OT: Times change

[Bill Wright]

No, they don't care about practicalities.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

It varies enormously. It can be any time between six and ten.

A 42 mile round trip is going to be 45 ish mins driving one

36 mins each way.

After school club would have him until six but that isn't long enough and it costs a fortune. And he hates it. He loves to come here.

The girl won't guarantee to stay in with him.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

We did far worse things than that.

Bill

[Richard]

What happens on the other four days?

[The Marquis Saint Evremonde]

Andrew Gabriel [e-mail]> posted

How are these charges enforced? What does the school do if the parent asks them to quote the order number they were given for this service?

[spuorgelgoog]

No.

There might have been one outside the school itself.

Owain

[Clive Page]

Not for the better, in my opinion. From the age of 7 I was trusted to cycle on my own to school about a mile away, involving crossing one busy main road. I had a key from a fairly early age just in case my mother happened to be out when I got home.

What we learned was how to be safe on the road on a bike or when out on foot. How do children learn that now?

Just last weekend on a country walk we crossed a very minor rural road with almost no traffic but it had been equipped with a traffic-light controlled crossing. At first I had no idea why the council had spent (wasted) so much money on a crossing that was totally superfluous. Then I spotted a school nearby - no doubt some snowflake had decreed that where there's a school and a few children need to cross a road, whether almost traffic-free or not, a crossing must be provided.

[Tim Streater]

Could just be arse-covering. The ability of people to be sued by anyone just for looking sideways at them has caused a very bad distortion of out culture.

[whisky-dave]

I've no idea, but I'm confused by the info given a 42 mile round trip for someone that lives 75 yards from the school gates. But I used to live less than 10 yards from the playground but had to walk about half a mile to school in London.

[Bill Wright]

Tues, Weds, Thurs one or other parent works from home. Friday the other grandparents do it.

Bill

[Roger Hayter]

I don't know. Very infrequent but fast cars will catch unwary children out now and again. Like sparrowhawks. Depends how many children you can afford to lose compared with the cost of the lights. I wonder if there may have been a couple of accidents there?

[michael adams]

While a road near a school may be traffic free at weekends, what makes you think that same road will be traffic free when parents are ferrying their children back and forth from the school during the week ? At the very same time other children will want to be crossing that road, possibly in a hurry so as not to be late ?

michael adams

...

[Harry Bloomfield]

[e-mail] brought next idea :

Nothing worth stealing?

We used to lock the doors, but when I moved up here we stopped bothering as it was a low crime village. Now we get the Rumanian gysies touring the area so we lock the doors.

[Harry Bloomfield]

on 29/01/2019, Bill Wright supposed :

Sometimes we agree and this is one of those occasions.

[michael adams]

Nobody would seriously arugue that the introduction of No Win No Fee arrangements, and solicitor advertsing a decade earlier haven't given rise to abuses, if not quite as extreme as in your example.

However the fact remains that prior to their introduction people with little or no knowledge of legal matters or the avenues of recourse open to them were easy prey to the unscrupulous or simply negligent who all to readily tried to disclaim any responsibilty for the consequences of their cost cutting and negligence.

The culture being referred to presumably being

"Know nothing about solicitors ?" "Not a member of any trades union" "Victim of an industrial accident ? " "Oh what a shame." "It was probably all your own fault in any case. "Either that or you're lying" "So no sick pay for you!"

Welcome to Timmy World a.k.a Brexit Britain !

michael adams

...

[Harry Bloomfield]

Andrew Gabriel formulated the question :

A neighbour appears to operate a scheme where she collects her own kids, plus several others. They then keep them all occupied until the parents are able to collect them.

[Bill Wright]

You need a licence for that.

Bill

[Harry Bloomfield]

Bill Wright submitted this idea :

Around 25 years ago, I received an urgent call from a neighbour/parent who had got carried away whilst out and was too late to collect her young twins from a local primary. Neither of the two knew me or me them. As it was a walk to the school, I took the dog along to see if I could sort it. As luck would have it the kids recognised the dog and the dog recognised them, so they were released to my care. I got home to find in my rush I had locked myself out, leaving the keys inside and it was a cold day, so I put the kids in my caravan to await my other half or the parent turning up lol

[ARW]

If done for free or as a business?

I can see why the business would need a licence.

[Bill]

AIUI, that is the nub of the Brexiteers' take control argument: That the EU's constitutional way is to control what you are allowed to do, whereas the way of the traditional British Constitution is to say what you can't do.

Thus British law should be simpler and shorter and allow more flexibility until the authorities catch up with you.

As always, I can see both sides of the argument, and doubt whether we have politicians competent enough to make sensible decisions and laws.

Is Mrs Jones at No 66 a witch, and should Boris decide if she needs a licence to look after the kids for an hour or so?