I have found a way to do my vocab practice while making sure I don't walk away from the frying pan full of bacon. I have burnt so much in my time!
I have set up a note pad, pen and envelope of words station just out of range of the spitting fat. So in between turning over the food and making sure it doesn't stick to the pan, I write out my words.
It is surprisingly easy to do every time I do cooking. 2 problems mixed in the right way produce 2 good results.
Friday, 25 January 2013
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Our tale of woe
I am going to try to list all the losses which have happened to us over the past 2 weeks.
1. A monthly rail season ticket, planning ahead so I thought
2. A tablet, much loved, bought with care
3. A phone, much loved, only received 3 days previously from ebay
4. An iPod, full of carefully chosen music
5. An amplifier for iPod, carefully chosen and looked forward to
All stolen while T was doing an exam
6. A thousand emails relating to gaming plus access to that email account, clearly much used
7. A Steam gaming account, much used
8. All the games associated with that Steam gaming account, bought in sales, as presents over the past few years
9. £130.00 taken from my PayPal account by a 16 year old young man from Sarajevo, I have his email, it was clearly shown on the paypal email, what use I have for knowing the details of my thief I don't know.
10. Finally, the replacement tablet, the item we decided was the most helpful out of all of them and justified being replaced generously as soon as possible, knocked onto the floor and broken by a year 9 only 3 days after getting it. That was yesterday, just when we thought things were being sorted out successfully.
11. My mother in law next door had a flood several days ago too.
I used to replace items very quickly which got lost so that there could be as little disruption as possible. Now we are at an uncomfortable point because I have less wish to help out. Even though in fact I am busy dealing with paperwork for all the losses.
I forgot several other problems:
12. T's bank card was frozen due to him trying to buy the replacement tablet
13. I cancelled my bank card, the one stolen from by the light fingered young gentleman from Sarajevo
1. A monthly rail season ticket, planning ahead so I thought
2. A tablet, much loved, bought with care
3. A phone, much loved, only received 3 days previously from ebay
4. An iPod, full of carefully chosen music
5. An amplifier for iPod, carefully chosen and looked forward to
All stolen while T was doing an exam
6. A thousand emails relating to gaming plus access to that email account, clearly much used
7. A Steam gaming account, much used
8. All the games associated with that Steam gaming account, bought in sales, as presents over the past few years
9. £130.00 taken from my PayPal account by a 16 year old young man from Sarajevo, I have his email, it was clearly shown on the paypal email, what use I have for knowing the details of my thief I don't know.
10. Finally, the replacement tablet, the item we decided was the most helpful out of all of them and justified being replaced generously as soon as possible, knocked onto the floor and broken by a year 9 only 3 days after getting it. That was yesterday, just when we thought things were being sorted out successfully.
11. My mother in law next door had a flood several days ago too.
I used to replace items very quickly which got lost so that there could be as little disruption as possible. Now we are at an uncomfortable point because I have less wish to help out. Even though in fact I am busy dealing with paperwork for all the losses.
I forgot several other problems:
12. T's bank card was frozen due to him trying to buy the replacement tablet
13. I cancelled my bank card, the one stolen from by the light fingered young gentleman from Sarajevo
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Covering the whole spectrum
In the morning H and I discussed what was wrong with home education and felt some emotions. Physics was mentioned.
At lunchtime I handed him a science revision book which covers all 3 sciences clearly I thought. I also forwarded to him the 2 most recent Oxon-home ed email digests so he could see what was on locally.
By tea time he had pronounced the book boring and wanted to make shortbread with me. We had such a great time, converted weights, halved the quantities, doubled them again in the middle of mixing, and wound up with delicious shortbread and a happy, satisfied mood.
My offer of a formal tutorial time spent sitting in the drawing room discussing anything he fancied was turned down flat, but we just happened to discuss all sorts of interesting things over supper at the kitchen table, even though he told me he disliked the kitchen.
It was that sort of a day, up and down and around about.
I will go into our family saga of paypal losses, hacked gaming accounts, stolen tech items, deleted email accounts and a broken brand new tech item another day. My desk is covered with files for each of these traumas. I am the go-to fixer, even though I am trying to be very slow and grumpy about it. I can't help being a tiny bit proud that I can speak politely and effectively to people working in big organisations.
At lunchtime I handed him a science revision book which covers all 3 sciences clearly I thought. I also forwarded to him the 2 most recent Oxon-home ed email digests so he could see what was on locally.
By tea time he had pronounced the book boring and wanted to make shortbread with me. We had such a great time, converted weights, halved the quantities, doubled them again in the middle of mixing, and wound up with delicious shortbread and a happy, satisfied mood.
My offer of a formal tutorial time spent sitting in the drawing room discussing anything he fancied was turned down flat, but we just happened to discuss all sorts of interesting things over supper at the kitchen table, even though he told me he disliked the kitchen.
It was that sort of a day, up and down and around about.
I will go into our family saga of paypal losses, hacked gaming accounts, stolen tech items, deleted email accounts and a broken brand new tech item another day. My desk is covered with files for each of these traumas. I am the go-to fixer, even though I am trying to be very slow and grumpy about it. I can't help being a tiny bit proud that I can speak politely and effectively to people working in big organisations.
Saturday, 19 January 2013
Here is a seriously helpful blog post
I have forwarded it to S and I'm putting it on here. I haven't even finished reading it!
The blog post I'm talking about.
Quick summary: make your immediate environment reflect what you are about, so making it easier for you to do things which reflect your deepest wishes, rather than give attention to other things.
Now I'll settle down and read the rest for myself.
The blog post I'm talking about.
Quick summary: make your immediate environment reflect what you are about, so making it easier for you to do things which reflect your deepest wishes, rather than give attention to other things.
Now I'll settle down and read the rest for myself.
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Lord Avebury and others speaking on Bahrain in the House of Lords
The Hansard text is copied here:
Lord Avebury: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness and to the Minister Mr Alistair Burt for the expression of concern. My noble friend will recall that the Bassiouni commission of inquiry said that the sentences of political detainees should be commuted and that they should be compensated for the tortures that they endured, and the King said that he accepted those recommendations. Why are we not pressing the King to honour his promises? Do the Government recognise that there is not the faintest possibility of dialogue, reconciliation or peace on the streets as long as the martyrs remain in custody?
Baroness Warsi: My noble friend raises an important point. He will be aware that the BICI-the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry-did not consider the National Safety Courts, the special military courts set up to try people arrested during the disturbances,
9 Jan 2013 : Column 131
to be the correct method, and therefore recommended a retrial. The current prisoners that my noble friend speaks about were subsequently retried and sentenced. They appealed that sentence but unfortunately it has been upheld. He is right to say that not all the BICI recommendations have been implemented. I met the Foreign Minister in November last year and I can assure my noble friend and other noble Lords that our conversation was frank, robust and honest. I made it very clear that we expect progress to be made in relation to both the BICI recommendations and the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review.
Lord Campbell-Savours: Will the Minister make it clear to the Bahraini ambassador in London that the sending of hampers from Fortnum & Mason to Members of the British Parliament will have no influence on our judgments on human rights matters? It is not the way that we do business in this country.
Baroness Warsi: These issues are far too serious for anyone-Members of this House, Members of the other place or, indeed, the Bahraini embassy-to consider that matters can be brushed under the carpet or under a hamper.
Lord Deben: Is the Minister sure that the Bahraini Government understand just how seriously we take this? I have a feeling that it will be seen as merely the sort of thing that we do and say because we are that kind of country. I hope that she will enable Bahrain to understand that the future of our relationship depends on its behaving in a civilised way. If it does not, there really must be an understanding that that will change entirely the way that we deal with Bahrain.
Baroness Warsi: My noble friend makes an important point. We have a strong relationship-a strong friendship-with Bahrain. It is because that friendship is so strong that we can have very honest conversations. I assure him that, from the Prime Minister through to the Foreign Secretary and the Minister responsible for Bahrain, and in the discussions that I have had, we do not lose any opportunity to raise these concerns. We get real support from the other side: there is a willingness to move these matters forward. As I said in my recent discussions with the Foreign Minister, the more that can be achieved and the more progress that can be shown in terms of these recommendations from the BICI and the UPR, the better this relationship will become.
Lord Judd: In the Government's negotiations or conversations with the Government of Bahrain, do they take the opportunity not only to raise this issue in human rights terms but to point out forcefully to the Bahrain Government that to indulge in disproportionate action of this kind is to play into the hands of extremists who seek to capture the desire of countless ordinary people for progress and human rights developments within that country, and that the way to ensure security for their country is to avoid like the plague counterproductive action?
9 Jan 2013 : Column 132
Baroness Warsi: The noble Lord is right that whenever you close down the space for legitimate protest, you start increasing the space where extremism can thrive. Those are the points that we make. But noble Lords may take some comfort from the fact that in the Universal Periodic Review to which Bahrain submitted itself last year, of the 176 international recommendations that came back, 143 were adopted in full and 13 partially. Therefore, progress was made by international concerted action.
The Lord Bishop of Hereford: My Lords, will the Minister give assurances that the strength of the Government's ongoing protest at these decisions of Bahrain's highest court will not be compromised or weakened by any other considerations? I am sure that she would agree that it is vital that we are consistent in our speaking up for those suffering injustice, and that we uphold individual freedoms of speech and expression of that, as well as, as has been referred to already, their protection from abuse in detention or anywhere else.
Baroness Warsi: I can give the right reverend Prelate that assurance.
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, my noble friend is probably not aware that I raised this matter of Bahraini human rights with the Foreign Secretary as long ago as September 2010, and he assured me that, due to our excellent relations with the Government of Bahrain, these at that point relatively minor human rights transgressions would be sorted out. The situation has only got worse since then. Will my noble friend please go back and suggest that the matter also be taken up with the Saudi Interior Minister, who I understand is visiting the United Kingdom at the moment, and indeed the whole of the Gulf Cooperation Council, because simply talking to Bahrain and hoping that good relations will solve the issue will not do so?
Baroness Warsi: I assure my noble friend that we are not simply talking and hoping, and that some specifics have been put in place. The BICI recommendations are a starting point, and the UPR built on that. We have had some recent progress, in that legislation will be introduced to reduce the ban on associations and assembly. There have also been some specific incidents whereby permits have been given for those protests to take place. So progress is constantly being made; it is not simply a question of our talking and hoping.
This is the actual link.
If you read it carefully you will have seen the reference to hampers!
Bahrain
Question
3.30 pm
- To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their
assessment of the decision by the highest court in Bahrain on 7 January
to uphold life sentences imposed on eight opposition figures and human
rights activists.
Lord Avebury: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness and to the Minister Mr Alistair Burt for the expression of concern. My noble friend will recall that the Bassiouni commission of inquiry said that the sentences of political detainees should be commuted and that they should be compensated for the tortures that they endured, and the King said that he accepted those recommendations. Why are we not pressing the King to honour his promises? Do the Government recognise that there is not the faintest possibility of dialogue, reconciliation or peace on the streets as long as the martyrs remain in custody?
Baroness Warsi: My noble friend raises an important point. He will be aware that the BICI-the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry-did not consider the National Safety Courts, the special military courts set up to try people arrested during the disturbances,
9 Jan 2013 : Column 131
to be the correct method, and therefore recommended a retrial. The current prisoners that my noble friend speaks about were subsequently retried and sentenced. They appealed that sentence but unfortunately it has been upheld. He is right to say that not all the BICI recommendations have been implemented. I met the Foreign Minister in November last year and I can assure my noble friend and other noble Lords that our conversation was frank, robust and honest. I made it very clear that we expect progress to be made in relation to both the BICI recommendations and the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review.
Lord Campbell-Savours: Will the Minister make it clear to the Bahraini ambassador in London that the sending of hampers from Fortnum & Mason to Members of the British Parliament will have no influence on our judgments on human rights matters? It is not the way that we do business in this country.
Baroness Warsi: These issues are far too serious for anyone-Members of this House, Members of the other place or, indeed, the Bahraini embassy-to consider that matters can be brushed under the carpet or under a hamper.
Lord Deben: Is the Minister sure that the Bahraini Government understand just how seriously we take this? I have a feeling that it will be seen as merely the sort of thing that we do and say because we are that kind of country. I hope that she will enable Bahrain to understand that the future of our relationship depends on its behaving in a civilised way. If it does not, there really must be an understanding that that will change entirely the way that we deal with Bahrain.
Baroness Warsi: My noble friend makes an important point. We have a strong relationship-a strong friendship-with Bahrain. It is because that friendship is so strong that we can have very honest conversations. I assure him that, from the Prime Minister through to the Foreign Secretary and the Minister responsible for Bahrain, and in the discussions that I have had, we do not lose any opportunity to raise these concerns. We get real support from the other side: there is a willingness to move these matters forward. As I said in my recent discussions with the Foreign Minister, the more that can be achieved and the more progress that can be shown in terms of these recommendations from the BICI and the UPR, the better this relationship will become.
Lord Judd: In the Government's negotiations or conversations with the Government of Bahrain, do they take the opportunity not only to raise this issue in human rights terms but to point out forcefully to the Bahrain Government that to indulge in disproportionate action of this kind is to play into the hands of extremists who seek to capture the desire of countless ordinary people for progress and human rights developments within that country, and that the way to ensure security for their country is to avoid like the plague counterproductive action?
9 Jan 2013 : Column 132
Baroness Warsi: The noble Lord is right that whenever you close down the space for legitimate protest, you start increasing the space where extremism can thrive. Those are the points that we make. But noble Lords may take some comfort from the fact that in the Universal Periodic Review to which Bahrain submitted itself last year, of the 176 international recommendations that came back, 143 were adopted in full and 13 partially. Therefore, progress was made by international concerted action.
The Lord Bishop of Hereford: My Lords, will the Minister give assurances that the strength of the Government's ongoing protest at these decisions of Bahrain's highest court will not be compromised or weakened by any other considerations? I am sure that she would agree that it is vital that we are consistent in our speaking up for those suffering injustice, and that we uphold individual freedoms of speech and expression of that, as well as, as has been referred to already, their protection from abuse in detention or anywhere else.
Baroness Warsi: I can give the right reverend Prelate that assurance.
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, my noble friend is probably not aware that I raised this matter of Bahraini human rights with the Foreign Secretary as long ago as September 2010, and he assured me that, due to our excellent relations with the Government of Bahrain, these at that point relatively minor human rights transgressions would be sorted out. The situation has only got worse since then. Will my noble friend please go back and suggest that the matter also be taken up with the Saudi Interior Minister, who I understand is visiting the United Kingdom at the moment, and indeed the whole of the Gulf Cooperation Council, because simply talking to Bahrain and hoping that good relations will solve the issue will not do so?
Baroness Warsi: I assure my noble friend that we are not simply talking and hoping, and that some specifics have been put in place. The BICI recommendations are a starting point, and the UPR built on that. We have had some recent progress, in that legislation will be introduced to reduce the ban on associations and assembly. There have also been some specific incidents whereby permits have been given for those protests to take place. So progress is constantly being made; it is not simply a question of our talking and hoping.
This is the actual link.
If you read it carefully you will have seen the reference to hampers!
Sunday, 13 January 2013
Chutes de neige
Well, it has started in France and the reporting just sounds more light hearted in French.
There is even a poem 'London Snow' by Robert Bridges.
Earlier I got some sand from the back of our garage and mixed it with salt in a bucket. Now I am all ready to sweep paths early tomorrow morning and to scatter the sand/salt on them.
There is even a poem 'London Snow' by Robert Bridges.
Earlier I got some sand from the back of our garage and mixed it with salt in a bucket. Now I am all ready to sweep paths early tomorrow morning and to scatter the sand/salt on them.
Saturday, 12 January 2013
Often updated snow forecasts - with visuals
I searched for ages on snow-forecast.com to find this page covering the south of the UK. I don't want to lose the link after all that effort.
If you haven't discovered the Twitter based uksnow then here it is: #uksnow
Happy page refreshing!
If you haven't discovered the Twitter based uksnow then here it is: #uksnow
Happy page refreshing!
Friday, 11 January 2013
Time to up my game
This evening T was the one calling me on my bad manners, slurping as I ate a very tasty chocolate. He said sorry, but I said it was ok, as it was the start of a new phase, when I need to be more lady-like again, after the permissive years of having younger teenagers. All of a sudden behaving well matters to T. As he's my older child he is taking me along with him, requiring this of of me.
Snow!!! Well, waiting for it.
While I'm waiting, I found some lovely middle eastern snowmen from Al Jazeera.
I have just made some wintry tangerine marmalade for the first time. We have crumpets all ready for when it has cooled down.
All I need to do now is buy some anti-freeze windscreen wash and some food essentials I don't want to run out of over the next week. Ketchup and similar... Maybe even a trip to the wool shop so I can click my needles contentedly inbetween anxiously revising my Arabic before next Tuesday's class. I am procrastinating already, even though I know I will enjoy revising once I get started.
T has exams so that's the main event for a while around here. Plus the decorating in our piano room, which means most of the books need to be moved somewhere else and the piano wrapped in plastic.
I have just made some wintry tangerine marmalade for the first time. We have crumpets all ready for when it has cooled down.
All I need to do now is buy some anti-freeze windscreen wash and some food essentials I don't want to run out of over the next week. Ketchup and similar... Maybe even a trip to the wool shop so I can click my needles contentedly inbetween anxiously revising my Arabic before next Tuesday's class. I am procrastinating already, even though I know I will enjoy revising once I get started.
T has exams so that's the main event for a while around here. Plus the decorating in our piano room, which means most of the books need to be moved somewhere else and the piano wrapped in plastic.
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Monday, 7 January 2013
Home Education
I hardly ever write about home education, but I'll try. Where are we? H is now 15. Umm, what else? I am working my way through my backlog of monthly home ed reviews. I want to type these out so I can send a year's worth, Jan to Dec 2012, to my contact at the Local Authority. Ideally I will be able to do this by early spring.
My current way of putting a tiny bit of structure into a 99.9% autonomous way of home ed life is: pick a subject heading and put on my daily household tick sheet. Then try to spot when this subject is touched on and if necessary do something deliberate to ensure a smidgen of whateveritis happens. The one I'm on at the moment is Art, so I am thinking of handing over my camera and asking H to take some photos with it. This has been going for several days now, so may be over soon too.
The reason for this new plan is that some of the months I am reviewing from 2012 have massive blanks where whole subject areas like Music, Geography or Physics simply didn't get discussed in my hearing or to my knowledge. The odd thing is that I can't remember when H didn't understand anything we chat about. He always knows what I mean. I have asked my mother in law if he has ever not understood a word she uses or followed her conversation. Maybe I could challenge her to tell him about things he can't possibly be au fait with and see what happens.
My top tip is to wait until the child in question is taller than you. At that point older relatives stop getting so aggressive and panicky. It is a good feeling. I'd like to have read that somewhere earlier on. I think they need to see that the child is obviously strong and chilled out. Nothing less than actual evidence will do. There seems to be an underlying suspicion that we can't bring up our own children. Maybe they had doubts about their own abilities and are projecting them furiously onto us?
A bit off topic, but I saw a mother shout fiercely at her little boy in the supermarket today. I felt a bit outraged etc, but by the time I had walked a few aisles further on I remembered that some of my worst parenting moments happened most publicly in the supermarkets in this very same town. Had things been different, she might have been the one passing by as I revealed my worst temper! In fact, who knows, she might have been one of the silent and understanding witnesses. No one ever tutted at me. We just give each other a wide berth when parenting gets too much around here. If there is a chance we give each other a rueful smile or an encouraging smile.
My current way of putting a tiny bit of structure into a 99.9% autonomous way of home ed life is: pick a subject heading and put on my daily household tick sheet. Then try to spot when this subject is touched on and if necessary do something deliberate to ensure a smidgen of whateveritis happens. The one I'm on at the moment is Art, so I am thinking of handing over my camera and asking H to take some photos with it. This has been going for several days now, so may be over soon too.
The reason for this new plan is that some of the months I am reviewing from 2012 have massive blanks where whole subject areas like Music, Geography or Physics simply didn't get discussed in my hearing or to my knowledge. The odd thing is that I can't remember when H didn't understand anything we chat about. He always knows what I mean. I have asked my mother in law if he has ever not understood a word she uses or followed her conversation. Maybe I could challenge her to tell him about things he can't possibly be au fait with and see what happens.
My top tip is to wait until the child in question is taller than you. At that point older relatives stop getting so aggressive and panicky. It is a good feeling. I'd like to have read that somewhere earlier on. I think they need to see that the child is obviously strong and chilled out. Nothing less than actual evidence will do. There seems to be an underlying suspicion that we can't bring up our own children. Maybe they had doubts about their own abilities and are projecting them furiously onto us?
A bit off topic, but I saw a mother shout fiercely at her little boy in the supermarket today. I felt a bit outraged etc, but by the time I had walked a few aisles further on I remembered that some of my worst parenting moments happened most publicly in the supermarkets in this very same town. Had things been different, she might have been the one passing by as I revealed my worst temper! In fact, who knows, she might have been one of the silent and understanding witnesses. No one ever tutted at me. We just give each other a wide berth when parenting gets too much around here. If there is a chance we give each other a rueful smile or an encouraging smile.
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Loud church bells and fireworks
It all started bang on midnight!! Neither can be done quietly, ever. I'm going to look out of the top floor attic window to see the fireworks to the north of us.
Happy 2013
Happy 2013
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