Rain, Rain Go Away… Oh wait, I live in London.

I think this would be a nice addition to any catered affair, don't you? Very tasteful and classy.

We need more teachers like Duncan Harper. He's headmaster at a school in Bromley, south London and has an interesting way of dealing with tired, snippy, and generally unruly pupils- he goes to their houses and confiscates their televisions and video games from their bedrooms (with the consent of the parents, of course). He noticed that many of the kids turning up tired, unresponsive, and in no mood to learn had something in common. Many of them had computer, television, and video game access in their bedrooms and were staying up late into the night watching t.v. or playing (sometimes violent) video games.

Mr. Harper has noticed a marked improvement in most of the students who have been involved under his 'seizure policy' and his school, which has pupils with behavioral problems and who have been excluded from mainstream schools, has a very low rate of permanent exclusion. One 11 year-old who had his television seized, then returned after a month, even took his own television back to school voluntarily when he noticed his concentration and behavior problems return along with the t.v.

Not to get on my soapbox (OK, I'm getting on an itsy-bitsy soapbox… so sue me), but neither my sister nor I ever had a t.v., computer, or video games in our bedrooms. We also had a limit on the amount of television per day we were allowed to watch and although it was annoying as hell when I was 10, 11, 12, 13… I appreciate it now (Mom- you might even say I'm growing up and liking it). Having one family computer meant that using it wasn't a singular experience and that my parents, without being overt or overbearing, were monitoring what Di and I were doing online. It's the job of parents to be invovled in their children's life at all levels- home, academic, and social (to an extent). If they're not taking the responsibility for ensuring their children are able and ready to learn when they turn up to school, then perhaps Mr. Harper's methods need to be adopted more widely. It certainly couldn't hurt, and would most probably help, if kids were encouraged to actually engage and interact with their families instead of shutting themselves into their bedroom-cum-entertainment-multiplex as soon as they walk through the door.

Dan and I were in our friendly neighborhood Kingsway Starbucks (otherwise known as 'my second home') when he noticed Ms Lewinsky enter with an unidentified female friend. Lewinsky proceeded to order what looked to be two grande hot chocolates with whipped cream while her friend saved some seats near the back of the seating section. Other than the terrible black leggings peeking out from under her dress, she looked quite good, I have to say. I'll leave my disgust of the leggings trend for another time because that's an entire post in and of itself…