Fire

As I write, fire engines are sitting out in the road tackling a fire in a top-floor flat just down the street.  They've had one of those turntable ladders up to the windows and everything.  It all seems to be under control now.   I hope no-one was hurt.

Help save our school!

Please take a moment to visit http://www.morningsidecampaign.com/ and consider signing the petition there.   Our local primary school (which Michael attends) is an old, overcrowded, Victorian building with no playing field and "temporary" huts that have been there for 20 years.  Now the council are suggesting that the pre-school nursery, which is losing its current home, should be relocated in another "temporary" hut.  There simply isn't space for this to be practical.  The current suggestion is to have two sessions for each break and lunchtime, which would disrupt the other classes.  

The best summary of the situation can be found on the PTA's deputation to the council, which is at http://www.morningsidecampaign.com/page4/files/Deputation%20230107.doc.  The petition itself is at http://books.dreambook.com/kdorren/school.html.

If you have Google Earth installed, you may be able to see an aerial view of the school at 55°55'17.50"N,   3°12'44.96"W.  (Google Earth doesn't seem to use URLs).

(My title, "Help save our school" is exaggerating slightly, but it's a bit snappier than "Please petition our local council to stop them relocating our school's nursery where there plainly isn't space for it").

Where do they get their ideas from?

Our school PTA drew up a quiz (for parents) which they circulated at the school ceilidh last weekend.  I've been browsing the internet looking for answers; lo and behold, I found several of the questions in an online quiz: http://www.britishinvasion.co.uk/quiz/scotquiz.php.  

The problem is, some of the online answers are wrong!  The Scottish Executive say the border is 97 km (60 miles) long, and they ought to know.  The last witch executed in Scotland was in 1722, and she was burnt, not hanged.  And although I've found several sites claiming that the volume of water in Loch Ness is greater than all lakes and reservoirs in England and Wales combined, I haven't found any that make the equivalent claim witth other Scottish lakes included.   Loch Lomond contains 1/3 the volume, and Loch Morar, which is even deeper than Loch Ness, must contain a fair bit.

Of course, it's possible that the answers I've found are the wrong ones - this is the internet, after all, and they've probably all copied each other.  But I'm not convinced by what the quiz says.