Posted on by bereavedandbeingasingleparent · 53 Comments

RED

There are the words that no self respecting Yorkshire person ever thought they might have to utter. No it’s not saying ‘Lancashire is actually quite nice’. No it’s not saying that you can get ‘decent beer down South’. And no it’s not saying that ‘cricket is actually really really, mind numbingly boring…..’.

Here goes….. the words we never thought would be uttered here are.

Yorkshire has an extreme heat weather warning…..

Currently we are just about covered by a Red warning. That is ‘Threat to Life and Serious Risk of disruption to essential services.

WOW

This is Yorkshire. It damp here, it’s windy here, it’s a tad chilly here, often nithering here. It’s a two vest and thermal knickers kinda place. Never extreme heat.

We are the top of the purple bit under the top 42C. Ok it’s not the heat that many places regularly get BUT this is YORKSHIRE. The UK’s highest ever temperature is 38.7C

I know it’s a forecast and this is Yorkshire. We could still ignore the trend and pull out a damp, misty, chilly day but it’s a sobering thought.

A really good friend mentioned about not being able to see the stunning Switzerland glaciers in a just a few years time. They will be gone.

What are we blindly walking into. What are we losing for future generations.

Posted on by bereavedandbeingasingleparent · 32 Comments

Big

A quiet corner of the village church. There has been a church here since at least 1079AD. Over time it’s become one of those places where man and nature have merged together. Yes we can work together.

The UK’s so called Government believes that it’s not up to them to tackle climate change. Big Government is bad. It’s all about individual decisions. Micro steps. So they have helpfully suggested people should stop rinsing plates and freeze more left over bread. It’s up to others to sort out the environment.

In unrelated news the so called UK Government is set to announce approval for a new massive climate unfriendly oil field off the coast Shetland. Burning oil and nature clearly go hand in hand. Big Government is clearly good when it comes to making money. If only Government could think big when it comes to future generations. Problem is there is no money to be made now with the future.

Posted on by bereavedandbeingasingleparent · 39 Comments

global storming

It’s finally summer and it feels warm. It’s especially sobering when you see the horrible floods Western Europe have been suffering. So much loss of life. How many wake up calls does it take……

For what it’s worth I wish they had called man made climate change as Global Storming. Severe storms are becoming more prevalent. That’s summer and winter storms. I still here people talk about warming up the planet as being a good thing, making those beach trips even better. I heard that yesterday on the news. Staggering. But surely even those heat seekers don’t want to sign up to more severe storms.

Whether you believe in man made global warming or not, surely we can all agree that we should be doing all we can to stop polluting the world. It’s just the right thing to do. Preserving its beauty and protecting its natural habitats.

It’s still such beautiful planet which we have an obligation to protect for future generations.

Posted on by bereavedandbeingasingleparent · 25 Comments

Hard work

Apparently I was wrong yesterday. My inner Lefty took hold and clouded my vision. I made an inappropriate attack on politicians who benefit from expensive and exclusive private education while refusing to properly fund pupils in the rest of the education system. I wasn’t the only person to get annoyed at that thought. But we were slapped down by the Eton educated Prime Minister. Children enjoy exclusive education because their parents work hard.

Many do. Can’t argue with that. But then you turn the argument around and what does that mean to a poor child in a poor school. It means that they should blame their parents for not working hard enough……

Clearly I’ve let my son down by not working hard enough…. That explains the gaps in his education.

I should really follow the example of our illustrious leader. Travelling 200 miles in a private jet to attend a summit of world leaders where he says he wants to talk climate change. Clearly getting a readily available and environmentally friendly train is not working hard enough for him. Treating himself to £13000 worth of gourmet food during the lockdown while refusing to give our poorest children free school meals when they need it the most is clearly hard work. Getting a rich friend to pay £200000 for a designer makeover on his flat while cutting 40% of the overseas aid budget is real grafting

Hard work people. That’s all it takes.

Posted on by bereavedandbeingasingleparent · 36 Comments

What

Always something to look at. Just need to take the time to find things to raise the spirits and lift the soul.

So far this week it’s been 8 lessons. 8 lessons of school at home. So what has been on the educational menu so far

Two lessons thankfully did deliver interest in the form of The Scottish Play and learning about some geographical features in Africa. But THEN…

An abstract artist he will probably never hear of again, some random French words relating to reality TV which he is unlikely ever to use again, drawing out a family tree, cutting an pasting some bible quotes onto the tree, learning about a computer app that he will probably never use again, looking at classroom comments in one class with no idea what was going on and three lessons with zero work provided.

The upshot of all this is too many lessons just missing the point with Hawklad. Just not connecting with him. Is he really learning enough. Is he really learning what he truly needs. Is he really enjoying learning.

That’s why you frequently catch him multitasking in many classes. Kind of following what’s happening in the class. Doing just enough. But then at the same time watching videos on things that do interest him. History, politics, geography, climate change, animal science.

Can’t blame him.

Posted on by bereavedandbeingasingleparent · 89 Comments

Back to school

Warning this post contains bad language and monumentally pompous stupidity.

In 2018 the Switzerland Glaciers lost 2.5% of their volume. It’s expected that they will have disappeared by 2090 – at the latest.

On Friday thousands of pupils walked out of UK School’s to protest about our Governments inaction on climate change. Good to see the positive response it got from our Leaders.

“It is important to emphasise that disruption increases teachers’ workloads and wastes lesson time that teachers have carefully prepared for,” a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said. “That time is crucial for young people, precisely so that they can develop into the top scientists, engineers and advocates we need to help tackle this problem.”

Our countries so called Education Secretary “let me be clear, missing class won’t do a thing to help the environment; all they will do is create extra work for teachers.”

The Conservative Leader of the House of Commons “It’s called truancy, not a strike“.

Well if you got your head out of your arses and took meaningful action then the kids wouldn’t need to walk out. If you didn’t pander to the fossil fuel companies, actively promote the disastrous fracking industry and cut renewable energy investment…. then you might be taken seriously. What trust do you expect the next generation to have in you when they see the monumental f*****g screwup you are making of Brexit. The entire political system has abjectly failed its primary roles of protecting the world and securing the futures of the upcoming generations.

This has to stop. The kids get it. Unfortunately our dim witted, self serving leaders don’t. It’s time for the next generation to take over and time for our politicians to go back to school. Maybe then they would see what a gigantic mess they have made of the education system as well.