My daughter dropped a load of washing off at my house at 8.00 his morning. Well, actually, three loads for my washing machine, the accumulated washing of a household with two children, an active teenager and a husband who only wears things once before throwing them in the washing basket - not to mention her own clothes. It began to feel a little like Groundhog Day as it was last Monday that she woke me with a similar load of washing. At least this time I was forewarned. However, it’s time she got her act together and found the necessary paperwork that shows she’s entitled to free repairs to her own washing machine. Fortunately her tumble drier still works so I’m not hanging everything up to dry.
As a result of the laundry-drop I was up and out of bed bright and early. It is always my intention to be up and out of bed bright and early but I must confess to “snoozing” my alarm with amazing regularity. So by 8.30 I had put the first load in the washer and was out running round the village in the drizzle. Not long after I returned home and showered, the drizzle turned into proper rain. Some time later I ventured out to put recycling stuff in various bins and was amazed at how wet and windy it was. On balance, I might prefer the snow. At least, once fallen it has a certain beauty which wet and windy does not have!
The BBC appears to have made its peace with naughty Gary Lineker. There were calls for him to apologise (for what? for his opinions? For stirring up a load of criticism of both the government and the BBC?) but now it seems the BBC might apologise to him.
In fact, Gary Lineker appears quite unrepentant. Here’s a later tweet:
“A final thought: however difficult the last few days have been, it simply doesn’t compare to having to flee your home from persecution or war to seek refuge in a land far away. It’s heartwarming to have seen so much empathy towards their plight from so many of you.”
Because, of course, one consequence of the BBC reaction to his original tweet has been that many more people have been protesting one waybor another about the government’s proposed actions.
This was posted on social media, passed on to us all by a friend:
“So, the Daily Mail states it is Gary Lineker's 'sacred' duty to be impartial. Sacred! - My answer to that: To be "impartial" when evil or injustice is happening is to facilitate the perpetrators or - worse - to collaborate with them. - “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that good men should look on and do nothing.” “A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case, he is justly accountable to them for the injury.” ― John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867 / On Liberty
There you go. Nothing new in the world!
It seems that sports commentators going on strike worked. If only all strikes could be as quickly resolved.
There has been much discussion in news programmes about the extortionate cost of childcare in this country and the impact this has on families with young children. In letters the Guardian I came across this:
“While acknowledging that the costs and lack of childcare provision are two major reasons why parents don’t return to work (A sick child means a £700 hole in our budget: that’s the reality of life as a working parent, 8 March), a third is rarely mentioned – the difficulties when parents of young children must leave for work before their children’s schools or nurseries open, or they have a late, overnight or early shift. Before Brexit, provided they had a spare bedroom, such families could employ an au pair.
In exchange for a room in London, full board and lodging, free internet use, free use of laundry machines, all work-related expenses, free weekends and £120 a week, our family’s au pairs undertook 25 hours’ negotiated light work each week. They managed the school and nursery runs and were available on inset days, enabling parents to attend meetings, parents’ evenings and so on before and after school, knowing the children were safe.
For shift workers such as doctors, nurses, transport workers and so on, there was always a responsible adult in the house in their absence. Our au pairs also taught the children their language and became such close friends that two are godparents and holiday visits to them all are the norm.
The government stopped that. No two-year visas unless studying for so many hours that au pairing is impossible. European au pairs feel too unwelcome here now. Exactly who has benefited from this insane, ideologically driven prevention? Not children, not working adults, not the economy. So: who?
Anne Johns
Derby”
Of course, for au pairs to be a solution you need to have a large enough house to provide your au pair with her (they tend, or tended in the past anyway, to be ‘jeunes filles au pair’) own room. This may not be the case for many families.
Another working mother write about the problem of having twins who need caring for:
“I am in the fortunate position of having a well-paid career that enabled me to chose to return to work. But I was surprised at how close to unlikely that (ultimately financial) decision was. As a parent of twins, it can be a shock to find that nurseries offer discounts of as little as 5%. We made the decision to pay just a little extra to hire a nanny.”
Again, most women wanting to return to work simply can’t afford to think about a nanny.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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