...of a sort. Did you see that a bishop was arrested - and allegedly roughed up - by police for sending his son up a chimney. This was no Dickensian throwback however. He put his son on his house's chimney (attached to a harness) to take part in a 'most unusual place to read a book' competition. I WANT HIM TO BE MY DAD!
He sounds GREAT! I can understand a passer-by being a bit concerned but come on, in this day and age of seriously lazy parenting and even lazier forms of abuse (eat what you like, play what you like, I'll do to you what I like...) what serious abuser is going to go to the effort of taking a kid and sticking them on a chimney stack!? Common sense, people!
From this moment on I want to see more kids up a ladder and crawling all over the eaves. I want to see 'em up telegraph poles, in trees (taller the better). Now, what did I do with that ladder...
The media has itself in a froth about schools in the South of England closing because of a gentle dusting of snow. Being from oop north myself, we'd sit in class, teeth chattering, frost forming on the inside of the windows begging for a snow day. One would be begrudgingly given if the snow topped five feet and the boiler packed up.
And yet I still don't begrudge the sissy sassenachs their snow (frost?) day. It happens rarely enough as it is and a sudden unexpected blast of good fortune is what makes childhood memorable. The children weren't in class learning about the Battle of Agincourt or how many fathoms in a farthingale or somesuch. However, they got important practical demonstrations of projectiles, the Battle of Hastings and pure, unadulterated, not-sponsored-by-Sony-or-Apple FUN! C'mon guys - the kids are alright!!
(and face it, we got a duvet day too, right?)
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