Traffic!!

It occurred to me to wonder, on the way to work today, why there should be so many mobile cranes, slow moving diggers etc. on my route at 6.30 in the morning. Every day, at least three of them hold up the traffic on my route.
Shouldn't be allowed on the road during rush hour! Should only be allowed to move around during the hours of darkness.
And have you ever noticed the car that hurtles up behind you and tries to do the rest of the journey in the boot of your car? Nine times out of ten, it's a BMW! The tenth time, it's a Vauxhall Vectra. So they should be off the road too!
Then, there's 'White Van Man'. As soon as he sees that your car is being driven by the female of the species, he just HAS to overtake. If you were doing 100 mph, he'd pip you at the post! Should be banned!
And what about those who trundle along, oblivious to all around them, at half the speed of everyone else? You feel you just have to check that they're not pushing it with their feet and giving the engine a rest. Can't they be restricted to driving between 2 and 3.30 in the afternoon and on side roads only?
So that leaves you and me - the only perfect drivers in the world! If all these others were off the road, I'd get to work in the morning in half the time and feel a lot less frazzled!! :-)

Back to curriculum

Arts week is over, back to normal timetable this week. The children are fidgety (and overtired from watching too much football too late on TV!), I'm slightly irritable (only slightly, of course!)
Next week is Design and Technology week - or, to be more accurate, Design and Technology 3 days. Brilliant! Another chance to explore seldom visited areas of interest....
WRONG!!!
Subject - Textile tree. Now this term, our science has been Materials related, our art has been Materials related. You might be forgiven for thinking that we have done materials to death, but no - lest we should run away with the idea that there could be other, more interesting things to grapple with, our D&T is also Materials related.
Interesting!!! A totally alien concept to the originators of the National Curriculum. (Who in their right mind, for instance, could possibly imagine that Victorian washing days would be remotely interesting to 5 to 7 year olds? )But that's another story and I digress.
So, we are not going to spend 3 days learning to wrap cardboard cylinders in different fabrics (Yes, honestly! No kidding!!!)
We are going to design and print patterns on T shirts, have a go at tie dying (remember that?), create masterpieces of collage.
To put it differently we are going to have FUN while we learn!
Watch this space!! :-)

Runcorn Bridge :-(

For the second time in 12 months, 'they' are digging up Runcorn Bridge again. Well, they're doing something that requires cones, speed restrictions and endless queues of traffic anyway. Ours not to reason why. They couldn't have been thoughtful and considerate and left it until 23rd July (day after end of term).
As I zoom effortlessly from the sliproad onto the bridge (always supposing someone there is kind enough to let me in!), as I zoom... at, oooh, at least 5 miles an hour, I am struck by a blue police sign which indicates that this is a police speed check area! I would be more than happy if there was the remotest chance of reaching the 20 mph current speed limit! Still, someone in the Highways Agency obviously has a sense of humour!
(21 working days to go till the end of term!!)

Welsh Stonehenge???

The Welsh BBC news this evening had an item about the building of Stonehenge. The stone came from Pembrokeshire and was transported to Wiltshire. According to Keith, it was transported on prehistoric steam trains powered by good Welsh coal - what else??? As he has said before, the Welsh have always been a very forward looking nation.
Now, it appears that the discovery of Welsh teeth on the site (different to English teeth obviously!), indicates that Welshmen not only delivered the stones but helped erect them. So far so good, although I can't see why the presence of these teeth doesn't just mean that there was a fight with the native English and the Welsh got their teeth knocked out before legging it back to Wales! Keith maintains that the Welsh were a lot better organised than the English, which is why their labour was required.

OK, as my paternal grandmother was born in Mold, this being my one claim to any Welsh ancestry, I can just about let him get away with that.

What I am having difficulty with, however, is his final claim that these stalwart men actually pulled the stones onto the site with their teeth - which is why the teeth are lying around unconnected to their skulls, presumably. :-)

Computer update

My 'Favourites' list is back, fully restored and in working order. It reappeared when Keith removed the programme he had installed. But I'm still playing safe and sticking to my laptop!! :-)

computers!!

History probably records more rows, arguments, divorces etc. caused by problems over computers than any other reason! If archevists were to trawl the innumerable historical records hidden away in dusty libraries and museums for accounts of disputes between women and the men in their lives, they would almost certainly discover the most common reason by far was to do with computers!
From early cave dwellers to viking invaders to mediaeval merchants to victorian entrepreneurs to your average modern day 'partners' - the question has resounded from the Outer Hebrides to Land's End (taking in North Wales on the way)....
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY FAVOURITES LIST???!!!"
Two hours ago, the refrain was picked up and hurled forth to resound in the environs of North Wales and thence to join its countless echoes in the ether of past generations.
(Well, something like that anyway!)
Never share a computer with an I.T. expert - especially the male of the species. If you do, your 'favourites' list will never be safe. It will disappear when he decides to replace Windows with Linux (Why???) It will vanish mysteriously when he changes the operating system from Windows 2000 to Windows 98 (Again - why???) It will cease to exist when he loads a new gizmo on the computer and your profile disappears.
(Why? Well, I answered yes to the question on the screen. What was the question? Dunno, didn't read it, did I?)
The solution to this problem? Have your own computer and never let him near it!!!
You have been warned!

Washing machines!!!

Did I say the other day that the 2 things I would miss most were my computer and the washing machine! Should have kept quiet. Yesterday evening, I loaded the washing machine and then went out to water the garden. A short time later, the washing machine was sporting a flashing light which shouldn't have been flashing and was ominously silent and still. Half an hour of pushing and prodding later, still no change, so I tried the Jennytc repair method - it never (well, rarely) fails - a combination of swearing at it, giving it a good talking to and a few well-aimed kicks!
Amazingly, still nothing happened. Keith felt I was taking it all too seriously (Typical male logic!)and refused to let me near it for the next hour. To cut a long story short, it eventually started working again, but why, I am not sure. I did figure out that what had caused the problem was me using the hosepipe on the garden at the same time that the washing machine was ready to do the rinse cycle. Not enough water for both, so, in the time-honoured way of all household gadgets, it decided to SULK, stamp its foot, pick up its ball and go home - whatever!
However, I am a forgiving soul, not one to bear a grudge, so all is well again, and the washing machine is still the second thing I would most hate to do without - second only to my laptop. Did I hear someone say, "Get a life, woman!" ????