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For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))
French Exchange

"Getting a bit technical". So says my closest friend, and she's pretty technical at times. "A lot of PHP and Python". Yes, there has been a lot of PHP and Python for the last couple of weeks, so now for something completely different.

Yesterday I was recalling how we had a school visit about 12 years ago from an exchange student from France. Peter was a bit of an oddball, and initially we put this down to the culture of where he was being brought up - in a quite remote cottage in an off-the-beaten-track corner of the Alps. But when, half way through the exchange, we met up with the teachers and other parents we were rather taken aback by solicitous questions "how are you managing with Peter?". It seems that Peter was considered to be a difficult visitor to place and we had been specially selected - without our knowledge - as being the best able to cope.

A barbecue in a beautifully manicured garden in Frome. Many of the parent were there in posh finery, and all the English and French young ladies and gentlemen were being cultured. "Afternoon tea" in the English style - except of course for Peter, who was intent on climbing a very beautiful tree that could scarce support his weight in what was our host's award-winning grounds. Of course, the teachers were there for a social and it fell to me "in loco parentis" - to take appropriate action on which, no doubt, the others present judged me.

I recall that Peter was very forceful in requiring the TV to be turned to the channel that he wanted to watch, and that he would routinely read through any personal papers that were around; really we had nothing to hide, but we found ourselves locking up things like bank statements and breaking from our usual habit of leaving the day's opened (but needing attention) post on a counter top. "Do you read everyone else's letters at home" we asked. "Yes" he replied, apparently not comprehending that his actions were causing offense and weren't fitting in with the English way of life he had come to learn.

Should we have treated Peter "like one of our own", or should we have treated him differently? Does and exchange student coming in to a house get treated as a guest / customer who can do no wrong, no different to anyone else as he's a member of the family, or as someone who has to be licked into British shape in just a few short weeks? We opted for the middle option - treating Peter as one of the family - yet modifying that treatment a little to be more understanding of times when we would have suggested to our own that they were out of line, and to provide additional guidance in areas where he couldn't / didn't appreciate how things worked around here. Alas - a pretty thankless task. "You're telling me that because I'm adopted". "You're asking me to stop doing that because of the colour of my skin". No, Peter - we're asking and telling you in just the same way that we would ask and tell each other. The reason that you may feel at time that you're to only one being told to do something - such as get down from that tree - is because you're the only one climbing it and in danger of causing damage, expense and upset. But - gee - those explanations and maintaining the calm was hard.

One final memory of Peter was his shower. I think he had come with an instruction to shower well and long ... but he had overlooked it for the majority of his stay and was starting to get a little aromatic. We were quite relieved when he announced a day of two before his return that he would take our advise, and a shower. And what a shower it turned out to be. He must have been in there over an hour. And he came out ... complaining ... that there wasn't enough hot water and he'd had to finish early.

A dozen years after, I can still recall some of the aspects of Peter's visit; I wouldn't describe it as enjoyable, nor fun, nor a walk in the park. I would describe it as character building for all concerned, and a learning experience for all concerned. And from that view point, the objective of the exchange was achieved. And I look back and think "yes, I'm glad I went through that".
(written 2006-11-11, updated 2006-11-12)

 
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
Z100 - Daily life
  [19] interesting products and subjects - (2004-08-19)
  [20] Not two the same - (2004-08-20)
  [26] Matching Cat - (2004-08-24)
  [110] Friday, busy week! - (2004-11-05)
  [149] Fish stocks - (2004-12-12)
  [206] Fox and Python - (2005-02-08)
  [228] Beard Justification - (2005-02-26)
  [232] Diverse activities - (2005-03-01)
  [238] Difficulties with a trolley - (2005-03-07)
  [271] Different course every day - (2005-04-07)
  [283] Natural or man-made? - (2005-04-18)
  [307] Farming yesterday - (2005-05-10)
  [330] An O level comes in handy - (2005-05-30)
  [363] Greetings from Edinburgh - (2005-06-29)
  [446] Up early - (2005-09-16)
  [455] A Stengthening day - (2005-10-04)
  [473] Looking different in town - (2005-10-22)
  [474] Vintage Bus Day - (2005-10-23)
  [516] Open source questions? Anyone can ask. - (2005-12-03)
  [580] What to do with milk - (2006-01-28)
  [584] Loosing breath with Gerald - (2006-01-31)
  [605] Design your day with a walk - (2006-02-13)
  [612] Coming or going? - (2006-02-18)
  [613] Greetings from Dublin - (2006-02-20)
  [623] Behind every face is a person and a story - (2006-02-25)
  [635] Odd one out. - (2006-03-06)
  [645] Lost Camel - (2006-03-14)
  [654] Making use of disabled facilities - (2006-03-22)
  [655] Can some food be TOO different? - (2006-03-23)
  [692] Healthier eating - (2006-04-20)
  [698] Catch up weekend - (2006-04-24)
  [706] May day away - (2006-05-01)
  [724] Helping mental health through diet, exercise and other lifestyle matters - (2006-05-18)
  [752] Over zealous police activity? - (2006-06-09)
  [777] On Crosby sands - (2006-06-25)
  [817] Working on Weekend in Wiltshire and others - (2006-07-29)
  [843] To join an organisation? - (2006-08-23)
  [882] Rocks, hard places, trains and funerals. - (2006-09-30)
  [897] Too much for the National Trust - (2006-10-18)
  [908] And so to Inverness - (2006-10-29)
  [911] Letter Home - (2006-11-01)
  [978] Wellhouse Manor, Hotel, Melksham - (2006-12-10)
  [992] Enthusiastic, but .... - (2006-12-16)
  [1056] Another frantic posting! - (2007-01-30)
  [1057] Selling by phone and Skype - our policy - (2007-01-30)
  [1061] Take vehicles off the road - put all the passengers into one - (2007-02-01)
  [1100] Wondering where I have been - (2007-03-06)
  [1138] The Holiday - unlikely romantic comedy? - (2007-04-08)
  [1151] Gordon Dodge, R.I.P. - (2007-04-16)
  [1178] Ducking stool for Melksham? - (2007-05-06)
  [1189] Meet, greet and welcome - (2007-05-16)
  [1272] Behind closed doors? - (2007-07-22)
  [1303] Heading Upstate New York - (2007-08-14)
  [1429] Remembrance day - inside a church and inside the day - (2007-11-11)
  [1643] A lack of technical content - (2008-05-16)
  [1810] Middle aged subsidise young and old - (2008-09-26)
  [1953] End of Training, 2008 - (2008-12-20)
  [1979] Looking forward, in Melksham, in 2009 - (2009-01-05)
  [2000] 2000th article - Remember the background and basics - (2009-01-18)
  [2008] The Month Ahead - What is happening in Melksham - (2009-01-25)
  [2024] Carry on Training - in spite of the weather - (2009-02-03)
  [2027] Who sticks by you in the snow? - (2009-02-05)
  [2030] The final step to being British - (2009-02-07)
  [2034] Through Snow and Flood to Linux and Tomcat - (2009-02-10)
  [2064] East of Melksham Countryside - (2009-03-02)
  [2068] Playing Catchup - (2009-03-06)
  [2090] Melksham to Georgia - (2009-03-19)
  [2105] Hire Car, from Atlanta Airport - (2009-03-27)
  [2106] Learning to Twitter / what is Twitter? - (2009-03-28)
  [2118] Spring Sprung - (2009-04-05)
  [2121] Out in the Vale of Pewsey - (2009-04-07)
  [2141] Town Crier competiton - (2009-04-25)
  [2159] A long day to guess where - (2009-05-06)
  [2164] Updating my public profile - Graham Ellis - (2009-05-09)
  [2217] Enjoying the summer weather - (2009-06-04)
  [2264] Learning about others private lives - (2009-06-30)
  [2371] Quiet summer days? I think not! - (2009-08-22)
  [2401] Back Tomorrow - (2009-09-10)
  [2450] Family Gathering at 404, The Spa - (2009-10-11)
  [2580] C course inspires new teaching examples - (2010-01-16)
  [2868] A move towards the family - (2010-07-12)
  [3125] The family is defunct. Long live the family. - (2011-01-09)
  [3316] Twitter Phishing Trips ... and a great new alert service - (2011-06-04)
  [3319] Moving on - a task for the hotel staff! - (2011-06-08)
  [3463] Busy weekend of contrasts. - (2011-10-03)
  [3553] Changes to morning routines - (2011-12-16)
  [3743] Sunday - no longer a day of rest - (2012-05-28)
  [4222] Five lessons learned or re-learned on my travels - (2013-12-15)


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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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