Write-Place

  Secondary school pupils in England must keep wearing face masks in class after the Easter holidays, says Education Secretary Gavin Williamson. They will remain a "precautionary measure," until the situation is " reviewed".   The wearing of masks, has been required since schools reopened fully last month though many Headteachers say that  masks disrupt learning and should not be used any longer than is "absolutely necessary" . (  BBC News  6th April 2021) Of course a face mask/muzzle disrupts learning; most secondary students I know mumble anyway and it is difficult enough to communicate with them as it is, without the addition of a piece of cloth or impregnated tissue wrapped around the mouth and nose.  The latest DfE guidance states: "It is expected that face coverings will no longer be required to be worn in classrooms, or by students in other communal areas, at step three of the roadmap, which will be no earlier than 17 May."  DfE  updated 6...

Since the "pandemic" started or rather since "lockdown/safety measures" have been in place, from March 2020, there has been little else on my mind but Covid19 and the restrictions that have been forced onto the nation. Perhaps if I had not watched TV or listened to the radio, refrained from all social media and newspapers media, spoken to no one or listened to any one, or even spent the last year on an uninhabited island miles from home, then I may not have been impacted as much as I feel I have.  Granted there have been thousands/ millions/ billions who have been in a much worse position than me and have been immensely more than inconvenienced, as no doubt it could be argued, has been my position. The thing is that this issue is a personal feeling of how we have been affected and the effect or lack of it that has been experienced by each of us and those close to us, whether physically, mentally or in the abstract.  I do not intend to debate the possible rights and ...

I knew weeks ago that I ought to be keeping a daily diary on here or elsewhere of events, appointments, thoughts, feelings and opinions.  I knew way back in August when I purposely declined to buy a 2020 diary even as my daughter was purchasing a selection of these items in a range of sizes and styles. I merely flicked through the pages and returned the books to their display shelf, muttering "I'll not write in it".  I realise this is a shocking thing to say by someone who purports to "write" and my only excuse is that ... oh wait, I don't actually have an excuse. Needing to write things down has become imperative due to my increasingly decreasing ability to remember anything at all for longer than a few hours, let alone days and although this is not a recently acquired inability (see numerous posts on this blog on this theme over the past 12 years or so) it seems a lot more important in this unprecedented  situation, namely  the Corona Virus (Covid19...