Forum Topic

strand on the green school pick up time grid-lock

Total motor-traffic gridlock today in strand on the green at school pick up time. Is it always like that?Parents loading their kids into giant 4x4s, and then sitting in a traffic jam for 20 minutes. It's only a primary school...presumably they don't live very far away. Shame they feel the need to drive, even on a sunny day.Anyway, I propose demolishing all the buildings and building a 6 lane highway, plus a multi-storey car-park. That'd fix it.Meanwhile, I whizzed thru on my bike.

Simon Pedley ● 5d32 Comments

Good Grief didn't realise these people still existed !!

anthony ● 2h

Life is so easy in your world, Philippa, but it's just not so for many people for a good reason. Just had a bad thought. What if you had Philippa as a mother and Steve as a father? 😁LOL That might just point to how hard things possibly are for some people

Julian Pavey ● 3h

“ Many of these people no doubt thought "a quick five minute car journey" and it looked like they would be stuck for a couple of hours for sure.”It’s extremely rare to be stuck in traffic for a couple of hours because someone was struck by a car. Normally a quick 5 minute car journey is exactly that. A seamless comfortable journey. These days the people getting ‘stuck’ are train and tube commuters who have been held up many times in the last month due to someone being struck by a train. It’s been particularly bad on the Richmond to Waterloo line.

Steve Taylor ● 3h

"Well don't drive then?!""Paul, I was referring to busy city dwellers rushing to fulfill  umpteen schedules in a single day.I know such people exist, I was one of them once, and have never driven a car in London in my life.

Denis I. Fox ● 7h

In a big city more often than not time is of the essence.              Denis I.FoxWell don't drive then?!I was approaching Barnes the other day and there was a MASSIVE line of people stuck in cars as somebody had been struck by a car and was lying in the road.Many of these people no doubt thought "a quick five minute car journey" and it looked like they would be stuck for a couple of hours for sure.

Paul James ● 8h

All down to extremely bad and/or lazy parenting!

Steve Taylor ● 9h

Lovely poem Denis.I haven't forgotten that many households have two people working.  I've lived in one.  Mobiles make contacting other children's parents easier.  Children don't always have mounds of homework - though I believe in the routine and do advocate consolidation of work done in class as opposed to mounds of other homework (some parents it seems don't believe in any of it nowadays).  It may also be more productive and less stressful for everyone to have some less time-tabled hours in their day instead of being rushed off to a different activity every day.Yesterday I met some children in the park on their way home and in that run around on their way home they had found an interesting big grub in a rotten log which we discussed.  You're not very likely to find one of those if you are rushed in and out of a car going door to door.  As I keep being told there are plenty of ready meals out there to be bought and most people probably have freezers nowadays - for when supper hasn't been prepared.  What often happens now though is that children seem to be given or to take a never ending number of snacks to keep them quiet and then aren't hungry enough to eat their healthier meal. They have not learned any patience or how to help get supper ready by laying the table or peeling the potatoes etc.  When parents sadly can't/won't cook then children are less likely to learn. Not the best of starts to a happy and healthy  independent life.Healthy food doesn't have to have some fancy French name and come out of a freezer and when the cook is in charge children are more likely to happily eat a wider range of foods instead of the fuss of only wanting to eat the first thing they think of.  So it can also easily just be beans on toast tonight.https://ptes.org/get.involved/wildlife.action/help.stag.beetles/

Philippa Bond ● 10h

I think P forgets that many households have 2 people working and school children have homework each evening. Plus you have to cook. School children tend to have friends around for a while or they talk on social media. Its not the same as when we were young for many people.

Julian Pavey ● 1d

Take time to smell the roses, their fragrance soft and sweetFor life is not a race to run, but a rhythm to complete..The roses bloom in patient trust unfolding day by dayA gentle call to rest awhile and let the world delay.            Donald McGilliverayIn a big city more often than not time is of the essence.              Denis I.Fox

Denis I. Fox ● 1d

Think Covid did change a lot of old habits.

Janice Evans ● 1d

All that seems to be done on mobiles these days, even neighbour's its on What's App, we no longer meet, apart from immediate neighbour's we might see.

Janice Evans ● 1d

Reorganising to be able to walk and discuss the day on the way home and stopping to meet, talk or play with friends is also worthwhile instead of the rush to get somewhere else all the time.  We used to take a sandwich for after school and then play with schoolmates in a park.  It's how we got to know our classmates better and the children's parents met each other and playdates were arranged together with shared pick ups.If all you do is walk out of your house and get straight into your car all the time you are unlikely to even meet let alone know your neighbours.

Philippa Bond ● 1d

I do say if I get a bad feeling about something, but often they don't listenand things do happen, but it's impossible to protect everyone and wrong to try and run their lives for them.

Janice Evans ● 1d

Whatever reason people choose to drive is up to them, I would never tell anyone what to do, like when the other half asks which way shall we go, I always say your driving so you decide, just in case something went wrong.

Janice Evans ● 1d

Of course Janice these are all possibilities.As I wrote previously:What proportion of those who drive to/from school actually need to drive rather than just prefering to is something that has a bearing on whether the alleged ( I haven't seen it myself as it's not somewhere I pass more than a couple of times a year)  grid lock is inevitable, or "self-inflicted".I know I used to drive small distances when actually it wouldn't have hurt me ( or taken much longer) to walk. I don't do it so much anymore because a) it's more difficult to park without paying and b) I recognise the benefits of even small amounts of exercise more than I used to. My conclusion, looking at how I acted was that I didn't actually need to drive on some occasions, but I chose to drive. That's fine of course, we live in a free country, but I'm increasingly aware my actions can have an effect on other people.One person driving when he doesn't need to has little to no impact on the overall scheme of things, but realistically it's never just one person.

Andrew Jones ● 2d

Although it’s stating the bleeding obvious, Janice’s last two posts are 100% correct. It’s a pity some people are too arrogant to accept that everyone has different pressures!

Steve Taylor ● 2d

Also it's not always the parents collecting them it could be paid help who then transport them to where they need to go.

Janice Evans ● 2d

It might not just be collecting kids and returning home, they may be going on somewhere else, so why would they walk to the school then walk home to get the car, I don't know how others minds work of course, but I wouldn't assume they are returning home straight away as I never did.

Janice Evans ● 2d

Janice, I responded to your original post when you stated what I felt was a bit of a gender stereotype namely "Men don't usually do those jobs, so wouldn't know ..."I know you never said never, however I didn't ignore what you wrote, I read it ( obviously) and if I'd disagreed with it, then maybe I would have written something, but I didn't disagree so simply replying "Yes I know you never said never" doesn't add much to the discussion. I did want to mention that you hadn't hit a nerve with me, as to my mind that suggests I was really bothered about what you wrote - and I wasn't.I'm happy to accept the majority of trips undertaken by car to/from the primary school might be undertaken by women, but I do also believe that those of us ( both women and men) who don't do a school run can still have an appreciation of why some people choose to drive.Felicity gave some good examples of reasons why people might need to drive. Felicity might be right that only a tiny proportion of parents would drive their children to and from a primary school if it was walking distance away - I wouldn't know.What proportion of those who drive to/from school actually need to drive rather than just prefering to is something that has a bearing on whether the alleged ( I haven't seen it myself as it's not somewhere I pass more than a couple of times a year)  grid lock is inevitable, or "self-inflicted".

Andrew Jones ● 2d

Sometimes people also get so stuck in their routines that they don't stop and think properly or discuss if there is an alternative to what they are doing.  They may need the space of a holiday to reconsider.  Time is what you make of it.

Philippa Bond ● 3d

And I was not being sexist either, you both completely ignored the fact I said 'don't usually do those jobs'

Janice Evans ● 4d

A frightening vision. All those Lycra clad male wankers whizzing and weaving dangerously  through the traffic leaving their wives to get their kids to school in the comfortable 4x4s. A happy balance of shared responsibilities.

Steve Taylor ● 4d

I was explaining to Felicity the probable reason for your comments.

Janice Evans ● 4d

Not at all, my Dad did loads as my Mum was blind, also my husband did the cooking, he was disabled so I had to do all the heavy jobs like gardening.

Janice Evans ● 4d

It hasn't hit a nerve with me Janice, however I know plenty of men who get involved with taking their children to school, and plenty of men who cook.Maybe it's a generational thing.

Andrew Jones ● 4d

And was explaining that to Felicity, obviously hit a nerve.

Janice Evans ● 4d

I said men don't usually do those jobs, never said never.

Janice Evans ● 4d

Simon Pedley ● 4d

Those sorts of gender stereotypes are increasingly out of date Janice.Believe it or not, in some households men cook dinner, and that's not just in households where there are no women ;)

Andrew Jones ● 4d

Men don't usually do those jobs, so wouldn't know about the pressure involved in getting to places on time, fitting in shopping, housework,dinner etc., keeping children in check, and having to go to work

Janice Evans ● 4d

You gentlemen may feel smug about your transport choices but the reality is only a tiny proportion of parents would drive their children to and from primary school if it was walking distance away. In my experience the option to drive (thankfully rare) was necessitated by schedule pressure - a need to be at work, ferry children to after school clubs or play dates or project or sports equipment being impractical to carry by foot. There are also parents of neuro-divergent children who may feel that the car is only the reliable way to assure attendance.I was told that the current problems around Strand School partly stem from the changes to parking restrictions on Regent Street on the other side of the railway tracks. Don't know for sure if this is the case.

Felicity Caborn ● 4d

Yeah you might have been quicker but think of all the pollution you inhaled, whereas all those lucky aspirational people amd their children were sitting for 20 minutes in supreme air conditioned comfort, listening to calming whale music.I know which mode of transport I would have preferred to be using today.

Andrew Jones ● 5d