"Col" wrote in message
...

"Steve Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:21:19 -0600, David Buttery
wrote:

When I first went to school (in 1980) the *vast* majority of pupils
walked, and most of those walked unaccompanied by their parents. My
family had one car, and my dad used it to go to work, so I got a lift
only very rarely (even in 1981-2!). In larger towns, fewer families had
cars at all, and almost everyone got a bus to school.

I'm a lot older than you but I still remember my first day at school
in 1952. At four years old I was considered old enough to walk the
half mile. No families had cars, there was no school bus, nobody was
driven to school and even the kids who lived two miles from school
walked all the way. Only wimps turned up with a parent. The weather
didn't make much difference. If we were snowed in and had to dig our
way out we were late! One day I remember we could walk to school in a
straight line because everything was frozen, including the lake. Some
people just don't believe me when I talk about the winters we had in
those days.

Can you imagine that now, children being allowed to walk
to school across a frozen lake?
--

No, as it is a bloody stupid thing to do.

"Alan White" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:21:19 -0600, David Buttery
wrote:

When I first went to school (in 1980) the *vast* majority of pupils
walked, and most of those walked unaccompanied by their parents. My
family had one car, and my dad used it to go to work, so I got a lift
only very rarely (even in 1981-2!). In larger towns, fewer families had
cars at all, and almost everyone got a bus to school.

The school I attended from 1948 to 1953 was just over a mile from home.
There was no public transport, no school bus, my parents had no car and
so I walked. When I learnt to ride a bike (I was a late developer), I
cycled. Bad weather never closed the school.

I frequently think that we're progressing backwards.


I'm not sure that it is solely the conditions that cause the schools to be
closed. I suspect that it is the compensation culture and the chance of
parents sueing if their child slips on the ice that has a lot to do with it.

John wrote:
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:21:19 -0600, David Buttery
wrote:

I think it's worth defending some of the education authorities over the
last couple of days, since it seems to me that *some* of the complaints
are from people whose thoughts appear to come from 1977, not 2007...

When I first went to school (in 1980) the *vast* majority of pupils
walked, and most of those walked unaccompanied by their parents. My
family had one car, and my dad used it to go to work, so I got a lift
only very rarely (even in 1981-2!). In larger towns, fewer families had
cars at all, and almost everyone got a bus to school.

Many things have changed in a quarter of a century:

1) More parental choice over where to send their children
2) Many more families with multiple cars
3) The widespread closure of small schools (rural and urban)
4) Poorer public transport provision
5) Worries about the safety of children out alone

Put all those together, and you're left with a nation in which most
eight-year-olds get taken on the "school run" every single day. (Thus
making the roads even more unsafe for walking, but that's another
argument!) Many now live so far from their schools that they *couldn't*
walk there even if they wanted to.

The desirability or otherwise of this isn't really the point. What *is*
the point is that *given current lifestyle patterns* 10cm of snow is
inevitably going to cause *far* more difficulty in travelling to and from
school than it did thirty years ago, simply because it is much, much
harder to get to a snowy school under one's own steam than it was.

I can't help feeling that memory is being somewhat selective for the
various irate people who phoned into my local radio station to whinge
about school closures. I walked alone a mile through fields to school
in the 63 winter but whoever thought that was ever a good idea for a
six year old should be ashamed of themselves. It was unpleasant,
probably dangerous and frequently a waste of time if the teachers
couldn't make it or the school water supply had frozen up.

Yes, the schools didn't use to close at the first hint of a snow
shower but it really wasn't anything to be proud of. My memories of
getting to school in the 60s and 70s during the first day or two of a
snow event (probably about the only thing comparable to the one day
wonders we get darn south now) was that actually reaching the building
was a complete waste of time. Once the roads were clear it was a
different matter, of couse - we all get used to it and managed
(perhaps that's what people remember) but it seems we never reach that
stage now as it all melts by day 2!

The village school was at least walkable but when it came to the
bigger ones further away, half the pupils' buses couldn't get there
and those that did disgorged a trickle of children who found that half
the teachers weren't there either. This was mainly because their
Morris Minors, A35s and other pieces of rusty junk weren't exactly
ideal cold weather vehicles. If you could walk in, the experience was
much the same apart from spending the day with cold wet feet. All we
did was read books under supervision, have a massive snowball fight
and then go home - not exactly an educational achievement of note.

John

One good memory I have of school in early 1979 was the teachers going on
strike for about 3 weeks, it might have been in the February. It also
coincided with some of the best snowy weather of that winter.

Of course early 1979 was the time when it seemed like every few days
there was some union or other calling a strike, leading to the headline
in the Sun of "Crisis, What Crisis" which was of course never actually
uttered by the then Prime Minister...

--
Robbie

I have no sympathy for the wimping out attitude. For a start all schools
should be the same quality(give or take some natural variation within the
staff/head teacher). I was lucky to pass my eleven plus and went to one of
the top grammar schools in Essex. However, I don't believe in all this
choice rubbish, 4 wheel drives and all that. My children went to the local
comprehensive which at the time was in the bottom three schools in the
stupid league tables in the County in a difficult social area. What
happened - my daughter got 10 A-C's, 3 A's in her A'levels and went to Uni
and got a degree. Support your local school, walk there and don't miss
lessons because of a few cm's of snow.
Dave

On Feb 10, 7:35 pm, "Will Hand" wrote:


You played football, I bet you had boots as well, you were lucky, when I was a
lad ...

Will.
--

".....when I WERE a lad", Will, for heavens sake. You're
not from t'north then?

Tudor Hughes.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:58:30 -0000, "Adam Lea"
wrote:


Can you imagine that now, children being allowed to walk
to school across a frozen lake?
--

No, as it is a bloody stupid thing to do.

Part of growing up is doing bloody stupid things. It's sometimes called
having fun.

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.

Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/weather

Adam Lea wrote:


I was in Norway last February and the one thing I noticed was that walking
on snow in subzero temperatures is very easy to do - it is not slippy. In
the UK, snow tends to fall when the temperature is near or slightly above
freezing so the snow immediatly starts thawiing into a slushy mess which
becomes like a skating rink, especially after the cars have compacted the
snow down hard.

And on the rare occasions we get snow in sub-zero temperatures the idiot
councils chuck salt on the paths to turn dry snow into a slushy, slippy
mess.

Last Saturday was a different situation, cold but no snow or ice, so a local
shopping centre was smothered with salt and looked as if there had been a
light snowfall. Even undercover walkways were plastered with the stuff. The
large grains were like small marbles to walk on and some areas were wet due
to the salt soaking up moisture from the air. Pleased some kids as they had
been sliding on the stuff.

--
Graham P Davis
Bracknell, Berks., UK
Send e-mails to "newsman" as mails to "newsboy" are ignored.

David Buttery wrote:

I think it's worth defending some of the education authorities over the
last couple of days, since it seems to me that *some* of the complaints
are from people whose thoughts appear to come from 1977, not 2007...

When I first went to school (in 1980) the *vast* majority of pupils
walked, and most of those walked unaccompanied by their parents. My
family had one car, and my dad used it to go to work, so I got a lift
only very rarely (even in 1981-2!). In larger towns, fewer families had
cars at all, and almost everyone got a bus to school.

Many things have changed in a quarter of a century:

1) More parental choice over where to send their children
2) Many more families with multiple cars
3) The widespread closure of small schools (rural and urban)
4) Poorer public transport provision
5) Worries about the safety of children out alone

Put all those together, and you're left with a nation in which most
eight-year-olds get taken on the "school run" every single day. (Thus
making the roads even more unsafe for walking, but that's another
argument!) Many now live so far from their schools that they *couldn't*
walk there even if they wanted to.

The desirability or otherwise of this isn't really the point. What *is*
the point is that *given current lifestyle patterns* 10cm of snow is
inevitably going to cause *far* more difficulty in travelling to and from
school than it did thirty years ago, simply because it is much, much
harder to get to a snowy school under one's own steam than it was.


One of the afternoon entertainments in a local pub is watching the queues of
cars taking children home from school. Many of the kids live within a
ten-minute walk of the school. You see cars exiting a side junction onto a
dangerous bend with the occasional driver having one hand on the wheel and
the other holding a mobile to their ear - all in the need to keep the
children safe!

--
Graham P Davis
Bracknell, Berks., UK
Send e-mails to "newsman" as mails to "newsboy" are ignored.

"Graham P Davis" wrote in message
...



One of the afternoon entertainments in a local pub is watching the queues
of
cars taking children home from school. Many of the kids live within a
ten-minute walk of the school. You see cars exiting a side junction onto a
dangerous bend with the occasional driver having one hand on the wheel and
the other holding a mobile to their ear - all in the need to keep the
children safe!

I live directly opposite a primary school and if I happen to be
off work and at home the normally quiet and peaceful road is
transformed at 3.30pm into a narrow road clogged with 4x4s
and people carriers.
Why can't these kids walk?
--
Col

Bolton, Lancashire
160m asl

On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:58:30 -0000, Adam Lea wrote:

Can you imagine that now, children being allowed to walk
to school across a frozen lake?

No, as it is a bloody stupid thing to do.

No because it doesn't get cold enough, for long enough, to freeze lakes
deep enough, to get ice thick enough to take the weight.

Haven't seen a frozen lake let alone one with thick ice for decades. Last
time must be the mid 70's. Earlswood canal reservoirs. We have family
pictures from '63 taken on the frozen *River* Avon at Stratford-on-Avon.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail