After two and a half weeks of snow and ice, it's finally beginning to melt! I usually love the snow, but to be honest, I'm glad it's finally beginning to go - I was starting to feel a bit trapped by it - scared to go out by car, but even more scared to go out on foot, as I'm not a good ice-skater at the best of times, and as I've already fractured my coccyx previously (falling down stairs - a long time ago!), I certainly didn't want to risk fracturing anything else... It must be even more frightening for the elderly & vulnerable though...
Anyway, now that the conditions outside aren't so much of a distraction, I can start to focus on other things again. One thing that's struck me today (when I avert my thoughts from the shambles that is the government, along with the fact that my daughter's chances of going to uni now are practically zilch...) is the fact that we're already more than a week into December, but I'm not feeling at all festive - which is quite out of character for me.
Thinking back to previous years, previous blogs, I remember one December I did a daily festive haiku blog throughout December. Well I'm not going to inflict that on you again, but I think I might do the occasional sporadic seasonal haiku and photo - to try to get me in the festive mood, if nothing else...
So here goes - a couple of haikus for today (some of you might have seen these before, as they've been recycled from my previous blogs, etc, but maybe not the photos):
As sunshine returns
I'm soothed by the drip, drip, drip
Of the melting snow
Squirts of de-icer;
Frost melting before my eyes
As I drive away
Love the picture through the round window :)
ReplyDeleteNot sure what you mean by Iona and university and zilch but if you are referring to this week's legislation my understanding is that it should make it better for people in Iona's situation - I think that has got lost among all the headline hype.
Take care
David
aw, thank you - glad you like the photos!
ReplyDeleteIona's going to be badly affected by this week's legislation before she even gets to university.
At the moment she gets £30 a week EMA money for being in further education. This was going to help her through her A levels, and she was going to save as much as she could towards going to uni. The EMA is being scrapped now, so she won't get it next year. The money helps towards paying for her meals at school, and buying equipment she needs for art and photography - as well as books, transport costs, etc. She has to pay adult rates on public transport now she's 16 - which isn't cheap.
The scrapping of EMA means that she won't have any savings towards starting uni, and she'll have the prospect of up to £40 000 of debt if she goes to uni. Ok, she won't have to start paying it back until she's earning over £25k, but it's a horrible prospect having that much debt, and the iinterest will be adding up each year. I've still got student loans to pay off from when I was at uni, and the amount goes up and up each year, as interest is added. I'm just not sure it's worth being saddled with so much debt....
But, having said that, if she still wants to go, I'm determined that we'll find a way!
Anway - rant over!
:)