Power Of Attorney

A solicitor came to sort out the power of attorney. She disguised her purpose in bonhomie and pointless busywork to make it seem less insulting but essentially she was checking to make sure we're not a gang of crooks. The process will take something like three months because there is government bureaucracy involved.

Reading And Writing

Our niece was here. She's a primary school teacher in the West Country. We were talking about teaching children to read and write.

Can you remember a time before you could read and write?  I can't. I don't remember learning either. My earliest certain memory of the schoolroom has me already well grounded in literacy, sitting at my desk, transcribing a rather dull story about a miller and some elves into an exercise book. I believe I was ahead of the class- and had been shunted into a siding to perform this meaningless task while Miss Couch concentrated her attention on the less able.

I left that school before I finished the job and never found out how the story ended.