It’s hot. That’s Yorkshire hot. Which probably means mild in other parts of the world. My Dad would have called it mafting. It’s that mafting that even the Yorkshire Farm Machinery can’t cope. The photo shows the smouldering wreck of an unfortunate tractor with a badly burnt field. That’s a first on the dog walk.

Our Son does suffer from stress and overpowering fears. When he took one look at the burnt carnage he immediately panicked that our house would soon be engulfed in flames. It’s understandable as the field is less than a mile from us. I tried to calm his fears with words but with no luck. So actions are required. A mad Dad sat down in the blackened field. Look son my bum is getting a little warm but my shorts are not ablaze. Although it did demonstrate a point I should have thought the plan through a bit. Light grey shorts are maybe not that fetching when they have two buttock shaped black marks on the rear.

Although our son’s wild fire fear has been dampened down a little. Sometimes silliness works better than rational argument. It is still there and will be until normal Yorkshire weather returns.

When you have a child who suffers from these inhibiting fears it is vital that you try and keep on top of them. Working in partnership with school and health services is vital. At his last school they were usually on the ball. The teacher would catch me at the end of day or send a quick email to let me know if something had happened. If it was particularly significant school would phone immediately.

Unfortunately at his new school this has completely stopped. I fully understand that it’s a much bigger school and he has different teachers for each subject. But surely they still have a duty of care. I know speaking with the health professionals they say unfortunately most schools in they area are the same now. The close partnership working which was in place a few years ago has dried up. Again and again it comes back to the same reason. Government. As one Doctor said

Under the last Labour Government it was about the patient. Now the patient is a secondary consideration to income generation, competition and profit. Money is now king.

So increasingly it’s just left to parents, families and friends. The days of government for the greater good are over. Its all about self help and what the individual can afford. Must deliver tax cuts. It’s back to Victorian ethics. Days when democracy could be overridden by the powerful and the rich. A time when it was ok to send poor kids up chimneys. When hatred and discrimination was the norm.

Maybe it’s just me and I’m in the minority. Just my irrational fear. But increasingly my country is becoming alien to me. I hate what is becoming. Too many kids do not get the support they badly need. As a generation we have really messed up our priorities. Our leaders happily play fiddles while Rome burns. Or maybe we should now change that to our leaders go to comedy clubs while the Amazon burns.

97 thoughts on “Burns”

  4. You are not in the minority, because the majority cannot be rich. That is the reality of life in what they call “first world countries.” Are there second world countries–I never hear about them. But there is more humanity in one Third World Country than in all the Firsts put together. You must have read FILOSOFA’S WORD for today by now, and the real majority are those who turn their eyes–and minds–off so they don’t have to admit they are complicit in the state of the world. They hide their heads in the sand, and pray it’s going to get better without them.
    “And then the government came for them, and there was nobody left to help them.” I have intentionally misquoted this sentence to try to open the eyes of anyone who thinks things are going to get better without their participation in some capacity. Those people they do not see as potential allies are being genocided; if they don’t help others now there will be no others to help them when they need it. But maybe that is what they want…
    Tell your son each day, many times each day, how much you love him. You will want him to remember that when you are gone too.

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      1. This is true. But we have to change that narrative. We are proud to be Social Justice Warriors, no matter what the repugs say. That is why they are repugnant!

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  6. Your analysis regarding our government is, in my opinion, spot on. Every man for himself. That’s it isn’t it. I remember better times too. I fear they will never come back. Sorry to hear of your son having another bad panic about something. It is so horrible to feel such fear.

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    1. The frustrating thing is that there are enough of us to make change happen. The longer we leave it the worse it’s going to get. I remember a good man who went for PM. Not a great leader but a good man. He was hammered for the way he tried to eat a hamburger. Yet our PM and his buddies get away with a cesspit of wrongs yet the are brushed over.

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  9. I’m assuming the tractor caught fire which then spread to the field, and not the other way ’round?? That’s the sort of thing i’d expect here in Australia (the ‘other way round type’!) not in dear old England. 😦

    You definitely had (have) your priorities right – a son’s mind is far more important to protect than a pair of shorts!! 😉

    The two schools are symptomatic of our ‘real’ world problems: It is much more likely that a small and close knit community will offer sufficient individual help and attention than a larger one where the demands are magnified while the individuals are minoritised. Attention and funding is given to the larger groups (like global companies or the largest voting group or lobby group) while those out on the ‘fringes get less and less.

    On a completely different tack – Well Played Ben Stokes. (And you have NO idea how hard it was to say that!!)

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    1. You should have been able to bat on that pitch with a stick of rhubarb. The school system is getting more skewed. Private schools and ones backed by private funding are allowed freedoms and ability to tailor the education. However the public ones are not – it’s a deliberate policy.

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      1. Its already going to the dogs, so probably pretty far along. As soon as Brexit is resolved, people are going to look round and figure out the NHS has gone, benefits are gone and we are living in the Victorian era with poor houses without the added benefit of selling your children to become chimney sweeps.

        I am obviously very positive about the future

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      2. I can tell. I remember hearing from different sources that our PM really looks down on people below his station. One story was how he belittled a waitress trying to serve him and his drinking buddies. Can’t believe so many people are falling for loveable rouge act.

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      3. I have very similar stories, such as giving a tenner to a homeless person for a photo shoot and then taking it back.

        I am enjoying the pork pie story today though, the thing is if he doesn’t deliver Brexit in October, what are we going to do then? Who do the country think is going to lead us, we had a remainer give it a go and that went badly, now we have a leaver and I dont think that is going to work out. Corybn being in charge turns my blood cold.

        Infact anyone in any type of power at the moment is a laughing stock. The best bet would be to let me have a crack at it, at the very least we would have a laugh

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      29. Its been like that for a few years now. I remember when May got in, most were behind her in the single goal, while Labour were busy stabbing each other in the back and its still like that, only now the Tory party is starting to fracture as well.

        You never know May might put a massive cog in the works as a major FU to the party, that could be amusing

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      36. It’s clear the people most keen to crash us are the very ones who will keep their personal interests in Europe and will be best able to ride out any meltdown. Gove is as bad as any of them. Our MP loves fracking and is desperate to have it (as long as it’s not near his properties).

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      39. I will say if you are going to do it, the best time is probably now, the amount of paperwork you need is amazing and it can just sit in a box till he is ready for it, if he ever is. But again this might depend on the country’s rules,

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      41. Thats cheeky of Germany, I can keep both luckily and then add my son, but that is going to be more complicated because the way you get citizenship is through the father, not the mother, but I will find a way somehow

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  13. You do not have an irrational fear. Or I am irrational too. Sadly too many people have there heads tucked -you know where- but sitting in the ashes was a great diversion!! Well done. I’m here in the Netherlands, and whilst compared to Texas is “cooler” it is HOT!! And no aircon makes it almost unbearable. At least it cools off at night.

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  19. Oh, I’m with your son–with all this rain I’m the one panicking about another flood while my kids just go, “It’s not that bad.” Gah! But your son has you, and I saw in a later post he’s got some online friend time. That’s excellent! When anxiety can ease in one area, it so often eases in others. Prayers that this school year is going well!

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      1. Darnit! Hmm. Well, I can’t blame him. It’s a lot of activity, taking in a lot of voices from unseen mouths while maneuvering things on screen. Maybe it was just too much. Still, he tried, and that’s a lot!

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