Twitter Twitter

You can find me on twitter @DannySMurphy.

I got interested in Twitter through a Times Educational Supplement article extolling the virtues of Twitter as a way of getting and keeping in touch with a worldwide network of teaching colleagues interested in similar issues.  Having logged on, I thought it was a great vehicle for my daily ‘diary’.. and also to practise my writing, paying attention to words.  So each day, a Haiku (7:5:7) is going up. How long for, I don’t know…. but it’s a great verbal discipline.  Here they are updated to July 27th.

11 Jan  From my office window

Winter sun soft on the Forth.

High branches rustle.

Starlings flit from branch to branch.

 

12 Jan   From my office window

The river runs round the field.

The cold earth is still.

Waiting for the sun to rise.

 

13 Jan    Dawn view, from the early train to Edinburgh

Red feathers float to the sky.

Smoke over Grangemouth.

A Scottish winter morning.

 

14^th Jan    Walk to the Baird Monument by Crieff

Railway cutting outside Crieff.

Tree-strewn.   Disused.   Deep.

Moss bright green always in shade.

 

15^th Jan   A winter Sunday

Cold earth encrusted by frost.

The spade slices through.

Digging up leeks for Sunday soup.

 

16^th Jan    Another office window view

Words grind against other words.

Can’t match the beauty.

Of a casual sunrise.

17^th January   The chimney sweeps

Up top long round black brushes.

Sweep clean the chimney.

A squat red vacuum below.

 

18^th January    On the train

E.mail Text Blog Calendar.

To Do List Twitter.

My life on my mobile phone.

 

19^th January    BBC News

A new Boris Island airport.

Sitting in the Thames.

Global warming, rising tides.

 

20^th January     At my desk

Books, paper, techy gadgets.

Pens, pencils, keyboard.

Piled together higgle and piggle.

 

21^st January    Tillicoultry to Dollar

Saturday morning walking.

Harviestoun Home Farm.

Tilly Tea Room to finish.

 

22^nd January   The Premiership

Playing acting posturing.

Leather strikes leather.

The pantomime of football.

23^rd January   Exercise

Four girls stretching and straining.

Lavender lycra.

The University gym.

 

24^th January   Exercise again

Two veterans with grey hair.

Puffing and panting.

In search of vanished vigour.

 

25^th January  Exercise again

Hard faces and harder muscles.

Sweaty short cropped hair.

Exercise creatine mix.

 

26^th January  Exercise again

Radio One on speaker.

Twelve sets of headphones.

A creaking cacophony.

 

27th January  Exercise again

Self consciously not looking.

A quick sideways glance.

High stakes fashion in the gym.

 

28^th January  Exercise again

Up down in out up down in.

In rhythmical time.

Together but so apart.

29^th January  Exercise again

Bleach blonde hair red hair no hair.

Reebok Adidas.

Socks shoes pants tees shorts vests hoods.

 

30^th January  Dublin

Stories of independence.

Scotland and Ireland.

Bloody pasts, rosy futures.

 

31^st January   Breakfast Time

The burnt smell of toasted bread.

Hot tea in the pot.

French butter and home made jam.

 

2^nd February   The Keyboard

Index middle index ring.

Index middle thumb.

Words fly from my black keyboard.

 

3^rd February   Online

Google Facebook Mozilla.

Hotmail. The Guardian.

My online start to each day.

 

4^th February  Sally and Iain

Wet ice and snow covering.

Piercing wind blown snow.

Pentland walk in February.

5^th February   Celtic Connections

Gretchen Peters growing old

Gerry Rafferty

Julie Fowlis’ voice soars high

 

6^th February

Twang go the country guitars.

Badum badum bass.

The transatlantic sessions.

 

7^th February    Facebook

An old student reunion.

Tengku Mahmood School.

Joyful Facebook messages.

 

8^th February 

My dad was born on this day.

Ninety four years since.

I celebrate his birthday.

 

9th February

The ten thirty to London.

A long train journey.

Meeting up with Beth and Joan.

 

10^th February

Red brick walls and white porticos.

Icy cold in my bones.

February in London.

12^th February

In Highgate Cemetery.

In death as in life.

Karl Marx opposes Spencer.

 

13^th February

Small boys stare at mummies.

Four thousand years old.

ritish Museum midterm.

 

14^th February

“Gotcha!” claim London coppers.

The “Sun’s” just desserts.

Not front page story today

 

15^th February

Five friends meet in local pub.

We drink beer and talk.

Politics, history, life.

 

16^th February

Mum sits at the breakfast table.

A wee old lady.

Heartwarming conversations.

 

18^th February

Walking the Fife Coastal Trail.

Culross to Limekilns.

Very little coast.  Lots of road.

 

19^th February

Stunned by the bright shining sun.

Bouncing off the Forth.

Into my office window.

 

20^th February

Rangers are like all business.

In UK today.

Ready for asset stripping.

 

21^st February

9 million watch on You Tube.

Adele singing her heart.

I watch and shed a sad tear.

 

22^nd February

Melvyn Bragg on In Our Time.

A rebellion.

In eighth century China.

 

A Moray House seminar.

Writing and reading.

Talking and listening too.

 

Meeting with Gordon Crandles.

Me coffee him tea.

Happy crowds in Morrison’s.

 

Meeting up with different people.

Spaces in between.

An awkward sort of today.

 

24^th February

A bright morning in Stirling.

Today there is sun.

Bringing light into our lives.

 

27^th February

My head feels clouded, shrouded.

I hear but dimly.

Sudden sneezes shake my body.

 

28^th February

Every day my throat works.

Today it does not.

Rasping raw red, sandpapered.

 

29^th February

We dominate our planet.

What a thing is man.

The fragility of life

 

1^st March

Solar panels sitting on our roof.

Generating watts.

And they do it every day.

 

2^nd March

Mum sits content in her space.

She is drinking tea.

I show photos and she smiles.

 

3^rd March

On the canal bridge looking

Into the Almond

Gorge and trying not to jump

 

4^th March

Each year the daffodils come.

Their yellow trumpets.

Sounding out filling our hearts

 

5^th March

Listening to “World at One”.

With Martha Kearney.

The BBC at its best.

 

5^th March

Contemporary begging.

Blanket and Daily Mail.

Two mangy dogs are well fed.

 

8^th March

Three hymns two prayers one reading.

Scones and cups of tea.

Women listen as I talk.

 

9th March

Silvery moonlight on a

Velvety dark sea.

My sleek black silkie calls me.

 

11^th March

Susan, Ann, Elizabeth,

Joan.  Lucky me, to

Eat brunch with them at Circles.

 

12^th March

Another visit to Mum.

She’s sleeping soundly.

I wake her and prattle on.

 

13^th March

Grey clouds and grey Scottish sky.

Muddy brown river.

Greens browns rusty reds abound.

 

14^th March

The cherry tree gave fruit for

Twenty five summers.

Now I have harvested wood.

 

 

 

 

16th March

Small blue white and yellow bird.

Darts from branch to branch.

Looking for the next sweet cone.

 

16^th March

The Peebles Hydro window.

Looks over round hills.

Brown on green. Sombre. Misty.

 

19^th March

La classe francaise est finie.

L’institut no more.

Mondays will not be the same.

 

20^th March

Fingers whirr but shoulders still.

Neck turning slowly.

Taught muscles and tight fibres.

 

22^nd March

Bright rhododendron flowers.

My mother laughing.

A fine wak in the Botanics.

 

 

 

 

 

25^th March 2012

At the Lancaster Canal.

The sun was shining.

Mallard ducks and long houseboats.

 

Minster Lovell in the sun.

The River Windrush.

Green meadows, chirping songbirds.

 

26^th March 2012

Google maps on HTC.

Puts me somewhere else.

Do they know something I don’t?

 

28^th March

A long day in the office.

Shoulders stiffening.

Living my life on a screen.

 

30^th March

Le fleuve est étincelant.

Sounding the story.

Onomatopoeic French.

 

30th March

French film ‘Kid with a Bike’.

Cyril Samantha.

Pas de Disclosure Clearance.

 

1^st April

Sharpening blades cutting grass.

Humphling things about.

How to tidy a garden.

 

2^nd April

Lord Tennyson and John Keats.

Bell’s Wee McGreegor.

Reading treats for my mother.

 

4^th April

North across the Forth Valley.

Deep clefts in steep braes.

Snow brilliant on the Ochils.

 

5^th April

One hundred and thirty six.

Tweets waiting for me.

Quickly I skim through them all.

 

7^th April

Sue came round to eat with us.

She is inspiring.

Watched the Voice and laughed in life.

 

13^th April

All week SQH marking.

Thick portfolios.

Improving education.

 

14^th April

Early Saturday morning.

Bright sun on the Forth.

Egg roll, coffee, Guardian. Bliss.

 

15^th April

Heart of Midlothian two.

Glasgow Celtic one.

All Edinburgh Final.

 

17^th April

Sun, black stormy clouds, and rain.

A typical day.

In our beautiful Scotland.

 

19^th April

Burly shouldered Ochil hill.

Approached up The Law.

Snow still sits on your North face.

 

 

 

20^th April

Natalie Goldberg’s ‘Wild Mind’.

Writing on Writing.

Get rid of the monkey mind.

 

24^th April

My former school prizegiving,

Handing out awards.

What a treat! So positive!

 

26^th April

Walking round the East Gardens.

My grandfather sat.

Watching with a restful mind.

 

28^th April

Witney in the wind and rain.

The River Windrush.

Muddy torrent running high.

 

30^th April

Runny nose, tickly throat, sore head.

Head colds are awful.

Unwell while walking around.

2^nd May

Three days solid, interviews.

SQH Course 4.

Learning all the time from them.

 

4^th May

First time holiday in May.

Early tomorrow.

Three weeks in the south of France!

 

5^th May

In security limbo.

Airport shopping hell.

Six hours delay in Nice flight.

 

30^th May

Back in Scotland once again.

Brain kicking back in.

Francais est en l’imparfait.

 

5^th June

Back from holiday one week.

Ten days to catch up.

And I only work part-time!

8^th June

Back cycling in the gym.

Six weeks remission.

The heart starts pumping again.

 

8^th June

Vargas Llosa and Amis.

Shriver and Ford.

The Book Review Show on Two.

 

13^th June

Always so impressed by what.

Primary schools do.

Where children can be children.

 

18^th June

Mum waking as I arrived.

The front room Eagle Lodge.

A warm smile of welcoming.

 

19^th June

How I would hate to commute.

By car in the streets.

Of  Edinburgh City.

30^th April

Long hours sitting in a car.

My legs start to ache.

Edinburgh  Perth  Dumfries.

 

22^nd June

Three words for my current work.

Evaluation.

Evaluation. Eval….

 

22^nd June

Wet wet rain falls in Scotland.

Wet wet water drops.

So much H and H and O.

 

23^rd  June

A cold and windy June day.

Sitting at my desk.

Tidying computer files.

 

27^th June

My pre-operative check.

A young student nurse.

Pricks my arm and draws my blood.

28^th June

How to keep the brain working.

As it starts to age.

Connections no longer made.

 

30^th June

Funeral tributes today.

Help you understand.

The person who was and is.

 

1^st July

“I’ve got you where I want you.”

My mother tells me. “Where?”

“In my heart,” she replies.

 

One hundred haikus.

Have been seven five seven.

Now five seven five

 

5^th July

Evaluation.

Thirty thousand useful words.

On S L D P.

 

8^th July

Sunday fixing shelves.

In Anna and Euan’s flat.

That’s what Dad’s are for.

 

9^th July

Enjoying watching.

‘How to build a cathedral’.

Wondrous stories in stone.

 

10^th July

The surgeon’s laser.

Salami slicing tissue.

My operation.

 

Like a ripe apple.

My prostate has been cored.

Can it behave now?

 

11^th July

The hospital room.

Has white walls and whiter sheets.

I sit and I wait.

Minutes and minutes.

The second hand moves slowly.

Minutes become hours.

 

The cleaner sweeps round.

Later she brings welcome food.

So so important.

 

A young student nurse.

Slowly pulls the catheter.

I don’t want it back.

 

Little did I think.

That I would be so upset.

At losing control.

 

16^th July

Another four days.

My return to Forth Valley.

What will the tests say?

 

 

 

17^th July

A watery sun.

Picks out the colours of day.

In central Scotland.

 

18^th July

Troubled families.

Long generations of need.

Few bootstraps to pull.

 

19^th July

Back from hospital

Two steps forward one step back

The right direction.

 

20^th July

Walking round the house

It all comes easily now

Taken for granted.

 

21^st July

Taken for granted?

As always I spoke too soon

Infection returns

22^nd July

It’s getting better

Not bad, quite good and now good

But not yet the best

 

23^rd July

Scotland is Rainland

Smirr or skoosh, squall or shower

It’s belting it down

 

24^th July

Brew in warm teapot

Fill rose-patterned china cup

A perfect tea time.

 

25^th July

Green leaves shimmering

Soft wind rustling through the trees

Bathed in evening sun.

 

27^th July

In London bells ring

In Stirling I hear a tinkle

Tinkle little bell