TWELVEPENCE EQUALS ONE SHILLING

This is a little story about a three-year-old's introduction to the horror of math.

"We only have to pay fourpence for me," Jenny said in a loud whisper. "Remember Betty you are eleven years old not twelve. Only twopence for you. This leaves a whole sixpence to buy cakes".

"I am three years old," I shouted out proudly from my stroller.

"Shush, shush Mary, you are two for today, so you get in free." 

This immediately terrified me. I can still remember my uncontrollable sobbing with the sure knowledge that the guards at the gate would put us all in jail for lying.

All I could hear was "shush, shush" as my stroller rocked back and forth. I closed my eyes very tight to stop crying when we got to the gate. I was braced to hear angry words and orders to get in the police truck.

"O.K girls, have a wonderful day in the gardens," said a jolly, friendly voice.  "Don't be so sad little girl. You will see beautiful flowers, birds and rabbits and fish swimming in lily ponds. There are also swings and see-saws with lots of kids to play with you. 

I was just happy we were not going to jail.

I  remember the wonderful day and can still taste that lovely cream bun Betty and Jenny bought.  

I also remember the terror I felt. The girls were just trying to make the money my mother gave them stretch to cake. I think now that I would have understood if they had just slowly explained their plan to me. Then, the terror would not have been so intense.

Thank you for reading my blog and or listening to it as a Podcast. 

The story takes place at the gates of the National Botanical Gardens in Dublin, Ireland.

I would appreciate your comments in the section below.

LEADERSHIP

My very first leadership role was being the eldest of 6 siblings.

Most people in Ireland where I grew up had a parlour in their home. It was used as the "good room", away from all the clutter of the house. Visitors were entertained there amongst all the best bone china,  spotless but uncomfortable chesterfield and  fireplace with well polished brasses.

This was our house when we became teenagers. Before this, it was our playroom.
It was a place where all old furniture, broken strollers and Christmas decorations went. By the way, our fully decorated Christmas tree lived there for 11 months of the year, with an old sheet thrown over it.  What a great toy! Furniture became busses and airplanes and helicopters.

I was the boss of this magical kingdom. With this important position came the responsibility of making sure everyone was happy, without too much screaming going on. I was also responsible for safety, reporting on any injuries. Swear words were a reportable offence. I was in charge of organizing all games but did take some input from my charges.

For the most part all went very well. When the charges revolted however, all went crazy. I contributed to a lot of this craziness, practicing my loud commanding voice. This voice was more high pitched screaming, which threatened reporting of everyone to the highest bosses, the parents. Surprisingly it worked, eventually.

My brother Barry loved experimenting with cooking. He I used to do lunches and snacks. He liked to mix various instant soups together to produce strange flavours. He is the one who invented the pleasant medicine. He would mix a spoonful of Ribena, our daily dose of vitamin c with fizzy soda water, as our lunch drink. My sister enjoyed spending so she would go to the shops with our food budget and buy unusual food like cheese slices and blood oranges which thrilled us. Bernadette and Joan were the youngest so I would do their hair in strange styles and dress them up in their party clothes. My brother Thomas came up with the most unusual idea of all. He had heard the sunrise was amazing to see. When my parents were away for an overnight we tried to stay awake in front of our large dining room window, hoping for a view. Needless to say we all fell asleep on the big comfortable chesterfield and missed it. It was very exciting and mysterious trying to stay awake all night however, so we did not feel disappointed.

I think I spent far too much time practicing my loud commanding voice. I learned a lot. One Christmas my brother Barry gave me a bag of candy.  "This is from all your brothers and sisters" he said. "We wanted to show you how much we love you". It brings tears to my eyes every time I think about it. It will stay with me all my life. Words are very powerful. I did learn a lot.

ENTERTAINMENT

We can watch movies on TV and our i-pads. Nothing though, replaces the magic of the movie theatre.

I love binge watching the shows I stream. I still miss though, going out for dinner or perhaps coffee and desert, before heading to a movie at the cinema. The anticipation and excitement, of getting away from the mundane, is wonderful. Discussions afterwards can be exhilarating.  I like to do a revision of all the main parts in the movie, and then give my expert opinion on how well or how badly they were handled. I am ready to do a review for all who ask, and even those who do not. Discussions with my husband can become quite heated. We sometimes end up agreeing that even though the movie was not well written it was well acted, so worth the expense. Sometimes the reverse is true. We always agree, that no matter what, having a night out is fabulous.

Covid takes these experiences away. I do think reading a good book is probably closer to "the night out" experience than streaming. The book brings one into a different world which is not the same for any two people. We are shown this world in movies, and need both acting and scenery to be perfect. In books we have to imagine the scenes ourselves. I don't know about you, but I am always the main character in a book. I have all the strength and charisma of the protagonist, while i am immersed in it. There is some sadness when the book is finished, maybe because I turn back into my real self.

I love fiction. No matter how horrific the story is, I know deep down that it is not reality. It is a way to live in another world for a while where life needs every bit of my knowledge and ingenuity to solve complex situations.

One of my favourite books is by the English writer Ruth Rendell, written under her pseudonym Barbara Vine. Grasshopper is a psychological suspense novel. Clodagh, the protagonist is someone who has survived a tragic event in her youth. This colours most of the rest of her life. Something so unusual, but so creative happens, which knocks her out of her ordinary sad life. She becomes "a roof walker" with a close friend she has met. These roofs are the ones on old tall Victorian homes in London. She comes across many colourful characters and some intrigue during her walks. It is a surprising, intelligent story well written.

I cannot wait for Covid to be over, so I can supplement my entertainment by going to movies. The occasional live theatre play would also be great. Doing something with a group will be much more appreciated. Even seeing people around and happy will bring pleasure.

Coping with Isolation

Math puzzles are good fun
Remember the little person on the last line is wearing red shoes and holding 2 cones

Fortunately human beings are very adaptable. We are all finding ways to cope with this pandemic. Having the luxury of connecting on the internet, unlike during the time of the 1918 flu pandemic, life is a lot better.

We are able to share ideas on how to manage keeping children busy, with things like Tumble Book Library, free with your Calgary library card. This allows kids and parents to listen and read-along to animated story books. Adults can get e-books and audio books. There are crafts and window displays to keep neighbours amused while out walking. There are computer learning opportunities for both adults and kids.

Painting our home is another way to keep busy

A few nice things are happening to make life a little better. With the amount of families out walking there is a need to increase the width of sidewalks. This has prompted the City of Calgary to consider closing off some traffic lanes to vehicles, and opening them up to people walking, or cycling. This helps maintain the very important 6ft. personal space circumference. Alberta is opening some of its child-care centres for health workers, and core services personnel. These will be phased in around hospitals first. We rely on these people to keep us safe and alive. The government of Canada is giving $82 billion dollars to support families and businesses. This is an attempt to keep the economy going, and help prevent massive unemployment.  Hopefully this will help us to recover when life gets back to normal.

I heard a psychologist today giving a tip on surviving  uncertainty in the duration of the virus. She gave the analogy of a starving person not knowing when his next meal would be. This is very difficult. However, if he is starving and knows that a day later he will be getting a slice of bread, it is a different story. We should say to ourselves "I can do this for a month." We can survive this deadline. If life has not changed after this time, we start again using the experience we have gained.

Scary Corona plans

My great plans on visiting all the playgrounds have been dashed now. They have all been closed in an effort to contain the Corona Virus. This is a good plan. The 6ft. distance between individuals, hand washing, isolation if cold or flu symptoms appear, working from home, are also good plans. It has not taken long however for the scary ones to appear.

I have heard of cures posted by nasty people on social media. Drinking bleach, blasting hot air from a blow dryer into your sinuses, gargling warm water with salt or vinegar and eating bananas filled with B6 are a few of them. These are very dangerous. The most dangerous of all was the statement by president Trump that "we cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself." He was of course referring to the state of the economy. I would hope he did not realize the danger of this statement. It  prompted the Lieutenant Governor of Texas to say to Tucker Carlson, on Fox News Monday night, that he thought there were "lots of grandparents" who would be "willing to take a chance on {their} survival in exchange for keeping the America that all Americans love for your children and grandchildren." I read this statement by the Lieutenant Governor in heathercoxrichardson@substack.com This is a daily "Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson" which I have been following.

It is at times like this that we find out who the humans are, and who the alien like creatures are. I do have faith in humanity. Sometimes humans are mislead by others who cannot see beyond their own wellbeing. We have to be reminded that the wellbeing of every person means our happiness. The state of the world right now should point out to us in high definition, how much we depend on one another no matter how great we are. Let strong leaders who understand this, emerge.

The good news is that Wuhan China, where the virus started the end of December 2019, declared that restrictions will be lifted April 8th. as they are virus free. That is 3 months and a bit. This gives us hope that there is a time limit.

Keep up the home schooling. Kids love it.