March - traditionally the month which sees the start of spring in my part of the globe. And I'm very happy to report that we did indeed have some lovely spring sunshine - hooray! Apparently this last winter in the UK had the least sunlight that we've had for a very long time, so we're all no doubt rather light-starved. I know I am.
Anyway - how was March in your world, Dear Reader?
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I cannot talk about the month of March 2011 without, of course, mentioning the horrific earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The fact that we could see it all unfold on our TV screens somehow made it all the more awful. Not only have the people of Japan had to deal with the horrific loss of life, homes and businesses, but they now have the ongoing worry (as does the rest of the world) of the instability of the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
In years gone by I worked for the Atomic Energy Authority, including being involved in a project about the Windscale Disaster of 1957. It was a project which educated me about a very scary incident in the UK which happened before I was born. But knowing about what happened then, I am very aware of what the authorities in Japan must be going through. I so hope that somehow, they manage to limit the potential consequences of the damage which has obviously been caused to the reactors. It occurs to me that the siting of nuclear reactors at plants which are geographically situated on the edge of tectonic plates might not be the most sensible thing.
No.1 is studying Geography GCSE, so her teacher took the opportunity to tackle the subject of earthquake(s) and tsunami(s) with very graphic, live internet coverage. I think it's a lesson those kids will never forget.
In the face of such tragedy, it seems a bit trivial for me to witter on now about our very nondescript 'doings'.
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A nice thing happened early on this month when I attended a 'Battle' at Camera Club. To the unitiated, a battle is not a matter of flash guns at 20 paces, but rather when one club takes on another club in competition. In this instance it was a competition between three clubs - the other two clubs being around four times the size of our little one. Each club entered 10 prints and 10 projected images; and as might be expected, our club came third; although only by three points from the second placed club.
The Committee, bless their cotton socks, used my image of a pink tulip as one of our 10 projected images:
I was a little bit chuffed when the visiting Judge couldn't fault it, and awarded us a full 20 marks for the image. Although I have learned not to care too much what a Judge thinks, it's still rather rewarding when they like something you've created; and even better when a resulting high mark rewards your Club.
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No.2's school held their Parents' Evening interviews this month. No.2's teacher is heavily pregnant and will be going on maternity leave soon which is a shame, as he likes her very much.
She had only nice things to say about him - and is pleased with his progress. When I asked about his behaviour in general she reported that like all the boys, he is occasionally "silly" but he's a pleasure to have in the classroom. You can't ask for more than that, can you? Well done, No.2"
His good month also included the winning of the Man of the Match trophy during his team's last game of the season. He played really well and scored the winning goal to boot (no pun intended).
A less happy thing for No.2 was being on the receiving end of a tackle during a game of football earlier in the month. His ankle began to swell and be extremely painful, and thus a couple of hours had to be spent in A&E getting it checked out. We were very pleased to learn that rather than a break, the doctor felt there was ligament damage, which wasn't too severe. No.2 had to have a couple of days off school with his left ankle raised; it had to be iced for 20 mins every 2 hours. Painkillers were very necessary. Poor lad was incredible frustrated - he is such an active boy. He wasn't allowed to do any PE at school for a while, but is now back to participating, thank goodness.
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I had a phone call from BT in the middle of the month:
BT Man: "Hello, is that [Kitty Wrinkle]?"
Me: "Yes it is."
BT Man: "Oh good evening, I'm phoning from BT, and wondering if we can save you some money!"
Me: "Oh yes?"
BT Man: "Do you have a broadband service, I wonder?"
Me: "I do indeed."
BT Man: "And are you happy with that service?"
Me: "Well, it's a whole lot better than the service I had when I was with BT broadband ... that was awful!"
BT Man: "In what way was it 'awful'?"
Me: "For a start, your customer service is appalling ..."
BT Man: ..... dialling tone .....
He put down the phone on me! That's the second time one of their people has done that to me - the first one was in their broadband customer support when I was one of their customers. And they think this is likely to persuade me to go back to them for my broadband provision?!
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One weekend my cousin 'J' and I took our boys to the local park. She is becoming interested in photography, so I was explaining some of the settings on the camera, whilst we walked and nattered; and the boys played cricket. They were using a tennis ball rather than a bona fide cricket ball. Anyway, a rather enthusiastic dog which was being walked at the park that afternoon decided he'd quite like to play cricket too. He caught the ball in his mouth - a catch far superior to that which can often be seen when England are playing cricket. The only trouble was, he then chewed the ball. In fact he chewed it so much that all that remained of it was a sort of strip of board. But he enjoyed it immensely!
The couple who had been walking the dog apologised profusely, put the dog on a lead, and wandered off. The boys went and got the football we had thankfully put in the boot of the car, and had a game of that instead. About 20 minutes later, the male half of the dog-walking couple, wandered back into the park with not one, but two, brand spanking new tennis balls for the boys. He apologised again for his dog's vandalism, and then went. The boys were really pleased, and so were we - it was a fine example to set to some kids, no?
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I am continuing to very much enjoy my participation in the 111 in 2011 project at Flickr. Here are five of the pictures I uploaded for that this month.
Relaxation
Drip/Drop/Splash
Hands
Bench/Seat
Flowers
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I'll leave you with a question my 10 year old son asked me this afternoon:
"Mum ... what does it mean if someone's got a camel toe?"
Feel free to tell me what you'd have answered!
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© Author
EDITED TO ADD THIS NEWS
I have received an email from the RSPB telling me about the awful plight faced by literally thousands of rockhopper penguins. A cargo vessel (MS Olivia) crashed into Nightingale Island a few days ago. Nightingale Island is home to almost half the world's population of these rare penguins, so you can imagine the devastating effect. The poor penguins are now covered in oil - they can't swim or feed properly so their lives are in danger (these pictures are heartbreaking). Despite the best efforts of islanders (and the crew of the MS Olivia), the RSPB urgently needs funds to be able to help these penguins. I know it's a big ask after the disasters in New Zealand and Japan; and Comic Relief here in the UK, but if anyone would like to donate you can do so here. Many thanks.
