Being neighbourly

BBC Breakfast this morning, interviewing a designer (didn't catch the name or what he is a designer of, but he hails from Lancashire) about proposed new strategies for planning housing estates in a bid to make people who live in them more neighbourly. This was the gist of his argument:
Well, of course, up to now, new building has given too much consideration to the car. What we need to do is put the cars away from the houses, round the corner somewhere so that people have to walk to them and, on the way, they'll meet their neighbours. No problem about cars being broken into because new cars are practically burglar-proof. (So what about those people who don't have new cars / can't walk round the corner because of disability / need to carry heavy shopping back to the house?)
And as well as freeing up all the space to meet your neighbours in, we can free up even more by having a recycling point down the road somewhere rather than having individual wheelie bins. So you could meet Mrs Bloggs going down to the recycling bins with last night's take-away rubbish in her negligee and, who knows, she could eventually become your wife.
(So it doesn't matter that she is apparently already married then? And are the females among us, by the same token, going to get the chance of meeting Mr Universe by the same recycling bins? And is the wearing of negligees manditory? Even in winter?)

All joking aside, the whole interview was a joke, made worse by the interviewers sitting there with serious expressions on their faces, nodding solemnly to every ridiculous sentence that came out of 'Mr Designer's' mouth!

But my question is this:
What provision is there for your average British misanthropist who just doesn't WANT to meet the neighbours and exchange a friendly but meaningless quip on the way down the road to his car or to throw out last night's rubbish?
You see, no consideration for minority interests!

A job!!!

It's been in the pipeline for a few weeks now but the superstitious in me hesitated to broadcast it until I was as sure as possible that it was actually going to happen.
What am I talking about?
Some kind headteacher has decided that she needs a 'mature and experienced' teacher for Y2 for the next academic year - and she thought of me!
Actually, what happened was that I was interviewed for a similar job at another school but didn't get it. However, the head who was on the interviewing panel is taking up that position in September but is presently head of the school where I shall be working next year. You with me so far?
So there we are. As from September, Jennyta will be in full time, gainful employment for twelve months...
And I never thought to hear myself say this but,
I can't wait!

Grace before meals

The Reception children I was teaching yesterday reminded me at lunchtime that they had to say grace before going to the hall for their lunch.
"Of course," I said. "Which grace do you say?"
Back came the reply.
"God bless this bunch as they munch their lunch."

I won't forget that one in a hurry...

Celebrations?

Overheard this morning, a commentator on BBC1 News talking about reactions in Italy to their world cup win:
"So for the Romans this morning, waking up after an all-night party....."
Parties as boring as that, you should stay away from!
(Unless it was a sleep-over, of course!)

Dentists again

If you've been around this blog for a while, you may remember that, from time to time, I have ranted about the disgraceful dearth of dentists in these parts - NHS dentists, that is. There is dental care to be had if you are able to fork out, so you do have a choice; pay large sums of money, notwithstanding the fact that you already pay your National Insurance contributions or hope you never need dental intervention on your pearly whites.
Now however, in the peaceful land of Jennyta, something wonderful has happened. The tooth fairies have arrived - the NHS tooth fairies and not only that but they have set up camp only five minutes down the road from our ancestral pile! Invitiations to apply to register as patients appeared surreptitiously in the chemist's and I duly applied on behalf of Keith and myself.
Today, a message on the answer machine invited us to ring for an appointment. OK so it's not until September and Keith will moan about going but at last we have what everyone should have, an NHS dentist.

TK again

A nice little offering from TK. If you are planning to apply to IKEA for a job, be warned!

Cautionary tale

This is the story of a boy.
The boy was in Year 6, eleven years old and his parents thought he could do no wrong. Sometimes he was good, sometimes he was bad, just like most boys of his age, except that his parents were convinced he was good all the time. In fact, they couldn't believe that he could possibly be anything else so when the nasty teachers at school told him off or sent home a behaviour slip for them to sign because he had been naughty, they were very angry.
"It's not his fault!" they shouted. "It's those nasty teachers picking on him again.
When the boy heard this, he thought that meant that he could be naughty as much as he liked, because his parents would never believe it and they would stop the nasty teachers from punishing him.
One day, he was very naughty and the deputy headteacher gave him a behaviour slip to take home. When his mother saw it, she was very angry and took her son back into school to watch her shouting at the deputy headteacher and tearing up the behaviour slip.
The deputy headteacher shook her head sadly.
"He'll end up in big trouble when he's older," she murmured.

Today, four years later, the boy appeared in court accused of stealing someone's car and taking his friends for a ride in it, but because he couldn't drive properly and went too fast, the car crashed. Luckily no-one was hurt.
"Aha," said the deputy headteacher, when she heard the news, "I thought that might happen."