Noise, actresses and educational matters!

It's very noisy on our street at the moment. A huge machine is digging up the centre of the road, chewing up the tarmac surface and spitting it out into a lorry that goes along in front of it. I didn't know you could get tarmac-crunching machines similar to the tree-eating machines you see around eating old Christmas trees in early January. It just goes to show that you can see something new wherever you go. 

Anyway, this tarmac-eating contraption is apparently preparing the surface so that they can install a central island all along our street, complete with bushes and flower beds and the like. Is this the gentrification of our end of Calle Aragón? Further along the street, closer to the Calvario end of town this process has already been completed and very nice it looks too, complete with smart new pavements and everything. 

Now, that is where the bone of contention lies. My weather-witch bread lady is up in arms. They are doing all this stuff to the centre of the roadway, making it too narrow in her opinion, but they have no intention of replacing our pavements. And it has to be said, our pavements are in a pitiable state. However, for lack of budget, all the council plans to do is patch up the worst bits of the pavement. So, only partial gentrification, it would seem!!!! 

Further to my comments about older ladies and their charms, I was interested to read about Monica Bellucci, described in the newspaper as an actor. She's an actress, for goodness sake. But that is not the argument here. Ms Bellucci was approached with an offer to play a part in a James Bond film. She thought they wanted her to to replace Judi Dench as M in the new James Bond film, Spectre, but in fact they were asking her to play the oldest Bond girl so far. 

When she expressed her doubts to director Sam Mendes, he is reported to have laughed and said: “For the first time in history, James Bond is going to have a story with a mature woman. The concept is revolutionary.” 

The 50 year-old actress commented, “Many 50-year-old women feel invisible to men, but it doesn’t have to be that way." 

So there you go; it's recognised by some that older doesn't always mean less attractive. 

Onto other matters. I have been a little disturbed to read that the Spanish Secretary of State for Education, Vocational Training and Universities, Montserrat Gomendio, has been making noises about who pays for university education. I do hope this is not the start of a movement to introduce the kind of huge fees for university education we have in the UK! 

Still on matters educational, I have been having a bit of a discussion on Facebook with my daughter and a friend about parents taking their children out of school during term time. It happens far too often in the UK, when parents find a bargain-priced holiday in the sun. They quoted a newspaper report that said, "The battle between parents and the UK government over term-time holidays has flared again after the Department for Education claimed that even short breaks from lessons can reduce a child’s chances of doing well at school by as much as a quarter". 

And it claims the same pattern can be seen at primary school level, where pupils missing up to 14 days of school in key stage 2 (ages seven to 11) are a quarter less likely to achieve level five or above in reading, writing or maths tests than those with no absence." 

They both. my daughter and the friend, were protesting about people who had been fined for taking their children to Crete, I think it was, for a week during the school term. They felt this was unfair, that there were special circumstances that should be taken into account, that visits to foreign countries are educational and enriching and so on and so on. OK, yes, I can see that argument but ... and it's a big but ... most UK parents who take holidays during term time do so because they can get a bargain break, not because they are going to show their offspring the wonders of an ancient civilisation! 

In most mainland European countries they are really strict about children having time off school during term time. And as a rule parents accept this and don't need to be threatened with fines to make them keep to the rules. When I wanted to arrange educational exchanges, really valuable for students of foreign languages, I always had real difficulties finding a time when we could do so because of this attitude. And we have had the same problem with the chess exchange we have been working on. And basically I agree with that attitude. It plays havoc with your teaching if you keep having to play catch-up for pupils who have been to Benidorm for a fortnight! 

When did it become essential for everyone to have holidays abroad? And if it really is essential, maybe the government should also think about some kind of legislation that prevents travel companies putting up their prices in school holiday periods. Oh, I know there has always been a difference in price for "high season" and "low season" but when you see prices go up for the October half term period, the Easter Break and even for the February half term break, it really is a bit much. 

Time to rethink values, I feel!