Monthly Archives: February 2019

Out of the mouths of babes

Year 8 students offer interesting perspectives on the world. The plain speaking ways of childhood have not yet been absorbed by a teenage diffidence, yet there is sometimes an awareness and a maturity in their insights that would have been … Continue reading

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Jane Austen is boring

The Times carries a report that people in the Hampshire city of Winchester have blocked the erection of a new statue in memory of the English novelist Jane Austen, arguing that the city already already has sufficient memorials to the … Continue reading

Posted in Unreliable memories | 1 Comment

Reading for teachers

It is the last schoolday of the half-term holiday. Of course, school doesn’t begin again until Monday, but Saturday and Sunday are weekend days, they are not like holiday days. Half-term has been a time for sleeping and trying to … Continue reading

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Rootedness

Spending a few minutes at the grave of my grandparents, I wandered through Huish Episcopi churchyard. There are headstones that still have the capacity to make me stop, people who were old in my memory, but who died at an … Continue reading

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Drugs

The weather is deceptive; temperatures reaching the mid-teens disguise the fact that it is still February. Dampness in cold air can catch me unawares and leave me wheezing. A compartment behind the handbrake of my car is used for storing … Continue reading

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