ADs and their pampered poodles

[BogRollBOGOF]

Here we are again, gaining sequels even more rapidly than the Fast and the Furious...

I was a pretty hardy child... other than my terror of the Childline phone number and the Charlie and I adverts... I used to run upstairs, hide under my bed and count to a very big number until I thought that it might be safe enough to come back downstairs again.

I was fine with kids being crushed in railway points and getting fried by pylons
It was probably the unspoken danger of what "strangers" would actually do, plus children being missing/ murdered on the news wasn't that unusual.

There are people in S Yorks., close to the Don, that haven't got back into their houses since the flooding in November 2019. And lots of others who can't get flood insurance.

There are people in S Yorks., close to the Don, that haven't got back into their houses since the flooding in November 2019. And lots of others who can't get flood insurance.
There's a village near the river in our county where the pub has been flooded so often they can't get insurance either.

A colleague was trying to order sandbags yesterday. They were flooded out last year & only recently moved back in.

Re: climate change Welsh government have announced in N Wales they are considering toll roads for the A55 and A483 to cut down on traffic which is part of their remit of the clean air act for Wales. They noted how much better the air was in lockdown. Cant you hear the KERCHING!! wheels turning in their little minds.

I've noticed the field at the bottom of my garden appears to have a pool of water in it. That doesn't usually happen or maybe it does in heavy rain and I'm not usually here to notice. It's rained continuously since last night. We haven't left the house today.

Afternoon all. I've had a fairly good day. Elder DD had been with grandparents and I went to a big Asda nearby with little DD to buy her some new shoes. Accepted that my fatness isn't changing any time soon so bought myself some massive comfy jeans. My word, they are good. Enormous, but good.

Then while she napped this afternoon I finished my book. Monstrous Regiment. I now have the slightly bereft feeling of having finished a book, amplified by the sadness of being one Discworld book nearer to the end. But I am more in love with Sam Vimes than ever and am going to have to stop revealing so much personal info on here because I don't want to have to name change ever!

I think my best friend is officially a D. Even more supportive of lockdown this time round. Criticising an 85 year old family friend because she is going to the supermarket.

Really sad. We stopped talking about it because we know we wont agree. But hearing "the 85 year old selfish because if she dies of Covid, her family will have to deal with a bereavement".

Honestly, I know the daughters and I would be surprised if they thought their mum should spend what might be the last mobile years of her life, trapped indoors. It's bad that going to the supermarket is like a bit of excitement!

Ooh that is awful Acorn, what a wicked thing for your friend to say. The 85 year old God bless her is going to die at some point anyway and I hate the idea of these poor little old men and women sentenced to life imprisonment. My mum is much younger, 70, but is struggling immensely with living on her own and I am glad she went to Sainsbury's today so at least she saw people!

That’s horrible Acorn! This has certainly brought out the worst in many people.

My mum is 76 and I’ve noticed a huge change in her over the last year. She’s always been really active and outgoing but seemed a shadow of her former self last time I saw her. She’s dad’s carer as he has advanced COPD so is too scared to go anywhere in case she passes anything onto him.

It seems the young and also active, independent older people have lost out massively during lockdowns.

@SirSamuelVimes

Afternoon all. I've had a fairly good day. Elder DD had been with grandparents and I went to a big Asda nearby with little DD to buy her some new shoes. Accepted that my fatness isn't changing any time soon so bought myself some massive comfy jeans. My word, they are good. Enormous, but good.

Then while she napped this afternoon I finished my book. Monstrous Regiment. I now have the slightly bereft feeling of having finished a book, amplified by the sadness of being one Discworld book nearer to the end. But I am more in love with Sam Vimes than ever and am going to have to stop revealing so much personal info on here because I don't want to have to name change ever!

I’ve just bought a bunch of Terry Pratchett books because you guys seem so keen.

Thank you both

It's particularly shocking as my friend's grandmothers were both active into their 90s. I'm shocked that she has swallowed the narrative to the extent that she thinks people in that age group - or any age group - shouldn't go out.

She herself went to the pound shop "for some bits" today.

Maybe if her grandparents were still around, she'd be one of those telling them to stay indoors.

I do think a lot of people are saying stuff they haven't really thought through? That might be me just hoping for some rationality from her.

I agree people losing independence and mobility.

I haven't been to the park to see if the benches are taped off again but I hope not.

Evening all. Managed a relatively early finish tonight, did DS zoom parents evening and managed to remember to set the sky planner to record "Its a Sin" this week as I've been meaning to for aaaaages.

So I'm counting today as a success.

Oooh @CruCru you are in for a treat!! Which ones have you got?

I've just been watching Professor Paul Dolan from the LSE talk about behavioural economics, and he commented on the lack of dissenting voices about anything and how people with legitimate concerns about the virus were labelled as anti-vaxxers, which is counter-productive as the messages needed to persuade people with legitimate concerns were different than messages to genuine anti-vaxxers. He was also disagreeing with schools closing, and highlighted that a lack of diversity in policy making was the cause. It was nice to hear someone talk about it in a sensible and matter of fact manner.

I got a call from DD2's teacher today and explained that DD2 found seeing the classroom she loves and is no longer allowed in distressing. Her teacher is lovely but she was horrified because this possibility had never once occurred to her. How could it not?

My 11 year old was struggling today. She is really finding algebra difficult and I am rubbish at maths (and no I am not one of those people who are proud of it, I have attended adult education classes to try and improve my knowledge but not for years) so I can't help her much. She was crying because she said maths is taking her so long everything else is getting handed in late. I called the school and asked to speak to her teacher who is lovely and has called a few times to go over the problems. Her teacher basically said not to worry about the times too much, prioritise maths and literacy and that it was probably just a bad day. I gave her a fiver and told her she could go for a walk and buy herself something as it's so miserable at the moment. Poor kids being stuck inside all of the time, it's horrible. Playgrounds don't yet have tape around them but my local borough was saying that they are having to monitor them getting too busy which inevitably led to people complaining that they should be shut as 'don't you know we're in lockdown'?!

Coz the playgrounds are obviously heaving on stormy days in January

I've seen between 0-2 families on our local one at any time. Admittedly, it is pretty rubbish. My two were bored of that one by 5 as it's mainly toddlery with a couple of random bits for older children, but they have to be bigger to reach, so there's a gap in the middle.

Closing playgrounds is utterly cruel.

Enjoy the discworld novels CruCru.
I love Sir Sam Vimes too. He’s such a well rounded character and he would be an AD I’m sure. My discworld novels and my children are what I would save in case of flood/ fire etc.

Closing playgrounds again would just be the last straw. Even the thought of it makes me want to cry and throw things!

God.. the school threads. So, as far as I understand it two things are true:

1. if you send DC to school when they could stay home with you you are morally reprehensible
2. they should be doing all assigned work, homeschooling should be a priority for the parent (ie always the mother) and if they fall behind it’s all your fault ... so in conclusion, we’re all fucked?

Friend is at her wits end. Youngest - the one who asked if school was closed because they hadn't washed their hands enough is falling apart dramatically (on the waiting list for an ASD assessment which has obviously gone to shit with the latest lockdown) and is just clinging to her mother and trying to chew mum's hair... the eldest - just won't do school work at all - has gone through days just hitting "done" on all her stuff set on Google Classroom.

the eldest - just won't do school work at all - has gone through days just hitting "done" on all her stuff set on Google Classroom.

On the plus side this could be a very useful skill to have in the workplace...!

[Obvs sounds terrible but I admire her attitude! Possibly won't make any difference at all in the long run if it's anything like our experience of being out of school for a year and a half....]

Where did you see that @TabbyStar ? Sounds really interesting.

Paul Dolan? It's in a series of talks put on by LSE (over Zoom). It's on the London School of Economics Facebook page, he mentions it a bit in his opening talk, but then speaks about it a bit more I'd guess after about 40 minutes in m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=5070466192995527&id=6127898346 - hopefully that works.