Wednesday 29 July 2009

Dave is busy having fun, so no bricklaying today

The good news of yesterday night was a post on Honey's blog to say that Pema is joyfully born and is healthy and strong. She's received many messages of congratulations - thanks so much for thinking of her and wishing her well.

Yet again, I'm reminded how necessary it is for me to take on obligations. If not, I'd do very little at all, as this morning indicates. Even I, however, am starting to think that I've been ambling round lazily or sitting reading the paper and listening to music for almost long enough and am considering doing something useful. There are several options. I have a letter to write, which I will certainly do at some point today - but that hardly counts, because I have promised to do it today and I am quite reliable at fulfilling obligations.

Otherwise, I have a whole lot of stuff to sort out to hand over to someone - it's probably 2 hours solid work, plus a list - an aide memoire - to write which will probably be added to over a couple of days. Housework is an ever-present option - this is not the sort of house where it's ever finished.
And I am considering cleaning bricks. Not all the piles of bricks were deposited on their pallets, which means that they've been sitting on the ground for the past year or so and the bottom ones have to be scrubbed. This takes the Sage a long time. He's sweet-natured and doesn't mind, but it seems fair for me to take a turn at some time.

I wonder which, if any of them, I'll do. Of course, there's time in the day for me to do some of all of them. Heh heh. And how likely is that?

I've just been reading in the paper how schools and nurseries have been advised to stop small children sharing crayons and toys during the flu outbreak. Does anyone in government know anything at all about small children? Have they ever been in a state primary school? The children sit around tables doing things together, not at rows of desks. Pre-school age children are tactile and cuddly and instinctively share things and hold hands. You can't stop them, certainly not for months on end. You can be diligent about hygiene, but I suspect most nurseries are already - you only have to spend a short time in a public lavatory to notice how many people don't wash their hands at all, or give the most perfunctory rinse. Those wretched unhygienic hot air driers don't help at all.

17 comments:

Blue Witch said...

"Does anyone in government know anything at all about small children? "

Or indeed about anything at all... I have yet to see the evidence.

And what's wrong with doing nothing, sometimes? Why do we all feel so pressured/guilty these days if we just stop and take time to 'be'?

Sarah said...

'You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die'...so an old retainer used to say..
If we weren't all so damn hygenic there prob wouldn't be epedemic of swine flu. Not me of course coz I'm filthy and am never ill!

Sarah said...

Dave having fun?...are you sure?

Z said...

It takes a lot to make me feel guilty. And yes, I agree with your first point too.

Z said...

Oh sorry, Sarah, i went off to have lunch and didn't see your comment before publishing the reply to BW.

I'm the woman who pulls a carrot from the earth, wipes the worst of the grit off and eats it. But I don't call that dirt. Nor is dust. Though I usually wash the kitchen floor within a few days of starting to stick to it.

Dave sounded as though he was looking forward to the day. I'd not have given him time off if I had thought he wasn't having fun. Will you quiz him about it?

Dave said...

Just back from hitting a small white ball with a long stick. Won by 12 strokes. It felt like fun to me.

Z said...

Splendid. All that stroking and hitting certainly sounds like fun to me.

Anonymous said...

The three year old boy next door reminded me again of how little children have to touch everything. He is constantly touching things and people. Puts his fingers in his mouth a lot and hates washing his hands. Not share crayons? Good luck trying that one!

Dandelion said...

What they should do, right, is build little cubicles that the children can sit in, and thus be separated from close contact with one another. They should do that in every classroom in the land. I think the tax-payer will be only too glad to pay whatever it costs for the government to be appearing to respond (however pointlessly) to the quite unwarranted hysteria the media have whipped up.

Z said...

And most small children hate having their noses wiped too.

Maybe we should all do that all the time, Dand. Much more hygienic all round.

Dave said...

I think I heard some expert pointing out this morning that real 'flu kills more people each year than swine 'flu will. But of course they're mostly old people, so somehow that doesn't seem to matter.

Perhaps while the children are sitting in their own compartments they could be given some bricks to clean up. Children love getting dirty.

sablonneuse said...

Wonderful news about Honey. I do hope she and Pema can stay close during her treatment.
Definitely agree that the government is totally out of touch with the real world but very good at making daft rules.

isn't it awful when you have a list of jobs and don't know where to start? I think the best option is to delay choosing for as long as it takes. . . . .

Z said...

That's the best idea yet, Sandy.

Anonymous said...

It's as clearer indiaction an any that we currently employ far too many people who concoct, justify and validate poorly thought out policies.

Give the children some time off from all the testing, send them home, and if they don't have one of those, or are unhappy there, do something about that instead.

Delighted to read all went well over the pond. Here's to Honey and her family.

Ivy said...

Jobs on a list are much better than jobs going round in ones head - much easier to ignore!

How do we know said...

"Does anyone in government know anything at all about small children? "

I couldnt agree more.. governments everywhese seem to be equally idiotic.

Z said...

Conscience can strike in the early hours, can't it, Ivy?

Same with you, HDWK? *sigh*

Thinking of pitfalls and testing hypotheses don't seem to be done any more, Ad. Things are chucked into operation on the assumption that changes can be made later.