As all the US bloggers I read have sent their children to kindergarten, I’ve been pondering on school starting ages in different countries. There is a surprising (to me) amount of variability. According to this research paper, in Europe, the standard school starting age varies from four (Northern Ireland) toContinue Reading
In a very metaphorical, entertaining post, Stephanie West Allen at idealawg talks about whether you can ever have more than one level of work life balance at a law firm. She writes of reading of worms that live in water so scorching that it would kill other worms: What would happen ifContinue Reading
Writing my previous Unearthed post made me remember the other reason I decided to become an actuary. I remember saying to one of my teachers, “I’ll never have to write another essay again.” I find it somewhat ironic, then, that I’m now effectively writing as a hobby (quite apart fromContinue Reading
I have to record this: Australia’s women just won the World Basketball Championships! Women’s basketball is one of the few sports I make an effort to see live, whenever world class teams are playing in Sydney, and with the Australian women’s team having been ranked number 2 for the lastContinue Reading
Lazy blogging today, but I thought I’d use a profile I put together for a work magazine. It was quite fun to put together. My favourite energetic pursuit: Triathlons (although it’s been over a year since I did one) My favourite meal: Pancakes and maple syrup on a Sunday morningContinue Reading
There’s been an interesting set of posts started by Elizabeth at Half Changed World about how people choose their childrens’ school. Jody at Raising Weg had a very thoughtful post about the choices she made for her children. So I thought I’d give it a go. My theory is that theContinue Reading
Last night I watched a piece of highbrow fluff on the ABC – The Worst Jobs in History – the Dark Ages. I usually like watching Tony Robinson – best known as Baldrick on Blackadder – but I found this program profoundly irritating. At a time when most people livedContinue Reading
A law firm in NZ has won an award for work life balance. The interesting thing about the award was that the person interviewed as being an example of someone helped by the firm’s policies wasn’t a parent; she was a 25 year old training for an Ironman triathlon, whoContinue Reading
I was talking to a colleague the other day about his children. They’re in their teens. He said that the single biggest issue he and his wife argue about is how to deal with their affluence. Not only is the whole of society enormously richer than we were thirty yearsContinue Reading
I was born (in the UK) a few days before the Israeli six-day war broke out and my mother was born (in London) a few days after the retreat from Dunkirk. So we’ve got a bit of history, in our family. Chatterboy was born here in Australia on September 13, 2001. Although it didn’t feel asContinue Reading