This is not a reason to cry...
Maybe I am a hard hearted mother but I have no fears or concerns about my beautiful boy going to school... he's ready and it is the next step in him becoming a balanced self sufficient young man... there were no tears, no sobbing and clinging to each other ...
I said "bye, seeya later!"... he waved, smiled and blew me a kiss!
That was Thursday... Friday was the same and for a treat Saturday afternoon we went to the seaside for tea....
Still no real reason for tears I hear you say!
yep you'd be right!
So what possibly could be wrong?
Driving!
I have come to realise that driving is not my "thang"... this could explain why I never jumped at the chance of being a rep or long distance lorry driver...
The school run is officially killing me.... but I think the biggest downer is the fact that I cannot see a light at the end of the tunnel... Somerset County Council have basically told me its "not their problem" and that I chose for my daughter to go to a school outside the catchment area. They are not required to accommodate these children within the school transport system... she's welcome to a seat on the bus if there's one spare and they will kindly take the £550.00 a year but if there's no spare seats.... tough luck!
With this in mind there is little point Jamie (12 year old daughter) continuing at this smaller, much nicer, friendlier Secondary School as I can't afford the £70 a week in fuel to get her there and back.... and there is little point Daniel attending Queen Camel village school that is so much nicer than Yeovil's Infant schools....
It would appear that because we can't afford to live in the villages further away from Yeovil (we are in the first village out!) that my children do not qualify for assistance to get them to school... we don't claim benefits, tax credits and we don't expect free hand outs we don't even expect a free bus ride... we are happy to pay £550.00 for Jamie to go to school in an area where her friends go and where the school treats the children as individuals and not just one of the masses...
The kick in the teeth is when the powers that be quite frankly don't give a donkeys dick for the tax paying hard working population that live in the fringes of the "catchment" area of all those wonderful rules and regulations...
My mental health should not be suffering due to an issue over a school for my daughter, its ridiculous that this is causing me so much upset... there are people out there in much worse crisis than me... homeless, starving, abused and on and on.....
and the system abusers just keep going and take more and more, for example another family living purely on benefits neither parents have ever worked and as they now have 8 children the council are knocking 2 houses into one... last week it was a family of 12 that had 2 houses knocked into one...
trying to live by the rules is pointless and depressing!
Perhaps I should just cut back on something else (not sure what though, we have never had a holiday) and pay the £2,700 in fuel this year to get Jamie to school after all her education and future is worth it... maybe I will eventually get use to driving 50 miles a day...
isn't that what we do?
keep plugging away and live with the bureaucratic bull sh*t... what with that and our amazing talent at queuing that's what makes us fabulously English!
Well if you have made it this far I commend you
and I apologise for having a rant
I am just tired
on a more cheerful note...
would you like to see the downside of having a stainless steel worktop?
The culprit of course is!
The kitchen is almost done and I shall reveal it to you all soon...
well its 11 O'clock and I have half an hour before I have to go and pick up Daniel... next week he'll be having lunch at school so it will be a 1pm pick up... after Halloween Daniel will start full days at school... so at least the school run will be 6 miles less a day... lol
big hugs to you all and I hope you are all well
take care
Alex
x
Maybe I am a hard hearted mother but I have no fears or concerns about my beautiful boy going to school... he's ready and it is the next step in him becoming a balanced self sufficient young man... there were no tears, no sobbing and clinging to each other ...
I said "bye, seeya later!"... he waved, smiled and blew me a kiss!
That was Thursday... Friday was the same and for a treat Saturday afternoon we went to the seaside for tea....
Still no real reason for tears I hear you say!
yep you'd be right!
So what possibly could be wrong?
Driving!
I have come to realise that driving is not my "thang"... this could explain why I never jumped at the chance of being a rep or long distance lorry driver...
The school run is officially killing me.... but I think the biggest downer is the fact that I cannot see a light at the end of the tunnel... Somerset County Council have basically told me its "not their problem" and that I chose for my daughter to go to a school outside the catchment area. They are not required to accommodate these children within the school transport system... she's welcome to a seat on the bus if there's one spare and they will kindly take the £550.00 a year but if there's no spare seats.... tough luck!
With this in mind there is little point Jamie (12 year old daughter) continuing at this smaller, much nicer, friendlier Secondary School as I can't afford the £70 a week in fuel to get her there and back.... and there is little point Daniel attending Queen Camel village school that is so much nicer than Yeovil's Infant schools....
It would appear that because we can't afford to live in the villages further away from Yeovil (we are in the first village out!) that my children do not qualify for assistance to get them to school... we don't claim benefits, tax credits and we don't expect free hand outs we don't even expect a free bus ride... we are happy to pay £550.00 for Jamie to go to school in an area where her friends go and where the school treats the children as individuals and not just one of the masses...
The kick in the teeth is when the powers that be quite frankly don't give a donkeys dick for the tax paying hard working population that live in the fringes of the "catchment" area of all those wonderful rules and regulations...
My mental health should not be suffering due to an issue over a school for my daughter, its ridiculous that this is causing me so much upset... there are people out there in much worse crisis than me... homeless, starving, abused and on and on.....
and the system abusers just keep going and take more and more, for example another family living purely on benefits neither parents have ever worked and as they now have 8 children the council are knocking 2 houses into one... last week it was a family of 12 that had 2 houses knocked into one...
trying to live by the rules is pointless and depressing!
Perhaps I should just cut back on something else (not sure what though, we have never had a holiday) and pay the £2,700 in fuel this year to get Jamie to school after all her education and future is worth it... maybe I will eventually get use to driving 50 miles a day...
isn't that what we do?
keep plugging away and live with the bureaucratic bull sh*t... what with that and our amazing talent at queuing that's what makes us fabulously English!
Well if you have made it this far I commend you
and I apologise for having a rant
I am just tired
on a more cheerful note...
would you like to see the downside of having a stainless steel worktop?
The culprit of course is!
The kitchen is almost done and I shall reveal it to you all soon...well its 11 O'clock and I have half an hour before I have to go and pick up Daniel... next week he'll be having lunch at school so it will be a 1pm pick up... after Halloween Daniel will start full days at school... so at least the school run will be 6 miles less a day... lol
big hugs to you all and I hope you are all well
take care
Alex
x
11 comments:
oh alex I feel for you, I really do. I'm lucky enough to be just a short walk away from rivers new school so I haven't had to go throught it but I totally understand where your coming from it must be an absolute nightmare every day.
I hope things start to get easier soon.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who didn't cry on the first day of school. LOL but like you I think river was more than ready for it. How is your little one settling I at primary?
Oh Alex- feel free to rant any ole time. As I do it quite often. I love reading rants. Makes me feel less alone in the world. All the fluff sometimes gets on my nerves when I'm in one of my moments in time where I dislike the world and most people in it...Wow- I may start a rant on your post if I don't stop already. LOL
I will say that when all of my children started school I did not shed a tear. I was ready and so were they. Each already had two to three years under their belt.
I've been a little off lately with all this sickness consuming me. I just want to be well and have enough energy and ambition to go around. Have A Great Weekend--and BTW--I hate driving too! Your friend across the big pond- Angie
Hi Alex..well I think you must feel better for getting all that off your chest.I am worried about you as this stress is not helping your own self.Over here it is the ones closer to school that are made to pay and if you live just 100yards in the boundry you have to pay,but I guess it is beacause you chose a different school and that does not make it fair.I have 2 sets of grandchildren one set go to a private excellent school and it is expensive!! but they work hard to send them there,the other set go to a school that is not so good but it is near their home,mum walks them each day and you know what? they are getting a good education,Kirsty makes sure that they have "nice" little friends they bring home ,she can't control the ones they have in the school yard though,I am trying to say I guess that even though some schools look like you would not like to send the kids there,they may actually love it, settle in and take the stress from your life,,travelling all that way each day will show on you after a while,the other solution, is there another family choosing to go to that school? who lives near by and that you coud share drive with?How strange that a blog friend on the other side of the world worries about her young blog friend?I guess that is the beauty of all this.Look after yourself Alex O'h by the way you are not hard hearted,it just means you have raised a confident little man that knows he is safe and mum will be back so whats to worry about! well done.Sorry to ramble.Carole XX
I could weep for you on this...... So very, very unfair and so very, very stressful for YOU. :O(
A beautiful photo of the children.......
Oh Alex! I thought I was the only person in the world who hated driving. I hate it so much that I moved house twice so my two could walk to their school, but I realise it isn't always an option when you live in a village. I shed a little tear a year ago when my eldest had his first day at 'big school'. Understandable? Not really - I'm such a wuzz - it was his first day at 'big school' as the TEACHER. Thinking of you, SueXXX
That is such a shame for you, no wonder you are so upset. I wont rant about the way we tax payers are penalised when people on benefits aren't.......... It is so unfair X
Ohoo hugs from me Alex, what a situation to be in, cant they move the schools nearer to your house, hm maybe not, can i send you a hug then instead. Hope it all resolves and that there is indeed a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
D looks so cute and yes they are little arent they I am thinking i may takle my little man out for a couple of days a week, for social reasons or something ;0) I got called on friday to say he had bit a child and he was to miss his playtime and was sitting outside the headmistreess office *sigh* I sobbed my heart out, most for the child he bit but for him sitting outsife the HM office he is only 4! He is poorly and on antibiotics today so shall put a bit of his norty behaviour down to being under the weather
Hugs M xxx
You rant away flower, get it all off yer chest !
Better out than in ... & I agree about the Benefit shammers, makes my blood boil ! xx
Personally I think it's shocking that you can't get help with the school run.
I was speaking to a parent this week outside the school and they said that their child is still waiting to hear if they have a place on the bus (they have just moved up to secondary school) and this lady rang County Hall to say that she had two children at different schools, in different towns needing to get there for the same time, and they told her 'you need to decide which of your children will be late for school!'. How is that an answer?! Let alone a solution.
Anyway...
You'll be pleased to hear that the benefits/tax credits system IS changing. P is finding it very difficult to get any sick pay now that he is STILL off work following his operation back in July. (On another note, goodness knows how and when he will be able to effectively 're-start' his business) He had to have a medical this week to 'prove' that he's had an operation...and the lady he was speaking to said that there is a massive shake up currently going on...and the likes of the people 'who have never worked because they don't want to or can't be bothered to' will have benefits withdrawn or amended. I think it's also to shake-up the system to get rid of the fraudulent claims too.....still, it doesn't help GENUINE people like P, who have not claimed a penny before from sickness, and now need to. Grrrr.
Hugs xx
Read your rant, and although I can completely relate (I was in a similar situation with my children for the past four years, and finally broke down to send them to the "less good" school closer to home because I couldn't take the two hour communte anymore) I have no advice or wise words for you. I guess I just want you to know that I understand how completely helpless you feel right now.
It makes my blood boil actually, as I have seen in action how the benefit system bends over to help those who actually could be getting off their Ar***es! I believe in the benefit system for people who genuinely need the help, but sadly, and I HAVE seen ( another long sad story!) that there are families, who bring up families who bring up more families that have come to think that it is their right and quite normal to be handed everything on a plate, it is a way of life to them. Then people like you and us to a certain extent, get no help or support when we need it, as you and we, are not in the system! I know people who are genuinely worse off than some people on benefits! People who work for everything they have and because they pay for everything they have, they themselves have little or no money left for holidays or extras, and then like you, are left to fret and tire themselves out. Its just not right. You must be tired out. I send you oodles of love. I really do feel for you Alex. Hope something comes along to improve everything for you. And as for having a choice of school! HA ... another long story there too! There is always a catch!
Thank you for you name , Scraps is my favourite so far, but I will have to draw them from a hat! Oh! I seem to have had a rant along with you. It does you good sometimes! The children look smashing in their uniforms! Love to you. Susie xxxxx
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