Trivial things you don't understand/mildly annoy you

[BambooToTheFuture]

What if they just couldn't get their kids into the local schools? Of course there is probably a blend of "Keeping up with the Joneses" going on but they genuinely might not have been able to get their kids in locally.

My sister & bro in law are having similar issues up here. A couple of local schools they would like their child to go to but have been told no chance. They definitely didn't vote Tory and aren't trying to keep up with the Joneses or Smythses. Just wanting the best possible secondary education for their child.

[4D]

Tony Blair.

[horlock07]

What if they just couldn't get their kids into the local schools? Of course there is probably a blend of "Keeping up with the Joneses" going on but they genuinely might not have been able to get their kids in locally.

My sister & bro in law are having similar issues up here. A couple of local schools they would like their child to go to but have been told no chance. They definitely didn't vote Tory and aren't trying to keep up with the Joneses or Smythses. Just wanting the best possible secondary education for their child.

Similar round here, our local comp in the next village has a great reputation but the one downside is you cannot do A levels there, so if you think your kid is likely to want to do that its either Ulverston (train) or Kendal (bus) both about 30 mins. Now I think in our case we will cross that bridge when she is 16, but I know a lot seem to plan ahead.

[pauld]

Similar round here, our local comp in the next village has a great reputation but the one downside is you cannot do A levels there, so if you think your kid is likely to want to do that its either Ulverston (train) or Kendal (bus) both about 30 mins. Now I think in our case we will cross that bridge when she is 16, but I know a lot seem to plan ahead.

Yeah but that's the Lakes where there's only 48 sheep and a couple of border collies for hundreds of miles, so schools are going to be correspondingly more sparse as well as the population

[Reg Smeeton]

Similar round here, our local comp in the next village has a great reputation but the one downside is you cannot do A levels there, so if you think your kid is likely to want to do that its either Ulverston (train) or Kendal (bus) both about 30 mins. Now I think in our case we will cross that bridge when she is 16, but I know a lot seem to plan ahead.

The proper aspirant often move to get their kids into a good secondary school.   

2 year A level FE courses, or equivalent fly by, my boys hardly ever seemed to be there, not because they skived but staff shortages etc.

They had the misfortune of hitting FE, when the old skool days of Henry Wilt, were passing into Thatcherite management practices.... lots cracked up as a result.  Even that was a sort of gloden age thoiugh relative to te present Govist situation where courses are just scrapped and teachers made redundant.

[horlock07]

Yeah but that's the Lakes where there's only 48 sheep and a couple of border collies for hundreds of miles, so schools are going to be correspondingly more sparse as well as the population

There are a lot more than 48 sheep (for now at least) and let me tell you they are scared!!

TBH at least at primary level the schools are not particularly sparse, we have one in our village, and there are two more villages and a town all within 3 miles of us and each has its own primary school, each with about 60 kids.

[Oaksey Moonraker]

If the kids are going to Marling or Stroud High School then they have passed the 11+ to get into the Gloucestershire grammar schools.

[Wobbly Bob]

People who say "<insert number> sleeps until Christmas".

Anyway, two sleeps until Forest Green. 

[4D]

Does that include afternoon naps?

[Mother Brown]

The standard of bus driving.Nowadays  most of them seem to be ex Gurkhas.
Nothing against Gurkhas btw .Bring  back the Sikhs in my opinion.

[swindonmaniac]

The standard of bus driving.Nowadays  most of them seem to be ex Gurkhas.
Nothing against Gurkhas btw .Bring  back the Sikhs in my opinion.

If they're Gurkhas the reason for poor driving is probably because they can't see over the steering wheel.

[horlock07]

The standard of bus driving.Nowadays  most of them seem to be ex Gurkhas.
Nothing against Gurkhas btw .Bring  back the Sikhs in my opinion.

During the Falklands War (I was 6) my teddy bear disappeared and my parents persuaded me that it was because he had gone off to fight in the Gurkha's as he was small and brown (A bit racist I know but it was the early 80's), having been picked up by a Harrier Jump Jet.

I believed all this and at the end of the war a few days later he reappeared on the doorstep with a bandage over his eye which I refused to take off him for weeks.

About a month later he got a letter through from the MoD with an engraved medal (Cpl E Bear) thanking him for his service.

Perhaps my old man had too much time on his hands (I won't mention the thank you letter I got at 4 from King George V at Swindon Works after I sent a get well card after she failed on the main line (Only Reg will probably get that one!))

[Red Frog]

During the Falklands War (I was 6) my teddy bear disappeared and my parents persuaded me that it was because he had gone off to fight in the Gurkha's as he was small and brown (A bit racist I know but it was the early 80's), having been picked up by a Harrier Jump Jet.

I believed all this and at the end of the war a few days later he reappeared on the doorstep with a bandage over his eye which I refused to take off him for weeks.

About a month later he got a letter through from the MoD with an engraved medal (Cpl E Bear) thanking him for his service.

Perhaps my old man had too much time on his hands (I won't mention the thank you letter I got at 4 from King George V at Swindon Works after I sent a get well card after she failed on the main line (Only Reg will probably get that one!))

That so belongs in the other thread. Lovely story, which has brought back to mind an episode from my childhood, when I was laid up in bed with chickenpox and had written to my two favourite clubs at the time, Swindon and Crystal Palace (only for the Don), asking for team photos. It was one of the greatest moments of my young life when I received a large brown cardboard envelope bearing my name with a team photo wishing me well, signed by the entire squad.

Of Crystal Palace. Even then, our community outreach was shite.

[Bob's Orange]

That so belongs in the other thread. Lovely story, which has brought back to mind an episode from my childhood, when I was laid up in bed with chickenpox and had written to my two favourite clubs at the time, Swindon and Crystal Palace (only for the Don), asking for team photos. It was one of the greatest moments of my young life when I received a large brown cardboard envelope bearing my name with a team photo wishing me well, signed by the entire squad.

Of Crystal Palace. Even then, our community outreach was shite.

haha. I knew when reading that it would have been Palace that sent you stuff

Like an American sitcom!

[horlock07]

That so belongs in the other thread. Lovely story, which has brought back to mind an episode from my childhood, when I was laid up in bed with chickenpox and had written to my two favourite clubs at the time, Swindon and Crystal Palace (only for the Don), asking for team photos. It was one of the greatest moments of my young life when I received a large brown cardboard envelope bearing my name with a team photo wishing me well, signed by the entire squad.

Of Crystal Palace. Even then, our community outreach was shite.

Similarly when I was a lad, against 7ish I had a bit of a thing for Chelsea (as it was the only kit my parents could get in Giles in Carterton for me to play football in). I was a budding goalkeeper on the school team so wrote to my favourite Chelsea player Eddie Niedzwiecki for some tips. Got a two page handwritten letter back from him, which was nice.