To feel sorry for Scottish children?

[silver3]

Imagine having to go back to school in this suffocating heat in new blazers and school shoes. I know September can be warm too but, it seems to me, there’s nearly always a heat wave like this in mid-August. My DC have been sleeping in the basement on and off for weeks because their bedrooms are like saunas. Schools don’t always have air-conditioning. AIBU to think Nicola Sturgeon should just push the start of term back to Sept?

Delighted I found this thread as it’s a favourite topic of conversation in my family, a mixture of Scottish teachers and Scots who live in England.

Honestly, it can go on for hours.
Animated discussion about the poor English children still in school in July who ( apparently ) miss out on the Long Light Nights.
Long Light Nights are a Big Deal in my family.
That’s a particular favourite of my mother who is a long retired head teacher.

When my children were at school in England, she very nearly had a panic attack when she discovered some English schools have a 2 week Whit holiday in May/ June because this is actually a Good Thing and no self respecting Scot could ever admit to anything vaguely positive about the English education system ( or indeed anything else, for that matter)

Discussion of the weather is another hot topic and again we can all pass hours and hours comparing who’s had it a bit overcast today and who had a bit of a breeze.
I know better than to be boasting about hours of uninterrupted sunshine.

The next time this topic comes up, which it most certainly will, I can now add 15 pages of Mumsnet comments to the family discussion.
Thank you.

We dan't need no ejacashun!

@Infullbloom

Newmama29

"I wonder what other crazy shit southerners think about Scottish people? grin"

"I remember a post on here a couple of years ago from someone coming from London looking to go on a weekend break to Edinburgh in December and wondered if there would be anything opened here because it was winter 🤔🤔"

I can beat that, I remember a thread where English posters were surprised we had shops here and though we got everything delivered!

OK, the "culprits" were from USA, but DH got asked by some people he was chatting to whether there is internet and electricity in Scotland ( he was in Glasgow at the time). While.chatting.with.them.on.Yahoo.Messenger. He replied to them that he's got dogs who are trained to chase his sheep in a circle to produce electricity so that he can chat to his friends.

That was about 20 years ago, in 2000-2001, but still....

I am SO JEALOUS of the May holiday. I would go on my actual summer holidays that week every year.

Just wondering is Scots and Scottish Gaelic still alive and thriving in Scotland? I only know one contact in Nova Scotia Canada who is fluent in Scottish Gaelic. I am multi lingual but don't understand (but appreciate the revival) of the other UK minority languages. I am based in multinational London.

@Darkbendis people genuinely think we live in the hills with our sheep, wearing kilts, playing the bagpipes & eating haggis all day, screaming FREEEEEDOM at the top of our lungs as the bagpipes play in the background. At least if we did do this in August it would be warm enough

[quote Newmama29]@Darkbendis people genuinely think we live in the hills with our sheep, wearing kilts, playing the bagpipes & eating haggis all day, screaming FREEEEEDOM at the top of our lungs as the bagpipes play in the background. At least if we did do this in August it would be warm enough [/quote]
You don't?

You've basically just described my day.
You're missing out

FREEEEEEEDOMMNMM
🐑🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🐑🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🐑🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🐑

Newmama29, don't forget the deep-fried Mars bars. For when the haggis runs out or it's the haggis mating season

19 degrees here now but not raining, so I guess I can go and yell FREEDOOOM!!! in my garden...actually I will probably save that for Wednesday, when the kids are back to school

The rain has started here now. You get deep fried cream eggs at Easter too!

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia I live thirty minutes outside of Glasgow in a large town (a little less than 100k people) and we have one or two Gaelic nurseries/playgroups, a Gaelic primary school unit and the same again for secondary school.

My friend is from Lewis but lives here now and she speaks fluent Gaelic and speaks to her children mostly in Gaelic but they do know Scots/English too.

Has anyone actually ever seen a Deep Fried Mars Bar in the wild? I haven't, anywhere in Glasgow. I think there's a chippy somewhere in town which will fry pretty much anything you take in, but that's not the same as it being a regular menu item.

I thought they sold them in the Blue Lagoon chip shop on Argyle Street

Yes its on the menu at my local chippy right above the deep fried snickers and below the bounty🤮

That's the one I meant, @dementedpixie - they will fry one for you if you ask, but people aren't queuing out the door for them....

(Not even Justin Bieber, who has popped in there in the past for a fish supper).

@SockYarn

Has anyone actually ever seen a Deep Fried Mars Bar in the wild? I haven't, anywhere in Glasgow. I think there's a chippy somewhere in town which will fry pretty much anything you take in, but that's not the same as it being a regular menu item.

Yep, West Lothian, they’re on a few menus here, there’s also a Chinese take away that has deep fried Aeros on the menu, though it was originally mistyped as aro and I mistakenly ordered it thinking it was some Chinese dessert, rofl

And obviously the chippies that fry anything, leading to you being stood in the queue behind a laddie ordering a cardbury caramel supper

I’m sorry if I’ve been guilty of over-estimating Scottish average temperatures, but worse things do happen, to be fair.

It’s not so much that you over estimated the temperature - more that you recommending a wholesale change to a country’s educational policy on the basis of absolutely no knowledge of Scotland.

@TheAquaticDuchess

I’m sorry if I’ve been guilty of over-estimating Scottish average temperatures, but worse things do happen, to be fair.

It’s not so much that you over estimated the temperature - more that you recommending a wholesale change to a country’s educational policy on the basis of absolutely no knowledge of Scotland.

Which basically suggest that the OP thought Scottish people were quite happy for their kids to melt in school, and that if that was the case there wouldn't have been changes to air con or uniform (or term dates) to help because no-one in Scotland would have thought of those things.

@Heismyopendoor

That is wonderful to hear. Scotland has given such a lot to the world with various inventions back in the day and you have such an amazing world class food products and textiles (amongst other delights) it would be such a shame if these traditions erode and not maintained and promoted.

My spouse is Edinburgh alumni and stayed on for further research degrees as of course Edinburgh (if the weather was better during the colder wetter windy months) is one of the best UK cities. However I find it is pretty international and full of many English people there (well at least going by their southern English accents). My young child was previously surprised by BBC Alba and my handful of Welsh colleagues always speak Welsh at every opportunity as fascinating and sometimes cheekily annoying.

Unless things have changed since the old black and white days of when I went to school, uniform rules seem a LOT more relaxed in Scotland than the frankly draconian stuff I read about in England. Rest assured there will be no need for anyone to be melting with a blazer on.

I think deep fried Mars bars are an urban myth. Never seen one. Never seen anywhere selling them. And I've never heard of anyone eating them!

I have seen and eaten a deep fried mars bar.

And a deep fried pizza.

Pizza crunch is the dug's baws.

There is no heat wave here unfortunately and right as I type this from Edinburgh then it’s pissing down with rain and quite chilly!

@LaurieMarlow I tried a deep fried mars bar for the first time a month ago and they are delicious! I am surprised I like them but by god, they are yum!

I know of 2 chip shops here in Edinburgh that have deep fried mars bar on their menus, Piccantes in Broughton Street and Sultan chippy at East Craigs.