h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Afternoon WA

I always get a considerate reply from you -- I thank you for that.

And I don't worry about the changes , just regret the loss of consideration that I grew up with ; and you're right, I will always follow my own code!


Novo

Doffs his flat cap to Pres,

I'm pretty convinced there is no more paediophilic crime around now but I might do a bit of research next week. We were street wise and knew what sort of people to avoid or what to to if approached, but probably didn't appreciate the specific threat.

I wonder how today's kids are going to get those skills and who will educate their children.

Hope's just sprung a leak.

<> (Hypatia)

I would say that children now (I hope!) feel more able to speak out about this sort of thing in order to get the help and support they need.

Perhaps this amounts to more 'news stories' but the most important thing is that abused children now feel they have a voice, and will be heard and taken seriously.

This was certainly not the case when I was nine years old.


az

My feelings precisely Hypatia. Perhaps someone could give us the 'facts' on this crime point. ( Blues Shark possibly )

I also agree with WA, in that the tabloid press has much to answer for. The amount of column inches devoted to 'celebrities', who are of dubious value to the human race, staggers me as much as the hysterical reporting of 'facts'

Novo

Evening Novo,

I'm off to keep my communication skills honed to a razor sharp edge. i.e a couple of down the pub before dinner. Venison sausage with red wine and onion gravy and mash.

There's another great British institution under threat, the pub. A good training ground for manners, conversation, tolerance, humour, general and specialist knowledge, social cohesion

Evenin' WA

Bloody good idea, I think I'll nip out for a swift "half" - or two myself.


Novo

Concerning Novo's story about the elderly war veteran, I think it's wonderful that you were able to draw him out like that. We have many elderly people who use the library. Some of them are lonely. Just showing interest in their life experiences makes a big difference to them. And elderly people can be great story tellers.

I attended a workshop not long ago on the subject of intergenerational programming. According to the presenter one reason that the generations don't respect each other is because they don't interact often enough. He used the example of the extended family. It used to be common for several generations to live together. Now that is seldom seen. He believes that kids don't know how to relate to old people and vice versa because they're not around each other that often.

Hi Pres,

He was right. It is all about communication between groups and generations. If you don't talk to 'different' people it is easy to dismiss them. Permit another exampe?

Before J came to live with me , (when I was 56), I had a succession of motorbikes, including some real 'beauties'. Because my bike had to be chained to the ground in my drive, I made a point of inviting the kids round the block to come up the drive, and to admire and discuss the bike whilst cleaning it etc. The larger ones were invited to sit on it, start it , and do a bit of 'revving'.

Result ? We spoke, they learned , and a sort of mutual respect developed. None of my bikes were ever damaged on the drive. Two lots of profit perhaps?

Novo

That's a wonderful example of what is possible when you make an effort to communicate and share your time.

And I'm jealous of the motorcycles. I have wanted one all my life. I suppose it would be silly to get one now. I'd probably break my neck.

az

Hi Pres,

It would be ungracious to say "yes you would", but it is highly likely!

I have ridden motorbikes since youth, so much experienced and though fast, very careful as a rider. You wouldn't believe the adreniline 'rush' when pulling out of lane 2 on a MWay and opening the throttle to overtake - the acceleration on a 900cc twin is mind boggling.

I have been known to walk into a Little Chef on a Sunday afternnon , wearing a stupid grin as I remove my helmet !

But caution - it is very hazardous nowadays because of lunatic drivers - who cannot see a motorbike as they pull out of side roads!

Novo

Novo, I agree and don't really intend to buy one. That will remain one of those "regrets" for me. I also wanted to learn to ice skate but have never lived anyplace with an ice rink.

Sorry for the topic drift, everyone.

>>Perhaps that is one thing we should be concerned about for todays kids. So many of them seem to be 'confined' by parental fears that they don't go out to 'play' which , by taking them outside their home/school groups can let them develope the ability to interact with other people.<<

ah yes, the battery children. Part of the reason the Gruesome Twosome love our little playpark so much is that they get the swings and slide to themselves. We live in a wee village (pop. around 1000 people) and a lot of the houses are relatively new, and most people have children and a big garden. Each garden has a swing and slide, and on nice days each garden is occupied by one solitary child swinging.

While my kids climb "their" tree, swing, slide and seasaw on fab equipment and play elves & princesses undisturbed - just as I used to do at their age.

Speaking of intergenerational contact: I am nostalgic for our family Easter trip to my grandparents. We used to get as many of the family together as we could, and just spend time together.

We had an old coal fire, and fetching the cole in from outside was the job of the kids. The smell of coal now takes me right back to that time. And my grandma's larder - a fantastic walk-in cupboard with one thick, cool marble shelf. (I'm not as old as that makes me sound, she had a fridge too)

But she also had one of those agitator washing machines, which didn't spin, so until she got a spinner, we had to put everything through a mangle. Great fun for a kid, but muscle building work if you had to do it twice a week.

I agree with az on post 23.
Not much has changed except the kids have a voice more often, but not always. That is of huge importance.

Learning it is not usually a stranger has been a tremendous educational point to get across to the public.

It was common to think if a father or mother was abusing their own children it did not neccesarily spread outside the family but did spread within the family although not talked about.

Did people know decades ago it's common for one person to violate 50-100 children before caught? Like serial killers , if it is strangers or outside the family there are a few doing the majority of the crimes in any given area.

"Interacting with people,instead of a computer or an X Box must help, at least it should teach patience rather than the expectation of 'instant' gratification!"

Now I wonder what the reaction would be if I said the same about books? There are a lot of games that require a significant investment of time to really enjoy them, and a lot that involve socialising either through team or competitive play on the internet or getting together with your mates in the living room. Judge ye by the content: not the medium .

That's a good point, Bouncy - but at least with books there is the chance that the other person might have read it. It gives common ground for discussion.

I love to listen to my kids talking about, say, Wind in the Willows to my mum. They couldn't do the same about an electronic game.

>> I love to listen to my kids talking about, say, Wind in the Willows to my mum. They couldn't do the same about an electronic game.

I don't think it's impossible to discuss electronic games with a kid even if you've never played one in your life. Kids love to explain what they know, all you have to do is listen. All humans like being listened to, even the little ones. It's time spent together that counts.

SC

I can't say for any certainty what the situation regarding crimes against children is. My gut instinct is that it isn't a matter of more crime but I do think as a society we take it more seriously now, and have of better policing and detection methods.

If Esther Rantzen only did one thing for this country, she shocked us out of a complacency that did undoubtedly exist in society. As well as the obvious trials involving children, we have an incresing number of cases where adults are now coming forward to make complaints about family members, family friends, teachers and the like about abuse that had happened earlier in life. The number of times that complaints were made to either parents or the authorities to be met with a complete wall of silence earlier in the victims life is astonishing.

My guess is that Uncle Johnny has always been doing nasty things to kids. It was only after about 1980 that the kids weren't clipped round the earhole and told to stop making up stories.

Surely wicked Uncle Ernie

Indeed. I would guess that Uncle Ernie was one of the first 'popular culture' references to a problem that at the time was largely unspoken of.

Of course, It is interesting that Townshend went on to have his own difficulties with the world of peadophilia.