Bluetongue – marking – admin

BBC: Bluetongue farm virus warning for sheep and cattle as midges blown into UK. The virus:

• New strain in midges blown in from Continental Europe
• Some carry the virus
• Affects ruminants, such as sheep, cattle, goats and deer, and camelids like llama and alpaca.
• Causes tongue and mucous membrane lesions, problems with swallowing, lameness and stiffness, affecting animal welfare and leading to a reduction in milk yields.
• First case of the new strain was found in November and since then there have been 119 cases in cattle and seven cases in sheep across Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk. The most recent case was confirmed on 8 March
• 30% mortality in sheep, lower in cattle
• Emergency vaccine approved in Netherlands, but still questions over that
• Farmers get compensated for loss
• But If you lose carefully nurtured breeding stock that’s not compensated for
• Farmers livelihoods are suffering, facing losing 30 to 40% of their business
• Vaccine not yet available in UK
• Question is – will it mutate and spread?
• Source

Back to work after the bank holiday – and marking and admin. This is going to be my life work wise until I retire. Mind you, I could have said that twenty years ago.

This tranche I have 40 students submitting 2,500 words each, so I have to read and comment upon 100,000 words.

The next tranche, due in a week, is 70 spreadsheets each with sixteen worksheets.

Then that’s it! Resits are due the day after my last day of work and they’re someone else’s problem to mark.

My problem is that after I retire I won’t be able to give myself the excuse of “I’ve got to do this for work” rather than getting on with domestic stuff.

51 working days, 85 actual days, 12 weeks left before they’re shot of me.

Music

Seventy years ago yesterday, in 1954 Roger Banister ran the first four minute mile. This is the nearest i can come up with.

Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, known as Vangelis (1943-2022), Chariots of Fire, Main Theme, Vangelis