Thursday 25 September 2008

Business as Usual

Yesterday saw the first school programme of the new school year. Quite typically it rained. A fitting start. For the duration of the rainfall, the birds all stopped singing and flying from tree to tree, but it was business as usual today.

I am pleased that Sir Ian McKellen is taking on homophobia in schools. Mayhem was the one school I worked where I saw more of this than anywhere else, but then it was also the school where staff and pupils alike were openly gay.
I think it's piss poor of the Graun to say that Sir Ian is 'best known for his role in Lord of the Rings'. Do me a favour. He wasn't knighted in 1990 because he would someday play Gandalf. He had long been a mainstay of British theatre and a household name.
Not worthy of yourself Graun.

Whilst the Churches of England and of Rome still tie themselves in knots and eat out their own insides to find reasons why women should not have full equality with men, the monarchy, an institution which may be seen to be even more arcane, may beat it. The law which gives male heirs to the throne precedence over female heirs has been challenged under both the Sex Discrimination Act and the Human Rights Act.
Giddy up!
Maybe in my lifetime I won't have to suffer the indignity of being routinely referred to as a guy anymore.

Note to Gordon Ramsey : the noun from which the adjective 'humble' comes is not 'humbleness', it is 'humility'. But then I'm not surprised you're not familiar with it.

That Japanese recognition thing works. Our Woman Friday was in at work, what with it being Friday and all. A Japanese woman came in to the Nature House and made a beeline for her. In very broken English she asked whether our person were Japanese. J said that she was 'sansei', which sounded like 'sunsei'. I asked Raymond what this meant and he said that it meant she was a third generation immigrant.
On the downside of Japanesity, our last volunteer left today to return to Japan. We are going to miss them all. We are already trying to work out how we can get more.

7 comments:

Sleepy said...

Plant a few!

Kateryna said...

I know I am ignorant but why does there seem to be more female rulers in England? Besides having a lifespan that boarders on immortality?

Schneewittchen said...

Well, I think it just seems that way because there have been two rather good and long-lived ones recently, Victoria and Elizabeth the second. In reality there have been far more men. It's a pretty extraordinary outcome to have a feamle monarch since male heirs take precedence, so for example the Queen was one of two sisters. The first Queen Elizabeth was only queen because her brother died young. SO maybe the answer to your question is the women in the royal family seem to be hardier than the men;)

Sleepy - I'm not convinced we need any more conifers around here. In any case, I took this just outside the Nature House where squirrels go on the roof and throw cones down. They also bury them along with any acorns they can find, and then they CAN'T actually find them to eat, so I guess that's the same as planting them :)

Schneewittchen said...

Oh, duh me! You meant Japanese people ;)
It's worth a try...although I don't want to get into where we get seeds from....

Sleepy said...

Check out that Oriental Mall place you took me to!
I expect they keep they out the back and it's all nods and winks.

I think they are labour intensive though.
Have to trim them into the shape you want and they don't get very big!

Anonymous said...

I'm always encouraging my students to volunteer. Richmond is a bit far for them, but you never know. They'd only be available on weekends, mind you.
- Karen

Schneewittchen said...

Hahahaha!!! You're so right, the Aberdeen Mall would be exactly the place to find some seeds ;)

Karen - I dunno, I don't hear very good stories about your students ;)