FlyTheNest

Morning all.

Hopefully everybody has survived the storms?

Two panels in the back fence had blown out. One I got back in fairly securely but the other is a write off, I could only brace it in place with another bit of wood. It wouldn't have been so bad if my hands hadn't gone numb in about 30 seconds, it took about 5 minutes in front of the fire to defrost them and now it's snowing.

‘I can’t go through it again’: heads quit over ‘brutal’ Ofsted inspections

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... chers-quit

This is what my brother was telling me about, Ofsted inspectors turning up at schools and making no allowances whatsoever for the effects Covid is having on classrooms. We had a four hour drive and he still hadn't finished venting about his latest inspection by the time we got where we were going. I've never seen him so angry. He got marked down by an inspector for allowing kids recovering from Covid, who were clearly still sick, a bit of extra time to get ready for the lesson and when he complained the inspector was rude, arrogant and dismissive. During lockdown he would start at 7 in the morning, go in to teach the kids who were in school then come home and prepare video lessons for those who weren't, meaning he didn't get finished until around seven at night. Since the Summer he's had to teach during a pandemic with absolutely no mitigation measures whatsoever. And now this. It's the first time I've heard him seriously talking about leaving the profession.

Not much changed from the Chris Woodhead days, then?

The way people who actually do really hard jobs (teaching, nursing, care, farm laboring etc) are treated is completely disgusting. I've never entirely understood why societies continue to decide to pay people doing crap jobs crap salaries, and people doing quite nice jobs quite nice salaries.

Have Ofsted Inspectors become akin to the DWP's "medical professionals"? I know that they supposedly come from an education background but then so do, technically, DWP assessors have a "medical background". (I'm aware that Ofsted Inspectors don't work for a private company, by the way.)



Edited - typo

Am sitting here, English\Gibberish Dictionary to hand, awaiting Boris Johnson's appearance at the forthcoming Covid press conference.

So masks in shops and on public transport again. Good luck with that. Making them non mandatory was an act of colossal stupidity and has swelled the ranks of whining snowflakes who think putting a bit of cloth on their face to help other people during a pandemic is an outrageous imposition. I expect we'll have about 50% compliance at the very best.

Indeed.

@Sky
I really don't know what making them 'compulsory' means in the English context .

We were warned for lockdown on Tuesday midday 17/3/20 that infringements cost €135, for a first offence, rising with repeats to jail-time .

Some cops abused their discretion, but at least everyone knew the 'rules'.

Good evening.

So how had Statue Man down as a crank?

Oh right...everyone. Hope fully this will lose him some support. Even the British Alba bot isn't happy with him...

frog222 wrote: ↑Sat 27 Nov, 2021 7:53 pm I really don't know what making them 'compulsory' means in the English context .

It means nothing. Nobody will enforce it.

Oh and in case anyone hasn't noticed it's bloody freezing!

The winter blanket is out early. Actually it's not really a blanket it's a black velour throw. One must maintain standards.

Sky'sGoneOut wrote: ↑Sat 27 Nov, 2021 6:55 pm So masks in shops and on public transport again. Good luck with that. Making them non mandatory was an act of colossal stupidity and has swelled the ranks of whining snowflakes who think putting a bit of cloth on their face to help other people during a pandemic is an outrageous imposition. I expect we'll have about 50% compliance at the very best.

Making them compulsory last time led to a big increase in their use, I am happy to comply with this even though I am annoyed about things.

Making them compulsory last time led to a big increase in their use, I am happy to comply with this even though I am annoyed about things.

AK -- I'm sure we'd all love to know what 'things' you are annoyed about ?

Thirty pounds? Jesus. And to think people say Tories aren't generous.

frog222 wrote: ↑Sat 27 Nov, 2021 11:06 pm

Making them compulsory last time led to a big increase in their use, I am happy to comply with this even though I am annoyed about things.

AK -- I'm sure we'd all love to know what 'things' you are annoyed about ?

This pandemic has generally been handled in slapdash fashion, if the government hadn't got lucky with vaccines who knows where we would be.

On the tubes last week about 25% of people were wearing masks (including me).
Without proper enforcement I reckon that might get up to 30 or even 35%.
Good luck regular tube users.

[edit:grandma]

I count myself lucky that I'm not a regular tube user, and not just for that reason.

It's proper snowing!

Pah, just had sleet here earlier. Its actually sunny now (but still cold)

Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.

Sky'sGoneOut wrote: ↑Sun 28 Nov, 2021 2:14 pm Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.

Jealous !
OK, I never grew up .

There's something magical about snow that brings out your inner child isn't there? Saying that I'll be admiring it from indoors for the rest of the day.

Sky'sGoneOut wrote: ↑Sun 28 Nov, 2021 3:18 pm There's something magical about snow that brings out your inner child isn't there? Saying that I'll be admiring it from indoors for the rest of the day.

Being nagged by doc and athletic children to walk more ( as walking for itself bores me, I need a destination such as a mountain top when younger, or some tasty clams at low tide ) snow makes me reach for the gumboots .

Interesting thread on experience in different countries, also showing how many English shopworkers are terrified of their customers --



I couldn't find current fines on masks but being without a Covid Pass here is €135 (first offence) and up to €45,000 for the establishment .

--------------------------------------------

Showing how England really is in a class (or underclass?) of its own --

It might be something to do with the Scots and Welsh having decent examples in government to follow, while the English have been encouraged by a flabby feckless man child to be thoughtless arseholes. There's also peer pressure, I've had (gentle) arguments with a couple of friends who stopped wearing masks because 'nobody else was'.

Sky'sGoneOut wrote: ↑Sun 28 Nov, 2021 4:24 pm It might be something to do with the Scots and Welsh having decent examples in government to follow, while the English have been encouraged by a flabby feckless man child to be thoughtless arseholes. There's also peer pressure, I've had (gentle) arguments with a couple of friends who stopped wearing masks because 'nobody else was'.

I agree with the peer pressure thing. Mask wearing in shops and on buses has remained pretty high here in NE Somerset, around 70% I'd say, so only the really determined are going maskless, everyone else appears to be carrying on to fit in, in a sort of positive spiral. Of course we had a big spike because of the dud PCR tests here so everyone's been getting it or knows people who have it at the moment which has probably encouraged people to take it more seriously. Incidentally I've had a few trips to hospital lately (ENT, nothing serious) and would say mask compliance on site is virtually 100% - Boris would have stood out like a very sore thumb, so I'm not sure his example has influenced many, thankfully (and I've never seen people having to be asked to wear masks at the hospital, they just do).

Easy way out, blame the government !

@Willow -- glad to hear they're being sensible around your way !

Heh. This is spot on...

This evening's film was -

Lamb.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9812474/

Noomi Rapace and some guy live on an isolated Icelandic sheep farm. One day one of their ewes has a strange lamb. Any further explanation would require massive spoilers.

It's a strange film, but not in an 'oh look at me I'm strange' kind of way. It's weirdness is deliberately understated. It's worth watching for the scenery alone, Iceland makes the Scottish Highlands look like Centre Parcs, and it has some really good sheep acting. God knows how many hours they must have filmed the sheep just to get that one moment where you think, "Ha, that sheep really does look like it's thinking what we're supposed to think it's thinking!"

It also has some good jumpers, really thick warm woolly ones, perfect for a day like today. If I ever do go to Iceland (which I would very much like to) I'll definitely be buying one of their jumpers.

I bet they cost a fortune.

RogerOThornhill wrote: ↑Sun 28 Nov, 2021 9:50 pm Heh. This is spot on...

I beg to differ Roger. I've had many cats and not one of them was a hypocrite (as far as I was aware).

I saw Toby Young the other night wailing and gnashing his teeth because someone next to him on the train had been loudly complaining about the lack of mask wearing and advocating the Austrian lockdown for the unvaccinated. Toby was evidently so furious that he'd had to endure listening to this that he made it public.

Toby, of course, set up his own 'free speech union' website to protect people like himself from...well people like himself it would seem.

Willow904 wrote: ↑Sun 28 Nov, 2021 9:20 pm Mask wearing in shops and on buses has remained pretty high here in NE Somerset, around 70% I'd say.

Blimey, well done you cider drinkers.

When I went to Tesco yesterday I reckon there was me and maybe 4 or 5 other people wearing masks out of however many people it takes to make a large supermarket seem busy.

To be honest I might keep wearing one even if Coronavirus disappears tomorrow, for lazy slobs like me it negates the need to shave.

Will certainly be interesting to see how many are wearing them when I do my shopping tomorrow.

Any excuse -

Gordon sounds like the kind of free spirit who lives in a caravan.

You're getting him mixed up with that free spirit David Cameron.

I know Gordon Lightfoot's Canadian and, as such, presumably knows a lot about snow.

I really liked that. Thanks.

Vashti did of course travel from London to the Outer Hebrides in a horse drawn gypsy caravan in the late Sixties to demonstrate her hardcore folk credentials and inspire her songwriting for her new album.

A wasted journey as it turned out when the album flopped.

Bless.

A lot of pooing in a bucket for nothing.

Settle down, it's not even December yet.

Sky'sGoneOut wrote: ↑Mon 29 Nov, 2021 12:44 am Settle down, it's not even December yet.

I'm guided purely by the weather. It might be warm in December.

What's a "communal area" (in schools)? I consider classrooms to be communal areas.

?

Night night.