Walking to school

seems to be a thing of the past around here.

One of my favourite dogs was being rushed away from all the delightful smells this morning because his human had to take the grandchildren to school.

"They could walk there but my daughter won't let them. She says it is not safe. I suppose she's right but I walked to school and so did she."

I thought about this as he walked briskly off tugging at the lead of the reluctant dog.

I went to school on my own from  a very early age. I rode my little red "dinky" tricycle with my school case on the tray on the back. In my first year I went with the Senior Cat for the first few weeks and then I was on my own. We lived in a small country community and everyone knew everyone. 

I was joined by other small children walking or riding their "dinky" trikes as well. In the afternoons we reversed the journey. It was just expected we would get to and from school safely and alone. 

The following year we moved to the city. There was a lot more traffic and further to go. I could have gone to a closer school but I went to the one where the Senior Cat was teaching in the "big" school (the Primary School) and I was in the "Infants". Again he went with me for a few weeks and then I was on my own. I knew the way. I knew the road rules. It was expected I would I get there and back safely. 

Now remember this was the child who had problems standing up and who was continually falling over. The idea that I might be allowed travel alone was probably not accepted by everyone. So why was I allowed to do it?

There was no way Mum wanted to take me to and from school. She had two more under the age of five and no desire to see me to school if I could do it myself.  The Senior Cat had other responsibilities. It was considered perfectly reasonable by Mum that, rain or shine, heat or cold, I went alone. 

It never even occurred to me to make a fuss. I was just doing what children right around me were doing. Yes, some of those in the Infants were delivered by their mothers but we rarely saw a father in the school grounds. We dinky riders simply parked with the "Big School bikes" (and there were a lot of those) and went into school. 

There must have been accidents and incidents but we were largely unaware of those. The vehicular traffic was much less - and slower - than it is now. There was a great deal more foot traffic. We knew which houses we could go to for help if we needed it. Sometimes they were pointed out to us, "Mrs.... lives there. If she is home she will help" and Mrs.... would almost always be home. 

Now Mrs... would be at work or, if older, getting her own grandchildren from school in a car.  The children are being taken to "out of school" activities - if they are not waiting at school in "out of school hours care". Very few of them have the pleasure of talking to the dogs, observing the men at work, playing games with their friends on their way to and from school. My brother, who joined me the following year, and I knew a lot of people along our route. The other children were the same. We lacked a Pied Piper perhaps but there was always a trail of children which gradually grew more or less as we went to and from school.

As far as I know I was never late. I was not allowed to be "sick" because Mum, a Christian Scientist, did not believe in illness. It did not matter how I felt I simply pedalled to and from school until I was in my penultimate primary year. We moved and the school house we moved into was next to the school. All we had to do was walk over to the school. It was not the same. Getting taken to and from school in a car must be even worse.

  

"They might have to sell the house"

 the Reserve Bank Governor has warned.

As someone who is still hunting for accommodation within my budget I am, yet again, wondering what sort of stress people with families must be under.

"It's all about interest rates," someone told me a few months back. Really?

I think it is about much more than that. There is still a widespread belief in this country that you should be able to buy your own home. Within that belief there are many people who believe you should be able to buy a free standing dwelling on a fair sized block of land. That dwelling should also have at least three bedrooms, a family room, a lounge, a bathroom, an ensuite for the parents as well as a kitchen and laundry. There should be a "patio" for outdoor entertaining and the garden should already be landscaped to be as "easy care" as possible. That dwelling should also have parking for at least two cars. 

Phew! That is going to cost a bit. 

People are complaining it is harder to do this now even though both parents are working. Where people once managed on one income and one, almost always the wife and mother, stayed at home this is no longer considered possible. Why?

I know there is no easy answer to this but I do believe that part of the problem is people now believe they "have to have" and this causes them to over-extend themselves financially. They want a house which has everything they think they need and they want it now. It is not the basic structure their parents and grandparents were prepared to accept and then work on. 

A young man I know is severely dyslexic. He really struggles with reading and writing but he has always had a job. He has been prepared to do anything to earn money. While at school he had the usual sort of jobs students get but he was happy to do the less attractive jobs. When he left school he went to work for a company which unfortunately failed. Was he out of a job? He was unemployed for three days before being interviewed for another low level job. When could he start? This afternoon if they needed him. He now has a responsible position in the same firm because he was prepared to travel to work and make early starts. 

Through all this he saved. He saved all he could. He found out about what sort of home loans he might be able to get and how he might be able to pay them back. When he went to the bank he was able to show them exactly how much he thought he needed and how he could pay it back. He got the loan because he had done two things. He had, with his grandmother's help, worked out what he would do if the interest rates rose and he had shown them plans for a very modest dwelling but a dwelling he can add to later if he so wishes. All this has also been done with his relationship with a very lovely girl in mind. They will marry late next year when she has finished her course and can work full time. Like him she is prepared to wait for some of the things that others consider essential. They are prepared to put the work in. 

One of his more distant relatives commented to me, "It's terribly old fashioned of them. They could just go ahead and get it all now and save themselves all that hassle." Yes, they could but they would be in much more debt. They would be struggling to pay their debts off. This way they are managing. 

I can't help admiring them. They are resisting the pressure to have "everything" now and it seems to be working for them. I think of them when I look at yet another place...and another. I know I won't get everything I want either - even though I believe it would be nice to have it and have it now.

I skived off yesterday

and took Middle Cat off to the state's agricultural show. We ignored the horrendous packing mess for a few hours. 

Nephew Cat was actually free and took us there which made it a cheap day out. (I get two free tickets as a reward for being a steward in Handicrafts.) I packed sandwiches and some chunky pieces of tomato, cucumber and lettuce for sustenance, added some of the small apples Middle Cat has fallen in love with and plenty to drink. Food and drink is available of course but it is very expensive and not the sort of food I  want to eat.

We parted inside the gate and I headed off to Handicrafts while Middle Cat went to talk to the dogs, the cats and the goats. I could have gone with her for a short while but I dislike seeing animals penned in. (Middle Cat somehow manages to persuade owners that she is the one who can best de-stress them - and she does.) 

Handicrafts was busy. I took a seat at the information desk, answered questions, showed people where to find their items on display or where to find the items of friends and relatives. I explained how some things were made, why certain things they liked had not won a prize when other things they liked less had and was greeted by quite a few people I know in the craft world. I knew Middle Cat would turn up when she was ready to eat something and that it would be later rather than earlier.

Yes, she appeared with that dreamy "I have been talking to animals" look on her face. Yes, she liked some of the quilts on display and thought the cake decorating was "amazing" but she had not looked at the knitting, the crochet or the embroidery. We went out of the hall and found places to eat our sandwiches. Middle Cat chatted to two people here from the country who were finishing their lunch. When they left we were joined by three people. They were a bit hesitant and asked if the seats were taken. No, please join us. I could tell why instantly. The boy, about eighteen, was autistic. He was non-verbal but I sensed the noise, the people, the constant movement and bright colours were beginning to overwhelm him. Middle Cat involved his parents in conversation and left me to try and make contact with him.

Suddenly he pulled out a white cardboard box and undid it carefully. Then he showed me. It was a new mug, clearly intended for hot chocolate. Yes, he told me with gestures, it was his. He had bought it. He was obviously thrilled with his purchase. I asked him about whether he liked hot chocolate, whether he liked the colour of the mug and whether the lid was to stop the drink spilling out. He answered all this in his own way. 

Out of the corner of my eye I could see his parents, still talking to Middle Cat, watching us. Then the person they were waiting for arrived. Middle Cat and I rose to leave.  As I was turning his mother put her hand on mine and squeezed it very gently and I heard his father say, "Thanks." The boy was carefully returning his purchase into the box but he looked up and there was a proper smile on his face. It was absolutely the best part of the day.  Skiving off can pay off sometimes!

Native Title?

I had heard rumours about this but thought that at least they would be able to remain until the end of the lease. No. It seems that "native title" is more important than education and encouraging young people take part in a range of physical activities while also caring for the environment. There will be people who say that "an elite private school" should never have had access to the area anyway but they did have a lease and they used it wisely.

What this supposedly "elite private school" had access to was a small island off the coast. It was leased from the government, not the native title holders. They have come later. 

It is the native title holders who demanded an early end to the lease. They want their land back. They want it back to "reconnect spiritually" with it and "explore new cultural tourism opportunities".

The school tried to negotiate. It was not successful. 

This does not surprise me at all. It is the way anything like this is being handled. There is an immense fear of "insulting" anyone or anything which claims to be indigenous. It is easier and cheaper to give in to such demands than fight it in the courts. 

As regular readers of this blog know I am hunting for somewhere to live. It is proving very, very difficult. I discovered that one of the places I looked, a place which might just have been possible, has a tenant and that tenant has a lease until well into next year. Under the law it is not possible to remove the tenant or raise the rent (which does not cover the expense of having the tenant there). Why then is it possible for anyone to demand a lease be terminated before time simply because a "native title" claim now exists? Native title to any land did not even exist when the lease was granted.

I know someone who went to this school, her husband went to this school when it was boys only, her children went to this school, her grandchildren are going through the school and a great-grandchild will start there in the new year. They have all worked on helping to develop and care for the environment on the island. There are many other people in the same position. Nobody is saying much for fear of upsetting those claiming title over the land. They do not want to be seen as "racist" but they do wonder just how all this could happen. 

I also wonder how well the proposed plans will work. Will people really want to travel there for "spiritual re-connection" and "cultural purposes" or will we have lost another chance to teach young people that the environment matters? 

Meeting a new neighbour

as I am slowly clearing this house was yet another reason to regret having to move out.

The new "over the road" neighbour moved in the weekend before the one just gone. My mother would probably have been over there on the day with the offer of tea and freshly baked cheese scones - the latter being her specialty. I stayed out of the way being all too aware of the likely chaos when it is enhanced by a dog with a madly waving tail.

During the week which followed we never seemed to both be outside at the same time. I just left things and hoped the new owner would not think I was being unfriendly. Her immediate neighbours are pleasant enough but the parents both work and their two children never play in the street. We rarely see them.

That all changed yesterday when I was struggling to put the over loaded bin out for rubbish collection this morning. I had just put it in position when the new neighbour's car came down the road and a face smiled at me. I waited and yes, sure enough, the car door slammed in her driveway and she looked out with a cheerful,"Hi, I'm S..." 

She came across the road and I said, "I'm Cat..." We smiled at each other and I said, "I haven't interrupted because I know what the chaos can be like." 

We had a conversation. Canadian? I asked and she said "Yes, but here for years." We talked about that and why and the fact I needed to move and why. She agreed about executor companies and offered me a couple of empty boxes. "Yes please!" 

Her daughter came back from walking the dog in her lunch hour. Her daughter was friendly too - and the dog even friendlier.

Later Middle Cat arrived to collect some things. I introduced S.... who was now putting their bin out. I had told Middle Cat where this woman had worked before retirement and, such is this city, they discovered that they knew people in common. 

Why do I have to leave when the new neighbours are so nice? 

Why are we counting these people

in the next census? 

The Prime Minister has just announced that "gay, lesbian and bi-sexual" people will be counted in the next census. Why?

There is not a lot of room for questions in any census. The number of questions and what they are about is something which needs to be very carefully considered. They need to be questions which allow governments, at least to some extent, to plan for the future. 

There are questions which are obviously very important. We need to know how many people were here on the night. We divide that into residents and non-residents. We find out how old people are. These things help provide education services to the young and aged care services to the old and health care for everyone. If we know where people live then we know something about the need for power and roads. It also helps in providing services to agriculture and fishing - things which feed us.

If you ask people which language they speak at home then you can provide essential language services if the policy is to be "multi-cultural".  If you ask people if they have a disability then you can plan services to support people with disabilities. If you ask if they have any form of religious belief then you can see which religious communities are growing and what impact that might have on future policies.

But if you are gay or lesbian or bisexual or asexual or transgender or something else does it really matter? Do you really need special government services - or have you simply been led to believe you need them? Have we really reached a point where this group is somehow so disabled and disadvantaged they need a place in the census? Are we really going to need planning for vast numbers of children and young people to need gender services? 

I am in no way trying to denigrate people who are happier in same sex relationships. Why would I? I think it is so very, very good that these can now occur in this country without fear of prosecution under the law. But do these people really need additional services? What sort of additional services might they need that are not already there in the community and included in the census? Surely suggesting they do need something more is to mark them out as somehow not simply different but somehow not normal?  

I may be completely wrong about this but I know at least four same sex couples who see no point in the question.  

Does the school you went to

really say anything about you?

I have just been smiling over one of those "human interest" sort of articles in the local press. Are you asked what school you went to? This is (supposedly) a common enough question here. 

I think it was more common once than it is now. Yes, sometimes it did matter. There is still an "old boys network". There is even a bit of an "old girls network" I suppose but it is not as pronounced. 

The article allows for comments on the website and most people appear to be a little uncertain about how much it matters...if it matters at all. Feeling a little like stirring the pot I have left a comment saying I went to five different secondary schools. I also said I went to school with someone who became a world renowned neonatal heart surgeon, a judge and several politicians. I like the heart surgeon - no longer operating but still teaching and consulting I believe. The judge is one I respect. The politicians? No, not acquaintances I would wish to renew. Brother Cat actually went to school with someone who went on to be Prime Minister - and tells me that the PM's sister was a much nicer person.

Some years ago the Senior Cat answered the phone and someone asked to speak to me. I did not recognise his name but he apparently went to school with me. He must have been in my year group because he was trying to organise a reunion. I declined to go to the reunion. If I could not remember his name how could I even recognise everyone, let alone remember their names.

"But everyone knows you," he told me. Perhaps they do but I doubt it. 

I prefer to know people as people, not by some artificial standard. The school you went to does not need to define you. I always liked the answer the Whirlwind would give if asked where she went to school. "Just the local school," she would say. It was true. It was a local school even if it was fee paying.

A former Governor of this state, a man I do admire and respect, went to one of the old "technical high schools". They were considered to be the schools for the non-academically inclined but he did brilliantly. To my way of thinking it just goes to show there is more to this than "what school did you go to?"