School’s out for summer!
Ooh, I’m all excited. We’ve just begun Mana’s first ever summer holiday break from school and so starts the annual tradition that every kid looks forward to, that heavenly break of six weeks to do with what they please. I don’t know why, but the whole notion just gives me a feeling of nostalgia.
Currently she’s sat behind me at the dinner table, making a robot monster from printed paper, a cereal box, an old tub and various other bits of household wares… Looking at the floor under where she’s sat makes me want to weep, the mess is unbelievable, but so long as she’s happy and entertained, all is fine and no doubt I will have the sheer joy of the aftermath clear up.
So then, because it’s the holidays and one of my most vivid memories of this period, from when I was a kid, was that pretty much every day I was out with my friends riding my bike. I wanted to give Mana the opportunity to engage in the same thing and so last Sunday, off came the stabilizers from her bike and so began her first lesson… and also it turned out to be her last lesson too.
What I did was have her sat on her bike and very gently, I placed my hand around the back of her neck, using my thumb and middle finger as a gauge to show her how to balance. We then took off up and down the car park with me running behind her as the guide. Quickly it dawned on me that she was doing it perfectly well, so I just stopped running and she carried on riding without me. It took just over ten minutes for her to learn to ride a bike – incredible! I was so proud.
As proof of this, may I present the two images above. Just a day separates them. The top was taken on Saturday afternoon and there she is with the stabilizers still attached (with her brother watching on) and the bottom picture was taken the following day. We’ve now been out every day and she’s riding her bike like a real pro and she’s not fallen off once, in fact I now don’t even have to stand with her to keep a watchful eye out for passing traffic as she has that sorted too. Well, there you go then, she’s achieved and mastered another little life skill, and it’s a skill that will always be with her.
Speaking of the holidays, something that we planned for Mana didn’t quite go the way we thought it may. One of the local churches provides a free holiday club and we thought that it may be nice for Mana to join in and make new friends in the process. However, when we came to pick her up at the end of the first day, we could see that she wasn’t happy. She did not, in no uncertain terms, ever want to go there again. Why? ‘It’s too noisy with all their drum banging and they keep talking about God and Jesus, but they’re not real and it’s soooo boring!’ Or words to that effect was her reply.
Had I known that they’d be bible bashing as part of the deal, I wouldn’t have even entertained the idea of sending her there. Look, I don’t mind her learning about religions, that’s fine by me, but they weren’t being taught, they were being preached at and I suspect that part of the point of this club is to recruit new members by stealth under the pretext of this being a holiday club. Oh well, you live and learn. At least she tried it and made her own choice to not return, mind you, by not going, she’s had more time to exercise her new skill of riding her bike – which she absolutely loves!
Ho ho! So you’ve brought up a little atheist have you? Well done to you. My son’s 14 and has the same viewpoint. Nothing to do with me. I was always very open with questions he asked about God and stuff. I said things like “No-one really knows” and “Some people say” and never tried to foist my non-Christian views on him. But he’s never been to church and thankfully seems to have grown up without that CofE baggage that I was sadly lumbered with when I was young. And he is very moral and ethical, so anyone who says children brought up without religion will have no morals is wrong, utterly wrong.
Oh look. A soapbox. How did I get up on here?
PS he took a lot longer to learn to ride a bike…and now he’s discovered the Xbox so he’s probably forgotten again.
Where religion is concerned, it’s very easy to find yourself atop a soap box, I’m forever finding myself up there.
We don’t inflict our views on the kids, but we do talk on the subject when it arises and I try to give them a reasoned explanation, giving both sides of the debate… obviously my little girl has made her mind up.
Well done Romana, clever girl.
And I agree, only Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy are real
And I suppose you think the Easter Bunny is fictional? For shame!
Yeah… I mean, how could she?
Totally forgot the Easter Bunny.
I have a question for you, thought I would ask on the family thing as the newer post might be insensitive or inappropriate to be oh by the way… Anyhow by the way… I have a technical issue. Thinking of building a Dalek to go with my TARDIS. I found a guy that is a good builder just north of me in Wisconsin. I will tell you the process he uses to the best of my understanding. He is doing typical fiberglass moulds polyester gelcoat and resin Using wax and a PVA as a seperating agent. But process as you probably know takes time and 2 or 3 layers each taking several hours to cure depending upon the temp. What we are looking for is something that could be poured like those garden gnomes you see at the Home Depot. Do you know of any product or plastic that could be poured into the moulds that might work better than the process currently being used or any advice? Understand again I have no idea how this even works I am only taking his info and hoping you might have a solution or a direction to point. He did mention that TRUCK BED LINER was an idea but the stuff is expensive like 120 quid a gallon and needing 6 gallons to build a dalek. And that is 120 quid in US dollars mind you but still. Anyhow any thoughts?
Yes I do have thoughts. Stick with the fibre glass route.
You can use resins that you pour, but I would not suggest that you do this as its structural integrity could well be compromised, it could shatter, crack or simply fall apart as soon as you get inside the prop or try to move it under its own weight.
The fibre glass matting gives the form strength once it’s all gelled together, this is why it’s a very popular choice in a range of props and commercial products.
Laying up fibre glass may be time consuming, but a whole Dalek should take no more than a day to prep, lay up and demould – I’ve done this numerous times.
Often people stupidly wait for each layer to cure, this is a big no-no. Wait until each layer is tacky, enough to almost leave a thumb print, then start with the next layer – this helps each pass to bond as one unit and not as several individual layers stuck to one another. Later in life, if you’ve waited for each layer to cure, you then risk the dreaded delamination, where each layer starts to part company with the one above and below it.
I hope this helps or at the very least answers your question.
PS. Good call in not asking in the Mary Tamm posting. I’ve already deleted spam comments from there!
Schön zu sehen wie die beiden mit ihren Fahrzeugen unterwegs sind, Romana ist wirklich ganz clever und ich freue mich, dass sie das Fahrradfahren so liebt. Clever Mana!
Yes, we’re rather happy (and proud) of her achievements too.
Sie hat viel von ihrem Papa Gerlinde, er sehr früh reiten gelernt.