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I have changed the way I wash my hands. More specifically I have instituted an additional stage in the post wash, drying phase, all thanks to an assembly at my school led by some determined year 12s. It might seem a small thing but I am convinced it will catch on. This potentially world-saving process results in fewer paper hand towels being used and thus fewer trees being cut down etc. Our enthusiastic year 12s divided the upper school audience into two sections and got the two sides of the hall chanting the mantra “Shake and Fold.” Their leader followed this with a demonstration of how to wash, shake drips from one’s hands and finally how to remove all the excess moisture from said mitts thanks to folding the half-used paper towel to extend its absorbency. Daft though it may seem and jokes aside it appears to have caught on with our students. My year nines and tens today were happy to exchange tales of how they have reduced their paper towel use overnight thanks to this lifestyle change. I too have joined the movement by adding an extra two shakes into my drying cycle while reducing the volume of paper I remove from the Arkwright’s till-like dispenser in the Drama loos. Are you a shake and fold person?
(Clearly this process should not be confused with the launch in 1979 and the subsequent 1980 TV advert which encouraged us all to “Do The Shake and Vac” in order to put the freshness back. For further information why not visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shake_n'_Vac)
And so it was with extremely clean hands that I went to KL International Airport yesterday to collect Lexi’s Mum, Pat (aka Grandma Sausages), and David who had been due to arrive on Monday. Their first flight had been delayed by 24 hours due to snow but they arrived safely in KL to be greeted by Trixie and I and packs of sharp suited limousine meet and greet people. These lads and lasses were wonderfully tailored; all sporting sharp suits, including very impractical jackets, and ties. Curiously they appeared to be standing around and not meeting anyone but instead seemed to simply be there to field an unending battery of mobile phone calls. One driver had three phones on the go, all of which were used at different times as we waited. Trixie and I decided to wait with these fine folk as their position afforded the best view of the arriving masses. It also had a metal railing which Trixie enjoyed being lifted over to run out to Grandma so that big cuddles could be exchanged at the right moment. All very sweet.
Today the children had their Student Led Parent Conferences – very grand title. These were 40 minute sessions in which all three Lawrences took me to their classrooms, along with Grandma and David, and they showed us the work that they had been doing plus got us to do some of the activities that they had done in lessons. With Trixie we had a go at matching rhyming cards, learned how she wrote stories thanks to rolling picture dice and chatted to her teacher. With Rupert we all learned about his story writing, how to do division in five different ways, details about the Flor do Mor, as well as watch how Bart Simpson could jump out an aeroplane thanks to Rupert’s ICT skill. Finally Edwin spent a long time showing us how his class had studied gravity and resistance thanks to hurling parachutes off the school parapet, learned co-ordinates while playing battleships and then made daft sentences thanks to conjunctions. All in all a good day.