LOUGHBOROUGH COLLEGE

In the months between the agency work I did at Canon and working at the sock factory in Shepshed I was offered to go on a typing course at Loughborough college. It was organized by the job center and was free so I thought I might as well do it. I can’t remember how often it was but it only lasted about 6 weeks. Ultimately typing was one aspect of computing that I was not interested in especially where work was concerned.

While hanging around the college I did have a look around to see what was on offer. At the time I was split between working or education. At career choice I was pushed into the general direction of accounting which was logical given my interest in computers and numbers. I seen a course for accounting on a notice board and put my name down. Since I was still unemployed I could get half the cost of the books paid for by the job center.

The class was every Monday evening, from the start I got on ok especially with the payroll aspect. As the course progressed however it started to become more and more tedious. The teacher reminded me a lot of Mr Ravat at A-Level computing, he was obviously an expert in his field but not very good when passing on his knowledge to anyone else.

When I first started the course the class was full with at least 40 people attending but this number started to decline by 3 or 4 a month. Up until November I got on fine but then I got a phone call from an employment agency offering me 2 months work at a sock factory in the run up to christmas.

That 2 months turned out to be the most money I’d ever earn in two months prior to turning 20 so obviously that took priority. Doing alternate morning and afternoon shifts meant that I obviously had to miss the class the week I was on afternoons. On day shift I would go home then have to make the journey back into Loughborough later on which was a bit of a nightmare.

Needless to say I quickly fell behind with the course, once I got the chance to earn money education took a distant second place. The work at the sock factory dried up at christmas but by then it was too late. I had completely lost interest by that point but continued for a few more month to keep dad quiet. I eventually dropped out before the end, by this point the 40 people who were in the class to start with had dwindled down to around a dozen so I didn’t feel guilty about quitting myself.

At the time of writing that was my last ever attempt at classroom education and probably ever will be............