How prevalent is this apathy? Is it truly apathy, or is it more likely fear? Fear is a prime motivator for doing things but it can also be an anti-motivator. Fear of failure, fear of making yourself look an ass, fear of expressing yourself, fear of being turned down, fear of success.

The last one might seem a bit of an oddity as it is fear of something positive. However, lots of young people are afraid of being successful and it's a multi-pronged fear. It involves fear of being thought a swot by your peers, fear of the responsibilities brought on by success and fear of being expected to do more.

Those of us in my generation are used to fear. We are the most likely risk takers of any generation and we have shown ourselves willing to be outrageous and daring. Yet we have engendered a fear of success in our offspring. Because we didn't want them to feel the fear, we have made them afraid. Look at all the things that we used to do without giving it a second thought (in many cases not even a first thought).

There have been enough lists going round the email circuit for me not to have to write them out again, but our children can't seem to cope with even the simplest situations, without being sanitised and disinfected. Have you noticed how many young people suffer from asthma? I have a strong suspicion that it is because we have been over-protective that the next generation are going to find it much more difficult to deal with the most harmful process of all - it's called life!

Wherever we went on Friday night, I felt welcome and was warmly greeted by all the people I spoke to. There were a few yobs about in some of the larger places, but you get them everywhere these days.

We got there slightly later than planned, due to an accident on the M60/62, but we kept to our schedule, more or less, for the six places we visited. There were hundreds of coaches running up and down the lanes and roads and occasional queues when someone missed a turning and traffic had to wait while the amazing drivers did 3-point-turns on roads most people wouldn't try to turn a car in!

There were barbecues and beer and tents and hundreds and thousands of people watching the various events all of which contributed to the marvellous and exciting atmosphere of the occasion. I got the impression, from the smooth way everything was run, that the organisers in each village had done everything they possibly could to make it a success. Well done to those people.

If only everything was as well organised. Have you ever tried to get an appointment with an NHS specialist when your doctor has referred you? Have you ever tried to send off your GCSE practical work only to find that the board hasn't got enough moderators? Unlike the last example, it's not as though they haven't had any notice. Like the Whit Marches, it's an annual event. Maybe nobody wants to be a moderator. Lets face it, it must be a bit like being an adjudicator. Maybe you need to have no friends? (Probably better to start with no friends than to lose them all when they find out you are a moderator.)

Maybe it's apathy? Maybe no one can be bothered to be a moderator. The pay is poor and it means working during your so-called holiday - why bother? Someone else will eventually do it. Only this year, no one has.

Shall we cancel next year's exams altogether then? The students generally don't bother learning the stuff too well (judging from comments I hear from employers) therer aren't enough markers and moderators so it's going to cause a lot of hassle all round. The exams are meaningless (at least according to some) so why should it matter anyway? Let's just give them all a pat on the head and a certificate. There we go! Situation solved. We'll call it a CAT or SAT or MAT or something similar. Maybe an International Baccalaureate. That'll keep the Europeans happy.

There's a profound difference between having a holiday and having a rest. Teachers are very aware of the difference, as are doctors and nurses. You may start your holiday at the end of your working year, but you don't start to rest until you have had time to wind down and release yourself from the malign Pavlovian influences of bells and marking. As I've only been off a short while I am still tied to the alarm clock - even though it no longer rings - and I wake up at 6:00 to 6:15 every morning. I'll do this throughout the holiday, though towards the end it will start to get more towards 7:00. Just in time for going back. Not enough time to get out of the habit - or too much time before going back to the old routine.

Time was (and is and will be J) when there was too much time in the holidays. Perhaps it is just the perception of age, but I used to be climbing the walls to get back to the chalk-face. Now I'm climbing the walls in an orgy of trying to get things finished before I have to sacrifice my life on the altar of other peoples' children. (Now isn't that dramatic - must have too much time on my hands J)

I'm 50 in just over a year's time. Where has all that time gone? Like most of you, if I look a bit too hard at it I'd have to admit I'd squandered a lot of it. I think of all the hours I could have spent making myself a better composer, a better teacher, a better person, a better player, a better son, ... and so the list goes on. As I look back at it, it seems nearly endless. Sadly, as I approach the "Two Score Years and Ten", the time left seems incredibly short to achieve the things I really want to do. The good things - I never seem to be short of time to get up to mischief J.

I depped for a local band yesterday, and they assured me that there was nothing difficult on the programme - it was just background music, they said, with the odd 'medieval' sounding piece, all simple, they said. Then the conductor got brave. The afternoon had been going quite well, the odd missed accidental, but typical bass parts, mostly long notes etc. Then came this horror. Time expanded (or contracted, depending on your point of view) as the page turned black! That was the longest 3 minutes (or hours, depending on your point of view) of my recent history. Good job it was in a decent key.

The weather, incidentally, was glorious, the blazing sun and playful light breeze making it very enjoyable to be outside.

I also note that the next 6 weeks and 3 days are going to whiz past like a flash of lightning and the following eight weeks (particularly the first two days - known disaffectionately as "Death by Powerpoint") will grumble past like a slow snail in treacle carrying a very large, heavy brick up a steep hill.

What is the difference between rehearsal and practice? According to our new MD Andrew Jones rehearsal is what you do at band, practice is what you do at home. YOU practice your part at home, HE rehearses the band to make sure all that practice fits together to give a good performance.

Of course, so much depends on the individual player. Do you practice at home, or do you play through the music and then do your favourite solos? Do you do your exercises during your practice or do you run through your difficult passages and then get on to something more interesting?

All these questions! Who can honestly say that they practice the way that they should, with a plan and with attention to developing their skills and technique, widening their tone and making sure that the bits they got wrong in the last rehearsal don't go wrong in the same way they went wrong in the last one?

Probably very few of us. I would suspect that only those who have no life outside of bands, the fanatics, or those who have pretentions - or pretensions to becoming professionals. The rest of us, jobbing musicians all, with families, children, grandchildren, wives, husbands, jobs, holidays and so on just do what we feel we can get away with. After all, it's only a hobby, isn't it?

It seems that just because you can produce offspring, it is no guarantee that your brain is working. In fact, in my experience the production of offspring seems to require a remarkable level of stupidity. Even single-celled amoebas can pull off the procreative act without too much difficulty but, unlike you lot, they wouldn't park their cars in the entrance to a school in the rush hour.

This parrot is dead!

What child of any age, apparently, can afford to do without, for example, his or her mobile phone. They are one of the latest additions to that class of useful object that has been reduced to the status of fashion accessory.

It doesn't matter, apparently, that the stupid buggers don't actually know how to use them properly (but it does matter that it is pink!) It doesn't matter, apparently, that the silly beggars make themselves a target for thieves and pickpockets (but it does matter that it's Blackberry/Burberry/designer!) It doesn't matter, apparently, that the cretinous fools leave themselves open to being groomed by perverts (do you know who your child is talking/texting to?) (But it does matter that it's predictive, because your stupid child cn nly wrt wrds wth no vwls!)

It also doesn't matter, apparently, that children are increasingly learning to use the more advanced features of these phones, like video cameras and Internet access to post web messages on sites like YouTube (what a stupid name.) Just picture it - a fight breaks out in the playground between your child and another one and within minutes they can have their moment of fame. Try it out. Log on to YouTube and do a search for either your child's name or the name of their school. It's amazing what you can find. If they are there, ask yourself if this is what you want to see? Your child's face plastered on the www for any paedophile to find? Or maybe they are caught fighting, or causing damage. Do you really want the neighbours to find out?

What about other people's privacy? Would you want a lawsuit brought against your child for posting images and videos of someone else's child (usually less than flattering ones) on t'Internet?

Can't happen? It already is. Does that matter?

For one of the few times in 20 years of teaching I completely lost it with a couple of Y9 girls last week. They quite calmly announced that they had used their video phones to make a video of me and had posted it on YouTube without my permission. I went ballistic. The rest of the class were stunned into total silence by my reaction - which is saying something. They were in the head's office within minutes. The head (God bless her) backed me up totally. Not only because of the possible publication on YouTube and the fact that I was considering calling in the police, but because these girls had broken several of the basic rules.

Hopefully, there are now going to be some fundamental changes in school policy. Children are only allowed to bring mobile phones in for use in emergency. They are supposed to be switched off and placed in a bag or a zipped pocket. Go onto YouTube and type the words Deanery and Wigan into the search box. I hope you will be horrified at what you will find, including two incidents that might be described as 'Happy Slapping'.

If I had my way, mobile phones would be totally prohibited in school. From now on, every time I enter a class I'm going to set my phone to discover any Bluetooth enabled phones in the room. All such detected will be confiscated. The rules state that they must be switched off if they are not switched off, I can find them.

What a wonderful world we live in!