Friday 15 July 2016

A message from Promenade des Anglais

I woke up this morning to the terrible news from Nice. Our minds immediately went to some friends we have known for more than 30 years.
After a globe-trotting working life L&R had retired to France.
Nice to be precise. Promenade des Anglais to be even more preciser (Ed. Is that a word?)
We looked at each other - do you think they are OK. I know, I said, I'll email them.
On opening my mail app, this was top of the list:

Hi guys. We're ok. We were on the balcony watching the fireworks.
Had just turned away to go inside when we heard screaming and 20-40 gun shots. We went back out and there were 30-40 bodies just lying motionless 30 metres below us and along the Prom.
Our door to the street was hit with one of the bullets and a guy who had been sitting there at the cafe below us was lying bleeding and injured.
The local hotel staff had rushed out with white bed sheets and they covered the bodies of the (obviously) dead men women and children. Horrific.
We were blocked in by a police cordon. 30-40 ambulances ferrying injured to local hospitals. They've all been working all night trying to forensically record/analyse it all. Last few bodies only now (6am) being taken away. It was all families. Horrific.
Total random chance we weren't in amongst the crowd like we were for the last 3-5 years.
The police were truly stupendous. Fast, brave and assertive. Thank God they managed to shoot the driver. 
Their quick thinking in shooting him (they only had about 30 seconds to decide, I'd say) "saved" HUNDREDS of lives, I'd say, as the crowd just 50 metres further on was solid.
The animals that did this have no religion.

Monday 11 July 2016

40 years a teacher, that’s SWMBO

As my reader knows only too well, I am not the sort of fella who gushes about all that much.
If you have worked with me over the years, you’ll know a compliment is as rare as a good England football team performance.
I have been known to utter the odd “that was alright” or “not a bad job” but that’s about as vocal as I will get.
Well, although they say a leopard cannot change its spots (why do they say that?) I would like you to join me in a word or two of praise for SWMBO – ‘er indoors, the boss, my wife.
The last day of the summer term at her school was on Friday last week.
For those who perhaps don’t know me that well, she is a teacher, not a child bride.
July 8 was also her last day of teaching. Ever. For after 40 years with just a short break of a few months when we came back from Dubai in the late 1980s, both jobless but incredibly tanned, SWMBO has retired.
Never being one to utter an understatement, let me say that that is quite incredible.
Forty years of having to go to school on a Monday no matter how hard we had partied at the weekend.
Forty years of ignoring the sort of mild cold that leads grown men to have a few days off work.
Forty years of steering young minds to a brighter future and equipping them with the best values, knowledge and principles to make a better life for themselves.
Forty years of always having to pay top dollar for a holiday - after all, it is a bit tricky for a teacher to take herself out of school during term time. I fear some parents might object.
And, of course, 40 years of reports. Those slips of paper many parents glance at twice a year.
You may not know this but I don’t get out a lot so I have been doing a bit of calculation.
SWMBO was with her last school, a small private establishment, for almost 28 years.
In that time, I reckon she has written in excess of 10,000 reports.
And with each report taking around 20 minutes from setting up to writing, checking, printing out, signing and compiling, that’s more than 200,000 minutes in 28 years.
Putting that simply, if we say an average working day is eight hours and an average five-day working week is 40 hours (yep, some people really do work that hard), that’s more than 83 working weeks over the 28 years.
Or three extra weeks per year. Every year. In her own time.
So, next time you think teachers have it easy, think again.
SWMBO – I salute you.