School again

Jonathan has gone back to school. Here he is in the full uniform.

And here he is with his dad.

Last year he was a couple of inches shorter than his dad. This year he is a few inches taller. While we bought his uniform to be a little large two years ago, needless to say he had grown out of it by the beginning of this year. So we forked over about four hundred dollars for a new set this year. They didn't have any long trousers or long sleeved shirts in stock, which means we'll go back and spend another hundred or so in March as it starts getting colder.

So five hundred dollars for school clothes for two years. Is that better or worse than buying non-uniform school clothes? I was going to write worse. But possibly that's not true for a teenager. Certainly I spent a lot less than $250 per year on clothes when I was his age, but that was in another time and a much cheaper place. Also, I was one of the oldest children in a family with lots and lots of children, and my parents always made it clear that there was very little money to spend. Here, the super cheap jeans made in a sweat shop by third-world children cost at least $40, and then there are shirts and sweaters and jackets that must be rotated as well. So I guess I could see us spending over $250 per year on school clothes without uniforms. Perhaps I will stop complaining about the cost of uniforms.

For me, school ended. My January summer school class is over. I still have to finish writing the final exam and do some marking, but I'm looking forward to the month of February with no teaching. I hope to finish a couple more research papers and get back to writing my text book. And yet, looking at the calendar, that whole huge empty month of February only has three weeks left, as we actually start just before March, with one week taken by a panel I'm on, and another week taken by a visitor. I guess I had better be really really productive during that one remaining week.

Why do calendars always do that? They contract ages of time remaining down to imminent deadlines. I hate them.