March '03
Time flies. I attend Madeleine's class today and Mrs. Y has the kids preparing for tomorrow's visit to a Synagogue - there are only a few Jewish kids in the class. I do not think our neighborhood particularly religious despite the number of churches including one across the street from the school. The kids have to write a few lines on how to behave during tomorrow's field trip. They go to work, boy do they. Between various moments of complete silence and concentration there is... chaos. I help with grammar and sentence structure - things like: "I will not run into the street" or "I will not throw anything at a car." All of sudden I am worried. Madeleine of course is thrilled to have me around and looks up at me with the most loving eyes that melt my heart every time. It is good to be dad. After the busy chores, Mrs. Y does class-room inter-actives while I do reading one-on-ones. There are some Big Things Year 2 must learn and reading is top of the list. It is hard, hard, work and I watch the struggle of sounding symbols, putting pieces together and making words - all the while trying to stay focused. Somebody once told me the hardest thing one learns to do is walk but now I am not so sure.
In the gym I leaf through a stack of magazines. Ok, they are women's magazines and I pull this little chestnut from the January '08 Marie Claire on how a gal must sort out her finances: "... consider investing in a buy-to-let property (be careful here, however, as the property market is likely to be choppy this coming year), thereby setting yourself up with a regular income, and growth for years to come." Now that is just one bad piece of advise as prop values off 20% this year. Here is another: "if you have some cash to invest, look at buying a hotel room." Did anybody finish primary at this magazine?
Back to the John Humphries - Sex Ed segment on Radio 4 this morning. By far the most awkward moment of an already cringeful ten minutes was Norman Wells of the Family Education Center uses his 14 year old daughter as an example of why we need responsible training in the class-room (presumably she is "active," you see, as Wells did mention she has a boyfriend). Can you imagine that poor kid? A teen-age Madeleine would cut off my nuts and still not feel vindicated should I ever do such a thing on national radio.
Madeleine, out of the blue: "Is it Thursday!? Oh, no!"
