Friday 18th October, 2013

I might have left you with the impression last week that Hen wasn’t taking her job search seriously enough.  Someone even suggested I might have been spoiling her, the cheek of it.  In fact she is gainfully employed with two jobs at the moment one of which is waitressing in the restaurant at Tattersalls in Newmarket.  She came home the other evening, and with a quizzical look on her face, recounted that she had been touched on the arm by an elderly lady who told her, as Hen struggled past with a particularly heavy and precarious tray “This is going to be very handy training for when you’re married my dear”.    “Lucky me” was all Hen could muster by way of a riposte.

 

Half term beckons, but it is such a shame for Bob that schools have to spoil his fortnight at home with the unwelcome innovation of mid term reports.  So unnecessary.  It’s not much fun for me either.  His end of term reports are as much as I can handle.  I may have shared a couple of snippets with you before.   A Religious Studies report for example which said simply  “Bob enters the classroom cheerfully and exits even more so.”   Or this from his French teacher:

 

We all really have Bob's best interest at heart and how best
to help him.
I perceive him to be a bright boy and capable of much better than his most
recent homework which was, incidentally, late also. It grieved me too to see
his French books lying around in the cold outside today.
You WILL be able to see Bob's homework (hard copy) since he has (should
have!) brought it back home tonight to re-do and add on. He has been
given all the requisite vocab. and pages in his text book to refer to, But
certainly not a French dictionary out of a Christmas cracker which he said he had been using!

Best wishes to all the family
Madame Grimal

 

 

Anyway, as you may have already surmised the mid term report has just been received and it is a familiar refrain.  

 

 

14 Oct '13 [20:11]

Mrs Annette Tooke

Independent Research

DE/IP4

Effort:	Just Enough
Attainment:	E
Comment:	With the loss of all his work this could be a disaster.

 

 

A disaster indeed.  Oh well….I’m braced for anything when Bob is concerned.   And anyway “Independent Research” ??  What’s that all about?  Do they think they’re Sanford Bernstein or something?  I have no idea what this novel addition to the school curriculum involves and clearly not much point asking Bob either.   I have been struck by new terminology twice this week.  The other one was reading a research note by our analyst Julian Chua ( see way down below ) on a middling Malaysian bank called CIMB in which I picked upon reference to a recent initiative apparently designed to address a sharp deterioration in the banks cost-income ratio.  The so-called “Staff Separation Scheme”.  Yup….you’ve guessed it.  A more sensitive description apparently of the very redundancy programme that I was a victim of earlier in the year! Certainly left me feeling, thankfully only briefly, separated.