Sunday September 20th 2020

09:30 Lois and I speak on zoom to our daughter Sarah, who lives just outside Perth, Western Australia, together with Francis and their 7-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie. There is a 7-hour time difference: it’s 4:30 pm over there, and the twins, who have been out riding their bikes all afternoon, are a bit tired, but we get to hear them reading out favourite bits from the books they are working through; also reciting bits of their multiplication tables – how cute they are!

We talk on zoom to Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, and with our 7-year-old twin granddaughters, Lily and Jessie

Sarah and Francis have talked about possibly coming back to the UK, but Lois and I can’t see that happening next year, which was the original plan. Why would anyone swap life in a COVID-free Australian state, in exchange for life in a country that’s wondering whether a second wave is starting? And not just for the health reasons, but also from the viewpoint of the economy here and the availability of jobs to move into. It’s not exactly rocket science, now is it!!!!

Western Australia is closed to travel from all other Australian states, as well as from foreign countries: it’s COVID-free and they want to keep it that way!

Australian children are lucky to still be given the opportunity to memorize multiplication tables, which have been phased out in many countries as a result of pressure from children, as a recent Onion News story indicated:

 

WASHINGTON, DC—Calling current levels of funding "unconscionably excessive," thousands of schoolchildren descended on the nation's capital Monday to demand drastic cuts in math and science funding for public schools.

 

The children also recommended an increase in gym-class funding.

 

"While we are wasting our precious time memorizing multiplication tables and learning the parts of a flower," a spokesman for the children said, "a Norwegian child is gaining vital physical-education skills that will prepare him for a productive career in dodgeball the day he leaves high school."

 

Reaction to the CCMS agenda has been mixed. While the group has been praised by Burger King Kids' Club officials, many education leaders are dismayed by its call for math and science cuts.

 

Australia is a bit more traditional than many other Western countries and they have so far held out against these types of demands, but just how long they’ll be able to do this is an open question.

 

Lois and I think that knowing your "tables" is a really valuable asset in life - we learnt them when we were 5 years old, and we know them as well today as we did 69 years ago. If nothing else it means you don't have to keep stopping to take out a calculator or a mobile phone. 

What a crazy world we live in !!!

10:30 Our zoom call with Australia ends and Lois takes part in her sect’s first worship service, also on zoom, followed by lunch and the second service.

15:30 After an afternoon nap in bed we drive over to our friends Mari-Ann and Alf to deliver Mari-Ann’s birthday presents – her birthday is tomorrow. Mari-Ann also gives us some of her grapes, which Lois is going to make a jelly out of.

We sit and chat in their garden with a cup of tea. Another friend, June is there too. June had a shock last night when somebody tried to break into her house through the kitchen window. Not a good house to choose, because poor June suffers from sleep apnea. She is awake a lot of the night and she heard the break-in attempt immediately and scared them off with a lot of noise and lights going on etc. Bad luck, would-be burglar!

21:00 We watch a bit of TV, part 1 of a new drama series, “Us” – we don’t usually watch dramas, so it makes a pleasant change. It’s Lois’s suggestion – and she likes Tom Hollander, who plays the father in this.

The premise is a middle-aged couple, Douglas and Connie, whose only child, Albie, is about to disappear to start a 3-year course at university. Douglas has done some meticulous planning for a trip to Europe so the three of them can spend some quality time together before Albie flies the nest.

A few days before the trip, Douglas and Connie have just got into bed, when she tells him their marriage is over – she can’t face being alone with Douglas in their big house, once young Albie has gone. I think this is a situation that’s quite common in marriages – one of Lois’s work colleagues went on working for years after she should have retired, because she wanted to get away from her husband during the day – yikes!

The image that finally drove Connie to her decision was the thought of the endless “box sets” of DVDs that Douglas was planning for them to watch in the evenings – and we can sympathize with her on this.

We wonder why Connie didn’t wait till after the Europe trip to tell Douglas it was over between them, but then I don’t suppose that would have made such a good drama. As it is, the series (Paris this week, Amsterdam next week) looks set to be a bit like a celebrity travelogue series, except with a commentary of marital bitching and teenage-son-bitching, which will certainly make a change from Portillo’s jaunty “Great Continental Train Journeys” series, to put it mildly!  What madness!!!!

22:00 We go to bed – zzzzzzzzz!!!!!