracts. Nonetheless, we get up and running and once we get through some of the legal and constitutional technicalities, we move to the 'politics' of the issue. It's always an interesting conversation and again, the students engage in the discussion really well. 

I've also had a call today from a friend whose been in and out of hospital recently dealing with cancer. Bummer. We have a chat, I'm a JP so there's a few things asked of me that relate to that role and we promise to meet for coffee on Friday. It's been a tough few years, I really don't like the disease. 

Reviewing notes, at 6.12pm

The end of the teaching day, I get myself home a little early. I still have some work to do for tomorrow's classes. I've noted before I do quite like getting home at a decent hour. My mate Chas, the one in hospital, who I spoke to today, is always on about getting a job in Brisbane to cut down on the travel. He is of course right, in theory; in practice, it's a bit harder. 

And because the photography dweeb in me quite likes to play with this photo-a-day game, the 6.12pm pic is one of me sitting at the computer, again, making some revisions. Ah, what does it say about me that I'm doing almost identical things 12 hours apart...much happened in between, really, it did.