Aeolienne

My first instructor was independent. Thankfully he's long since retired.

None really, as I already have two degrees from conventional universities. With the first module I did (M255 Object-Oriented Programming with Java during 2009/10) I did provisionally sign up for an OU Open degree so I could qualify for Disabled Student's Allowance, but decided not to bother with my current module. Ee-oh-lee-en, roughly.

Mine is 102 according to Test the Nation a few years back...

My next exam is on 16 October (for my Open University module in Electromagnetism).

I wish I had the same opportunities to make music with other people.

Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet, Concerti di flauti: Baroque recorder concertos

I'm reading it at the moment (and I don't mean just flicking through to the naughty bits).

The latest contribution to the Guardian's Private lives column caught my eye... http://www.guardian....s?newsfeed=true Incidentally, one of the commentators also scotches the myth that accountancy doesn't require people skills. "as someone who has worked for many years in that field, accountancy and taxation - at least in private practice - demand huge interpersonal skills (I put my own lack of success in part down to this). Even to get the basic qualification he would have to get a job in such a practice as a precursor to moving on elsewhere. "

What about Lady Chatterley's Lover?

Only this month? Where were you on 26 May? http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/24444-nul-points/page__p__325297#entry325297

Prokofiev's Sixth Symphony http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz7zhVfygSc

I'm reading a David Lodge book (Thinks...) which contains a fair few sex scenes, but that's OK because he's, like, an Eng Lit professor, so it's well intellectshooal, innit?

Yes definitely. Provided they really took my condition seriously and didn't resort to saying "Oh if you feel nervous driving that's all the more reason to do more of it!" which was the line taken by those ###### at the firm who fired me. I really do want to be able to cycle again. As for the driving, that is a good question. As a woman, I feel ashamed to conform to the stereotype of a rubbish woman driver, especially after all the effort it took me to get a licence in the first place. As an environmentalist, I don't want to contribute to road traffic needlessly, still less become one of those frightful driving bores droning on about what a nightmare speed cameras / one-way systems / petrol prices / cyclists / bus lanes / other drivers are. I'd always hoped I'd be able to live without owning a car and lease one as and when from a car club like Streetcar, but maybe that's just too unrealistic for someone with my condition(s).

To which add: being too ######-scared to ride a bicycle or drive a car :crying:

I did the "police-endorsed driving course" yesterday - actually a day workshop comprising both classroom sessions and driving. The latter was a disaster for me - as soon as I got into the driving seat and saw the word "airbag" I panicked. It was as if I were 20 years younger, meaning in a bad way - I felt more nervous than I'd felt since I was a learner driver, so much so that I could barely sense where the pedals were. I hadn't told the organisers (AA) that I had Asperger's - would it have made any difference if I had? One of the other participants was a psychotherapist who suggested maybe there might be some specialist treatment for what is effectively a phobia, analogous to the fear of flying courses run by the likes of British Airways. Where I live in London (Golders Green, near the boundary with Hampstead Garden Suburb) there are no shortage of shrinks! My parents, as so often, have other ideas. My mum thinks all they need to do is fork out for a small second-hand car (Ford Ka for preference) so I can practise on my own. Leaving aside the indignity of still being financially dependent on my parents at my age, what they don't realise (have never realised) is that it's driving on my own that scares me, always has done. Well, almost always. I did manage to travel from Crowthorne and Teddington and back along the M3 on my own back in 2000, ironically in a pool car belonging to the very same firm who subsequently dismissed me for having an accident... I don't know whether the bike accident I had last November has been a contributory factor. In that case I braked too sharply, whereas on the M6 slip road it was the reverse scenario. I've only tried cycling once since then - as recently as last week! - and I was such a bundle of nerves it took me several failed attempts just to push off and I got scared every time I applied the brakes.

I like Baroque and medieval music - only wish I had more opportunities to play it.

I also have reason to be grateful for a certain Heathrow Express train driver who found my mobile phone which had fallen out of my pocket on a platform at Paddington station. Because I was travelling in a quiet coach and snoozing most of the way, I didn't notice my mobile was missing until I'd arrived at my destination - by which time the helpful driver had texted my dad to say "I've found this phone and I believe it belongs to a member of your family". Very considerate of him - had he handed it into lost property who knows if I'd have ever seen it again! My dad, incidentally, picked up the text message during the interval of a concert at the Wigmore Hall, which left him with just enough time to nip over to Paddington afterwards to retrieve the mobile before the driver went on his next shift.

Last November I fell off my bike, dislocating my shoulder. I managed to summon up enough energy to drag the bike off the road and stagger to the pavement, where I sat down in front of a low wall waiting for the pain to subside (initially I thought I'd "just" bruised my arm). One random stranger got my mobile phone out of my rucksack for me so I could dial 999; another offered to store his bike at his house, and a third rang the ambulance service a second time stressing that my breathing was becoming intermittent!

Irene Cara, Fame

Wham!, Freedom

If you think redundancy is hard enough, try dismissal.

Chopin's Waltz in A flat major, Opus 64 No.3, performed by Stephen Hough

I've often found myself glancing at a topic simply as a result of having clicked "next unread topic", only to find it doesn't interest me any further.

Is this any help? elephant.co.uk/parking

And again this week! Oh ye of little faith, writing off the English summer before it's even begun