COVID-19 comes for us all

So on Monday 20 March I woke up with a slightly sexy gravelly voice and a mild tickly cough. Because of my work in healthcare I always have a few COVID-19 tests knocking about. "I'll just test to rule it out" I thought optimistically.

The fact this this is a blog post means the reveal here will come as no surprise. No one blogs about not getting COVID-19.

Since COVID-19 first became mainstream news I have followed all the rules and then some. I have stayed home,  worn masks, not shopped except via internet and always made drivers leave deliveries on the doorstep. We washed our hands. I have hand gel around the house. 

I had to go out for work in the early days, high risk places where I used full PPE and wore scrubs that could be boil washed while I showered as soon as I got home before joining the family again.

I continued to mask after the rules relaxed, I continued to stay home, I'm practically a hermit! I didn't see my parents for over a year, I missed a Christmas with my daughter as she was awaiting a test result. I have every vaccination possible as soon as it's available. I have stayed COVID-19 free all this time.

And yet here I am.

This sneaky bastard virus has invaded the temple* of my body.

*Like the temple in jungle book, falling down, crumbling and full of monkeys

Toilet Breaks won't Break a Child

Some UK schools are restricting the use of toilets both in lesson and break time.

When I was at school you raised your hand and asked to go, the teacher said yes, you went, you came back. End of story. And there were breaks between classes too, so you could nip in then. I never saw any problem with this. It all worked fine.

I assume schools in their ongoing battle to subdue teach children have decided some children are abusing the privilege right to go to the toilet when they need to. As we all know, children are terrible at knowing when they need to go, and hopeless at planning, even as teenagers; and of course when children start menstruating that can strike at any time! Nothing worse than feeling that sudden trickle of blood and knowing you need the loo trip NOW!

My opinion, and what's the point of being an old woman online if you can't have opinions! Is that children should be allowed to go to the toilet when they damn well please. Will the entire class rush out to the loo at once? maybe; and here I shrug, because teachers...this is on you. It's your job to keep the class entertained and engaged enough to learn. 

Children should want to be in your class, they should excitedly hope you are going to do that fun thing you do, tell a joke like you do, have a pop test with prizes, ask a class member to stand up and teach for five minutes, whatever your class loves you should be using to entrance them. Children should be hoping they don't need the loo in your class because your class is great! And headteachers should be supporting you in that, with time, with resources, and with faith in your teaching. And the government should be supporting all of that too!

Stop worrying about toilets. Start thinking about teaching so no one wants to miss it.