Swine flu - school closing for a week

[lonelymom]

Thanks for all the explanations !
Up until the last few weeks on this Forum and it's Topics, I didn't think I was really old --- since I can still run 100m and do press-ups --- neither as fast as I was !!
However, the fundamental changes at CH, which have been introduced -- and we won't go into that again !---- have convinced me that I should remember the School with rose-tinted Memories, and resist the information, which is increasing in volume, that the School has ceased to be the Institution which I knew, and loved, but is the product of an entirely different system, with which I feel less and less connected.
You will, in the future, receive fewer Posts, from myself, on the subject of the School and I do not believe that I shall be attending, Old Blue's Day, to be further dis-enchanted.

Don't say that, Neill!

[Fjgrogan]

Neill, if you don't come to OBs' Day how will we ever get to meet you 'in the flesh' (metaphorically speaking!), those of us who have not already had that honour?

[sejintenej]

Im sorry Neil! Im sure you won't be disenchanted, just as long as you remember when you go back that the principles are the same. I have only been gone a year and a half, but when I went back last OB's day, I felt that a lot had changed beyond what I was happy with. I think its just the nature of the school that to compromise tradition for modernity there must be a constant stream of minor changes.....

Think back 400 years when the school was far more a refuge for the poorest children. Not only did they get an education but they would be placed with an employer. There is a record of a "simple" woman who had been placed being brought back into the school when things didn't work out.

Fact of Life Nº 5. The only constant in life is change
As the kindly doctor told the kid who swallowed a penny, 'This too shall pass.' The world is a dynamic place and time is always passing. Things move and change. .......................
We try to place ourselves in a matrix of where we are from, what we believe, what we do for a living, and who we know. Our placement in the matrix changes over time. We move from one place to another, our beliefs change, our jobs come and go, and our circle of friends waxes and wanes. Our identity changes over time.

Even the matrix that we use to describe ourselves changes. Being from New York City today is far different from being from New York City in 1900. The nature of jobs changes. A secretary at one time had to know how to take shorthand. That is not the case today.
Every thing is changing all the time and there is nothing that will stop it until the end of the universe itself.
(from LZ; The Facts of Life)

Sorry, but one cannot change a Fact of Life - you just have to go with it. It doesn't matter what you want, Fact 1 states Life is not fair.

[lonelymom]

I took Louise back last night, to coincide with me going to the carol concert, and so that she could be there this morning to go to lessons, then have the Christmas dinner and then the party. She managed a few hours, then got stomach pains, was taken to Health Centre for the night and I picked her up this morning. So she missed the lessons, dinner and party I've still got to go back tomorrow and pick up Kedi, so that'll be three round trips in three days. And Kerren, I missed out on my restful day today, instead I now have a pounding headache, probably due to the worry of it all. But I'm so disappointed for Louise, she was really looking forward to catching up with all her friends and having some fun

[kerrensimmonds]

Poor Louise, and poor you, Michele. It looks as if full recovery is going to take some time, but maybe she was just over-excited? Do take care, anyway - and keep us posted as we are still thinking of you all.

[Momto2]

Oh, that is such a shame Lonelymom - poor little soul and poor you having to do so many trips. Have another ((((hug)))) xx

On a slightly different note, wasn't the Carol Service beautiful (as always)? - did notice the cut back on the size and quality of the Order of Service though! My son was one of the Mid A bellringers

[Mid A 15]

I took Louise back last night, to coincide with me going to the carol concert, and so that she could be there this morning to go to lessons, then have the Christmas dinner and then the party. She managed a few hours, then got stomach pains, was taken to Health Centre for the night and I picked her up this morning. So she missed the lessons, dinner and party I've still got to go back tomorrow and pick up Kedi, so that'll be three round trips in three days. And Kerren, I missed out on my restful day today, instead I now have a pounding headache, probably due to the worry of it all. But I'm so disappointed for Louise, she was really looking forward to catching up with all her friends and having some fun

Sorry to read this.

I hope she perks up soon and you can all enjoy Christmas.

[Angela Woodford]

Thanks for all the explanations !
Up until the last few weeks on this Forum and it's Topics, I didn't think I was really old --- since I can still run 100m and do press-ups --- neither as fast as I was !!
However, the fundamental changes at CH, which have been introduced -- and we won't go into that again !---- have convinced me that I should remember the School with rose-tinted Memories, and resist the information, which is increasing in volume, that the School has ceased to be the Institution which I knew, and loved, but is the product of an entirely different system, with which I feel less and less connected.
You will, in the future, receive fewer Posts, from myself, on the subject of the School and I do not believe that I shall be attending, Old Blue's Day, to be further dis-enchanted.

Oh, honestly NEILL! How do you think we numerous Hertford Old Girls feel? Maybe we rejoice that there have been changes in various caring and compassionate ways from the rule of miserable old DR! If it's different from the grim institution in which the more demonstrative and ebullient of us were suppressed, it's all for the better. We are still Blue.

Go with the flow, NEILL! I really wince when I read of the barbaric stuff you endured at Horsham. You wouldn't want "milking", bullying, beating and 30 second cold baths again, would you? And no, I don't think that such things did any child any good. We had psychological miseries. You had physical and psychological miseries.

Lets feel glad about the good things of CH today. So long as those awful things are not altogether forgotten.

[YadaYada]

Can I just, tentatively, dip my toe in this one........?

My son is a second former......and doing really well.....and having opportunities he really wouldn't have had without the CH opportunity. It's not been plain sailing this term but the staff have been great.

He (thank God) isn't having to endure the hardships of previous Old Blues but he is getting the same opportunity that you guys did. He is also a big fan of the history and tradition of CH so hopefully that will live on.

I just wanted to reassure that there are some parents and children out there who are truly grateful for the opportunity and who also respect the tradition.

[midget]

I hope that Louise and all the family will have recovered sufficiently to enjoy Christmas at home.

[Sallz]

Sorry to hear that lonely mum, I hope Louise gets better- All just a bit of over exitement I hope

[Fjgrogan]

This is probably a really daft idea, but if Louise is still not eating much I wonder if the stomach pains could actually be hunger pangs?

[lonelymom]

We've said that to her; sometimes we have to remind her to eat because she doesn't appear to feel hungry, just has stomach pains. And on the flipside, when she has eaten she gets pains because her stomach probably feels bloated. And it has been suggested that maybe the pains could be a side-effect of the antibiotics she's on. In any event she's got a hospital check-up next week so I'll ask the consultant if she has any idea what could be causing them.

[Jo]

Can I just, tentatively, dip my toe in this one........?

My son is a second former......and doing really well.....and having opportunities he really wouldn't have had without the CH opportunity. It's not been plain sailing this term but the staff have been great.

He (thank God) isn't having to endure the hardships of previous Old Blues but he is getting the same opportunity that you guys did. He is also a big fan of the history and tradition of CH so hopefully that will live on.

I just wanted to reassure that there are some parents and children out there who are truly grateful for the opportunity and who also respect the tradition.

Thank you, I think it's reassuring to know that the current generation appreciate the history, including the recent history.

For what it's worth, I entirely agree with Angela. One of the things that has prompted me to get back in touch with the school (along with the sheer catharsis that this forum has provided) is the knowledge that CH is now a sympathetic and caring institution, without apparently compromising on the academic standards that we enjoyed in our day.

Did you read the piece in the last Old Blue about the CHA (as it was then ) Board going "back to the classroom", Neill? Despite the fact that today's students seem to enjoy a less formal relationship with staff than in my day, or yours, I was struck by the comments that students still respect the staff, display courtesy and good manners, and take a lively interest in their lessons. Doesn't that matter rather more than whether meals are now cafeteria style??

..........and changing the subject - or rather, - sorry to hear about Louise's setback, but hope she recovers her strength gradually, enjoys Christmas, and feels stronger by the start of term in the new year.

[englishangel]

Hear, hear Jo and Angela.

The thing we found with James after he had is appendix out was little and often and whatever he fancied, balanced diet be blowed. He fancied plain yogurt with honey (to replace the bacteria demolished by the antibiotics?) and -very strangely- chcocolate covered pretzels, which were sold at the time but I don't think you can get them now.

He has always been very in tune with what his body requres. Even now, 11 years later, if he does aerobic activity, running, cycling or swimming, he comes home and eats toast, cereal or noodles , and if he has been weight training it's chicken, cheese and cold meat or fish.