When my daughter was very young, 5 or so, I and my wife were summoned to her infant’s school by the headmistress. She, in sombre tones, told us that she was concerned that Caroline was becoming uncontrollable. This was news to us. Caroline had always been stubborn but she seemed to be doing really well at school and had got along fine with her first teacher.
It appeared that Caroline had been told to do something by her second teacher, a Mrs Garscadden to do something. Well we had an inkling that all was not well between Mrs. Garscadden and Caroline so it was no surprise, to me at least, that Caroline had stood up and said, ‘I shan’t and you won’t make me.’
My reaction was, ‘That’s my girl!’ at which point my wife punched me and told me to be quiet.
Caroline flourished with her third teacher and the others that followed.
Separately, at secondary school, my son, Peter, was doing badly in English and with our consent he was demoted to the ‘B’ stream and a new teacher. He too flourished in his new stream and gained an ‘A’ grade at GCSE.
They are both successful in their chosen fields.
And now the role reversal has emerged and they are teaching me. Is that not wonderful?
Tuesday 13 April 2010
A letter to Wales and Scotland
I am an Englishman living in Cardiff, one of the best cities I have ever lived in. However, I am increasingly growing tired of Celtic abuse towards the English plus their continual demands for greater autonomy in their local affairs. It’s more a government/media thing than a general feeling among the people on the street and your friends. But, it’s there and it nags away at you.
These people need to understand that the English are equally growing tired of all the bloody moaning and the way in which England is subsidising the economies of Wales and Scotland.
Barnett formula, Wales? Why should that be changed on the basis of need? Of course you need more: you always have. Even in its heyday, the South Wales coalfield had the highest rate of absenteeism in Britain. Are you asking us to subsidise your historic fecklessness?(Back in the 60’s, a coal miner was paid for 6 shifts if he worked 5 shifts a week. If you took a day off and worked 4 shifts, then you only got paid for 4, which is a 33.3% reduction on the full week. And no coalfield did that more often than South Wales.)
You may well say that the Celtic position is born of the wealth of the SE of England and I would agree for much of England generates negative wealth compared to the South East. Indeed there seems to be an inverse relationship across the British Isles between wealth and moaning. The less they have: the more they moan.
No, bugger off Celts. Go your own way and we shall go ours. We shall close RAF Valley, St Athans, Rosyth and Faslane, leave you to your own fisheries protection, remove the ONS office from Newport, move Companies House from Maindy, shift the DVLA from Swansea and throw RBS to the wolves. Pay for your own bilingual signs and utility bills. Sort your own little TV relay stations in your hills and valleys. Cough up to pay for broadband plans for your remote areas (thereby eliminating the 50p monthly telephone tax for every Briton). And we need to give some serious thought to closing down BBC transmissions and offices in Wales and Scotland. ITV can sort themselves on the basis of advertising revenue.
And if Wales needs a new nuclear power station to replace the existing one at Wylfa, then bloody well pay for it yourselves. Mind you, maybe it’s not a bad idea putting the new one there. It’s quite a way from England so if it goes bang, it will only destroy Anglesey.
Another compelling reason to let Scotland go would be to see what a frigging mess Alex Salmond would make of independence. As ‘leaders’ go, I cannot recall seeing such a display of smirking, arrogant, dismissive behaviour in any politician.
Remember Quebec.
England can do without the Celts. What they need to ask is if they can do without England.
I love living in Cardiff but I am tired of all this crap.
These people need to understand that the English are equally growing tired of all the bloody moaning and the way in which England is subsidising the economies of Wales and Scotland.
Barnett formula, Wales? Why should that be changed on the basis of need? Of course you need more: you always have. Even in its heyday, the South Wales coalfield had the highest rate of absenteeism in Britain. Are you asking us to subsidise your historic fecklessness?(Back in the 60’s, a coal miner was paid for 6 shifts if he worked 5 shifts a week. If you took a day off and worked 4 shifts, then you only got paid for 4, which is a 33.3% reduction on the full week. And no coalfield did that more often than South Wales.)
You may well say that the Celtic position is born of the wealth of the SE of England and I would agree for much of England generates negative wealth compared to the South East. Indeed there seems to be an inverse relationship across the British Isles between wealth and moaning. The less they have: the more they moan.
No, bugger off Celts. Go your own way and we shall go ours. We shall close RAF Valley, St Athans, Rosyth and Faslane, leave you to your own fisheries protection, remove the ONS office from Newport, move Companies House from Maindy, shift the DVLA from Swansea and throw RBS to the wolves. Pay for your own bilingual signs and utility bills. Sort your own little TV relay stations in your hills and valleys. Cough up to pay for broadband plans for your remote areas (thereby eliminating the 50p monthly telephone tax for every Briton). And we need to give some serious thought to closing down BBC transmissions and offices in Wales and Scotland. ITV can sort themselves on the basis of advertising revenue.
And if Wales needs a new nuclear power station to replace the existing one at Wylfa, then bloody well pay for it yourselves. Mind you, maybe it’s not a bad idea putting the new one there. It’s quite a way from England so if it goes bang, it will only destroy Anglesey.
Another compelling reason to let Scotland go would be to see what a frigging mess Alex Salmond would make of independence. As ‘leaders’ go, I cannot recall seeing such a display of smirking, arrogant, dismissive behaviour in any politician.
Remember Quebec.
England can do without the Celts. What they need to ask is if they can do without England.
I love living in Cardiff but I am tired of all this crap.
Monday 12 April 2010
Philtrums
In case you didn’t know it, the philtrum is that groove on your face between your nose and your upper lip. In some cases it is barely visible: in others it is quite deep and when it is, it affects the shape of your upper lip turning it into something like the shape of a crossbow.
I have no idea whether or not it has a function. It could be a drainage channel to move nose dribbles to the mouth. Sounds gross I know but as far as I know your own bodily fluids will add no harm. I mean, let’s face it, if you have got something, you ain’t going to get anymore by adding to it, not that I have a particular affection for any of my bodily secretions.
Maybe it's one of them decorative things and that would figure for I do find philtrums attractive, especially on women. Makes their lips more sexy.
I have no idea whether or not it has a function. It could be a drainage channel to move nose dribbles to the mouth. Sounds gross I know but as far as I know your own bodily fluids will add no harm. I mean, let’s face it, if you have got something, you ain’t going to get anymore by adding to it, not that I have a particular affection for any of my bodily secretions.
Maybe it's one of them decorative things and that would figure for I do find philtrums attractive, especially on women. Makes their lips more sexy.
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