The Obelisk at Castle Howard. It is over 300 years old and is 24m tall. It has the following inscription
VIRTUTIS ET FORTUNAE
JOHANNIS MARLBURIAE DUCIS
PATRIAE ET EUROPAEQUE DEFENSORIS
HOC SAXUM
ADMIRATIONI AC FAME SACRUM
CAROLUS COMES CARLIOL POSUIT
ANNO DOMINI
MDCCXIV
I think my translation is pretty accurate.
Virtually everyday is wet here. If you have the misfortune to come here you will need three jumpers, extra thick wooly socks and two umbrellas. I could have been built somewhere warm and dry like Rome but no. For some reason they built me in a place that only the Saxons could love.
Its other claim to fame is that when I do my long run I perform a u-turn here and head home. It was very kind of Sir John Vanbrugh in 1714 to think of my recreational needs. Clearly a very clever man. Although he was a tad over optimistic that my little legs would get me to one of his other creations – Blenheim Palace. Not sure even my car could make it there.
But to be fair to the great architect he’s not the only one who can struggle with the powers forward planning.
While my partner was here we disagreed on which secondary school to send our son to. I favoured his current school as at least he would know some kids there. My partner favoured either another secondary school or even a special school. In the end my partner died a year before the decision had to be finally made. So he went to the school I had favoured. With hindsight that was a monumentally poor decision. Talk about a school getting a kids education so badly wrong. The only redeeming feature about my decision is that according to the health professionals the other secondary school option is not much better.
So now we are caught in the classic parent catch 22 position. Does he stay in this failing school where at least he knows some kids. Does he move to the other school which potentially is not much better and would mean a huge upheaval for any kid – especially one with Aspergers. We could look at a special school option but even the health professionals agree that he just wouldn’t suit that educational approach. We can’t afford to sell the house and move to another catchment area. Moving also means having to probably reapply for an Education and Health Care Plan which given the government cutbacks would prove extremely difficult. AND YET I just can’t find a practical way of educating from home.
Sorry to swear but BLOODY HELL.
So I look at the Obelisk and think that’s it’s good but maybe the architect could have included say a comfy seat, a water dispenser, some energy drinks and maybe a supply of oxygen. I look at our sons schooling and think what changes can deliver the best fit in a few years time. I suspect the Obelisk is the easiest to change.
Most likely is.
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🙏
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Hells bells. (I don’t know what that means but it came to mind.)
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I think of a song .. I believe AC DC …
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What a fine idea a bit of AC/DC.
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Yes! Lol oh I listen to Alter Bridge . Love them your son has great taste. I have two favorites from them now . And yes their loud but I fell asleep to one of them lol.🙂
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That’s good to hear.
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Thank you for suggesting it.
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🙏
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Great AC/DC song
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Such a beautiful site to run too and take a breath .. oh a comfy bench with let’s see a book or pas and pencil to journal .. yes I like to journal.. oh how u wish there was a way to educate your son at home. I would say would his teachers know a way? BUT they haven’t been much help .. do not give up , there has to be something you can do to make it easier on him. 😞
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Got to keep going
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Yes you just keep going. Sorry just noticed the typos..
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If we stop not sure anyone is going to step in for us. Certainly not school.
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I know I understand that . I was just hoping you would find someone to guide you through this system .
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I’m so hoping as well. x
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I will keep praying you do . Hugs!
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Thank you x
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Always🙂
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I would love to visit Castle Howard. I have seen lots of photos of it.
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It’s lovely. But a bit expensive.
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Catch 22’s are always a frustrating position to be in. But love the obelisk – great running turning point!
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It’s a good place to aim for. Even with my hopeless navigation I can’t miss it.
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Love your translation! 😉
I suppose that one of the challenges of life is that no matter what decisions or choices we make, there will always be some sort of consequence, and difficulty, related to that choice. And since we can’t always know the outcomes, we can’t necessarily completely chide ourselves for whatever choice we made.
Here’s hoping for some guidance in the decision you make next regarding your sons schooling. I know it’s difficult, and don’t envy you it at all! But we’re all here, listening, and you’re welcome to vent.
Thinking of you guys xx
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Thank you. Yes the consequences are so difficult to predict. Basically just have to make educated guesses. xx
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Hilarious translation. I am sure that it would be much better than the original one for anyone visiting.
Every decision has a flip side and we face it after we implement the decision. I hope that things get better with time for both you and your son.
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I’m sure it is the correct one. Regardless of what English Heritage say. xx
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I googled it. They are displaying the original text no translation. Our maybe I didn’t look hard enough. 🐲
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You will find mine is correct and it’s got nothing to do with the victories of the Duke of Marlborough.
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Maybe if you used the Obelisk on a few Senior School officials that would give them a change of heart ( along with a few other things) 😂, biger the club the more intemadating you are 😁.
❤️✌️
BY FOR NOW
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It would be a good weapon.
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I studied Latin at school and can confirm the veracity of your translation.
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You my official Latin expert now.
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Excellent news! I’ll get a plaque designed for my site.
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We should all have a plaque.
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Br my guest
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🙏
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ouch I feel both your pain and your frustration … keep hunting for the better option. Accost every professional you can and keep those woollen socks on!
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Thank you
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pray you find a solution soon 🙂
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Thank you
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I’ve been to Castle Howard and it was lovely. I seen more inside then outside due to going December time when they had their Christmas decorations up.
I must go and visit on a warmer day, if my local coaches do the trips to there on those days. I shall have to look out at day trips going next year and see.
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It does get busy over Christmas. In spring it’s lovely.
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Yes, it does get busy over Christmas there.
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Too busy.
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When I realised how busy, I was surprised how well I handled it. But I was glad to get back home.
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🙏
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If you’d gone with your wife’s choice you might still be in this exact same position, I don’t think it is a case of not making the right decision any more as there is not a good choice to pick for autistic children in most areas now. It may be that the school he is at is the best he is going to get under the current system. I moved my son 3 times in primary and none were really ever right for him and I feel bad about moving him now and wonder what would of happened if I’d of stuck with the first and tried even harder to make them support him better. Things really need to change in education.
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Your so right. In the UK the basic message of Government Policy is – don’t be autistic or dyslexic.
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Been to Castle Howard and NEVER saw this. Alas life is full of decision making and then the consequences. Sometimes there is no right choice cos there’s damn all choices in the first place which probably explains all these sayings about devils and deep blue seas and rocks and hard places. and all you can do is cling to the wreckage of not being in an ideal world. But then again sometimes things do fall into place often unexpectedly. so just keep running and just keep translating. Oh and organize your camp out okay cos one thing is for certain you will never fail your boy and that is what counts.
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It’s on the roundabout at the front entrance. There is another one about a mile away. I suspect the best you can hopeful is to make educated guesses. As long as son is happy nothing else matters. x
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That is the main thing. And it’s pretty obvious to anyone reading your blog that you do everything you can to ensure that.
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Thank you
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Well ours secondary anyway was a sort of selective one for the brighter children, which meant you no longer fitted where you grew up but you did not fit there either so naturally some of us ganged together in the rebel stakes where I guess you could describe the Latin class as a war zone certainly for the teacher concerned.
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I know what you mean.
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Oh we had fun. My pal and I still talk about it to this day!
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I bet you do. Good memories are what it’s all about. x
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We also had one old dodder of a Latin hist teacher who literally went round the same three things and we still end ourselves about him.
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I bet he had dust on him. They are almost cartoon characters.
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well sort of. He was also a classic dirty old git. Apart from staggering up to the board to tell us ‘Piris’ was the king of Epiris and a ‘wummin’ hit him on the head wi a tile…. one of the three things he taught us.. and Rome was like a rimless wheel ‘wi ‘spokes.. the second, which he drew on the board every lesson…his other fav was the Sabine women. That one with staggering alacrity, he would put his hand across my friend’s desk ..right in front of his own and make obscene groping gestures. Now despite being from the same areas as I was, she’d recoil and beg for help and I’d say, he comes any nearer and I swear I will take my desk off his head. This was all in addition to the fact that he believed he would read from what he called the Flavy Book. A book which he said detailed the adventures of a young Roman legionary on Hadrian’s Wall called Flavius Betto. (His own name was Bett.) A book he kept in an envelope in a locked drawer. Anyway, one night, me and my friend broke into his classroom in the middle of some school event in the main hall…as you do.. to get that book and read by torchlight what it said. It never said anything like he said it did.
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Strange that didn’t come up on the google search. Sadly probably heave got more hits if he changed poet to that.
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In fact the legionary was called Flavius Cavatino for a start.
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Sounds like someone who should be a Newcastle Footballer now. Love the idea of a midnight book break in.
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We were never very well behaved…
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Never….
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PS I dunno how I missed the obelisk. Mind you I did get flung out of the Latin class.
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I was as well. I was so bad at it I was moved into European Studies.
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Well see, our Latin class was like the Wild West. Indeed while my pal and I would spend half the day not in school, we made a special point of slipping back in in order to go to it.
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Our school was a war zone.
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Your translation is very accurate. And so is your assessment of your son’s situation.
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Thank you my Latin never lets me down …… sadly your right about son and so many other kids.
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I’ve been trying for months now to write a post about autism and school and the subject just upsets me too much and breaks my heart to even think about so a bit of a writer’s block. I honestly think it’s THE biggest issue our kids have and if we could solve that then the rest of the issues would be easier and we could cope with them.
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That is so true. Yet it’s not a Government priority. In fact it gets in the way of their view of the perfect school. Now it gives them someone to blame when they mess up the school system.
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I was no good at Latin. I found it as comprehensible as your son’s schooling options.
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I was hopeless as well.
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Good grief, I’m so sorry. These immovable problems are so frustrating! (I did love your Latin translation, though — having never taken that course I 100% believe you’ve done an excellent job.) No advice here except to say we do the best we can with what we know at the time. I’m sure your initial choice of school is no different.
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Thank you Laura. That’s all we can do. Just do our best.
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I work for a school… it’s a home school but we have classes. They do a combo of classes and at home. We have regular kids and many special needs kids, all kinds of kids.
I personally love it because the kids get more attention and our school is smaller so the community of kids and faculty is close knit – knowing all of them.
Have you looked into anything like this in your area? I am in United States.
I can’t tell you how much it helps the kids… and we have amazing kids – they get the benefit of home school and then also coming in 2 days a week for classes – and they love being here – we have an amazing group of kids!! My school is K-12
Each child has a ST – special teacher who helps with their needs and class enrollment… and then we have the general teachers – English, Math and Science … and one day for electives … we also have an assortment of special teachers for speech or whatever that child needs. My school is a public school… so anyone may attend.
Do you have anything like this in your area?
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Not that I am aware of. We did but it closed down.
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That’s too bad – A school like mine would be amazing for your child!
Good luck with your search – I hope you find something that fits him
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Thank you
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You will never get a schooling decision right. It’s an unavoidable consequence of trying to be a good parent.
Now that you know that you can stop worrying and get on with the important stuff.
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Wise words
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It happens occasionally.
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🙏
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Could you manage a part-time tutor as a school supplement? Someone kind that your son likes? (I loved your Latin translation, but I don’t think you should be the one to teach your son Latin. Ho ho.)
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It’s a balancing act. He gets so tired at school I don’t want to overload him.
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Understood.
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🙏
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For over 300 years the Obelisk has been where it has been wishing it was in a warmer and drier place. Had it been it will wish it was in a cooler place with a gentle rain at times. There is no ideal location. Unlike the Obelisk, your son’s needs must be dealt with as a student being raised to be a valued contributing citizen… the goal for each school.
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That should be each schools goal.
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Do you ever have an entire week that it doesn’t rain there? I heard there is flooding in Yorkshire … are you safe from it? Yeah … Bloody Hell just about sums it all up. Here, let’s have a coffee … ☕☕
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I’m only 112 so it’s not exactly scientific but so far NO. Luckily we are on a hill many are not so fortunate.
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Only 112??? Wow … why, you’re just a spring chicken! I’m happy to hear that … I was concerned.
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I’m as old as my car and the house boiler.
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🤣🤣🤣
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😇
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