I took my mum into hospital this week, so Ive spent most of the time driving back and forth visiting and finding it very hard to concentrate on work. I went to Germany with half a Monster Boy book illustrated, assuming I would get it finished this weekend. But it was not to be.
Still I did see this wonderful view of cows in an orchard. When the sum was shining they seemed to be gliding on the buttercups. Wonderfully old fashioned and properly rural.
I had a great time last week in Germany, visiting services schools in and around Monchengladbach.
This was a treat as I had lived at the Rhinedahlen base as a boy and so it was fascinating to return to the haunts of my youth.
Amazingly, little had changed and yet so much was different. The base and the houses all felt the same as if time had stood still, but when I was there it was the headquarters of the British Army Over the Rhine and my Dad was constantly preparing to go to war with the Russians. We were on the front line in the cold war. Today it is the Joint Headquarters of the Rapid Reaction Force and is home to many other national military contributions. What used to be mainly British army schools now welcome Americans, Bahamians, Fijians and many others.
The schools are all run along the British National Curriculum and have just been Oftseded!
Andrew Humphrey’s school in Wildenrath was very interesting. They are spearheading the new curriculum. Indeed they are are setting their own curriculum and have had the big thumbs up from Ofsted. The base is drawing down. The school is spread across two previous schools and so has a huge amount of space. They are very keen on talking and listening. My first session of the week was with their reception class and I was struck by their listening skills. This went on into the rest of the school and got me thinking about some schools I’ve been to where the Reading Strategy has not allowed any time for listening to stories and hence when I arrive, the children don’t know how to listen, not because they are naughty or badly behaved, but because they don’t have the experience. I think the new “Talking Cure” is a great step forward!
Being an Army Brat myself, I felt very at home in all the schools, even though we had to go through checkpoints and show ID to get to the schools. (We? My lovely wife came along for the trip and drove me to my destinations.) I realise I haven’t any Photos. I didn’t want to take any pictures on the base in case I got picked up by the Military Police!
Service children move all the time and so do their friends. This means there is a great turnover of children in schools. Service children get used to making friends very quickly and rubbing along with the situations they find themselves in. One teacher told me that at the end of last year she had only one child that had started at the beginning! Sometimes, a regiment can move out and be replaced by another. This means that all the children change over night. Not only that, so does the school’s cultural ethos. One day the children army all be Midlanders, the next all Scottish!
Bruggen school was home to children whose parents were in the Royal Signals, which was my Grandfather, Father and Brother’s regiment, so I felt even more at home there. Wall displays reminded me that half the children’s Dads were out in Afghanistan and those that weren’t soon would when they relieved them. It’s a very different life for service children.
I was amazed at how much German came back to me. Leaving motorways on the slip roads was still a joy. The big, blue Ausfahrt signs still point the way. That word used to send me into paroxysms of laughter – it still manages to raise a smile!
Thanks to all in Wildenrath, Brugen and Rhinedahlen for a great week.
I had a sneeky feeling last year that something ate my frog spawn. I also had a paranoid thought that someone may have come and stolen it for a joke! Anyway, last year all my frog spawn disappeared overnight. The only possible clue was a disturbance of the gravel on “the beach”.
I wondered if it could be a fox. I guess a load of frog spawn may look like caviar to other creatures.
The best explantion I could find was Newts, that apparently eat spawn and tadpoles as if they are going out of fashion.
This year I decided not to advertise the laying of the spawn on my site in case a trickster was involved. each morning I made sure that new batches of spawn were protected by chicken wire. I soon found one possible culprit. My dear cat, Darcey. He was desperate to get at the spawn. He prodded and poked between the chicken wire and licked his paws a lot. Frog spawn must be tasty to cats.
Here is the evidence – naughty cat!
I think he could have been responsible for some of last year’s loss, but not all. Last year one ball of spawn was laid a good 80 centimetres from the shore and about 30 centimetres deep. That disappeared the same night as all the rest.
I can’t see a cat going that deep or that wet to get at frog spawn. I can believe that a fox might though.
One side effect of all this protection was that the water turned a thick pea green colour as the tadpoles began to emerge.. I was worried it might affect them. I removed the chicken wire and now, two weeks later, I can report that the water has has become crystal clear again and the tadpoles seem to be doing fine.
It’s quite hard to take photos of them. I think I probably need a polarising filter.
This year there are pond skaters skipping about the surface of the water. A new species for this year.
I visited Stourhead Gardens last Sunday and spotted water boatmen in their lake. I always enjoyed watching water boatmen as a child. I d be very happy if they somehow found their way into my pond. I suppose I could introduce them, but that seems a bit unfair. one of the things i like about my pond is watching to see how the wildlife discovers it is there. Mind you, I suppose protecting the frog spawn is an unnatural thing to do.