The Bank, a Butcher and a Dog

Thanks everyone for your comments on my last post. I appreciate your support and help and have taken all your comments on board and will keep you updated.

Anyhow, it's time to get this blog back on track with a few laughs.

I just didn't expect the local Butcher, Tom,* to be the one who would give me my next post.

Tom's daughter Anthea is currently in the UK for the next year with her cousin Tania on a working holiday.

They befriended an elderly couple who live in London and who they visit often. As the couple were going to visit their daughter in Spain they asked the girls if they would look after their old dog for a couple of weeks while they were gone.

The girls agreed and were happy to help out. The dog was dropped off with pages of instructions. They followed them to the letter EXCEPT, two days before the elderly couple were due to come home the girls woke up to find the dog dead in his basket.

They contacted the couple who were understandably very upset. They asked the girls if they could bring the dog back to their house the next day.

This was easier than it sounded. The girls have no car and only travel by bus and train. So, after some careful planning, they put the dog in a suitcase and started on their trip.

As they were walking up the stairs at the tube station a young guy offered to help them carry the suitcase up the stairs. They were thankful, as it was heavy.

However, when they got to the top of the stairs, the guy started running .......away..... with the suitcase. AND THE DOG!!

The girls chased him but lost sight of him.

Tom said he wasn't sure how the girls explained this to the owners but they understood (would you believe that story?) but he did say he would have loved to see the look on that young guy's face when he opened the suitcase.

This may be the end of the girls' dog sitting days I think.....I know my dog sitting days are behind me too after looking after my brother's dog earlier in the year. Let's hope it might be the end of the robber's days too...the shock when opening the case might have bought him to his senses.

Has anything happened to you while caring for someone elses pets, kids, houses etc?

* Names changed to protect the innocent.

Give teachers a break

To who it may concern

I come from a family of teachers.

My mother was a teacher and my four siblings all trained as teachers although only two of my older sisters are still teaching. And as for my mother, once a teacher always a teacher - she's been known to circle my blog posts with red pen.....

As for me? Well there's a reason I only have one child and that's all I am saying (and let's hope that one child doesn't read this because I always told her the real reason was that when you got perfection why bother going back for more only to be disappointed....).
I remember getting a scholarship to teach (yes it was a sought after career back in the day) but I bucked the family trend and did something entirely different. Even at 17 I knew my limits and I take a great deal of pride in the fact that there are hundreds of children out there that are better off as a result of my selflessness.

There is absolutely no way I could have handled 20, 30, 40 kids five days a week. And worse, I couldn't have tolerated the parents of some of those said kids blaming me for why their little Johnny or Mary wasn't recognised as a genius. It would have been a short and 'interesting' career I am sure.

Being a teacher must be like handling 1,000 year old eggs. It's not for the faint hearted, the clumsy of foot or those devoid of tact. So I really admire my sisters and every other dedicated teacher and teacher's assistant out there who love doing what they do.

However, just how hard do some parents make teachers jobs? There's a fine line between taking an active interest in your child's education and constantly knocking on the teacher's door with one more reason why they could be doing a better job.

That's why the following audio made me laugh out loud and I couldn't wait to send it to my sisters. It is supposedly an answering machine message from Maroochydore High School Queensland, Australia and has options such as:
To lie about why your child is absent, press 1
To make excuses for why your child did not do his work, press 2
To complain about what we do, press 3...and so on.

Of course its a fake but more interestingly, the audio is actually based on a real-life 2002 clash between parents and teachers at Pacific Palisades High School in California, in which the school failed pupils for absences, regardless of their academic record. When parents started to sue the teachers, the teachers voted for a new office answering machine message.

The real-life details are as fascinating as the MP3 is amusing. Listen here.



Read about the California incident here.

And the message coming loud and clear from educators is don't blame schools for problems that parents and children should solve. I agree!

Dear Internet

Happy 40th Birthday!

While most of us didn’t start using you until the 90s, it's amazing to think that you were really born on September 2, 1969 thanks to Len Kleinrock and his team at UCLA.

So why did I always think Al Gore had something to do with you? Not really sure....

Anyway, what would I do without you? Truly.

I've become sort of.....attached.

Not in any kind of creepy way though.

Although, I will admit, I've had my moments of obsession where I never seem to leave you alone.

And, there have been times, I've been accused of stalking you by some insecure male who can't quite understand what you've got that he doesn't.

I mean, p-l-e-a-s-e, where do I begin, without offending him, that is.

How about you answer all my questions, do I need to say anything more?

Besides, I like turning you on first thing each morning.

First to get my news fix (and several more times during the day because you kindly keep refreshing), then to check my email and then,

I have to check in daily with TMZ to get my latest celebrity fix. Harvey has got to be one of those lawyers they call 'ambulance chasers' because how else does he find out this stuff so quickly?

Then, there are 'THE BLOGS' (go visit my new blogging addiction, Here in the Hills - the Hollywood Hills that is and say hi to Naomi).

And where else can I shop all over the world without even getting out of bed?

And..... And.......

But, I do like to think of myself as a responsible addict.

I know when enough is enough and I begrudgingly step away from the computer just to give you space.

I half heartedly pledge abstinence and swear allegiance to some other worthwhile pursuit.

For a while.

Until no-one's looking, and....then

I'm back, keener than ever.

And without failure, you always have something new to show me.

Thank you Internet! I really do love you more than I can say and should possibly publicly reveal.

So, here's to the next 40 years. I can only imagine where it will take us.


PS. Before I go, I do have one request. Well it's a bit of advice really. Do you think you could just be a little bit more discerning as to whom you connect with? I am all for freedom of speech but I am not sure that keeping this blog open and allowing a public lynching by comments is such a good thing, hey? Although I will say, from hereon in, I will be looking more closely at blog titles, as Phillip Garrido also has blogs called, Exposed, The truth will set you free and Charging the angels with error. Frightening stuff.


So, tell me what do you love most about the Internet? Share your favourite internet sites.


Yeah it's Spring here....and that makes me all kinds of happy...