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What a brilliant win for the Brexiteers, getting their pounds and ounces back!  I grew up with that system, but once I moved here, I found the metric system is so much easier to deal with.   I hope they're happy with that, there seems to be little else to celebrate just now.

  I'm not sure I can agree with that. The first day of school is party time here and I think it gives some of the children a false impression of what's ahead of them.  My impression was that from day 2, after the party was over, it was down to solid, structured learning and I don't think all the children are prepared for that.  I may be wrong, but that's how it seemed to me when mine were going through it.

  German schools don't have lockers, at least they didn't when my children were going. The children had to carry all the books they needed that day, into school themselves, so they needed a good, sturdy backpack.  You don't have to buy the most expensive ones, I certainly didn't, you can buy second-hand too.  The pressure to have the best, or the most expensive, often comes from other parents, not the school.

While I was teaching this morning, a student told me that she did the Wahlomat yesterday and it came up with the AfD as her number one choice.  She was horrified at this as it is not a party she would support at all.  She has some strong views which we have often talked about, but they have always been reasonable to me, so coming up with AfD is worrying.  She is old enough to make her own decision, but some younger voters might be influenced by such an answer.

  Worked a treat for me!

  Hope you're up and about again soon!

British comedian, Sean Lock, 58 years of age, well know for appearing on 8 out of 10 cats.   RIP

Here in Frankfurt, there's a very active Facebook group called "Foreigners/Expats in Frankfurt".  I see posts almost daily calling for people to join various sports and social activities.  Try the same where you are, you might be surprised what you find.

  Same here, I heard so much about the bad reaction after the second shot, but I had nothing. Could it have something to do with age?   I hope robinson is doing ok by now.

Sad to read that. I'm obviously a bit older than you, but for me, she will always be Rita in "Till death us do part" and "In sickness and in health"

  I have a student on a business trip in Sicily this week. He logged into the English session yesterday and showed us Mount Etna out of the office window. Luckily, they have AC in the building and in the hotel where he's staying, but he says it's unbearably hot outside, nobody is walking about

  You're not going to see it in the supermarkets yet, this is all going on in the background, in the warehouses, and logistics and planning. The people involved with this can see it coming before it affects the consumer. 

  You don't actually have to go to a photo studio any more, you can take the photo with your phone, so much easier.

2 engineers in a company where I work, one a non-smoker, 64 years old, no major health issues.  His colleague, 57 years old and a heavy smoker, but also no major health issues.  They went on a business trip together, and when they came back, they both tested positive for Covid.  They were both quite ill with it, but after about 10 days, the 64-year-old, non-smoker, was taken to hospital, where sadly, he died the same night. The other guy took another 3 weeks or so, but he’s back at work.   As dessa says, it’s so unpredictable, which is why I’d rather play it safe.

  I heard the complete opposite, that tar build-up on the lungs of smokers could actually protect their lungs from the infection.  Who knows, but I haven't heard anywhere that smokers are more affected by Covid. There will, no doubt, be studies about all of this at some point in the future, when things settle down again.