Busy Tuesday

I've had quite a busy day today.
Walked the dogs after breakfast, then went to be tortured and pampered. [Hair cut, leg wax.]
Then I had to take Spark to the vet, more pills for him, and return visit in 6 weeks. He's got alopaecia (think that is how it is spelt), or rather did have, he's getting much better now.
I then walked to the market for some more yarn for a baby blanket I am making. Now I'm chilling out for a while and wondering what to make with the chicken I have for tea.

Schools and teaching

Why do schools expect teachers who gave English and literature, etc up after GCSE ...expect them to teach "Literacy" ...this might be ok up to KS2...but after that surely it is asking for trouble?

Lithuania

Lithuania means one very special person to me. So when ever I see articles naming Lithuania, I usually read them. This one I saw a couple of months ago. Never having visited Lithuania I don't know if this is true, but from what my someone special has told me, and photos I have seen, I would imagine that in summertime the aroma of fruit, and trees would be very strong. Lithuania looks so clean and unspoilt.
Then I saw this story, and I just had to laugh. I don't think the residents of Vilnius will part illegally a second time, after the mayor has taken things in hand.

Things about me [part 8]

Last week my sister-in-law rang me. She has been researching the various family trees, both sides of her family and both sides of my brother's, which of course is mine too. She'd come across something she thought might make me laugh, or at least smile. In the paternal side of my family we have ancestors who were called Nutter. So next time someone calls me a nutter, I'll just smile and tell them they are quite right, a small part of me is definitely a nutter.
And she hasn't dug too deep as yet, but the Nutter in question does hail from the same area as Alice Nutter. I'm sure Janet will let me know if we are related to the notorious Nutters.

I've never seen a volcano erupt....up close!

One of the Manchester rioters is quoted as answering "I've never seen a riot before!". I suppose we should excuse him because of his youth..only 12 years old, but as my post title says, I've never seen a volcano erupt...up close, or a tsunami, or an earthquake..or for that matter been involved in a war.
BUT!!!! I do not need to experience them to know that they would more than likely not be kind to me.
Perhaps the problem is with the dictionary definition of the word riot. I looked, and the first definition is the obvious one. "wild disturbance by a crowd of people", there is a second one, which is sometimes used to describe the humour/hilarity in a situation. An amusing person can be riotous, but I would guess the "rioters" are not sufficiently educated to know this second meaning...or let's face it, they wouldn't want to find out which meaning of the word riot is being used.
As fort other things i haven't seen/done/had.....well I haven't heard of the black death just around the corner, but if it was...I wouldn't go to investigate.
I'm sure you can add to my list of things you haven't seen/heard of/ done /had...but would know to keep away from them if they were happening just around the corner.
(Adding one thought..when the mother of the said child left court with him...instead of answering the reporters when they asked her why she didn't know where her son had been...she swore at them! To me that says a lot.)

Riots! :(

There have been riots, and they are still going on. Mostly in London, but today they have spread to one area of Birmingham.
I just watched the late night news, and they had several "figureheads" debating about the causes, and if they were like the riots of the 80s.
Well, when I heard about the riots on Saturday, I think that was when the first one was, may have been Friday. I had a sinking feeling, thinking that the economic climate and the time of year were the same, also the job market was in a similar position.
They talk about local government cuts being the cause....they might be right? who knows? But what they don't look into, and probably daren't, is a where are they now type look at the rioters of the 80s.
My job is local government, but they don't say anything about our wages having been frozen for over two years. The place I work at has had to make a huge saving this year, some has been scrapped together by people taking voluntary redundancy, but they have not ruled out...YET...the need for forced redundancies. I will say the place I work says goodbye to workers with many years under their belt to replace them with young, newly qualified workers, generally female.
It is never mentioned that we are going to have to work longer years until we are eligible for retirement. This I find annoying. And why can't the government see that by keeping local government employees in their jobs for a couple of extra years, there are no jobs being freed up for the general public. Young adults leave school/college with no idea what direction they will go in, as jobs are so scarce on the ground. (OK, whatever they pay the young people to not work possibly costs less that letting the older people retire at the age they expected to when they started their working lives.)
It is possible that the rioters of the 80s are now in local government jobs and are completely behind the rioters of today. But joking aside, I really don't think keeping local government employees in work for longer is the way to go.
When I was at school, we were told women work until they are 60, men 65. I will not receive my local government pension until I am 67, or is it 68? Does it really make sense to keep older people in work, considering as people get older they usually develop an age related illness?
There is no easy answer to this problem, but blaming the rioters of today, because they feel they aren't getting what they have been told they will get is not the answer. And considering if they keep the dwindling number of local government workers, that includes, besides your council, anyone who works in a hospital, fire station, police station, school, courts, etc...in their jobs..perhaps they should keep children in education until they are 18? 21? 25?...any advance on 25?
I'll sign off now...I have probably posed more questions than possible solutions, which just proves that there is no easy answer.
And....by the way...when I first heard about the rioting this weekend I felt a sinking feeling in my heart...but you have to watch the news about it...just like you have to pick the scab off a sore...It doesn't make you feel comfortable, but you have to see what is going on.

It might be cleaner, but is it also cheaper?

You might have noticed that several car manufacturers have been developing either "hybrid" cars, or electric cars of late. There is one question I really would like answered about this.
Okay, we all see the sense that whilst driving an electric car it doesn't pollute the atmosphere. However, in the long run does it pollute by the same amount, somewhere along the line? After all the electric needs to be generated to charge the car up. And I know it would be marvelous if all the countries needs for electric was generated via natural , sorry I mean, environmentally friendly generation. Windmills, hydro electric, solar power, and the like. But we are still a long way from this. Plus not everyone likes the windmills....but that's another post. Lastly, the energy providers keep putting up the price of electric, so would an electric car work out cheaper? Maybe, maybe not! It's something to think about.
Just as a crazy aside, the ideal "environmentally friendly" transport would have solar cells, and a small wind generator....and in this country, maybe even a small waterwheel as well! (Bet that's made you smile.)

Polar bear attack!

I seriously don't think the Polar Bear knew where the people it attacked were from! I think it was just protecting "it's" territory from incomers.
Don't get me wrong...I am sorry people have lost their lives...but the Polar Bear is a HUGE predator...he/she was just protecting their Territory the only bodies at fault here were the humans...for straying into Polar Bear territory without knowing it was OK to proceed