Charging us to use our own money?

Apparently this is what one of the "big four" banks in this country is now planning to do. If people want to get cash anywhere other than from an ATM they are planning on charging them $3. 

"Fair enough," I hear you saying, "Someone has to be employed to pass that cash over." 

I don't think that is a proper answer. ATMs are disappearing around here. There used to be six within a hundred metre radius of our local shopping centre. Now there are two. One is accessible from outside. The other, not serviced by a bank, is inside. It is inaccessible outside the times the centre is open. The outside ATM is "out of service" too often for it to be completely reliable. The next ATM is several kilometres away. 

It seems however that cash is going the way of pass books and being able to go into a bank and actually get served by a teller. There are shops which will no longer take cash. It seems they would rather do without your business than have the difficulty of finding a bank willing to actually take cash and being able to do that inside business hours.

The bank which is now planning to charge people to take out cash once had a very busy branch in the shopping centre. There were almost always queues of people in there. The local businesses banked there. They handled money for the local council and much more. They had a dedicated teller machine too. All that has gone. The local post office (not open on Saturdays) now has to handle some of the bank's work. They do not have extra staff to do this.

Most of us have no choice but to use a bank. It is not simply a matter of "convenience" but a necessity.  They should be there as a service not to themselves but to the "customers".  It will be interesting to see if the bank in question has to backtrack on this "fee" - or whether it will encourage other banks to do the same.  

Pardoning your own child

may seem "unpardonable" but is it really as bad as it looks to some? Perhaps President Biden should not have done it but I think it is understandable.

To put it bluntly, "Yes, Hunter Biden was treated differently." Had he been the son of a "John Smith" the matter might never have got that far. It almost certainly would not have been reported in the media, especially the world wide media. In such things it matters who and what your parents are.  

I went from being "the teacher's kid" to "the head's kid".  It was the same for my siblings. I started school at four years and five weeks old and I started as the teacher's kid. I was not in his class. I was in a lower class but it was a small country school and "everyone knew everyone". I was expected to behave absolutely perfectly. There were no concessions at all. 

From the start I think I knew that I was treated differently. There was a conscious effort not to treat me any differently and in doing so I was treated that way. I was punished for slight infractions when other children were simply told to behave. I was never chosen to be "leader" or "in charge" of a group. Perhaps they thought I was never good enough but now I think it is more likely I was not to be shown any favours.

My brother and I were never allowed to win prizes for anything. We might be "top" (and we usually were academically speaking) but we were never allowed to win the prizes given. It was explained to us that this could not happen. The only school prize I have is the history prize I got on graduating from primary school. I was allowed to have that because everyone got a prize for something!

We went on through our secondary years the same way. I am sure our parents thought they were doing the right thing. This was especially so in rural areas where "favouritism" of the head's kids would have caused more than a little discussion. It was possibly as difficult for them as it was for us. 

I often think of things like that when I read of "X's son - or daughter" in a negative news story. They may have been caught speeding a few kilometres over the limit but it will be a court appearance, their name in the media and the maximum penalty. For other teenagers it can be as little as a slap on the wrist and a warning not to do it again. Yes, they do get treated differently and their parents get less sympathy, indeed the behaviour of their children can be used against them. 

Perhaps President Biden should not have done what he has done...but I have little doubt that President Trump would do the same. He might even pardon himself.  

There are no books

for intelligent twelve year old boys who need large print...or not that I can find.

Before you say "yes, there are" I am not talking about the books for dyslexic children. I have been hunting for novels that other boys or girls that age who enjoy reading might want to read. I have been looking for something like that as a gift, not a "this has to be read for school" sort of book.

There are large print books in our local library, quite a lot of them. They are all in the "adult" section. Many of them are light romance or westerns or books from the first half of last century. For years a staid (or perhaps "prim and proper") committee at the Royal Society for the Blind decided which books would be made available in large print. There were many things which were considered "unsuitable" - because of the content. I remember a friend of mine commenting on this. She spent years reading to her severely visually impaired partner. One reason to do so was because he wanted books that were considered to be "not the sort of thing the blind should be hearing about".  

I believe that attitude has changed somewhat but the range of books is still, inevitably, limited. What concerns me more is the lack of books for younger readers. I spent some hours searching the internet for something - and came up with nothing. There was not even a whisper of one with a Downunder setting. 

Reading a book using one of the magnifying or other devices now available is not the same thing. It is not the same as being given a new, just for you, book and feeling the feel of it or smelling that "new book" smell that awakens the taste buds of imagination. 

I went to our local independent bookshop and talked to one of the staff. It was something new to her. "I'll see if Gardner's can come up with anything Cat" was the best she could do. In the midst of the Christmas rush I doubt she will even remember. I will remind her next year.

The market for such books will not be big but it is possible to do things that could not once be done...perhaps it is time we did.

For other purposes I also looked at "wordless picture books". Most of them don't come close to what I have in mind. They still rely on language and, all too often, prior knowledge of a story. It is just possible something can be done about that though. I can at least think about that as I am packing and sorting - because everyone has a right to read in their own way.  

"I am not sending her back to school

next year," I heard someone say.

She was talking on her phone as we waited in the queue in the supermarket. Anyone could hear the conversation - whether we wanted to or not.

I admit I was interested. Was she planning on "home-schooling" her child? It seems she was.

I wondered if the child was being bullied. Apparently not. Over the next minute I discovered that the child was "bored", "not getting enough to do", "fed up with all the woke garbage" and more. It was interesting. I wondered how the parent planned to handle all this.

She went on her way. I paid for Middle Cat's shopping and was on my way out when I was hailed by a couple I know.  They were talking to the parent who was not sending her child back to school.

I stopped out of curiosity as well as politeness. I was introduced and the subject of school attendance was brought up. Did I know the school "somewhere near the tram line" which took in students on ability rather than age? 

They did not know much more. All they had was a vague memory of someone knowing someone who had a child who went to the school. I do know of the school. I have never been there but I researched it when it seemed a possible choice for the granddaughter of former neighbours. Was this what the mother wanted to know about? 

She looked at me in amazement and immediately looked at the school's website on her phone. How much did I know about the place? I really know very little.  

"Would you like to tell me something about your daughter?" I asked. I know all too well that some parents think their child is a genius when they are really simply intelligent. Why would someone pull their child out of school unless there really was evidence of very high intelligence...and why do it even then?

I did not have as much time as I would have liked to spend with this woman. It was an all too familiar story of a child who obviously is intelligent, very intelligent. She began school this year with excitement and now "hates" going. Her psychological test results indicate she really is at or near the top of the scale. If what her mother told me is correct (and I sensed restraint rather than exaggeration) then yes, she needs much more stimulation than she is getting at school. 

I left the mother saying she would be talking to her partner and, if he agreed, they would be contacting the school we had talked about. I also left wondering what I would have done to stimulate the child if she had been in my classroom. Would I have been able to give her the extra she so obviously seems to need? I hope so...but I also know how difficult it is for a teacher to find that time. Hopefully things might be different for this child next year.