After I badmouthed Abel and Cole on the blog over the weekend, it was a bit embarrassing when Jenny from downstairs came up and said: "I've just noticed a box up against the fence under our front window." And then Abel and Cole emailed twice and rang up once to investigate in detail what went wrong. (I am blind, basically.) So they're getting a reprieve.
On the Embankment outside Westminster tube last night I got stopped and interviewed by Channel 4 for a new documentary about "pushy parents". Did I think Britain's parents were too pushy? I said no, not really. The interviewer was a bit flummoxed by that answer and said: "What if I told you that parents are paying up to 42K extra to live near a particular school etc etc?" and I said: "Well... is that the parents being pushy, or is that a problem with the education system?" And she said: "Oh, it's the school's fault now, is it?" And then I started to babble incoherently, going on about who am I to judge how other people spend their money, I wouldn't send my (imaginary) children to a private school but then I don't have any and in NZ the state schools are OK. You like to think you will have something sensible and concise to say if anyone ever asks your opinion but as soon as they thrust the camera in your face, it all goes pear-shaped.
The annoying thing is that as soon as they took my name and contact details and let me escape into the tube, I had plenty to say. Which is this - at the pub after work the other day, I had a long chat with a nice, normal woman a bit older than me who was not a crazed social climber but had reluctantly decided to pay 2700 quid a term to send her son to a fee-paying school because when she went to look at the local primary school she was shocked by the state of it and decided she didn't want her vulnerable 4-year-old spending the next 6 years there. Then she said she and her husband were looking forward to the kids going to university because it would be a saving!
When I got home, Jules and I went for a run and ran together for once because it's getting dark now. As we ran down Abbey Road, a woman called out: "Go girls!" and Jules turned around to look at her. "Ooh, sorry...just saw the pony tail!" she said, and we all cracked up.
1 comment:
Tell her to send the kids to Hawea Flat School. We'd be happy to have them at 2700 l a term and they'd get a better education than in the UK plus some fresh air.
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