Ok Ethelred tagged me so here goes:

a. list seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself
b. tag seven people to do the same
c. do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it"

1. I once stood next to Sean Connery in a bar
2. I like doing pub quizzes
3. I enjoy reading and cross stitching
4. I passed my driving test first time
5. I have been proposed to 4 times
6. I fell over and broke my nose when I was 14
7. On Thursday I am going to see the Terracotta Army
8. I am useless at dieting

Ok I tag:

Adamantixx
Boredrich
Ladeebird
Memomama
Austin-Lance
Smichen
Arnica

My eldest child had a major strop this afternoon.

He decided to get on with some course work yet could not find the information he had been given about his statistics coursework. Fortunately the data he was working from was on a memory stick, so that was ok and after much searching the house and turning it upside down for that missing piece of paper which, apparently, he gave to me and hasn't seen since (like I would have wanted to see it, maths isn't my strongest subject) we eventually found the information on the Edexcel site on the internet.

Harmony restored he started to work on his coursework, humming away to himself when, suddenly, a lot of followed. The little dog, that irritating icon that you get in word, kept telling him he couldn't save his file because there wasn't enough room on the disk. Very annoying, there was plenty of room, in fact more than enough, but would it save? no.

After a lot of fiddling and trying to get it to save in small chunks at a time I made matters worse by losing his work altogether! Fortunately he has redone all he needs to do, now has to do something very technical statistically and has decided to leave it for now until he is in a better frame of mind - namely calmed down and is ready to face it all again.

CJ you very nearly got an email of help winging its way to you lol

Harmony is restored once more.

In other news, I had my hair cut and highlighted today. It needed doing a lot, ended up cancelling my last appointment due to illness so the last time I had visited my hairdresser was in October! Disgraceful, even though I hate having my hair touched it is still to long to go for lol

Need to pick up my new contact lenses tomorrow, and must settle down and do some ironing. Today I managed to show the carpet what a hoover looks like, no mean feat for a hoover that regularly gets clogged up and is falling apart. However a new one is on order and winging its way to me lol

Right enough rambling better go and see what the kids are up to.

As I lay in bed this morning, listening to the radio, snuggled up under the duvet as Hubby went about his business of getting ready for work, my heart sank at the news that there has been yet another beating of a man by a gang of youths.

It wasn't the stabbing so much that got me in a rage though, it was the reporter interviewing some people on the streets of Droylsden, and one man in particular who said "lads as young as 12 are drinking beer and cider, standing outside shops or on street corners and terrorising the neighbourhood till all hours of the early morning"

12?

Ok I know it isn't news, this has been happening for weeks now, but it makes me wonder where the hell are the parents of these children? Surely someone must care? Surely they must know where their children are? Or has society got so degenerate that the only people that we should care about are ourselves, not our children, let them get on in society the way we had to while we take drugs, fill our bellies with alcohol and be dammed?

Harsh I know but then again I have a 16 year old who wouldn't be allowed out to the early hours of the morning let alone a 12 year old.

I know I am old fashioned in my views sometimes, and that isn't a popular choice but isn't it about time we started looking at why we have a generation of children who are allowed out to terrorise the neighbourhood. Why is there no parental responsibility anymore? Is it really a fear of being prosecuted because you told little Johnny off for throwing a tantrum?

Of course then there is the age old excuse "There is nothing for them to do"

There was nothing for me to do when I was younger either, but I had imagination and I used it. I knew how to play with things around me. No-one had to provide things for me to do. then there is the other argument of "well they come from a one parent family, it is hard for them" yeah so did hubby, he had it hard didn't make him want to go out terrorising the neighbourhood though. But on the other hand we were given a sense of morale of right and wrong, of having respect for other people and their property of having a sense of ownership that doesn't mean I have to have it all handed to me on a plate but to be responsible for my own actions.

So where have we gone wrong. Is it really down to lack of police presence on our streets? The same police these kids couldn't give a toss about anyway?

Is it really a lack of parenting skills?

Or is it because successive governments have made it more difficult to discipline our children or to give them a sense of right and wrong? (and no I don't mean beat them by disciplining them, there are other ways).

Or is it because our leaders are so corrupt themselves that society gradually has degenerated as there is no example to set anymore?

I really fear for my children.