Oops

I actually forgot all about this Blog :) I guess I so rarely have anything much to say. Major news since the last post? Well I was offered and accepted redundancy from my job as Sixth Form Administrator 3 years ago, probably the one thing that I regret most in my life and I tend to NOT do regret if I can help it. Still, onwards and upwards....trying to get a new job when you are 59 is very difficult and, in fact has proven to be impossible.

We lost the two dogs, Delta and Hudson, we bought 3 more - Mac the Malamute and then more recently, Jack and Charlie the Jack Russells :)

Hubby is still working in Teaching, I have more Grandchildren (6 now) , children have grown older, some have moved further away ..life progresses at apace. I am now 62 and hubby 57, children are 42 , 40, 36, 26 and 24 , Grandchildren are 17,16. 13, 9, 2 and 2 . I childmind for one of them each Wednesday - Quinn.

I was recently elected as a Town Councillor and I am really enjoying my role - throwing myself into it totally.

So that is the update - cant think of anything else to say at the moment

Oh my goodness, the biggest news of all - I managed to stop smoking 3 years ago :) *smug smile*

Proportional Representation

*Humph*

So then, proportional representation. We are being asked to vote on whether we want this form of voting or not but I doubt many people fully understand it. What occurs to me is that anyone who votes Conservative usually will NOT put Labour as their second choice and anyone who votes Labour will never put Conservatives as their second choice. So then, I ask myself, who will benefit from this? Oh ..hang on, could it be Liberals? This would be the same Liberals who are pushing for proportional representation to be bought in.

Oh how I will chortle when we see the Houses of Parliament full of BMP and UKIP MP's because people just couldn't make their minds up .....

Odd Sox

So this is me - yup, I love my odd socks that my daughter in law bought me for Christmas last year. I wear them to work and they do provoke some odd looks and comments :)

Saturday ......

David Cameron has decided in his infinite wisdom to criticise Oxford University for only having one black student last year. What is this man on? Why doesn't he look at our absolutely appalling school system which hasn't produced any black students capable of getting to Oxbridge?

Schools in England at this present time are being judged on results. Because of this, schools are teaching to the tests, they have to in order to get results. My own husband was told to pass a student in an exam - the student in question did not understand the majority of the test despite having had the same tuition as the rest of the class. She had not received the individual tuition that she should have got and indeed, deserved, because the school chose to use the Teaching Assistants elsewhere in the school.

What has gone wrong with schools over the past 20 years? In my very humble opinion one of the major things is the lack of streaming in schools. The idea that all pupils should be taught in the same class regardless of ability. Where does this leave a teacher you have to ask yourself? In a good school based in a good neighbourhood there won't be too much of a problem but in some schools, where the disruptive children are not interested in learning and are determined to stop other pupils from learning it is a disaster. This is compounded in schools where there is no back up from the Senior Management Team (SMT) and where there are no definite strategies in place to help teachers.

Imagine yourself in a classroom - you have 30 pupils aged 14 or so. Fred, Sam and Jim are not interested in learning about French/ICT/Maths - all they want to do is leave school and get a job with the local farmer. They begin low level disruption, muttering and giggling quietly whilst the teacher is talking to the rest of the class (despite sitting away from each other)...this escalates into throwing things. The Teacher asks them to be quiet, which is ignored, then tells them that they will be removed should it carry on. They do carry on and the Teacher leaves the class to make a phone call to the office requesting that someone comes and takes the disruptive students out. He/She goes back to the class which has become very noisy in the meantime, to try and carry on with the lesson. During all of this, the 3 pupils in question have got up and started walking around the room, possibly aggravating other pupils and causing more trouble. After 10 more minutes of this, no one has arrived to help the Teacher so he/she goes to make another phone call only this time he/she is told that all SMT members are busy and they will just have to cope.....Already the whole class has missed about 20 minutes of the lesson and what chance has the Teacher now got of getting the class under control?

This happens across the country every day ....because someone, somewhere decided that all children should be treated the same and included into everything whether if affects the rest of the class or not ..

That is just ONE of the problems faced by Teachers every day and also one of the problems faced by the pupils who actually want to learn - our schools and school system is an absolute disgrace to the country and to our children

Photo of the Day

Photo of the day - Honesty!

Holidays

I work at a school and this means I get seriously good holidays. The downside, not being a teacher, means that I get paid pro rata i.e. I do not get paid for the holidays but I do get paid each month. So my wages are spread over 12 month even though I only actually work for 40 weeks of a year.

Whilst I would love to get more money, I do love the school holidays and would find it really hard to get back into working all year and only having 20 days or so a year off.

Today is the fourth day of the Easter break only it isn't actually called Easter break any more -far too politically incorrect - and I have spent the time so far cleaning the house up. Next week I will need to get on with my photography A level exam prep. I need to be looking into the work of Uta Barth who's work I love. I also need to do some actual photography ..I have the idea of doing a stained glass window type effect so possibly a window might be a good idea!

That was the week that was

The last week of a term is usually quite exciting whether it is the old half term break approaching or a full blown holiday. The last week of the term this time was very stressful with the funeral of one of our 18 year old students on the final day. Hollie died following a car accident and the school closed early on Friday as a mark of respect and to allow teachers and pupils to go to the funeral.

Funerals generally are not fun places to be , the last one I attended was over 20 years ago, for my mother. This particular funeral was harrowing for different reasons. Because of her youth and vitality, the snuffing out of such a vibrant person shook everyone to the core and bought home the necessity of living life to the full whilst you can. I was fine until Hollies dad was talking. He went through the alphabet ..'Hollie was Amazing, Artistic ' etc etc but, when he got to M and ended by saying 'she was mine' I crumbled. Here was a daddy talking about his precious little girl and it broke me in ways I didn't think I could still be broken...Hollie is gone but will never be forgotten by her family, her friends and anyone who knew her.

I dont think many people read this blog (I know, I know...rambling middle aged woman stuff LOL) but IF you do, then please think about donating to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital who assisted both Hollie and her family during the last hours .

The photo of the day was taken in Paris last year

Old Friends

An unexpected phone call on Thursday evening bought me back into contact with two old friends from the Tom Holt newsgroup. 10 years ago, myself and Paul Bines organised the inaugural Tom Holt meet with Tom himself and several people from the newsgroup including Roger and Chris. I had an instant rapport with Chris and although we could rarely meet, conversations online were long and plentiful. They both came up to Lincolnshire 8 years ago, not long after we moved back here and the phone call was to say that the FilkCon was being held at Grantham and lo, they were visiting :)

Their personal situation has changed somewhat since I last saw them and they are both looking and sounding much happier even though Chris is recovering from a hear attack! They came to the house yesterday and then whisked me away to the Ramada in Grantham to meet up with a few people from the froup of old. I had a good few hours there before Stephen came to pick me up. The good news (or even better news?) is that the FilkCon will be held here again next year so I can go again (and hopefully better organised this time!)

Also managed to watch England beat Wales in the rugby YAY!!! Mwahaha

Less than a week until the Winter Olympics start, really looking forward to it , sport by proxy, has to be good!

Todays piccy is one that I have a print of in my hall, I call it ZOOOM ball :)

Middle of the week *sigh*

Today bought ...well, not a lot really. The talk in the staff room was about John Terry and how awful the situation is and yes, he SHOULD stand down as England captain.

??

Who made The Sun the arbiters of morality in the UK I wonder. I mean ...I do not condone what he has done for one moment, don't get me wrong but shouldn't it be for him and his family to sort out? When is a personal matter no longer a personal matter I wonder? If the boss of Cadbury's was found to have an affair who HE have to resign? I think probably not. I just feel sorry for the whole lot of them, and it turns out that he isn't even married (not that this seems to matter much to people nowadays in our wonderfully politically correct and equal society).

Still, onwards ever onwards, try to stop being an old fart for two minutes why don't I?

My immediate boos is Sarah (actually her hubby has a fine blog here Bringing up Charlie ) and today she had to talk to the class who had their classmate die on Monday. She handled it with great sensitivity and the girls responded well. The suggestion is that we have a memory board in the foyer which could then be moved to the church. I hear that the funeral is a week on Friday and I really hope that I can go, Hollie was a lovely girl who will be missed

Thought I would put one of my Summery photos up to remind us all the Winter will be over soon :)

Life might be shit but the alternative is worse

Monday dawned the same as most other Winter Mondays ..so then grey and cold and a working week as a prospect.

Things changed quickly when, on reaching school, I learned that one of our year 13 students had been involved in a very bad car crash and was on life support following brain surgery. The student involved was a very beautiful tall, elegant, fun and sparky 18 year old. Students and teachers alike were stricken by the news that one of our own had been involved in such an horrific accident. Some of her closest friends had been able to visit her in the Sheffield hospital that she had been taken to when Lincoln decided they couldn't do any more.

I was asked to do the register and tutorial for her class for a few days as her old form tutor had left on maternity leave on Friday and we couldn't really expect the new teacher to cope.

As I sat there during registration and listened to the girls sobbing and talking, telling me and each other about their friend I became aware that this was the first time that most of them had felt the hand of death on their own age group and it left them visibly shaken.

Later on Monday, her life support machine was turned off and she died very quickly afterwards.

I will miss her greatly, she rang most day's to say she was going straight to the other school as she was running late :) Her friends will recover eventually, we at the school will recover eventually but there is tonight a family out there who will be forever changed and my heart bleeds for them more than any other.

End of work weekitis

So I have managed to scrape myself through to the end of another working week despite the God of Headaches doing His (her?) best to afflict me to the point of near death since Thursday.

At school we are all in a state of desperate tiredness. It isn't the work per se, more the weather ( grey, wet, cloudy and cold), the dark mornings and dark evenings and the post Christmas malais that descends in January.

I am determined to become more disciplined with this blog ..to whit ' If I do it I will write it, if I write it I will remember it'.

Now in my middle 50's I have to work harder at remembering anything ..well, except how to wake in the middle of the night for a pee!! This is a recently rediscovered thing.. 1am or 1.15 every night . What is that all about then? So my womb stops working and my kidneys decide to help out instead?? Dear lord ..still waiting to find out what is so wonderful about being post menopausal (apart from the bleedin' obvious of course) Skin is crappy, boobs go South, memory goes.....what was I saying?

Talking of middle 50's ..rather a special Birthday coming up ...I was born in '55 and this year I will be 55 ..I just love the synchronicity of this ...though when I mentioned it, my youngest son commented on how peed off he was that in order for him to achieve the same thing he would have to live until he is 93 :)

I hear that old GB is planning on paying the Taliban to be good chaps and go stop throwing bombs and things at us ....I cannot say on how many levels this is a Bad Thing. Still, if it means he loses the next election I will be okay with that.

Also, in the news today .. a man, stationary in a car in a traffic queue - with hand brake engaged has been served with a £60 fixed penalty notice for blowing his nose.

Words fail me!

Depressed much?

Well, the Labour versus Conservative bandwagon rolls ever steadily on ..it will get worse before it gets better with each side slating t'other. How bored I am with this! If the political parties just stuck with telling us about themselves it would be so much better but no, they feel the need to pick at each other *yawn*

Anyway, to other things ...the snow arrived ...and then left. Here in South Lincolnshire we didn't see much/enough as far as I was concerned and no, this is nothing to do with the fact that I work in a school and got 2 days off work, I just love snow. I like the look of it and the feel, watching it fall is still magical to me after nearly 45 years of life. I would really like more snow now please God!

Youngest daughter trekked home from her first term at Uni in time for Christmas. We hadn't seen her since September and boy I missed her so much! I find myself at home with the alpha male and the 16 year old son ...son is like me emotionally and temperament wise but has the scientific brain of his dad. He is taking Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths at A level and so the conversations in the house were so far over my head that I felt as though I was drowning. When daughter arrive home it was lovely to have someone who understands that I live in a world where the TV and telephone work by magic and NOT complicated technology! Someone who appreciated the finer side of glitter and art! Daughter is very smart and passed her A level Chemistry last year but she is a girl like me in a lot of ways and boy do I appreciate that!

What else can I tell you? I am a facebook addict, especially the apps ...the house wasted playing ridiculous games, the effort that goes into planting 'crops' and finding hidden treasure ... I LOVE IT! Besides which, I am so bored with doing the washing, shopping, cooking and cleaning ...I have now been doing those things since I got married first time at 18 ...and they never EVER get finished so you never get a proper sense of achievement!

Okay ...thats about it for now

Updates..

Well then ...so what has been going on recently? Cameron won the latest by election..or should that be Brown lost it? Brown didn't bother visiting and Cameron visited 12 times hmm...

The war in Afghanistan continues and today the Government are going to court to try and get injured soldiers compensation reduced. Why? These people offered their lives for us and the Afghanistan people

The Labour Government continues to bumble along in it's self righteous nanny state fashion, using sound bite and Sun type proclamations in order to try and get its point across. I feel more and more as though I am missing something here, now what was it? Oh yes, personal freedom, that would be it!

I have a dreadful vision of Prime Minister Mendleson looming above the horizon. I fear the results

The last week...

Well, I found the budget a huge let down (as did the majority of people that I have either spoken to or read). The 2k giveaway to people who have an old car and are going to buy a new car ..hmm, so why do you think they HAVE a car that is over 10 years old Mr Brown? Possibily because they can't afford a new car or can't get the finance.

Taxing the people who earn over 150k a year more ..well, most people who earn that sort of money can employ accountants and will soon find a way to not pay the extra.

The usual ca , fags and booze rises and thats about it really. Oh hang on, I forgot the Grandparents perk ..they get pension benefits if they look after their grandchildren ..whoopy do! This only applies to Grandparents who are of working age and I cant see many of them volunteering to give up their jobs to look after thei Grandchildren.

The other big news story of the week that I wanted to comment on was the disgraceful treatment of the Ghurkas by this bloody Government. These men have fought alongside our own men and risked their lives for us and this is the way we treat them? How low can you go?

Anyway, on to other stuff, my 5 year old Grandson fell over yesterday and hurt his knee, elbow and hand. Mum (daughter Lucy) bought him over for me to look at and I said I thought he was okay but to see what he was like today (Sunday). This am we got a call asking us to take them both to the local hospital. 4 hours later, Ollie emerged with a cast on his arm as he has broken a bone. He is very proud of his new acquisition but mum is a bit stressed as she works in a nursery and will have to have the next 3 days off. The Hospital have put a soft plaster on which they will be replacing with a hard plaster on Wednesday and Oliver has to stay off school until then. Lucy does not get paid any sickness time at all so will now not get paid for the next 3 days.

Everyone's a Twitter

About tomorrows Budget ..Twitter is alive with people making comments and suggesting ideas ...I am most definitely not an expert on economics or politics or anything really, I just know how things affect me and my family and sometimes feel it necessary to comment.

One of my biggest bugbears is the misinterpratation of the Health and Safety laws in the UK and Monday saw a great Panorama show on BBC1 ..May Contain Nuts presented by the excellent Quentin Letts.

I daresay that I will have something to say about the Budget tomorrow :)

Popularism

The Labour Government are a Popularist Government. If they can pick up on something they think the average Sun reader wants then they will.

Witness this weekend....Jacqui Smith has decided to ask for the Hillsborough secret files to be opened 10 years early..this in the week that we all remembered the Hillsborough disaster and the week AFTER the public humiliation that was the Damian McBride email email scandal

However, only in January, Jack Straw blocked the release of files showing cabinet notes and papers from when the cabinet discussed the Iraq war. An appeal hearing of the Information Tribunal opened in November 2008. In January of this year it ruled by a majority that it was in the public interest to release the minutes...but no

So then, what can I conclude from this?

Well I conclude that the Government is quite happy to invoke (yet another) of the laws that THEY introduced to protect themselves when necessary, but will ask for early release of papers that they think will save a beleagured Home Secretary because it is a popular thing to do.

Oh and on a side note, we have Mandy telling us that we should stop being pessemistic about the UK and that we should SPEND ...oh yes and , of course, we all need to have Broadband .. has he forgotton that we have over 2 million unemployed in the UK at the moment? That these people can't actually AFFORD to have broadband. My God, we have children living in poverty here already and this Government is telling us to SPEND ...and indeed, they are saying we (the UK) will Spend our way out of recession...hang on...go back a few years ..weren't we spending too much? Wasn't it the over spending that got us here in the first place?

Damn I'm confused! I thought GB was married to Prudence,,determined to carry on the Tories excellent fiscal measures..now it seems he has chucked poor old Pru out of the window and bought in another bird...

Languid

As prompted by Weekend Wordsmith

Languid
Limpid
Liquid
Lolling in the water
Lying near the sand
Looking at the world go by
Loving all this land

So Much to Learn ...

As you can see (this is the second post) I am new to blogging ..well, not strictly true as I have had a Live Journal for 6 years but it was always a private journal for private thoughts, only to be shared by a few close friends.

This place, on the other hand, is for public talk and comment.

I want to talk about Twitter. Twitter is the *new* phenomena sweeping the world on the back of a few celebrity Tweeters (and yes, there is a Twitter language). Some of us have Tweeted for a little while now but most are new. Twitter is wonderful for several reasons not least of which is to get help and/or support when needed. Celebrity Tweeters are beginning to irritate some folks I have noticed over the past few weeks. Most CeleTweeters sign in, have a Twitter account and then don't *follow* (ie befriend) any of the masses of people who follow them. Not only that, but they rarely say much except to promote something that they are doing or comment on another CeleTweeter. There are exceptions of course, @schofe (Philip Schofield) @Glinner (Graham Linehan) @wossy (Jonathon Ross) @willcarling @stephenfry are exceptions and do chat to the commoners (given that every time they appear on Twitter they received hundreds of messages)

Mostly, Twitter is just good karma, a place where you can chat (in 140 characters per Tweet), play music to people (I use blip) , show your photos off (Twitpic) and generally waste time. For me one of the biggest bonuses is that you can post from your mobile phone using a variety of different applications.

Twitter is a growing community but is under attack from spammers and hackers, spammers who want to sell you things (their help or themselves) aboud and care should be taken before adding anyone who follows you. Check out their profile and see what sort of Tweets they have made before following them back ....use the BLOCK button if necessary.

Join in, take it slow and enjoy the flow

Dissatisfaction

The ever decreasing circles of life in the UK under the Gordon Brown Government has prompted me to find a place to rant, discuss and comment.

As one of the most watched people in the world (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/06/surveillance-freedom-peers) I can almost feel my freedom being eroded by the new laws and regulations introduced by Labour over the past 11 years (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/more-than-3600-new-offences-under-labour-918053.html)

This Blog will comment about Health and Safety, Immigration, the Terrorism Act (and its effect on our lives) as well as the Human Rights Act and the outright discrimination against the white English coutryside dwellers in the once green and pleasant land.

There will be factual comment with links when possible but there will be times when passion will overtake facts because that is who I am , a passionate Secret Squirrel who is frustrated with feeling as though I can' t breathe here in England without being watched by someone.

Ladles and Jellyspoons, I commend this Blog to the country/World