Feest Isolation Days – 13 August
Scotland has told 75,000 kids that the grades they were given are now being changed. What a mess! How can they have got it so wrong? Ah but Nicola Sturgeon says it’s all right because she has apologised. Well that’s fine then!
In England the A level results have been announced. Moderation of grades has meant that 36% of results have been lowered by one grade, 3% by two grades, while 2% have increased. It’s stressful for all the kids who are already going through a stressful time. Interestingly, the second most popular A level after Math is Psychology. We certainly all are going to be in need of more psychologists if this carries on much longer so that may be no bad thing.
The dog days of summer are definitely here in the UK. But what exactly are the dog days? In our neighbourhood it sometimes seems like the time when pooches are making more feeble barking noises. However, the original meaning of dog days of summer doesn’t have a lot to do with our four-footed friends. Or if it does, it is rather an indirect reference.
When the Sun and Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, are in the same region of the sky it is the hottest part of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, although Sirius can be seen from everywhere in the world. Sirius is part of the constellation called Canis Major, the Greater Dog. The Romans called the time when the sun and Sirius lined up, the Dog Days. It came at the hottest time of the year and it certainly has been that in Bristol this year!
The past two days have seen temperatures reaching 32 degrees. Not a good day for a bike ride. Nevertheless yesterday I did my ride outside and had at least three strangers in cars tell me I was doing an amazing thing riding in this heat. I do love the exchanges that we have with total strangers. They help us perk up. At least they do me!
I also love listening to the snippets of conversation that I hear outside my window. With the windows all fully open, it is tough not to earwig from time to time! An exchange I really enjoyed recently was with a mum and her young son. She said she had spoken to his teacher and that she had talked about teaching Victoria Beckham. The young boy said, Who’s Victoria Beckham? The mother replied she’s the wife of David Beckham…I suspect you’ve got there already. Who’s David Beckham came the reply. I didn’t hear anymore as the mother and son carried on down the road.. Ah the fleeting nature of fame, and earwigging!
This household has had another sound that I have got used to over the past 29 years. Our doorbell. The thing stopped working. We reckon it’s been there for probably forty years so I can understand its giving up the ghost. Fortunately, our lovely electrician thinks he can repair it. My dear husband bought us a new doorbell in the interim which doesn’t do it for me. It’s a fake sound. Yes it may well be the sort of thing you can add different bells to located in various places around the house and garden, but I don’t want to hear another sound that is produced by some computer and doesn’t sound real. Let’s hope John our electrician can fix it for us. An old fashioned wire will be required. And the sound will be a treat once more!
Interesting, some of the delivery guys clearly don’t know what a door knocker is as they didn’t use that when we tapped over the bell. Modern technology or nothing?!
Stay cool.
With love
Kathy x