Sunday 6th feb.

More snow today! I stayed in again because the cold just makes me cough, poor dear. Since I've been stuck in the house I have become more attached to the radio. I used to listen to it far more than I do now. This morning I listened to desert island discs which featured one of our more distinguished actors, David Suchet. He is probably most famous here for his portrayal of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, but, in fact is a fine Shakespearian actor. His father was a surgeon and didn't approve of one of his sons going into the theatre, but eventually accepted it. David spoke about being sent to boarding school at the age of 8 and how he hated it. He was beaten for having a chocolate bar in his cupboard after a visit from his mother. Can you believe that? Every Sunday the headmaster would get the boys in a 'crocodile' and walk them into the sea. they only managed to do it by holding hands and singing 'You'll never walk alone'. Hopefully, none of them drowned. I wonder if the headmaster did a risk assessment before he took them down to the sea - you can't breathe now without a risk assessment in England! I also watched a debate on TV. The two questions were, can you be a christian and believe in the theory of evolution - it is Sunday after all. The other was are working mothers selfish. (This follows a report from the children's society which says that children in the UK are the unhappiest they have ever been). The debate was interesting and some good points made. There were some extreme views expressed and some arrogance shown, particularly by one Cambridge professor, who labelled anybody who didn't agree with his points as intellectually lazy. I do like the radio as you can listen and get on with other things if you need to . I remember when I was little, our granny lived with us and she loved to listen to the Saturday night play. Mum and dad would go to the cinema and granny would let me stay up reading or playing as long as I didn't disturb the play. Then it was up to bed as quickly as possible before mum and dad got home! I have also done some painting so have had rather a good day!