No not me but the dozens of kids on the hill outside my house who live in the same village as the school but for some reason cannot get there.
This is one of my pet peeves, it was when I was a teacher and it still is. When I was at school (at a pupil) we walked there whatever the weather. If the heating broke down we sat in freezing classrooms with our coats on. The only time I ever remember being sent home from school was when a pipe burst and the toilets stopped working but we were back the next day.
Of course today's children face so many more hazards on the way to school these days than we did. I mean every single male in a car must be a paedophile and if they are not then they must be drunk, on drugs or just a plain dangerous driver just waiting to mow down the first child that dares to set foot on a zebra crossing. OK, I will allow that there are more cars on the road than there were in my day but that is mostly because every parent drives their kids to school now. And of course snow makes all these dangers so much worse and so terrifying that all children must be kept at home for 'health and safety' reasons. Excuse me but what is so safe about going backwards down a hill on a tea tray or pelting passing traffic with snowballs? If they were at school they wouldn't be able to risk a broken leg or cause a car crash, where is the health and safety when these things happen? Which they will, and do.
What today's parent don't realise that they are in fact their children's worst enemies. The drive to school denies their kids so much. Apart from the obvious health benefits of a good walk during a day when the majority of the time will be spent sitting down, today's fearful parents are raising a generation of even more fearful children. What's even worse they are preventing these children from learning to deal with the outside world. Learning to be safe when out and about is something that you can only learn with practice. By all means walk with your child until you are happy that they can do it by themselves or do as I did, get a group of kids together so they walk with each other, the old 'safety in number ploy'.
Of course the schools are not blameless in this.
Not only are today's parents more fearful they are also more litigious, ready to sue anyone at a drop of a hat. Whereas in my day if little Johnny fell over in the playground and broke his arm is was an accident. Now it is a financial opportunity. Unfortunately schools and councils, rather than stand up to this nonsense are more inclined to waste a day of education to protect their budgets than run the risk of a large payout.
And talking of injuries in the snow...
Dancing on Ice Watch
Well I'm sorry but I wasn't impressed. Before last night's show there was the usual health scare drummed up in order to try and inject a little suspense and anticipation into the event. Now I'm not saying Beth Tweedle wasn't ill, I just think that maybe the show's producers over egged the pudding a bit to add a little drama.
However the real drama came when Oona found herself in the skate off with Welsh rugby hunk Gareth. Anyone with a brain knew how this one was going to end including Oona. The result was so obvious that really they could have just bypassed the skate off and given her the flowers. However in the faint hope that Gareth would fall over, catapulting his partner into the audience as he did so, the skate off when ahead.
Gareth went first and was near as damn it perfect. Then it was Oona's big moment and knowing that there was no way they were going to beat Gareth her partner went for the sympathy vote in a big way. It didn't look like much of a fall, we'd seen worse in the endless 'practicing' videos before each dance, but looks can be deceiving and ice hard. Mark had managed to dislocate his shoulder which was promptly popped back and with much rolling of said shoulder he heroically carried on. It was all in vain though and despite much sympathy the judges vote Oona off.
Well after all that excitement I decided I needed a drink and poured myself a very small Baileys then settled back to watch Poirot.
Today I'm rushing around trying to get things done before going back to work tomorrow. As you know all our shift patterns change from tomorrow and this means I only get two days off between shifts this week when I usually have four. At least it is only for this week but I have a feeling I'm going to be a very tired little bunny come Thursday.
Well best get to it, I have my uniform to iron this afternoon and then the floors to wash, snowy feet make a terrible mess on wooden floors, and then I'm putting my feet up for the afternoon.
This is one of my pet peeves, it was when I was a teacher and it still is. When I was at school (at a pupil) we walked there whatever the weather. If the heating broke down we sat in freezing classrooms with our coats on. The only time I ever remember being sent home from school was when a pipe burst and the toilets stopped working but we were back the next day.
Of course today's children face so many more hazards on the way to school these days than we did. I mean every single male in a car must be a paedophile and if they are not then they must be drunk, on drugs or just a plain dangerous driver just waiting to mow down the first child that dares to set foot on a zebra crossing. OK, I will allow that there are more cars on the road than there were in my day but that is mostly because every parent drives their kids to school now. And of course snow makes all these dangers so much worse and so terrifying that all children must be kept at home for 'health and safety' reasons. Excuse me but what is so safe about going backwards down a hill on a tea tray or pelting passing traffic with snowballs? If they were at school they wouldn't be able to risk a broken leg or cause a car crash, where is the health and safety when these things happen? Which they will, and do.
What today's parent don't realise that they are in fact their children's worst enemies. The drive to school denies their kids so much. Apart from the obvious health benefits of a good walk during a day when the majority of the time will be spent sitting down, today's fearful parents are raising a generation of even more fearful children. What's even worse they are preventing these children from learning to deal with the outside world. Learning to be safe when out and about is something that you can only learn with practice. By all means walk with your child until you are happy that they can do it by themselves or do as I did, get a group of kids together so they walk with each other, the old 'safety in number ploy'.
Of course the schools are not blameless in this.
Not only are today's parents more fearful they are also more litigious, ready to sue anyone at a drop of a hat. Whereas in my day if little Johnny fell over in the playground and broke his arm is was an accident. Now it is a financial opportunity. Unfortunately schools and councils, rather than stand up to this nonsense are more inclined to waste a day of education to protect their budgets than run the risk of a large payout.
And talking of injuries in the snow...
Dancing on Ice Watch
Well I'm sorry but I wasn't impressed. Before last night's show there was the usual health scare drummed up in order to try and inject a little suspense and anticipation into the event. Now I'm not saying Beth Tweedle wasn't ill, I just think that maybe the show's producers over egged the pudding a bit to add a little drama.
However the real drama came when Oona found herself in the skate off with Welsh rugby hunk Gareth. Anyone with a brain knew how this one was going to end including Oona. The result was so obvious that really they could have just bypassed the skate off and given her the flowers. However in the faint hope that Gareth would fall over, catapulting his partner into the audience as he did so, the skate off when ahead.
Gareth went first and was near as damn it perfect. Then it was Oona's big moment and knowing that there was no way they were going to beat Gareth her partner went for the sympathy vote in a big way. It didn't look like much of a fall, we'd seen worse in the endless 'practicing' videos before each dance, but looks can be deceiving and ice hard. Mark had managed to dislocate his shoulder which was promptly popped back and with much rolling of said shoulder he heroically carried on. It was all in vain though and despite much sympathy the judges vote Oona off.
Well after all that excitement I decided I needed a drink and poured myself a very small Baileys then settled back to watch Poirot.
Today I'm rushing around trying to get things done before going back to work tomorrow. As you know all our shift patterns change from tomorrow and this means I only get two days off between shifts this week when I usually have four. At least it is only for this week but I have a feeling I'm going to be a very tired little bunny come Thursday.
Well best get to it, I have my uniform to iron this afternoon and then the floors to wash, snowy feet make a terrible mess on wooden floors, and then I'm putting my feet up for the afternoon.
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