Day 35, 36, 37 & 38 – Whoa 4 days!

So there have been a lack of updates this week.  Mostly down to very little incidences of interest happening over the course of the week. 

Aidan and I have been making paper planes like there is no tomorrow.  He is going to have to get some practise in as there is a Paper Plane flying competition at the Annual Russell Birdman Festival when he is up visiting Stewart in the Bay of Islands.

Whilst conversing with Ryan on Skype the other day, I was reminded of an article which I read recently discussing how far we have come with technology in a relatively short period of time.  165 years ago, Samuel Morse dotted and dashed his way into the history books by transmitting a signal from one town to another.  Now you can click on a link and seconds later be looking at and talking to somebody at the other side of the world.  We truly do live in an amazing age when it comes down to technology.  No doubt if somebody reads this in another 165 years time, they will laugh at how primitive everything was in 2009.

So what have we achieved with this modern technology that we possess?  It enables us to talk shite to our colleagues and friends around the globe.  It enables us to find out that they may have some derivative of swine flu with little chance of contracting it ourselves.  It enables us to know that ‘home brew’ seems to be an effective combatant against the virus.  Mainly, it allows us to keep in touch.

(Picture:  Ryan nursing his illness)

 

(Picture:  Swine Flu Bru!)

I am unsure if it is the wet weather that we have been having but my old git cynical side has been working overtime.  One such subject that has caused me a mini-rant or two is the topic of School Fees.

You see, in New Zealand the government appears to be proud of the “free” schooling that it provides.  However, the schools all request that you pay ‘School Donations’ or suchlike.  Each school seems to use a different term but in general, ‘School Donations’ is the recommended usage.  You do not have to pay it.  It is entirely voluntary.  We recently received an invoice for the school fees.  Ahem, I mean ‘donations’.  We are not entirely sure if it is for a term or for a year as it doesn’t say.  It lists:-

GENERAL LEVY DONATION 1 CHILD	$45.00
TECHNOLOGY FEE	$15.00
TEXTBOOK FEE	$20.00
SWIMMING POOL LEVY	$5.00
Amount Owing:	$85.00

How can it be a voluntary payment when they end the statement with, ‘Amount Owing’?  How can you possibly owe somebody a voluntary donation?  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I don’t have a problem with paying it.  At the end of the day it is for the good of the school and my child that all parents contribute as much as they can.  What does annoy me though is the sneaky attitude that most schools seem to go about receiving the ‘levy donations’.  What is wrong with an open, honest request for payment?  Not exactly providing an honest stance for the children to look up to are they?

This isn’t a direct dig at Otumoetai Primary by the way as all schools in NZ are guilty of it.  Some of the schools in poorer areas are really struggling as the parents can’t afford to stump up the fees that are required for the day to day running of the facilities.  A little more thought (perhaps a leaflet) explaining what your donation contributes to, the length that your donation lasts for and perhaps even a little time taken to ensure that the letter is addressed to the correct person (any idea who Miss Foffre is?) would go a long way.

I don’t know the solution and can’t even think of any decent alternative strategies that could be used but a bit more honesty from the government downwards wouldn’t go amiss.

Anyway, that’s the end of another little rant.  It has been a lovely sunny day today.  I have undertaken another little project.  I decided to shake the cobwebs off an old blog of mine www.twabble.blogspot.com and use it to post a photograph each month.  The plan is to pick out my favourite photo each month and post it to the blog.  I have raked through my piccies and decided to start it in June 2003, following it up to the present day, June 2009 and then updating it each month thereafter.

The photos I upload will be in no way technically perfect and some months may have to be skipped due to a lack of photos.  Some of the pictures will only have some sort of meaning to me while others may tell a story.  So far I have uploaded 2003’s content and I hope to get more uploaded tonight.  Keep an eye on www.twabble.blogspot.com for updates.

Took a couple of pics of the wasps nests today, so I might finally get around to removing them tonight.

Righty, better sign off for now, I’ve got to go and run Aidan to his School Disco tonight.  Cheers.