Tim Atkinson's Blog, page 115

Mind your language!

Some time ago Charlie's nursery teacher asked me to make a list of all the words he said. Now, Charlie's quite a talker; it may take a while to understand what he's saying and I might have to interpret for him, but he's a proper chatterbox. He talks to me; he talks to his toys; he talks to himself. So I thought nothing of making a list of the things he says. Until I read what I had written. Here's a small selection:

nee-nawayplaychoo-choobig booyah-yahgoggle-goo (or sometimes, gul-go or...

This little piggy

Right, let me make two things quite clear at the outset:



1. This is NOT a 'sponsored' post. I bought the Peppa Pig DVD that Charlie's watching incessantly at the moment, using real money. And anyway, why would it be a 'sponsored' post if I hadn't? It's not as if I'm doing the London Marathon or anything.



Anyway.



2. I LIKE Peppa Pig. Really I do. But it's only in watching it endlessly loop round all fifteen (is that all? It seems like fifty!) episodes that I've realised how middle-class the...

Exam Fever

Oh how quickly you forget. Two years ago I was frantically running round a school in a damage limitation exercise as the sixth-form marked their final day at school with traditional high jinks. This year, as I cycled through town, I was surprised to see large numbers of students milling around, signing shirts and generally wondering what to do now school had set them free.



Sally came home with tales of classrooms being re-erected on the school field, a maze created out of lockers (including ...

Serendipity

Do you ever get that feeling that you're in a blogging in a cul-de-sac? That you don't quite know where the next post's coming from?



No?



Must just be me, then.



Fortunately, when such things occur a solution often magically presents itself, as it did this afternoon. Charlie and I were walking through the park to post a letter (yes, I know... quaint). Anyway, long before we'd reached the post box this is what we saw:





Can't see it? Oh alright then, let's get a little bit closer...



Do you c...

Why, why, why...

One of the many tags I haven't done just lately has been this: the 'seven things you never knew about me' (and probably never wanted to) meme. This was bestowed upon me by MummyMatters (and possibly by several others... sorry if I've forgotten!) and makes fascinating reading when other people do it. Who'd have thought, for example, that SuperSingleMum has never once been on a date? Or that Jo Middleton has... you know, *done it* on top of Glastonbury Tor? Or that Linda Jones was once sacked b...

Pants on fire!

Can you believe it? Telling lies is good for you! Yes, fibbing makes you clever; telling porky pies can make you wise.



No word of a lie.



And that's not all. Ladies, you knew it all along didn't you? Men are better at it. They do it more often, about a wider range of subjects and are less likely to feel guilty about it. All of which proves, once and for all, men's superior intelligence over women. Doesn't it?



You can't deny the creativity of a lie. Writers are at it all the time. And they t...

Wordless Wednesday... like father, like son!

Desert Island Dicks

No idea if this's been done before (it probably has); sorry if I upset anyone by plundering it (I probably will) and annoy anyone by tagging them (inevitable) but...



Desert Island Discs. You know, that wonderfully twee Radio Four programme started by Roy Plomley, tackled from behind by Parky and then gently soothed back again by Sue Lawley and now Kirsty Young. (Incidentally, anyone else think that Kirsty Young bears an uncanny resemblance to Liz Jarvis? Never see them in the same room toget...

Thank God it's Friday!

That was the title of a column I once contributed (infrequently) to in the TES (Times Educational Supplement). I was reminded of it partly as I've been updating my Further Reading page to include a link to my published articles, but also because, well.... I'm very glad it is. Friday, I mean. I know how politically exciting it's been (fixed-term parliaments, a government that might actually co-operate and listen for a change, a possible - dimly possible - end to the ridiculous adversarial, tri...

Rainbow Alliance

I promise this is the last time I'm going to mention the election (though I reserve the right to say 'vote for me' in The MADs) but...



The markets. The economy. The 'City'.



Let me get this straight. The banks gave loans to a stack of people who were unable to repay. They (the banks) lost money, so much money that the government was forced to lend a lot of it to a stack of banks (anyone know the collective noun for banks? A 'rob' perchance?) just to keep them going. And now, said 'City' bank...