Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

John_Pierpoint

Davesnave wrote: »

Yes, I left my newish bike in the Town Square, one evening in 1963. I only lived 100 yards away and completely forgot that I'd ridden there.

Three days later, I discovered it was missing, remembered, and panicked.

There was no need; it was at the Police Station, waiting for me.

I did something very similar in about 1968.
I had graduated to a Honda 50 (that is the next step up from a moped) and one Saturday night had a beer too many,so responsibly walked the 5 miles home.
The next day, needing the motorbike, I peddled over to get it and left the push bike chained to a lamp-post; meaning to recover it later.
I did about a fortnight later from the local cop shop BUT minus the back wheel and gears.:mad:

GDB2222 wrote: »

I think that we are maybe a bit over-protective now, not that I recommend letting babies loose on the main road ofc, but we used to have a lot more freedom and responsibility as kids. I used to think nothing at all of coming home alone from school 5 miles away at the age of 7 or 8.

Nobody worried much about !!!!!philes then.

Me too - when I was 8 my parents climbed the property ladder and moved. The school journey then involved two buses:
A 1d fare got a London double decker to the bus garage.
3.5d got the single decker the rest of the way home.
The double decker drove across the front of the garage before dumping its last passengers in a back street. Meanwhile the single decker was escaping from the front of the garage. The trick was to jump off, as the double decker negotiated the lights and turned into the road running down the side of the garage.
I misjudged that one day and eventually arrived home looking like the survivor of a prize fight.
(the only other memory, seared into my brain, was switching between the 3.5d buses (there could be a choice of 3 drawn up on the garage forecourt) but leaving my satchel behind - got it back by hailing the next but one bus at my destination.)

In the !!!!!phile front my only experience during the age of comparative innocence occurred at our new aspirational home.
I must have been about 10 and I set out with the boy next door to explore the local common - where I had a tree house.
I think the two of us knew where babies came from and more or less how they got there. We had also been warned about "not talking to strangers" but had no idea why. We certainly did not know the technicalities motivating "men in grey raincoats".
Some insignificant bloke dressed in overalls wandered up and tried to distract us from the task of finding frog spawn. We had got a bit separated by say 100 yards when the boy next door rushed up a bit flustered saying he had just been groped/fondled by said workman.
He was most worried by the thought that, if his mum knew, she would ban him from playing on the common. Sad. (Well she was a bit of a control freak, especially in comparison with my disorganised mother).

So perhaps there were advantages in being the fat spotty ugly one

Hopefully my kids grew up with the protection of knowledge, even if it meant a certain loss of innocence.
It has not all been progress - 50 years ago adults were much more prepared to get involved in looking out for and sorting out the behaviour of other peoples kids. We would not dare to do so today in case our motivation could be misconstrued.

Talking of 10 year old and predatory adults - did anyone else hear the interview with the Austrian woman who was abducted aged 10 and kept in a cellar until she escaped aged 18?
OK her replies were translated from German, but she seemed remarkably thoughtful, intelligent and experienced for someone who had undergone such a deprivation.
Something does not seem to quite add up here - perhaps we need to look back in 15 years time to see how she has made out when compared with all the other victims of suppressed child abuse, currently emerging?
(On the other hand perhaps I'll have to read her damned book)

silvercar

silvercar wrote: »

What is it with exam remarking? It seems that any exam where your mark shows that you were near the next grade up should be remarked. At a cost that is mainly, but not totally, refunded if the grade changes. I don't know if this is money grabbing by the exam boards (ie mark shoddily, know that a small percentage will be wrong and rake it in on remark fees) or pampering to parents (so, so disappointed with little darlings result; do, do get it remarked to see if he can get the * he so deserves). I can understand remarking for A levels where a uni place may depend on the result, but for GCSEs???

One exam is back already and the grade increased. So we get the money back and DS gets a * to put on that A.

Bit unfair on those that can't afford to shell out £40 to see if their grade goes up.

tomterm8

misskool wrote: »

Do chickens have specific social groups?

They do. Actually, if you look at domesticated animals, pretty much there are only two things they all have in common: the fact they have social groups, and the fact they are slightly thick so that they allow humans to form part of their social group, normally as pack leader.

PasturesNew

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

...
OK her replies were translated from German, but she seemed remarkably thoughtful, intelligent and experienced for someone who had undergone such a deprivation.

I can't swear to it, but I think she had a telly. Maybe.

John_Pierpoint

She has been on the radio again today and obviously charmed the lady interviewer.

Her reason for writing the book were to clear her head of everything that happened and so that she could refer questioners to the book [ and presumably so she could make enough money to buy her teenage home!]

Interestingly her captor kept her on starvation rations to "keep her weak and controllable", perhaps I am not exaggerating to say her captor wanted a thin 10 year old not a developing young woman. I think some adolescent girls develop a similar eating disorder because their brain/self identity cannot embrace what they are seeing develop in the mirror.

[I have a similar problem when a gent with receding silver hair peers at me from the mirror:rotfl:]

http://www.keenobservers.com/3603/natascha-kampusch-shares-new-details-of-her-life-as-slave/

carolt

silvercar wrote: »

Everyone gets overwhelmed at the start of the school year. DS texts today to say as he didn't take a coat I will need to collect him from the coach stop. I text back that 16 year olds can cope with rain, he texts to say that they can, but his new suit can't Don't know where his coat is, or if it fits over suit.)

What is it with exam remarking? It seems that any exam where your mark shows that you were near the next grade up should be remarked. At a cost that is mainly, but not totally, refunded if the grade changes. I don't know if this is money grabbing by the exam boards (ie mark shoddily, know that a small percentage will be wrong and rake it in on remark fees) or pampering to parents (so, so disappointed with little darlings result; do, do get it remarked to see if he can get the * he so deserves). I can understand remarking for A levels where a uni place may depend on the result, but for GCSEs???



1. delegate.
2. unpacking - leave a box out, anything not claimed by the weekend gets binned/ charitied.

Sure your first point is true, though re my original point, I think the effect is magnified when you're also a teacher, and have just moved house. :eek:

Re the exam marking, in many subjects it's definitely an art not a science. As an experienced examiner, I can confirm that with some exam boards, with papers at the grade boundaries, examiners are 'encouraged' to re-examine papers to see if they can squeeze a few extra marks out and tip them over into the next grade - something I dislike doing, because it fundamentally undermines the whole point of grades as such. Obviously, examiners can miss things the first time round, so examiner error could be a cause of the 'wrong' grade being given initially. More likely, though, it's just a different examiner with a different perspective - plus an attitude from the top that positive marking is to be encouraged.

At the end of the day - and this is controversial, I know - students are customers and no company wants to put its customers off too much.

carolt

Are the nice people all busy today? Or too busy discussing politics?

Just saw the very lovely Alan Davies talking about his teenage years in the 80s on the telly - lovely moment of him in conversation with Billy Bragg - double phwooar as far as I'm concerned - how to make a 30-something leftie happy.

Anyone else seen anything good on the telly? Since we moved we now have access to more channels than we had on the old freeview, so, astonishingly, there's occasionally something I actually want to watch.

fc123

carolt wrote: »

Are the nice people all busy today? Or too busy discussing politics?

Just saw the very lovely Alan Davies talking about his teenage years in the 80s on the telly - lovely moment of him in conversation with Billy Bragg - double phwooar as far as I'm concerned - how to make a 30-something leftie happy.

Anyone else seen anything good on the telly? Since we moved we now have access to more channels than we had on the old freeview, so, astonishingly, there's occasionally something I actually want to watch.

I will confess...... I quite like having telly again....

Basically, I seem to be watching a Grand Designs nearly every evening at 8pm ish. I am now catching up on 5 years of them.

I lust a little tiny bit over Kevin Mcleod too. Apparently he has 5 kids.

We have this BT Vision thingy and you can pause then wizz through the ads.
Apart from that I quite like seeing bit and pieces of things like Location and Coast (but I find the coast presenters a bit .....well ...not as sensitive as Kevin).

Oh and Ugly Betty....never miss an episode...the shame.

GDB2222

This particular nice person is off to bed. Night night, Carolt.

PasturesNew

carolt wrote: »

Are the nice people all busy today? Or too busy discussing politics?

Just saw the very lovely Alan Davies talking about his teenage years in the 80s on the telly - lovely moment of him in conversation with Billy Bragg - double phwooar as far as I'm concerned - how to make a 30-something leftie happy.

Anyone else seen anything good on the telly? Since we moved we now have access to more channels than we had on the old freeview, so, astonishingly, there's occasionally something I actually want to watch.

I researched and wrote for 9 hours today in total. Did four cr4ppy pieces. I'm writing to somebody else's tune, to deadline, so the work's substandard as I need to be in the mood for it and interested in what I'm writing about It was all travel stuff... and, although I was interested in the places I was writing about, having to do it to deadline and include certain set pieces took the fun out of it. But, once the month's over, I can still go and fiddle with it all and add to it over time... for now though, it's volume that counts - and exposure. So I have to type drivel, to get noticed and stuff.

Once this month's over though and I've danced the tune ... I'll have a clearer idea of what I want to write about ... and will tone it down from four per day because one can't just write, one has to promote ... and you can't do both.

Re telly: I don't have one