Just a quick post tonight to say that I went to my class tonight, and sat my last exam on Databases. I PASSED!!! Yippee! So now I am the proud holder of an ECDL. Watch out for me on your cyber-street. I will miss my lovely tutor Liz, who is a real star.

I asked her tonight about the certificate. Apparently it is sent out to the exam centre, (which would be the community centre) then they phone me to pick it up when I am passing. I asked Liz if they have any adult learners' presentations. Apparently not. I don't want this to turn into a bash the Council blog (although occasionally that is so easy) but I really feel they are missing a trick here.

Looking at my fellow students, some don't have English as a first language, and others have been out of the workforce for a number of years for various reasons. They are doing ECDL as a route back into work or as a stepping stone to a better job. Many have not had good experiences with education at school. In fact when I worked in local government I quickly realised that bad experiences of education were the norm not the exception. Given these obstacles, these people turn up week after week and plod through the different modules, and you should see the excitement, pride and congratulations when someone passes an exam. I have far more respect for people like adult learners (or seeing people get their NVQs in work) than I do for the average pampered middle class university student living in their comfortable bubble.

Why can't the Council hold an evening somewhere like City Hall at the end of each academic year, lay on a few trays of egg sandwiches and get in a few bottles of brown ale/beverage of choice and invite all the learners who've passed something to come and get a huge, collective pat on the back. Not, God forbid, a graduation ceremony, but something to recognise the huge effort put in by people who are taking the steps to make themselves better qualified. I think it would also say something about how the city regards itself - I saw a bus today with the sick making slogan " Cardiff - Proud to Innovate". I mean - urgh!! What does that actually mean? Because in practice we teach people on seriously out of date software and then don't congratulate them when they become qualified in IT, one of the most rapidly changing fields imaginable.

And while I am on my bash the Council high horse, the standard of cleanliness in the city centre is now woeful. I mean dire. It is grim. Regular readers will recall I go back and forth the train station regularly to pick up Andrew and deposit him so usually travel via Rover Way. The pavements along Rover Way by the steel works are awful then there is a big roundabout by the docks entrance. The roundabout itself is strewn with huge quantities of broken glass and bottles, and right round the roundabout the pavements are an embarrassment. The irony is this is also the main route for any manager that is visiting the cleansing depot from County Hall or vice versa - so this crap is being seen on a daily basis by countless people from the department who are doing sweet FA about it and should know better. I can only speculate on the reasons for this.

I often walk the dogs at Hamadrayad Park after dropping off Andrew and go there by Dumballs Road from the station - this is one of the main arteries from the city centre to the bay - it is usually strewn with litter. The early morning should be when it is cleaned as there are problems with parked vehicles later but I never see any cleansing vehicles there. I park on Clarence Embankment by the back of Hamadryad Hospital (now a social services office) and broken glass from a car break in has been on the pavement and road near the park entrance since before Christmas. Again, awful. When I am actually in the city centre (not often these days) again I am struck by the general air of scruffiness. I can only assume this is due to a change of management as in general the operatives and supervisors in the city centre were among the hardest working in the city. The young master is doing a London run tomorrow and a few next week so it will be interesting to see if/when these get cleaned.