The Cost of Education

It's expensive, having children. 

Even more so if you send them to Public schools, of course.

State schools, however, can also prove costly. 

Here's the scene just after the 2011 Ski trip to Austria arrived back at Redland Green School (we know this, we asked). A trip that must have cost over £1000 per pupil when spending money is added to the bill. Ouch.

Imagine the added insult, therefore, when you walk out of the school grounds having picked up your child to find Bristol's finest traffic wardens have chosen just this moment to visit Redland and ticket any car blocking a dropped kerb (not a yellow line in sight).

One of Bristol Traffic's many roving reporters managed to get this photo of the ticketing in action, whilst the wailing of the Redland Mum's affected by the outrage could be heard across the neighbourhood. Less off-piste, more piste-off.

   

So now, for at least two families, that'll be £1040 minimum. For a ski trip. Shocking.

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Cotham Hill Summit Problems

The final question about the showcase bus route proposals is will the removal of a zebra crossing at the bottom of Cotham Hill and a dedicated turning lane help school run parents turning off at Cotham Hill?

Not if this video of a weekday morning is consistent. There's a jam all the way up the hill from Oakfield Road.

Sometimes there is less of a jam, and then parents can safely pull over onto the bike lane without their fear of their children being hit by a cyclist as they drop them off at one of the local schools (St Peter and Paul's RC is the closest), then carry on to the parent's final destination without any detour.

This is safe, provided the cyclists don't interfere. Today you can see that our secretly-instrumented tax-dodger swerved out of the bike lane, into the tax-payer's lane, forcing the car W153KDA to pull out aggressively to avoid being stuck behind them.

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