The way of the world

And properly done. My school was an ex-grammer school so was very
traditional when it came to sports. Boys played rugby and football,
with cricket in the summer. Girls, hockey in the winter, netball in
the summer.

Now the problem with all this was two-fold. Tradition dictated that
you only wore school uniform. Shorts, rugby/football shirt, socks,
boots (or whites in the summer for cricket). Nothing else. No matter
how cold. So much for properly warming up muscles and ensuring
retention of body heat. There were no warm-ups, or stretching or warm
downs. You'd get a detention if you wore a t-shirt under your rugby
shirt in the winter.

The second (for the boys anyway) was an assumption that you knew the
rules of rugby, football and cricket. I don't. I never have because
there was never any familial interest in those sports.

So as a consequence of these things I hated PE at school and never did
well (always the last to be picked etc). It was only when I left and
learnt how to exercise properly that I became a reasonably successful
sportsman.

 

You're speaking to a graduate who's getting very disillusioned with
the IT industry and always liked making stuff.

If I could find an engineering job that would take me on around 18-20k
and train me with the salary rising to 25-30k after training, I'd do
it.

It's never going to happen though.

 

Rope

But the fact that all senior people were ex-shop-floor, will have influenced
the decision of not hiring graduates quite a bit. The chip on the shoulder
isn't found exclusively on the 'lower' charges.

I had a friend back at school whose father, a quite successful cookie
manufacturer,
expressively forbid his son to go to uni.

 

When I was there we did basketball as well plus the odd dip into other
sports, I seem to remember playing softball once. However I do agree
that in general, if you didn't like mainstream team sports you were in
general f*ck*d.

When I was there we tried to persuade the teachers that BMX was a valid
sporting pastime and that the school should provide us with a halfpipe.
I think you know what the result was

Your discussion of girls and hockey has stirred some rather pleasing
memories though!

 

Rope wrote

what fucking kid of 2 does have any experience.

Honestly you lot have got bigger blinkers in than Shergar.

They are kids they know **** all about everything except spots and pot
noodles, graduates and non graduates alike.

 

It still is until year 11 (fifth form) and has more variation in the
sports covered than when I were a lass.

You can pick it as a GCSE at options stage.

 

<education bore mode>

A levels are still classed as secondary education, though often taken
in a further education environment and Higher Education is anything in
the Tertiary sector.

</ebm>

 

<education bore mode>

They are available, they are now called Modern Apprenticeships.
Unfortunately they are still often used as a dumping ground for the
not so bright kids.

</ebm>

 

[pe at school]

Sounds rather familiar. An excellent analysis btw.

*ding* except my dad expected me to follow in his footsteps of school
sporting prowess. He ended up being disappointed.

so many *dings* the dinger has broken.

Well I guess I followed you in that I did more cycling and even some
mountain biking and even entered the first Malvern Hills race. I can
still recall being commentated on as I came down the hill towards the
finish line (not that I was in anything resembling a competitive
position in the race).

 

Chris Burchell? - his appointment is noted in the new edition of Railway
Gazette that landed on my doormat today.

Oh deary me.

You're probably not. Looks like your MD is grooming his successor in a
similar sytle to the way he himself "shot up the ranks".

 

There is more to his appointment, outside the MD's sphere of influence,
than initialy meets the eye. IMO.

 

IME it has always paid shit, when I escaped in 1979 to telecoms[1] my
wage nearly doubled.

[1] Not really noted for it's huge salaries