Easy As Falling Off A Bike pt 770.

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Wuthering Dormice
(aka Bike)
Part 770
by Angharad
  
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I spent a good hour working the dough for the bread rolls, and by the end of it, my temper had eased. I couldn’t do anything until Sister Maria had spoken to all concerned. I had confidence in her to do her best, but I was also concerned the Mrs B-C would be less than helpful.

I spent the rest of the day doing housework or amusing Mima. I’d forgotten to organise her nursery place, another thing that would require speaking with Sister Maria. I was obviously losing the plot somewhere along the line – I mean how can anyone forget to organise one’s daughter’s nursery place?

I called the school and spoke with the secretary. She could do the organising for me, but she felt I ought to read the guide to the school’s fees etcetera. How do you explain that money shouldn’t be a problem as the family owns a bank? I didn’t, I accepted that she would leave a pack for me for when I came to collect the girls in the afternoon. I thanked her, at least the registration system had been started.

I explained what I’d done to Stella at lunch time, she said she was putting Puddin’ down for Eton and The Guards. “Stella, I think she might have problems with the physical, especially for the Guards,”– usually, that meant the Coldstream or Grenadier Guards, although there was also the Scots, Welsh and Irish to choose from.

I somehow couldn’t see Puddin’ marching up and down outside Buckingham Palace wearing a red tunic and bearskin – the busby or headdress of the guards’ uniform. Still, who knows where equality and emancipation will take the next generation of women, probably beyond mine.

Then again, as a previous transsexual woman, I might be expected to have hang ups about doing masculine things, such as joining the military, fighting, playing football and farting. Yet I know that in recent years more and more women have been doing all of those except perhaps the flatulence.

I fiddle with bikes and ride them, and if I’m correct could actually race them as a woman, being post op and taking hormones for a couple of years. Whether my body produces more testosterone than a normal female, I have no idea and I’m not sure I want to know. I know that I probably have a slightly larger heart and lungs but given my lack of muscle – it might be irrelevant in any case.

I suppose the truth is stereotyping roles is anachronistic, there are house husbands, male midwives and health visitors, in the same way we have women fighter pilots and boxers. I was horrified to hear that women’s boxing will be an exhibition event at the London Olympics – call me old fashioned, but the idea of two grown men knocking seven bells out of each other is distasteful – so to have two women doing it beggars belief. Yeah, okay, I’m old fashioned but I think violence is rather primitive – but then so are humans.

I heard today of a little girl who jumped off a road bridge because other girls were bullying her, to her face and via various networking sites. She ended her life because it seems she couldn’t cope with it. It strikes me as dreadful that other children can do such a thing and will probably then declare it was nothing to do with them. I hope they’re happy now and this stain remains with them for the rest of their lives.

It makes me even more determined to stop the bullying of Trish or any of my children – it would also make me just as determined to stop my kids being the bullies. Bullying is unacceptable to me in any shape or form.

Finally, just as my nerves were fraying, it was time to go and get the girls. I arrived expecting to have to avoid broadsides from Mrs B-C, but the Range Rover wasn’t there, nor did I see Petunia come out of school. When my two emerged, they told me the headmistress wanted to see me. We went along to her office and knocked. On hearing a call of, “Enter”, I did so.

“Ah, Lady Cameron, do come in. Girls, could you go and read a book for a few minutes while I talk with your mummy?” They both nodded and disappeared. “I’ve spoken with Petunia’s mother who claims that your girls have been picking on her. However, I have no substantiation for any of her claims – which is the opposite for Trish, there are loads of witnesses.”

“Have you asked Trish about it? She’s pretty honest, especially if you load the question first.”

“Oh yes, and I’m well aware of manipulating children, if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be much of a teacher, would I? Although I prefer to empower than manipulate them.”

“So what did Trish say?”

“She hasn’t bullied anyone, Petunia and one or two of her friends have, and she gave me the names of some other children who have also been on the receiving end of bullying by Petunia’s coterie. Much of what Trish said has been verified. Now I’m aware that this could be a setup, Trish is very clever – certainly, far brighter than Petunia will ever be – although I read somewhere that transgendered children often are brighter than average – I don’t think it is. I’ve spoken with several parents of the children involved and they wondered if their girls were being bullied. So I’m fairly convinced Petunia is involved in disapproved activities.”

“Don’t you mean criminal activities?” I asked, upping the ante.

“I believe children have to be at least ten to recognise criminal behaviour.”

“Okay, but surely her mother is old enough?”

“Yes, of course.”

“I was sure that the girls were acting without their mother’s knowledge, I couldn’t believe that any mother would let their girl bully another if they became aware of it. Until you told me that she accused Trish of such behaviour, I wouldn’t have thought Petunia’s parents knew – now I’m not so sure.”

“I don’t understand what this is all about, Lady Cameron. Why have you two mothers got such a downer on each other?”

“Hang on Sister Maria, I don’t have a downer on anyone. The woman upset me the first time I brought the kids in. She was quarrelsome for no reason. I admit I didn’t like her manner, but I didn’t retaliate until she became insufferable.”

“So it was you who let her tyres down?”

“I suspect it was someone who was fed up with her poor parking and selfish attitude.”

“Like you?”

“Yes, I am rather unimpressed by it.”

“I thought it was very funny, if a little juvenile.” I took this as a partial rebuke.

“So where do we go from here?” I asked changing the subject.

“Petunia has been withdrawn from the school for a couple of days at the behest of her mother.”

“Which achieves what, exactly?” I wasn’t sure I wanted the child excluded because that just means she takes her attitude somewhere else. I wanted her taught to change her behaviour.

“If the problem ceases, we’ll have more evidence to ask for an exclusion.”

“That’s poor scientific methodology.”

“Is it, how?”

“If you believe A and B are interrelated, and you take away A and observe B stops, then it could be coincidence, it could be because of C you didn’t know anything about, so you need to do more experimentation. You’d need to reinstate A and see if B starts up again, if it does then there is more of a proven relationship. If you remove or change B and A is the same, you could still be mistaken and so on.”

“No wonder you don’t believe in God, is this what you do at the university?”

“Sort of, when I’m not counting dormice or propagandising agnosticism.” She smiled at my joke.

“So how do I prove Petunia is the cause of the problem?”

“Indirect observation.”

“I can’t install cameras, that raises all sorts of problems.”

“You don’t need to. Direct observation is where the subject knows they are being observed; indirect is where they don’t. It just means you watch surreptitiously or less obviously.”

“It has a potential for being wrongly interpreted.”

“So does everything we do, especially with children. Look, I don’t want the girl to be kicked out, I want her to mend her ways but I suspect that means her mother has to first.”

“You obviously believe in miracles despite your agnosticism?”

“No, I believe in the power of education and persuasion.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“That isn’t an option, it has to.”

“But I suspect you have a fallback position?”

“Of course, but I’d prefer not to discuss that now. Tell the mother that her daughter has been bullying and it isn’t allowed and if it doesn’t stop there will be consequences.”

“Isn’t that threatening?”

“No, it’s pointing out cause and effect reasoning – very simplistic but effective. I have to go, the girls will be worrying, and I have another child to look after, too.”

“Oh, there’s a package for you on the desk.” She indicated a large envelope.

“Thank you.”

“So are you going to send number three here, as well?”

“That was the plan, I might have to reconsider now.”

“That’s your prerogative.”

“Yes, I know, although I see it as my responsibility rather than prerogative.” We shook hands and I left to find my two, expecting them to be on tenterhooks – they were both sitting with their noses in a book and hardly heard me approach them, and grumbled when I made them come home. So much for knowing my own children.

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Comments

Cathy Is More Levelheaded Than Some Moms

jengrl's picture

Cathy is more levelheaded than some moms are. Many of the ones I know, would be up there demanding the school expel the kid that was bullying their child. Somehow, I don't think either Petunia or her mother are the type to listen to reason on anything. Browne -Cow is probably convinced that her daughter can do no wrong. That kind of thinking does not teach the child to own up to her mistakes and she will live to regret it later on down the road. I can see Petunia as "Hell on Wheels" when she gets to be in her teens if this behavior isn't dealt with early on.

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Cathy, Your Girls

Know that you are in charge, and that you will take care of things. But I wonder hw the piglet and her moo cow mudder will react, and what's in the package?

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

It's the...

.. registration package for Meems.

It was stated that the secretary left a packet for Cathy to pick up explaining the financial aspects for attending at the school. Cathy was going to pick it up when she got the other two, anyway.

PB

Having once

been the victim of bullying in my first job, I totally agree with Cathy's view's on it, I remember only too well the misery that i suffered at the time....And it was only when i found the courage within myself to tackle the bully, That i was able to enjoy my life once more!

Even now when reading about bullying in all it's forms i still find my disgust difficult to hide, And when faced with it myself, Will do everything i can to quickly put an end to it!!

Kirri

It's nice to see that Cathy

It's nice to see that Cathy isn't being vindictive but trying to correct the problem, instead. I wish more people would do that. Heck, I wish our legal system would do that! Great chapter Angharad! :)

Saless
 


"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America


"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America

OK, My Mistake. But

Our most esteemed authoress has been known to surpeise us. THAT was what I was hinting at, Angharad's and Bonzi's ability to surprise us. I apologise for causiing any ruffled feathers.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

A good punch in the nose

NoraAdrienne's picture

I was bullied in Junior High School.... This one junior mobster and 2 sycophants blocked off the exit of my locker area... started banging my head into the lockers. Just cause they could. They heard a teacher coming and hit the trail. I decided not to take it anymore. I actually ran past the teacher and tackled the main agitator.... grabbed the back of his head and smashed his nose into the tile over concrete floor.

When the monster's parent threatened that the school should expel me or they would sue. The teacher laughed at them and said just the opposite would happen as he saw them beating me up before they ran. I probably also had better liars, I mean lawyers then them anyway. Most of my aunts and uncles were attorneys.

Probably an unpopular view but

I believe that at 5 years old, Petunia could be "saved". That is too young to be a hardened criminal/bully/liar/... with no hope of redemption. of course we've all seen parents who support their childrens' aggressions and that has to stop before Petunia can be turned toward better behavior. It's easy to call her a villain but remember she is just a little girl.

You have to face them

Every neighborhood had them, bullies that is. You cannot back down to their bullying and if you do they smell blood and then your life is no longer your own. I grew up in an Irish-Italian neighborhood and the Irish won't respect you unless you stand up to them and fight them. John Wayne in 'The Quiet Man' made a lot more sense to me after I experienced that.

I was fortunate to be not a shrimp despite my Asian heritage and that helped a bit in not being bullied. Anyway, I got into a brawl with one of the Quinn brothers and did not disengage until my brother, who is 8 years older than I am and effectively an adult, came along to deal with the situation. After that that kid was a lot more circumspect in dealing with me as he knew I would still take him on if I needed to. I also discovered I did not have a glass-jaw and took punishment well. I learned from my mistakes in that fight though.

Bullies happen every where. I had an office bully who was a software lead, not even a manager really and she threw her weight around. Luckily for me she was relatively new to the company and I survived the ordeal because my job responsibilities did not overlap hers much so she had little power over me. But she was a bitch on wheels.

Kim

Duplicate post

But I would like to find out when the new cat in Angharad's coterie will contribute to these scribblings to give Bonzi a break ?

And also thank Angharad for this continud excellence in writing.

Kim

It is so hard to stop school

It is so hard to stop school yard bullying. I wonder if the child is herself being bullied at home or even worse?

Khadija

Why not?

"I somehow couldn’t see Puddin’ marching up and down outside Buckingham Palace wearing a red tunic and bearskin—the busby or headdress of the guards’ uniform."

Well, here in Canada, the Governor General's Foot Guards and the Canadian Grenadier Guards certainly used to have women mixed in the ranks when they did the "Changing of the Guard" ceremony on Parliament Hill every day during the summer. However, when I checked on YouTube ("changing of the guard ottawa"), I couldn't find any that were obviously female (if you couldn't tell any other way, their buttons used to be buttoned on the opposite side) so I don't know whether or not they still do have women.

Yours from the Great White North,

Jenny Grier (Mrs.)

x

Yours from the Great White North,

Jenny Grier (Mrs.)

Bullying

Is one of the few things that gets my Scots blood boiling. Until I was at least 14 I was a smallish sized boy (now 72 inches in height) and always on the skinny side. In the 6th grade at Kaiserslautern Department of Defence, Dependents Elementary School (U.S military dependent's school in Germany) I was accosted by an older boy every day at the end of school while walking to my bus. I was so fortunate to have been taught by my father ( a Lt Col in the Army) that bullies are basically cowards. Every day this boy would threaten to beat me up and every day I would challenge him to go ahead and do so. Like the coward he was he never touched me. I was however fortunate that I only ever had 2 physical altarcations while of school age. I have seen the results of others that did get the crap beaten out of them ( and it always was several on one.) The 2 times I was physically involved were fortunately one on one events where I maintained my cool and did not get hurt. In the second fight the bully and I did not become friends but learned to respect each other.

I disagree Cathy, the tgs I know seem quite bright.

Beware the veiled threat Sister. And yes, not only does she believe in miracles, she performs them. and her family makes offers you can't refuse.
I've been staring at the little footsies for hundreds of chapters, they look like hands, don't they ?

Cefin