Archive for the ‘Reflection’ Category
Philip Pullman will deliver a keynote speech at the Convention on Modern Liberty at the Institute of Education in London tomorrow
February 28th, 2009 | 
Author: from google cache:
http://74.125.77.132/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=opera&rls=en-GB&q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesonline.co.uk%2Ftol%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fguest_contributors%2Farticle5811412.ece&btnG=Search
Philip Pullman
Are such things done on Albion’s shore?
The image of this nation that haunts me most powerfully is that of the sleeping giant Albion in William Blake’s prophetic books. Sleep, profound and inveterate slumber: that is the condition of Britain today.
We do not know what is happening to us. In the world outside, great events take place, great figures move and act, great matters unfold, and this nation of Albion murmurs and stirs while malevolent voices whisper in the darkness – the voices of the new laws that are silently strangling the old freedoms the nation still dreams it enjoys. Read the rest of this entry »
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Not posted properly for a while..
I seem to be having a bit of a block.. Not really sure what is causing it.
Anyway, what have we been doing for the last two weeks? Ummmm.
Works backwards – Today is shove tuesday. We had a great pancake party, and ate far too many pancakes. P came round, and we all enjoyed ourselves.
We did shopping in bangor today, and asha bought herself a new set of plastic kitchen toys.
Monday – Naomi and 4 kids came round, and we had a lovely evening playing. In day time, Asha and i did assorted things with paper, and made sample musical instruments up out of junk for clas project on Wednesday.
Sunday – recovered from trip to grannys, and had T, and his parents round to play / eat. Went well. Made some mars bar covered fudge!
Saturday – played at grannys.
Friday – travelled down to grannys.
Thursday – recovered from wed, made some bread.Met new social worker.. Went well.
Wednesday – CLAS and Gwerin meeting, new record, home before 7.30
Tuesday – wrapped some vanilla fudge up for J and A at clas. Spoke to A, and J on telephone today. Friend came round to play, after i had done shopping.
Monday. I did some shopping, and collasped in heap i think.
Sunday -
Saturday – was it snowdrop weekend at penrhyn? If it was we went there is Gwerin, and had a great time!…….
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Reflection on how we have done it..so far.
When Asha was tiny, we had a kitchen which was even tinyier. So untill
she was about 3, she never was allowed in the kitchen. But we always
made sure we gave her stuff to do just by the kitchen door, if we had
to be in there, when we were on our own. ( i used to bluetak different
shaped sheets of paper onto the walls, and provide her with different
art materials to decorate the paper with.) Read the rest of this entry »
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It isnt that we havent done anything…
We just seem so busy, that nothing is getting done!
Steve and I sat down last night and decided on a daily schedule. Lets see if we can keep to it!
One of our problems is that we are out soo often, and when we are in, jobs such as chopping wood, cooking food, and getting ready for the next day, all need to be done. As well as finding time to spend with Asha. This means some days, it can be 10 pm, before we get to breath. Combined with the cfs, its no wonder i am currently exhausted.
Anyway, what has Asha done since last wednesday then?
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Tights Fall Down…..
Yep that is right, stalactites fall down.. and stalagmites crawl up.
When I was in senior school I remeber weeks of our geography lessons being spent discussing these things, and it was sooo boring! Last week the kids at CLAS had great fun playing with them, and asking questions and taking photographs of them.
I hope to take Asha tomorrow to the river to look at ice a bit more, but in the mean time, some information for you on ICE, Stalactites and Stalagmites.
Popularity: 33% [?]
In memorandum, common sense
Obituary
My parents told me about Mr Common Sense early in my life and told me I would do well to call on him when making decisions. It seems he was always around in my early years but less and less as time passed by until today, sadly, I read his obituary.
Please join me in a moment of silence in remembrance. For Common Sense had served us all so well for so many generations.
Obituary
Common Sense
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Heroes and Villians of 2008
Who are yours?
My Hero is my husband, who despite my anger, pain and frustration still makes me laugh smile and keep mobile.
Villians… Council employers everywhere who manipulate the truth to meet there own agendas.
However I couldnt agree more with this man either..
Peter Beresford, chair of Shaping Our Lives and professor of social policy, Brunel University
My hero is Doug Paulley, a disabled man who lives in residential care and who will not be known by most readers. He has consistently fought for his own and other people’s rights in and beyond residential care, taking on big organisations such as Leonard Cheshire Disability. Long may he do so in the cause of control, choice and independent living.
The ones that have really bugged me over 2008 are the people who talk user involvement, while making every possible effort to tokenise, undermine and invalidate it. No need to name names. You know who you are. And so do service users.
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2008/12/12/110216/heroes-and-villains-of-2008.html
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Fair Trade Logo
Taken from there 2007 accounts
http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/includes/documents/cm_docs/2008/2/2007_accounts.pdf
Now I am not saying that fair trade isnt good. I think fair trade is very good, but i think it has to be a universal fair trade, as applicable to those who stand beside these charities in the uk.
Why can charities such as OXFAM claim fair trade, when they are putting antiquarian booksellers out of business, by gaining reduced prices at fairs, and online sales sites? Surely this isnt “fair trade”
read through the accounts… It makes “interesting reading”
Vicki xx
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So are you sure your details are safe?
Off course they arent.. Everyone in britain – nearly will be able to carry this information around soon, and do this too it..
Everyone uses these things.. Some people report they have lost them, others keep avoiding the fact.
council employee has lost a memory stick believed to contain confidential information about vulnerable children, it has emerged.
Neath Port Talbot council has launched an internal investigation following the loss of the data.
It said it had informed the relevant authorities but added it would be “inappropriate” to comment until the investigation had concluded.
One foster carer has claimed the information could put children at risk.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7795757.stm
Sadly this time its sounds like a social worker has lost it.. next time it will be a care worker, then finally a manager.. but nothing will have gone missing… well you know.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Bullying. Pondering the experience….
Last week i picked up a leaflet whilst coming out of our local morrisons store. It was one of the anti bullying charities. Sadly it ended up covered in milk before I got to read it, but it has started me thinking about bullying, in the 21st C.
At school I was badly bullied. It started when I was four and ended when I was 16. It didn’t do me any good. Certainly didn’t help me to “cope with the real world”
At least 16 children commit suicide each year as a result of school bullying: Neil Marr and Tim Field’s book “Bullycide: death at playtime” reveals the hidden epidemic of suicide caused by bullying and harassment.
However the statistics can read even worse!
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So do we live in a decadent society then?
Decadence can refer to a personal trait, or to the state of a society (or segment of it). Used to describe a person’s lifestyle, it describes a lack of moral and intellectual discipline, or in the Concise Oxford Dictionary: “a luxurious self-indulgence”. In a society, it describes corrosive decline due to a perceived erosion of necessary moral traditions. (A society that discards unnecessary and outmoded values would not be considered decadent, although perceptions of “unnecessary and outmoded” significantly vary.) Due to arguments over the nature of morality, whether a society is decadent or not is a matter of debate, though certain historical societies (such as ancient Rome near its end) are generally held to have been decadent, as decadence often leads to objective decline.
Decadent societies are often prosperous but usually have severe social and economic inequality, to such a degree that the upper class becomes either complacent or greedy, while the lower classes become hopeless and apathetic.
The middle class may exhibit either or both patterns,
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Hello World!
We have moved house. We have space to play and privacy to do what we want.
Asha is 100 times happier than we have seen her for a long time.
We have painted, played bump, fed the birds, made magic gardens, cleaned the cat tray, done the vacume cleaning, had friends around to play and basically had a ball of a time so far.
I hope to get some pictures up soon. However we have fantastic views to the front, and a mountain garden to the back.
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Barack Obama OPPOSES home education
Presidential Voter Guide
2008 General Election
http://f2a.org/coast2coast/voterguides/F2A-Presidential-2008.pdf
Ummmmm… Now why dosnt this surprise me?
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Conversation in the kitchen.
Between Steve and L – aged 10.
S – How was school L?
L – Going to the Drs is more fun.
Says it all really!
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So Obama Won.. but…
If he had been elected President of Kenya and taking into account his white mother would he have then been the first white President?
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1729524,00.html
Just a thought….
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Gwynedd interesting housing needs!
Examining the evidence provided by Gwynedd council, the report from the assembly’s rural development sub-committee states that the availability and cost of transport is now one of the most influential factors when comparing rural and urban living.
“The percentage of households with more than one car is significantly higher in rural areas than in urban wards,” noted the report.
“Car ownership is a significant cost. Over half of Gwynedd households have gross incomes of between £7,500 and £10,000 and spend more than 10% of their income on fuel costs.”
Those living on the Llyn peninsula in the south of the county are identified as having to carry the burden of the highest costs, with some of the longest journeys to work in Gwynedd.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7521159.stm
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I am not in the office at the moment.
welsh translation sign
When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed.
Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated”.
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Recording conversations.
For a while now I have wanted to record many phone conversations I have. Mainly to do with local councils and dept of work and pensions.
However I have always been told its illegal. well :-
http://www.retellrecorders.co.uk/legal/home.htm
Happy times are ahead, as my trusty tape recorder is about to come out :d
Vicki xx
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