Sponsored by
Gervase Phinn: Playing safe
Last autumn I visited a primary school to read some of my poems to the children and to open a new block. As I walked across the playground at break, I caught sight of some junior boys playing football with a large foam ball.
"That's not a proper football," I observed. "Aye well," one replied, wiping his nose on the back of his hand, "we're not allowed to use a proper one in case someone gets hurt. Last year a lad got hit in the face and bust his nose."
"Lasses can't skip, either," said the other boy, "in case they fall over."
"Then t'school could get done," the first boy told me, "if somebody gets 'urt and 'as to go to t'ospital." "No win, no fee," said the second boy, nodding sagely.
Earlier that year I had visited an elementary school in British Columbia, Canada to speak to teachers and school trustees and work in some of the schools. I sat in the sunshine with a group of elementary school children outside their classroom during recess. It was a glorious day and the school on the spectacular Victoria Island was one of the highest achieving schools in the country – bright, cheerful and welcoming with an outstanding reputation in music, art and poetry. Above us circled two magnificent birds with snow white heads, golden beaks and incredibly large wing spans. "Bald eagles," said the little girl sitting next to me and shaking her head. I stared up in amazement. "I have never seen such huge and beautiful birds," I said.
"Yea," said the girl in a matter-of-fact voice. "We get a lot of these around here. They're real nuisances. We have to keep our cat indoors when they are breeding."
"They take your cats?" I exclaimed. "Sure do and anything else they can get. They're on the lookout now because they've two chicks to feed." "I would love to see the chicks," I said. "Well, take a walk up the path at the back of the school," the child told me, "and turn right at the top and you'll see the eagles' nest high up in the cottonwood tree." "I shall do that at lunch time," I said. "Remember to get your bell and pepper spray from the school secretary," the child told me. "Bell and pepper spray?" I repeated.
"In case you come across a black bear up there."
"Black bear," I mouthed.
"They're breeding at the moment, too," the child told me casually. "It's the brown bears, the grizzlies that you have to be careful of, but they are up on the mountains and don't usually come down." "Grizzly bears," I whispered. "The black are mostly harmless unless you get in between the mother and her cub. They then can be nasty. But if you come across one on the path look her straight in the eyes, ring your bell really loudly and use the pepper spray and they soon skedaddle." "I see," I said. "Keep an eye out for a cougar," another little girl told me. "He sometimes likes to rest in the branches of a tree." "Don't look a cougar in the eye though," added the other. "They feel threatened if you do."
I sat there in the sunshine and thought for a moment. In England, in some schools the children are not allowed to play football and skip. In Canada, there are black bears and cougars in the wood at the back of the schools. Such is life!
Email to a friend
Print this page- Rival chips in with £500,000 to restore the original Harry Ramsden’s
- SportsTalk: Leeds United’s manager search, Super League and Calcutta Cup
- Visit from Princess as Serbian culture celebrated
- Strategic review will lead to job losses at Yorkshire Bank
- NHS spends £20m a year on translators and interpreters
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -5 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Light sleet
Temperature: 0 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
