Today I've mostly bin...

[giraffe]

Sad news. Was she the last of that generation of the family?

[LAT]

She has a younger sister left. N has been trying, unsuccessfully, to ring her to check she is OK as she will be very upset.

[eirian]

[Bunnylump]

Oh, dear, LAT, that is such sad news. My thoughts are with you.

[gill216]

Sad news Lat. I know how you feel because I've had similar news today. My uncle died yesterday too. He was the only uncle I really knew and because we are in Colchester its taken the oldies a while to think of ringing my mobile.

My stepmother eventually got hold of me (My dad's widow who I haven't spoken to for several years following my dad's death) and in the same phone call she told me that she'd since spent 3 happy years with a childhood sweetheart but he died in June and my step niece's boyfriend died after falling off a bridge a couple of months ago. This is one family re-union that I'd rather not be going to.

[Bunnylump]

Oh, goodness, Gill, that's horrible news too!! So sorry to hear that!

[LAT]

Gosh that is sad Gill.

[giraffe]

Oh dear. What a lot of sad news. So many for one family to come to terms with in quick sucession.

[Wulfruna]

Oh dear, what a lot of losses - all of them unexpected by the sound of it. Even with elderly relatives it is still a shock when this happens.....

[eirian]

.. wishing I didn't have to walk to the tram stop in the morning. Think I might need to dig my heavy duty shoes out. But then, at least I don't have to be the one to tell Thomas that it'll be quicker to walk to school than dig the car out!

[kathlyn]

Watching the snow fall and it get deeper and deeper. Had to cancel art group because of it earlier so have done a bit to my current masterpiece but not very motivated, I hate winter

[eirian]

was actually quite disappointed when I got up this morning - nothing more than when I went to bed last night and that not iced over. Rumours are it's going to snow during the day, but it's just rain here in central Manchester.

[gill216]

Started in Leeds at 9.45 and Castleford at 10 so its coming your way Eirean.

[giraffe]

Woke up to a couple of inches, but it's gone slushy because it has been raining all morning.

[Bunnylump]

I just got sent home because the school has shut. It's not accumulating on the roads that much yet but it's been coming down steadily for about 3 hours. I'll probably have to walk the three miles UPHILL tomorrow. What really irritates me is that they insist on opening the school come hell or high water, and then about 1/4 of the children turn up. So they collapse all the lessons into big groups and spend the day wasting time watching DVDs etc. What on Earth the point is of staff, parents and children risking life and limb to get in and do that is utterly beyond me. Thinks:Oh yeah, that's it...the Herts County Council attendance figures. That's far more important.

I do feel really sorry for all the kids who have exams today, though - everyone else has been sent home and they had to stay and finish!! Thank goodness no kids with access arrangements this afternoon - otherwise I'd have had to stay too...

[MBH]

What really irritates me is that they insist on opening the school come hell or high water, and then about 1/4 of the children turn up.

Surely that's a problem in regard to 3/4 of the parents??? The only time we didn't attend school was when the boiler broke down. Getting to and from school was a simple matter of legs and wellies That 3-miles back and forth are probably part of the reason I really don't like walking outdoors in the cold - but at least I made it through school.

[Yes, I know some kids live more than 3 miles away, but I bet they could get CLOSE by road and walk the rest]

[kathlyn]

Quote from MBH 'Getting to and from school was a simple matter of legs and wellies
[Yes, I know some kids live more than 3 miles away, but I bet they could get CLOSE by road and walk the rest][/quote]


We only had black wellies in our day, look at all the different colours and designs around now, very trendy.

[Bunnylump]

Well, it makes me laugh that all these kids "can't" get in - I'm OLD and I can walk there!! Obviously, the ones who live in the village are just being lazy little sods. However, to be fair, because it is a "village" school, the school buses run kids in from all over the shop - some of them come from the far side of Watford or Rickmansworth, which is maybe 5 or 6 miles, and because we are right at the top of the "Grand Old Duke of York's" hill, the school buses can't get there. The thing that irritates me is that a lot of parents of children who live nearby don't INSIST that their kids come in, and that when they get there the school doesn't do real lessons. There's no point in that, they might as well just make snowmen. Of course, a lot of the teachers are travelling from MILES away (places like London, about 30 miles away) and they are expected to come in. My point is WHY, if they don't actually deliver real lessons?

Although I must say, my own kids wouldn't have got away with not going to school because of a bit of snow. Mind you, they weren't allowed to have time off every time they had a sniffle, either...AND I made them walk to school (unless they had e.g. a double bass in tow!!) But then I'm an evil mummy. On the other hand, my next door neighbour DRIVES her spoilt 9 year old girl, in a massive 4x4 truck thing the 200 yards or so to primary school every day. And they wonder why kids are fat and lazy.

[MBH]

because we are right at the top of the "Grand Old Duke of York's" hill, the school buses can't get there.

.... but I bet the buses could travel the 5+ miles to the bottom of the hill [Those with true mobility problems have a valid excuse.

Primary school was about 400 yards with a lollipop lady across the main road. I always walked there as well (not sure what age I started walking alone - I bet it was before 9).

[Bunnylump]

Yep, they can definitely do that. The last time I walked in through the snow, I was somewhat alarmed to see a minibus sliding sideways down the hill directly towards us...that was a "quick, jump in the hedge" moment!!