Disjointed bits:

[devi]

Last night I went to kesstrel's for Heathers and enthusiasm soup, and when I left to walk up the hill everything was silent and frozen, with an almost-full moon shining, and some weird compulsion made me draw stars and faces and things with my finger on car windscreens, the tops of wheely bins, and any other flat surface I could see that had snow on it.

That morning on my way to the bus I'd passed another windscreen with "ZAPPA!" written across it in the snow.

*

I'd been worrying that he'd been locked up in a detention centre for illegal aliens and not made it to America at all, but verlaine just phoned from Miami. Apparently triple-breasted women swim around town totally naked, but he can't get on LJ because his local library has declared it to be "tasteless".

*

It was a day of small embarrassments.

I teach this boy GCSE English. This is the demanding one I've ranted to some of you about, who rings me up at all hours of the night to ask me to set him essays. Last week he asked if I'd give him an extra half-hour each week. Fine, I said. That would be an extra x quid. "No, free," he said, "as a favour. All my other tutors agreed happily to do it." Hmm, said I, I dunno. This week he asked again. I said I was quite skint and couldn't just go around handing out free half-hours that I could be spending earning money. Or going home for a rest. (I might have done it if I liked the kid, but something about him always puts me on edge.)

He got his dad in to back him up. Dad makes me even edgier than Kid. "All the others are very pleased to do it," he said, "and they live further away than you." I still said no. "Well, then," said Dad sulkily, sounding younger than his son, "one hour, not a single minute more, if you want to be like that." He flounced out. I was expecting him to kick something on his way.

I went to the tube, alternately feeling triumphant and brooding that maybe I was a horrible person (am I? Answers on a postcard, please), and in mid-brood completely failed to recognise eviltwinemma. Her hair is short and red and I've hardly seen her since 2001 when my hair was blue, but still. Duh.

Then I timed my return home perfectly so I could run into Mad Claire Downstairs in the hall as she was going out. She smiled a stretched smile that clearly pained her. "I haven't seen you in a while," she tinkled laboriously. "No indeed," said I, and went on up the stairs.

*

Can I have a new womb, please? Do they sell them on eBay?

*

Oh, the fun of dropping letters for postwodehouse.com. The thrill of standing behind things and watching people examining them, or ignoring them. Today I dropped three in the Science Museum and two in the Natural History Museum. Last I saw them, one was being treated as suspicious by a security guard, who seemed to be scanning it with some sort of raygun thing. Another was snatched up almost as soon as I dropped it, which was cool, because I'd put it in front of an ecology display which announced that we were connected to all other living things. Another, sadly, was being repeatedly trodden on.

I think I'm going to update the site every week from now on. I'll try to incorporate some sort of experiment blog. A lot of you seemed quite interested to see how it progressed, so I was thinking of setting up a mailing list to notify people when an update's been done. If you'd like to be on it, put your email in the box. I won't spam your inbox; in fact I won't mail you more than once a week, promise.

[Poll #443184]

And miss_newham, of course you can have another go.

Comments

[mooism.livejournal.com]

If they’d given you a reason why you should give them extra time for free, maybe you should have considered it. But no, they’re just trying to walk over you.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

The only incentive they could offer was that they'd keep me on for his A-levels too. "What do you charge at A-level, by the way?" Kid said. "A fiver more than now," said I. "A whole fiver?" his expression said.

[mooism.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the sort of customer you should sack, if you can afford to.

[thecesspit.livejournal.com]

Not worth your time dude. Your in for business, you can be helpful, polite and do that bit extra, but a constant half hour with no real incentive? Life is too short. Bet he's tried the same with everyone else...

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I suspected that he's told each tutor "all my other tutors agreed", yeah.

[smiorgan.livejournal.com]

Shocking. If they think you should work for free, then that's probably how much value they put on your teaching. You are absolutely doing the right thing by sticking to your guns.

Lessons don't have to cost money but they shouldn't be free. In the old days, I teach you something, you paint my house, bake me a cake or buy me a pint. Expecting a stranger, and a professional, to give up their time gratis? What is the world coming to?

[secretrebel.livejournal.com]

It's completely outrageous. You're providing a service, lessons for cash. Why on earth should he get lessons for free? Why? It makes no sense. What a jerk.

I mean if he was seriously poor he could maybe ask is there was any chance of a discount, or promise to pay for a whole course in advance but why should you give up your livelihood for him?

::shakes head::

[lathany.livejournal.com]

"No" was definitely the right answer. It was out of line to even ask, let alone expect you to agree.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I quite agree.

[thedancingfairy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no way should you be expected to provide a service for free unless there is a good reason ie they have no mmoney and you're much more inclinded to help people you actually like. Gee. At least you stuck to you morals.