SAT NAV KIDS

The door of the coffee shop burst open.  A little girl who was chatting very loudly rushed in and was closely followed by several other children of a similar size.  The parents were hurrying to keep up with their exuberant little ones. Nursery school must have finished for the day.   The little girl grabbed a good seat for herself at a long table that was big enough to take the whole party.  As she settled herself in place, the little girl announced with a flourish…” I have reached my destiny”. 

I reckon I could make a really good guess as to which satnav her family use.

 

 

 

 

MARCH – RIDING ON A BEACH, PLAYING IN THE SEA AND THE MAGIC OF SNOW

It was lovely and Spring-like day on Sunday the 3rd of March, especially in the afternoon when we headed for one of our nearby sandy beaches. At the car park by the sand dunes that lead to the beach, we saw this horse waiting for its turn to run in the sand.

Families were having fun paddling in their boots at the ever receding edge of the water;

Beach fun

There were adults, children and dogs happily meeting up with one another;

All socialising

One of the horses, gingerly negotiating the narrow stone ‘belt’ down to the sand, got to canter on the beach;

On Thursday 14th march 2013 it was another lovely bright day and it was not just because the sun was shining.

This bird was a little black sentinel on a pristine white roof:

From a side window, I saw this tree with sparkling white branches;

The town had been covered with 18cm of snow (approximately 7″),it was a very localised heavy snowfall, the outer areas had very little. There was no way I was staying indoors to admire the view. I wanted to crunch through the snow and see places;

…and take some pictures of the magic.

I’M JUST TRYING TO ANNOY HER!

“Hey, come and look at this”………”Come on, see what I’ve found”.

I turned to see a girl aged about 9 years old, peering at an upper shelf in the shop I was in, waiting for a response from an invisible someone; she waited, there was no reply. So I asked, “ Have you found something interesting?” “No,” she said honestly and confidentially, “I’m just trying to annoy my friend”.

I moved on, peering at possible kids gifts. I sensed someone close by.
“My brother’s collecting all of these”. ‘These’ were sets of different styles of small metal cars. So, striking up conversation and showing an interest, “I might get a set of those” I said. “How old is your grandson?” ….. “My nephew” (We’ll let that one go), …. “I think he would like this set“ said the girl, showing me a pack with some really colourful and sharply designed cars. Having cast my eyes over one or two more colour schemes, her choice was very definitely the best one and I told her so. “You’re good at choosing things aren’t you”. … “Yes”, she answered, “I am a good chooser”.

GLOBETROTTING

It never ceases to amaze me what kids get attached to and stay with into adulthood. Baby teddy and big teddy are safely wrapped up in the loft. Some other copy Stief style teddy lounges lazily on the bed, what for, I am not sure, it is collecting dust. Now, Miffy, on the other hand, travels the world and can be seen, it has been said, on social networking sites in different capital cities and tourist sites of the world.

The map of the world duvet and pillow cover are hiked out for regular use, even though some of it is now history. Some countries have changed their names. Cities and towns have their linquistic spellings, whereas they were known differently a decade or so ago. These bedcovers clearly illustrate it. Of course, the countries themselves, however much their identities have been updated, doggedly remain in their fixed positions in the global design of things.

PROTECTING THEIR BULGES.

This week has been momentous; no I am not talking expenses, it has been momentous for females of the species, depending on your point of view, of course.

It is official. Men will no long be able to reproduce, the Y chromosome will disappear. Please Mr men, don’t get too anxious; you’ve got a little while to sort yourselves. The evolution of this phenomenon will take about five million more years, it’s not like it’s tomorrow, is it.

On the other hand, we are told, we could become like certain mice that can reproduce spontaneously. I mourn the future loss of pheromones.

GFI has broadcast for the last time. The BBC is saving money by cutting the one and only children’s programme they have had scheduled, Go For It! How petty. I can think of other programmes that could be cut, especially the cheap and nasty variety that take up space and do nothing else. It looks like a case of how the bulging pockets protect their bulges.

Striking Pupils

I am reliably informed that pupils at a high school in a Marseille suburb went out on strike yesterday, Friday 30th November 2007, in support of the French university students who are currently out on strike. They are protesting at what they see as the loss of higher learning neutrality. University funding is going to be cut, forcing the institutes to seek financial input from external sources.

While staff were allowed into the high school, a large number of pupils were barricading the school, making sure fellow pupils stayed outside with them.

There was a small fire set in a dustbin, and riot police were very much in evidence to contain the action.

Would secondary school pupils go on strike in support of university students in this country?

Being let loose with kids in Brighton!

I am happily tracking sprog who is currently doing some ‘summer camp’ work, with foreign kids aged 10 -14 years who are in the UK primarily for a holiday and to improve their English. None of them wants to be in a learning environment and yet sprog is employed to teach these dear sweet souls our language. Yesterday she lost four of them on their way to the classroom and today she’s escorting twelve kids around Brighton! I’m waiting for the next episode in the saga. It’s just as well she’s only filling in till they get someone else; it makes it a short week. This story could have been on a one month’s trajectory. 🙄