Just a quick one

If the public sector strikes today were a "damp squib" as Cameron says..that only goes to prove the man walks around with blinkers on. When I went shopping earlier there were more Mum's and kids than is usual for a Wednesday during in school hours

Damn government ....again!

Today has been a day of action by the public sector unions. Although I do work in the public sector, I don't work on Wednesday, so was not on strike.
But I have just turned off Newsnight in disgust. The government minister was on first talking to Paxo..and talked over him when he didn't want to answer a question, or didn't like what Paxo was saying. Then a union rep was on...the bloke did not get the "fair" hearing the government bloke did..cos no-one bound and gagged the government bloke, and every time the union man said something that the government bloke didn't want to hear..he would begin to talk over him..more and more loudly.
Is that any way for an elected member of our government to act? Perhaps it is just me, but his attitude is too much to the fore these days. We have people in positions of power taking the attitude "I can talk louder and longer than you..so I WILL win"
Respect amongst people of equal ages..or standing..roughly..should be earned, and not assumed, just because one of the two has been to public school, and was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, does NOT make them cock of the walk.
As for public sector wages being better than private ones...that I very much doubt. Perhaps the spouting government ministers should try to survive on a high school technician's wage for a few months before they tell us we are on "better than average wages"

Limbo land dilema

That is where I am at the moment.....LIMBO LAND
The partner I had and lived with has gone away, over 12 months since...BUT we have been in contact. Both He and I want him to come back to the UK.
I am doing everything I can...but with our current economic state there is not much I can do.
Should I look elsewhere and find a new path? or wait.?
I feel I should wait until I know what is happening....but others say I should look elsewhere. Right now..am waiting. To me when someone says they will return...I take it that they will

Changing governments = changing policies

I am not going to cover the normal gripes most people have about "changing policies", however, I sometimes wonder about the thinking behind the decisions.
Back in 2008 the government started to roll out a new initiative in secondary education. The initiative was called "License to cook", and the idea behind it was that from ages 11-14 pupils would learn a variety of skills used in cooking, and make good consumable foods using these skills. I went with our food teacher to a meeting about this. And since then we have been using the recipes in the school I work in. The recipe cover basic "pizza toasts" and smoothies, up to making curries and pizzas. In other words, the full range of cooking is covered. These lessons have been very popular with the children, meaning that they are making foods they know and love for themselves.
Sounds great doesn't it, and this September the initiative was to become compulsory for all 11-14 year olds. The upshot being, no child would leave school unable to make their own meals. There were to be nationally recognised certificates at the end of each year, so that children who didn't wish to take food education any further would still have a sound basic education and certificates to prove it.
You probably think there is nothing wrong with that idea at all, and especially at a time when less and less people seem to be capable of cooking a meal for themselves, preferring to buy ready meals or takeaways. I agree, it WAS a great idea..........
SO......
That will be why the current government have decided to shut down the website, and no longer make the teaching of certain food skills in schools compulsory. At the school I work at, this isn't a problem, but in areas where the initiative never even started, those children are missing out, especially if they don't have an inspirational food teacher, like the one I am technician for.

The government have possibly contributed to health problems in the future by scrapping this scheme.
There is no active link, to the recipes etc any more. Oliver took a copy of the disc I had been given, with him to university, and managed to self-cater for himself throughout his Masters, and when he was at the school I work at he cooked four times, in two years, making very unappetising dishes (It was a different teacher then)

I "want stuff!"

This story caught my eyehttp://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/children-unhappy-material-goods-130000569.html and I was immediately caught!
I have children, albeit that my youngest is now 18 and a half. But I also work in a school, and see the effects of the "I want that!" culture every day. Bearing in mind I live where I do, the culture is to look "up-to-date" which I interpret as chavvy!..The latest thing for girls around here is to wear a quilted shiny jacket...BUT!!!!! it has to have I "heart" PB on it....The wearers of these jackets might not know that the jackets are normally worn by "equestrians"....(do I hear a swift search for the dictionary?) The true stars of tomorrow will not follow the crowd, and the sheep of today will be performing menial jobs, if any!

busy afternoon

Because of how I was feeling, I decided to keep myself as busy as possible.
So, between then and now I made two lots of buns, one chocolate chip/chocolate and one choc chip/vanilla, two lots of biscuits....peanut and oat one's, and two lots of toffee. Traditional English treacle toffee and some golden toffee...then I had my tea and a bath....carrying on keeping busy by knitting.

not a good day

Do you ever have days when although nothing goes wrong, it just doesn't feel like a good day?
I do. For no reason that most would accept as logical, I feel like crying.