Mothering and Motorways
At last! The best news I have seen recently in the Southwell Advertiser was the decision from the County Council to look at a crossing outside Lowe’s Wong Infant and Junior schools. As a past parent governor at the junior school, this issue has been an important safety issue for a long time as there has been a consistent failure to attract a school crossing lady or gentleman. When the new one way system was introduced in Southwell; due to the direction of the one way traffic taking more cars past the entrance to the school, it made the situation even worse. I never have understood why the directions taken were done in this way – there would be less traffic through the town had it been done in the other direction. Even if you have no direct contact with the schools, if there are any further petitions on this; please, please sign it for the sake of all the children at both schools concerned.
On a wider note, this week was the 50th birthday of the M1 motorway. I was on it on that very day. Part of the Nottingham section was completely closed due to an accident near J28 and there are extensive road works currently covering most of the M1 network in the county. As someone who drives around 30,000 - 40,000 miles a year in my day job, I have a love – hate relationship with the motorways in the UK. We can’t live without them but why can’t we get them right like our French counterparts? We spent the October half term week driving down to the north - east of Paris. On the entire French journey, there was not a single delay despite several new roads being built. All the new roads can lead to confusion in navigation even with TomTom but the SatNav was sufficiently updated with the new roads to cope. In contrast, we had severe delays ( as usual ) around the Dartford tunnel where some planners had the bright idea of building major retail outlets just north and south of the river at Thurrock and Bluewater which always causes major congestion to the motorway network. My main frustration, however, is the lack of service areas in the UK. We have the conflict of signs constantly berating us that tiredness kills but with a terrible lack of provision of service areas compared to the great aire system of large and small rest areas in France. The hole in the ground toilets often leave a lot to be desired but at least there are very regular chances to stop for a break. We have taken some good tips from the French already like Brown tourist signs but we can learn a lot from our French friends.
Have you seen the latest Demos report on the best way to raise children? The conclusions make interesting reading. Despite it being a left – wing think tank; looking at statistical analysis, it concluded that a “tough love” parenting style of love and discipline produces the best balanced background for children. Surely this should not be a surprise. Contrast this with the lady who was followed home by an off – duty policeman after trying to impose fair discipline on her children in a supermarket rather than letting them be unruly. She has now been threatened by her council and is potentially criminalized over this. Give me her attitude over lack of discipline and unruly children any day.
Finally, in the run up to Christmas, best wishes to you all and have fun in the madness leading up to the festive season.
Best wishes,
Awen
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