Weather

It's a new school (about five years old) and well equipped in other respects, but nobody thought of how to seal with kids' clobber!

It certainly is crazy. I don't think the council would get away with treating actual employees like this so it's outrageous to foist it on kids.

DD copes by attaching more bags (one for PE stuff; one for her coat, hat, gloves) to her school bag with carabinas. Until last week when it got really cold, she went to school coatless (as many of them do) to reduce the load.

And then they wonder why kids don't want to walk anywhere! School planners need to get real.

That's crazy, Bags, given that there must be plenty of children in the school who come in from country areas. Even in a suburban school my DSs had lockers.

They don't have lockers. They already have to carry a change of shoes for PE, plus all the other PE kit, as well as their outdoor clothes, and all their books. More than enough to deal with already!

Freezing here. I don't like it. Going into the Grotto for hot chocolate.

Couldn't she take shoes with her, to change into? If they have lockers she could leave them there all week.

DD crunched down the hill in her snow boots this morning. Not much snow, but what there was, and the slush, froze overnight. Tricky. They are supposed to wear black leather shoes to school Nobody said anything yesterday but I've told her to politely refer to me any teacher who makes a negative comment. Her 'guidance teacher' (didn't have those in my day) is the most likely to comment, but he has, ahem, come across me before, so I'm not expecting to hear from him on this health and safety issue.



Besides, the snow boots are in school colours

Working in the heat is trying, I know. In the hottest of hot seasons, I found myself teaching Paradise Lost on Friday afternoons with a wily bunch of Kenyan 6th formers who were adept at drawing red herrings across my trail and I hadn't the energy to bring them to heel. They did all do well in their exams though. And the school was too poor then to have a pool. They have now, lucky girls!

Oh, it's not so bad now I'm retired, Anno.

When I was working we had a small above ground pool in the back garden, under a shelter from the sun. One day i walked the 1 kilometer up from the railway station on my way home, and took the shortcut through our back garden. I was in my office clothes, but could not resist the pool, so I simply got in and sank under the water to cool my head and body. My husband had just got home and was watching from the back verandah. He swore that steam rose from the pool from my body!!

He came down with a cold glass of beer and handed it to me to drink in the pool. Bliss.

In those days we had no air conditioning in the house, so i used to take a shower in just knickers and tshirt, and sit on a towel on the chair until the tshirt dried, then repeat the process. Luckily I was never very pregnant in summer - those who were, said it was hell.

Oh Joan, the situation in Queensland sounds a bit scary, but I suppose you get used to it. Good luck to you. Here we have had sunshine and light showers and it's been less cold, though I think it could be freezing now.

Raining here in Devon - and how! Nice To be tucked up warm listening to it.

From today's paper:-.
Qld facing extreme heat, fire danger

QUEENSLAND is braced for a day of extreme temperatures and fire danger with the mercury expected to soar to around 40C and beyond in many parts of the state.

Brisbane is expecting a top temperature of 39C on Tuesday, Ipswich 41C, the Gold Coast 35C, and the Sunshine Coast 38C.

I went out at 6am to feed the chickens and do the watering. Now I'm in, in the aircon, for the day!!

Just as well my tomatoes aren't ripe yet, or the sun would cook them on the vine.

Frosty all day here (well, for two or three days) and the ground up the garden hard to walk on, but DD has been digging for treasure in softer bits. Transfer of mud and bits of mucky metal into the house when she finds something with the metal detector. We bought it for finding arrows that we shot into the hill missed the target.

Not so far away from me ginny - it has been a glorious winter day - still frost on the ground in the shade I noticed coming home.

It's been a beautiful sunny crisp day here in Olney, Bucks. But I'm really feeling the cold as we returned from 30 degrees in the carribean yesterday.

My lot have gone ice-skating for the afternoon, then on to the German markets for meals and Christmas drinks.

And slightly further from the airport too. Just had my hot soup, when. Now having a

Same here on the opposite side of the airport ella! A perfect dry, windless day for sweeping up leaves and cleaning outside window ledges ready for winter window boxes, but I've come inside with numb fingers and left the pile for brushing up tomorrow. It feels like it's below freezinigj. The dog is lay on my feet now, whilst I drink hot soup.

Well, it's bloomin' freezin' here near Manchester Airport!
I've been out clearing the kitchen drain, which blocks with monotonous regularity!
Fortunately it cleared quickly, so I swept up some of the wisteria leaves, the last of which should fall tonight. I was planning to sweep at the front of the house too, but my fingers were numb so I beat a hasty retreat to the sitting room.

In Oxfordshire yesterday and Normandy today the weather is fitfully sunny, little wind, which meant a smooth crossing, and a similar temperature. The difference is that our nice centrally heated Oxfordshire home has an internal temperature of 18 - 19 degrees C while in the house in France the internal temperature when we arrived late last night was 7 degrees. I lit the fire first thing and the temperature is creeping up in the living room. It is now 14 degrees and the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom are warm, but between these rooms are rooms that are still distinctly parky

Granjura and I live on opposite sides of Lake Geneva - thick snow here too and a lot more forecast for the coming week.

Its been 3* here too today in West London the frost has stayed on my garage all day but the ice on the pond did melt at lunchtime its been bright and sunny part of the day, now its cloudy and getting very cold might be -3 tonight so they say.. the new double glazing is doing its job I'm glad to say.

Temperature 3 degrees, no wind at all, blue sky, sun dropped behind layer of clouds towards Welsh hills. Suspect it will be VERY COLD tonight, so cuddle up everyone!

A fabulous winter wonderland here - lots of fluffy snow, huge blue skies, trees 'petrified' by snow and wonderful sunshine. Sun setting now, oranges and pinks against the white background - magical

Sunny and cold in Cheshire.