Triangular problem

Take a triangle. At each corner put a number. The numbers must be different and, when you add the numbers up at the end of each line you must come up with a square number. Answers really appreciated because I'm stuck and the book doesn't have an answer for this question.

Musical Form

My piano teacher Aubrey put me in a bit of a panic the other week. He said that I would be asked questions about musical form in my grade 7 piano exam as part of the aural section. This worried me as I have never formally studied musical form before so I looked up the aural training book to see what the requirements are.

The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music are normally very precise. Their instructions referred me to William Cole's book on musical form. I ordered a copy from Amazon. It arrived in three days. Eagerly I read the opening chapter. Cole advocates listening to and playing the piano sonatas of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven plus the 48 Preludes and Fugues by J. S. Bach. That's all and that is just for starters.

I felt daunted but undeterred. If that's what I had to do to master form then that's what I would do. No way could I learn to play them all by June 2006 - my exam date - but I could at least listen to them so I ordered CDs of the lot. When I told Aubrey about this he reassured me that I did not have to know about the finer parts of sonata form. The examiner only plays two thirds of a page of music. That is not enough to develop much in the way of form. I only know need to know the basics - binary and ternary form, etc. So I have been panicking needlessly.

How to stay young

Forget anti-wrinkle cream. Forget hair dye to mask grey locks. I have found the ultimate range of rejuvenating products. I felt so young as I pulled these items off the shelves. So what are they? A protractor, a set of compasses, a ruler, set squares, graph paper, a calculator and a GCSE maths revision book.

It is 22 years since I last studied maths. Just to buy the accessories brought back floods of memories of maths lessons and they aren't all bad. I can't actually remember the maths but I can remember the sensation of doing maths. Much to my surprise I find the prospect of having to do a maths revision course quite exciting. I have to do this course as part if my HND in Internet Management. The lecturers described the syllabus as derustification. The course is equivalent to an AS Level. I will have to do some serious work but it will all be revision so I will be reacquiring a facility I once had. That's nice. It makes me feel young inside and that's far more effective than any cosmetic intervention.

Child Abuse

I suppose I'm rather late in the day to be reading the work of Dave Pelzer but child abuse is a subject I find particularly hard to stomach and the book's best-seller status rather put me off of reading this title. I knew I would have to be in a robust state of mind to read A Child Called "It". I am now but I did not anticipate the grotesque degradation that would be described in the pages of this book. On many occasions I just wanted to close the book because I could not bear the thought of any child going through such an experience. I could not understand how a mother could treat her son so. I finished the book with no insight into her motivation. So she drank. Not all problem drinkers are child abusers. The book hinted at some family secret but it did not disclose. Perhaps the narrative was the stronger for not giving any glib reasons for her cruelty.

As a piece of writing I found it compelling but I was rather put off by the testimonials. I thought they detracted rather than supported what Pelzer had to say. Pelzer is not a natural writer. His voice is the voice of raw experience, untutored and unprofessional. He has his say because his experience is so extraordinary. So he is not a brilliant writer. Well so what? He is articulate enough to convey a powerful message, one that should not be ignored. I am glad I read it.

Identity Crisis

I'm going to be a student again. I've got a place on an HND course in Internet Management and Web Design. The course is run by Anglia Ruskin University, an institution with a bit of an identity problem.

Anglia Ruskin had its origins in the Victorian times. Artist and social pioneer John Ruskin founded a School of Art in Cambridge in 1858. This school evolved under various names. When I did my A Levels there it was called the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology. It then became Anglia Polytechnic University or APU for short but the Vice Chancellor decided that the word "polytechnic" was infra dig so the tag had to go. In its place would go the name Ruskin.

I personally do not feel that the word polytechnic has any pejorative connotations however not all my family feel that way. My nephew, son of a Cambridge Professor and an LSE lecturer, learned early about the various tiers in higher education but he got his words mixed up. He earnestly told his mother: "I don't want to go to one of those former pyrotechnics."

Matalan

Everyone says they shop in Matalan but whenever I go there the store is really empty. According to the BBC this retailer is being hit by the falling profits.

I find the store a bit tacky but useful for basics. There are too many baby pink tops for my liking but the jeans section is fine. Well almost fine. I bought one pair of denim Wranglers but I could not find another pair in my size. Most of the jeans were enormous, fit for whales only. It is a good place to buy t-shirts and the like. I never see the point in paying lots for a t-shirt so Matalan is fine for that but I would not want to buy a suit from Matalan. A Matalan t-shirt can compete against a costlier t-shirt but Matalan tailoring and cloth does not impress me.

I guess the point I'm leading to is this. It is not a great time to be opening lots of new shops in town. Consumers are not spending as retailers would like. But this is the time when the developers of the new town centre are leasing their units. How long will it be before we see pound shops and charity shops in the newly built precinct?