Zip it, block it, flag it
There is a new campaign in the UK to help teach children and parents about the dangers of using the Internet, games such as Club Penguin where little ones can talk to strangers who may or may not be children and the dangers of chat rooms for older children. The slogan is zip it ( don’t give out personal info), block it, ( block anyone that makes you feel uncomfotable so they can no longer communicate with you) and flag it ( talk to your parent/teacher/adult about what has happened) I like the slogan, it’s catchy and gets to the point.
My teenage son has just asked for some headphones for his birthday to use with a playstation game. It was so that he could hear more clearly what online strangers are saying as they play the game with him. Not the best birthday gift idea as the language can be terrible as people play this PS3 game. To its credit, the PS3 does scramble it so you can’t hear clearly what is being said, but the odd swear word or sentence does get out and you don’t need to be a brainbox to know what f stands for. Clearly there is no way he is getting headphones.
My daughter is begging me to give her MSN. She’s 11 and is the only one in her year group of around 40 children that doesn’t have it, or so she tells me. Letters have gone out to parents about bullying that has happened within another year group using MSN, another letter came out about children sending emails with nasty chain mails attached. I’m standing firm. If she wants to chat to her school friends she can pick up something called a telephone. Or I can be really cruel and she can wait until the next day to speak to them.
My 8 year old doesn’t have email. I didn’t think that was a problem until her French teacher told the class that they should all have email by now and set them homework where they would be required to enter their email address. She didn’t do the homework. She’s 8, she plays with Barbies, she still believes in Santa, she doesn’t need an email address. Who would she email?
I’m not operating in the dark. We have three pc’s in the house, the children can use the pc’s at certain times of the day but I know that there is either homework going on or specific games which I know about. Nasty chain mails, bulling with MSN all passes me by. The children are happy and if the only battle I have with my daughter is on giving her MSN then I think we are getting on pretty well!!
Remember, zip it, block it, flag it……
Shrove Tuesday 2010
Shrove Tuesday, pancake day is on Feb 16th 2010. We usually make regular pancakes but I found a packet mix in Mercadona of American style pancakes so I’m going to give those a try this year. You need a griddle with American Pancakes, so mine are likely to end up burnt or on the kitchen ceiling as,
1. I don’t have a griddle
and
2. I can’t cook
Hot Cross Buns
Hot cross buns are now available in La Canada, Marks and Spencers. You can buy the regular ones or hot cross buns with added apple.
I’ve also bought my first Cadbury’s Creme Egg from a local shop in Centro Plaza and next week I plan to buy my Christmas cards.
Happy New Year for 2011.
And if you are a female you have just over 2 years to find yourself a mate and propose to him as 2012 is a Leap Year.
Don’t say you didn’t have enough notice…
Skiing in Sierra Nevada
Did you see me in Sierra Nevada, I was the one wearing lime green?
The most gorgeous Brit that you have ever seen,
Gucci glasses perched on my head,
I replied, “Gracias” to whatever you said,
I couldn’t really ski but I looked the part,
When I whizzed past, people clutched at their heart,
I was going too fast but I only toppled a few,
Ever so sorry if it was you,
The problem I had was that I was in such a hurry,
And no-one taught me to stop, which was a bit of a worry,
I would shout “You Hoo” as I went flying by,
I really didn’t expect people to die,
I’ll never bring ski poles again when I am feeling so tense,
And I’m sorry if it was you that I impaled on a fence,
There is no need to look at me with such an expression of fear,
Coz I’ve booked tickets to Gran Canaria and am going scuba diving next year.
Caller ID unknown
My mobile is an emergency mobile, only a few people have my number and so when it rings it gets my full attention.
I keep getting Spanish companies ringing me trying to sell me things and when I look for their number on my phone, so I can call them back night and day and cause them the same misery that they cause me, I discover that the caller ID is unknown.
Interesting, that they want me to buy something from them but they won’t reveal their phone number. Since I can’t call them back I now just leave the phone open and see how many ” holas” it takes before they hang up. The record is 12.
And before anyone starts lamenting that they are poor stuggling sales people just trying to do their job. These poor people stop me from doing my job and I just nearly killed myself running down the stairs in boots that I haven’t had time to take off, so that I could catch the call.
If I could only catch them…….
Party goodies at El Campo
If you like to suffer and are about to have your child’s birthday party at home then in El Campo they have lots of good presents to placate spoilt, fractious children for one euro. Lots of coloured pencils, rubbers, large chalks ( don’t let them open them until they leave your front door ) and more.
It’s my daughter’s 9th birthday soon. I’m hoping in the next couple of weeks she will fall out with most of her friends so we can have a party for her and some imaginary friends. They are so much nicer than her real friends. I’ve been trying to suggest she just invites her “favourite child of the week”, subject to change and we have a nice sleepover party. I can then close her bedroom door, put in my Avon earplugs and spend the 150 euros I’ve saved on a birthday party on….well my Prada handbag fund.
She however has other ideas and I’m stocking up on Lidl vodka if her idea wins. Last year my husband thought it would be fun to play Wii with my son whilst I took care of the party at home. After 20 minutes I was screaming for him to come and help and after 2 hours, when the party was finally over, I slumped against the front door and refused to budge until someone put copious amounts of chocolate in my mouth. The children weren’t children….they were hostile beings with horns that called themselves children. They came in smiling and as soon as their parents had left their faces began to contort into something else. We tried nice wholesome games like musical statues, but the children ganged up on one poor child that had won pass the parcel and she ended up in tears. We tried musical chairs but one rather portly child decided to use her weight to bounce off anyone that came near her chair. More tears. We tried musical bumps but apparently that wasn’t deemed fair by the taller members of the party.
I won’t even go into the cake cutting ceremony……but let’s just say I was very VERY careful where I placed the knife.
Parties at home for children? I’d rather forefeit my Prada handbag fund and subcontract it out thanks.
Utility companies in different countries
We moan about the utility companies here in Spain well it isn’t so very different in the UK.
If being British is all about profiteering then British gas can wear that British label with pride.
They have just quoted my father in law who is almost 80 years old, £4000 for a new boiler and tank for his tiny 2 bedroom bungalow. They wrote down the parts that would be needed and we called British Gas Customer Services for an explanation. They wouldn’t give us any, they wouldn’t comment, but they said we must speak to the rep directly. They gave us his mobile phone number.
The rep told us that boiler would be around £1000. Well online it is £400 and that isn’t with any tradesman discount, £400 is the price sold directly to the public. The labour he said would be around 2 days. Breaking down the bill it worked out at £1200. So £600 per day. Do you make £600 a day?
I’m pulling the children out of school, they never have to do homework ever again and I’m telling them to forget about going to University. Instead they are going to learn all about gas and I don’t mean the type that comes out of coke cans or rear ends.
We are all going to become reps for British Gas and will make sure that our main victims, sorry clients, are the elderly living in Clacton, who are just trying to keep warm and make it through to the next season.
Locked in, sentenced to death
There was a case in the US in 1998 where a woman was in a vegetative state for 8 years and the husband requested her feeding tube was removed. Her parents said she still had the right to life, but they lost and their daughter’s feeding tube was removed. She died slowly, it took 13 days.
In the US they recently took 24 vegetative patients, put them into a scanner and asked them to imagine playing a game of tennis and then walking around a house as each activity lights up different parts of the brain. Terrifyingly 4 of the patients were able to do this. The doctors had thought they were in a vegetative state, but in fact they were fully aware.
This has huge implications for other people now in vegetative states, how they are looked after, how they are treated and their long term medical care. I just pray that lady who had the feeding tube removed was in the same state as the remaining 20 patients that did not respond to the brain test activity.
The nightmare of being locked in and having people think you are “gone” must be just unimaginable, but truly horrific if you then hear that you will now be sentenced to death and have feeding tubes removed.
My husband and I don’t believe in life after death so we have both said that if ever we were in a coma or a vegetative state that we would want the other person to fight tooth and nail to ensure that any life support equipment was turned on. We still know so little about the brain and if the very least that I had were dreams of my children whilst I lay in a coma, then frankly I’d run with that rather than taking my other option, which would be nothing at all….
Claires surprise surprise bags
Claires surprise, surprise bags are back in stock. A pink bag sealed that you pay 4 euros for and you don’t know what will be inside.
My friend’s daughter bought one of these last year and the value of the goods inside was amazing. It is old stock they want to get rid of and some of the pieces were really nice and with the original price tag on.
Great presents for girls, especially those aged 8 years and up. I’m just trying really hard not to get a pair of scissors and have a little peek…..tell you what I will and then you’ll know what is inside as all the bags last year were the same.
Hold on…..
OK, I’ve ruined the bag and now will need to do an emergency operation to fix the hole I’ve made. So there is more gear at the bottom of the bag but I’ve pulled out the following. It was so much fun!!!
There are sunglasses, jazzy shoe laces, plastic bracelets, neon yellow fingerless gloves ( I’ve put on the sunglasses), huge clips, one of those Cheryl Cole braid type hair bands, keyring, flower hairband and a pretty gift bag. That actually is the lot. The hole I made is now rather serious….
I need a new Claire’s bag.
Sock hunt
I don’t know about you but finding socks in the house is hard enough let alone when the people in the house suddenly announce all at the same time that ” We’ve run out of socks.”
We have also run out of warm tights.
To buy socks most people head for Dunnes. But I find Dunnes too far. El Corte Ingles in Puerto Banus didn’t have any, the supermarket in La Canada didn’t have any. I was starting to wonder if I should have listened to my mum after all and learned to knit.
Zara and H&M had tights, but they were too jazzy for school.
However I found a gem of a shop near Terra Sana in La Canada on the ground floor. It is only small and called Calzedonia. It only sells tights and socks, for both adults and children.
The lady looked at my bewildered face and sorted me out and spoke fantastic English. I came out with warm tights for my 8 year old, long navy socks for my 11 year old and new white socks too. Both my girls have sensitive feet which is a nice way of saying they are a pain in the backside when it comes to putting anything, cotton or leather onto their feet. If they give the purchases from Calzedonia the thumbs up today when they come home I’m going to buy every single pair of navy long socks and tights I can find.
So you had better get there first….