belgianwaffle

Archives for October 2010

Simple English Campaign


Posted in: Work

Message from IT:

In order to upgrade and enhance the efficiency and stability of our Network environment, IT Networks are currently undertaking a project to virtualise our Network.

Disruption to services during this project will be kept to an absolute minimum. However, as with all projects of this nature there will be some down time for users. A separate e-mail will issue from your local Network team in the coming days informing you of when down time is anticipated. When you receive those details, if there are any reasons why you think the period of downtime might have an adverse affect on your areas work, please contact us immediately.

Translation kindly provided by Mr. Waffle:

Your PC might stop at any time without warning. If you think this might be a problem, tell us.

Two dreadful events


Posted in: Dublin, Hodge, Ireland

Dreadful event 1: Mr. Waffle’s bike was stolen from the back garden. To do this, the thieves had to toss it over an eight foot gate. It’s a big bike and it has a child seat. Mr. Waffle is bereft. I will be locking the back door more carefully. And, yes, we will be getting a shed.

Dreadful event 2: When we went to bed last night, we heard the cat mewing pitifully. An exhaustive search of the premises revealed that she was trapped in a drawer in the boys’ room. The idiot cat likes to climb into small spaces and one of us had accidentally shut her in while she was sleeping peacefully on the boys’ trousers. I can see this leading to difficulties in future. The cat was most reproachful and we were guilt-ridden.

On the plus side, the roof no longer leaks.

Bleeding Heart


Posted in: Reading etc.

I have long been ambivalent about smacking children. I don’t smack my own children but I was dubious about any proposal to make smacking of children illegal.

Then two things changed my mind.

I heard a speech a couple of years ago. The speaker said that in the past a man could hit his wife, his servants, his animals and his children. Hitting children is the only one of these still allowed. This has been knocking around at the back of my head ever since. The more I think of it, the more I believe that it is never legitimate to hit a child and, really, the fact that it’s your child doesn’t matter at all.

I read an article about how we are only just starting to acknowledge and vindicate the rights of children. Just because their voices are less coherent and less audible than those of adults does not mean that their rights as human beings should be ignored. Making it illegal to assault children puts down a marker for society generally as to what is acceptable and what is not.

So, I would be in favour of making smacking children illegal including, yes, a slap across the back of the legs of a small child because he ran across the road without looking. What do you think?

Updated to add: The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has commissioned a study on “Parents’ Perspectives on Parenting Styles and Disciplining Children” which is worth a read, if you’re feeling enthusiastic. It’s a small enough sample but for what it’s worth, some 25% of parents reported using physical punishment in the previous 12 months and 42% of respondents said that smacking should be made illegal. Interestingly, 28% of respondents thought it was illegal already.

Health warning: You would want to be enthusiastic as it runs to over 100 pages.

Out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings


Posted in: Ireland, Mr. Waffle, Princess

Princess: Daddy, how do cheques work?
Him: Well, essentially, it’s a promise to pay. A long time ago, money was made of metal which was the actual value of the coin; but that was awkward to carry over long distances. So, they gave a piece of paper with a promise to pay and people trusted other people to pay out on that and that’s how banks came about.
Her (dubiously): People trusted the banks?
Him: Yes!
Her: But people trusted the Titantic not to sink.
Him: Well, funny you should mention that…

Oh frabjous day


Posted in: Princess

When the Princess was 4, on Wednesday afternoons I used to haul her to a private pool for very expensive private one-to-one swimming lessons. She looked technically beautiful as she went along – grenouille, avion, flèche – but, crucially, she wasn’t actually able to swim. She resisted lessons after that initial foray. All last summer I thought that she would get the hang of it but she just didn’t. And then, today when I had no hopes of anything but that nobody would drown in the pool, she started to swim. Just like that. I am pleased.