Winners and Losers

Something cropped up recently and a derisory remark was made about someone's poor performance in something completely trivial.  It was an unnecessary and cruel remark.

It reminded me of a situation in my life more than 60 years ago in a history class at school.

I was always near the top of the class in English Language, English Literature and did pretty well in Mathematics and Geography and was middling in most of the rest of the subjects. However, in the fifth year I came bottom in the school in the year end history exam. One spiteful little toerag decided to ask the Master who was bottom. I will always remember the History Master's response. "If you have a system where someone is top then there will inevitably be someone at the bottom."  That same toerag came to my house before the GCE asking me to help him with his maths. 

The subject of top or bottom was never mentioned again.

I'm told that nowadays no one is allowed to be 'top' or 'bottom' in school because it might mean some children having mental problems or low self worth.

The reality of life is that that in itself won't stop kids making fun of those they perceive to be less able in a particular way. If we want to do something about the problem then we have to have a positive system  and encourage people to do what they are good at and not necessarily persist with things for which they have no aptitude. 

After all when I was in New Zealand an electrician or plumber commanded a much higher hourly wage than a dentist. [The caveat there is that the fee for dental care included a vast amount of overheads compared with an electrician].

Short Update

I returned home 10 days ago and Anna came with me and has now returned home. My next visitors have called off because of Covid. The last few days I've been catching up with friends here and today I'm trying desperately to catch up with a myriad of emails and letters I owe people. 

It's been hampered over the last few days by routine hospital and surgery appointments.

Today the weather is actually good enough to have gone into the garden to get some tidying and autumn/winter preparation done. That isn't going to happen until next week at the earliest though.

I have just been checking my spam folder and have discovered that, not only have some comments gone to Spam when they have been cleared but that my own comments have ended up in Spam too. I haven't looked yet but I suspect some have been duplicated because I though it was my poor memory and that I hadn't commented when, in fact,  I had. 

Technology is beginning to confound and irritate me.

No comments needed but hopefully I will write a meaningful post soon.

A Holiday and Irritating Blogger

I'm on holiday. I left the Island yesterday for a week in Bishopbriggs (a 'suburb' of Glasgow although its residents would never agree to that description and it is outside the City boundary so a taxi home from Glasgow a few yards over the boundary attracts a bonus fare!). I can't recall when I was last off the Island for a holiday. I am usually off for a hospital appointment even if I have also enjoyed some time with friends down here.

I apologise to some of my readers who have left comments which have gone to spam and which I haven't picked up in good time (I was going to say 'timeously' but the spillchucker was having none of it).

I also had the problem that some of the 'spam' comments appear to have disappeared so if you've commented and it's not been published then I apologise.

I'm hoping that I'll actually get a bit more time in Blogland whilst I'm away

Heinz Vegetable Salad

Cro posted this morning about his love of Heinz Sandwich Spread. It is a love that I share. However, Cro, eats it spread on toast. Yuk. It has to be on bread - preferably home made - and, to be really decadent, with vintage Cheddar or Red Fox cheese on the side.

The mention of Heinz Sandwich Spread made me think of Heinz Vegetable Salad and that made me think made me think of the Heinz products that have disappeared since my youth. The only one I really mourned was Heinz Vegetable Salad followed by the Potato Salad. For some reason the consistency of bite and the flavour are completely incapable of replication.

Heinz obviously stopped it because they were no longer making it profitably. I wish that they had sold the recipe to a niche market delicatessen company so that those mad enough to pay premium prices for it could still savour it.