Humbug wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:40:56 +0100, Halla
>
drunkenbastards.spam.com> wrote:
>>> On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 23:57:58 +0100, Ben newsam
>>
gmail.com> blethered:
>>>>> On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:57:17 +0100, Halla
>>>
drunkenbastards.spam.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> There is, of course, complete
>>>> uproar about this, even though the law says the council only have
>>>> to provide free transport for those more than two miles away from
>>>> school.
>>>
>>> Round here it's three miles, so nearly everyone has to pay for kids'
>>> bus fares.
>>
>> Yeah, rather late in the day the Outraged Parents have mentioned that
>> actually they'd be willing to pay for the fares, but for a while
>> there it was purely 'Waaaaah! Give me back the free thing!'
>>
>> I confess a certain amount of schadenfreude here, of course, given
>> that the two schools along the road here don't get busses at all.
>
> I used to go to primary school on a bus. My parents gave me three
> ha'pence each way for the journey every day, and if I walked I could
> keep the money (except I didn't tell them that).
Snap! from the age of 5 and a bit, I used the bus on my own to travel circa
3 miles to school and then back again for about the same price..t'was 195...
mummble but I do wish that I could recall the exact price! I discovered to
my great delight that I could walk home and have some wonderful sweets from
the corner shop as a reward for the exercise!
>
> I walked to secondary school at first - it was possible to get a bus,
> but the walking distance from home to a bus stop and from a bus stop
> to the school made it hardly worthwhile, and I got no subsidy from my
> parents.
>
> I was given a bicycle for my sixteenth birthday, which gave me a
> remarkable degree of freedom. I was able to go home at lunchtime,
> rather than be subject to School Dinners (although I had to make my
> own lunch when I got home), and the 12 miles a day cycling was good
> exercise.
I was more fortunate. I was given a new bike for my success at the 11+ and
used to ride to school, home for lunch and repeat in the afternoon. Again,
about twelve miles in total. And the other plus to me at the time was that I
managed to get some of my homework done at lunchtime! Sadly, the bike was
lost in a conflagration in the garage when I was in my late teens. No,
Snowie was not involved! My younger brother was mesmorised by the ability of
matches to generate heat!
