The other thing on my to-do list which I have been researching is whether my grandkids would be eligible for British citizenship. And after a fair amount of research, my conclusion is that a greater morass of uncertainty and confusion has yet to be devised in the history of mankind.
Naturally, the first place I went to was the website for the British Consul in HK. I guess I should have known what I was getting myself in for when the only information they had on this was to ask you to contact the consul!
So much for the British Consul in HK. But, where else could I go? Well, it turns out that there are a raft of different options. As a quick aside, isn't it sad that the clearest indication of whether my grandkids can claim British Citizenship comes from a wiki? Anyway, I wouldn't particularly recommend that you read through all of that in detail unless you have a lot of spare time...
So, after all that laborious reading, I have finally come to the conclusion that my grandkids aren't likely to get British citizenship as Gerry and Gordon are British Citizens by descent i.e. their British Citizenship is gained through their parents (or more particularly - me!). As pointed out in the glossary of terms for By descent:
"British citizenship gained through your parents. This type of citizenship cannot normally be passed on to your own children."
It goes without saying that this only applies if Gerry and Gordon don't become eligible for British Citizenship status via some other means (such as becoming naturalised themselves). It does go without saying, right?
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
How to cure my cold
People who have known me for a long time will know that I have a really sensitive nose and that I tend to pick up the common cold very easily. Various remedies have been tried for this over the years. Some of them simple (drinking vitamin C regularly) and some of them less so (regular nasal spray). For various reasons, nothing has really worked.
However, there is hope that a solution has finally been found!
Actually, to be completely honest, I don't think this solution will work either. Having said that, the method certainly sounds like it has merit so I don't intend to stop anytime soon.
PS Just realised that I haven't actually said what the solution is yet. Well, check out number 3 on this list!
:D
However, there is hope that a solution has finally been found!
Actually, to be completely honest, I don't think this solution will work either. Having said that, the method certainly sounds like it has merit so I don't intend to stop anytime soon.
PS Just realised that I haven't actually said what the solution is yet. Well, check out number 3 on this list!
:D
Monday, August 23, 2010
University tuition rates
I've said before that one of the advantages of growing up in the UK was that the British Government paid for my education. However, in researching whether this benefit will be available to my kids, I came across an interesting realisation - that first statement of mine may not be true for all UK citizens.
First off, I should say that all comments below are based on my current research. I have no idea what the position was like when my brother and I went to University (I guess I can ask my dad next time I talk to him).
So, it turns out that the proper terminology for the different University tuition fees are "home" rates and "overseas" rates. Growing up in Scotland like I did, I would have been paying the "home" rate. In the case of my alma mater (ie the University of Strathclyde), the "home" rate is actually zero for Scottish-domiciled students (whereas Sassenach's will need to pay a fee).
Which makes me wonder if my brother, who went to some posh University in England, actually had to pay a tuition fee? Or, as is more likely, whether my dad had to pay a fee?
Not quite the free ride I initially thought. Still, considering the heavy discount on "home" rates compared to "overseas" rates, the British Government is footing the majority of the bill so still highly generous.
Anyway, the bigger question behind all this is whether my kids will be able to enjoy "home" tuition rates. Unfortunately, the answer would appear to be no. Rules for determining eligibility for "home" rates in England, Wales or Northern Ireland is here while the rules for those studying in Scotland is here.
While there are two different sets of rules, the broad themes are the same. In particular, there appear to be two major stumbling blocks to my kids claiming "home" tuition rates.
First, they would have to be ordinarily resident in the UK for the full three years prior to the start of the course. Unless my kids go to school in the UK, this criterion isn't likely to be met. In addition, during that 3 year period, the main purpose of residence in the UK must not have been for the purpose of receiving full-time education. In other words, even if the kids went to school in the UK, they would still not be legible for "home" rates if they were only in the UK for the purpose of going to school.
So, as I said above, it seems likely that my kids won't be able to claim "home" tuition rates.
Pity.
First off, I should say that all comments below are based on my current research. I have no idea what the position was like when my brother and I went to University (I guess I can ask my dad next time I talk to him).
So, it turns out that the proper terminology for the different University tuition fees are "home" rates and "overseas" rates. Growing up in Scotland like I did, I would have been paying the "home" rate. In the case of my alma mater (ie the University of Strathclyde), the "home" rate is actually zero for Scottish-domiciled students (whereas Sassenach's will need to pay a fee).
Which makes me wonder if my brother, who went to some posh University in England, actually had to pay a tuition fee? Or, as is more likely, whether my dad had to pay a fee?
Not quite the free ride I initially thought. Still, considering the heavy discount on "home" rates compared to "overseas" rates, the British Government is footing the majority of the bill so still highly generous.
Anyway, the bigger question behind all this is whether my kids will be able to enjoy "home" tuition rates. Unfortunately, the answer would appear to be no. Rules for determining eligibility for "home" rates in England, Wales or Northern Ireland is here while the rules for those studying in Scotland is here.
While there are two different sets of rules, the broad themes are the same. In particular, there appear to be two major stumbling blocks to my kids claiming "home" tuition rates.
First, they would have to be ordinarily resident in the UK for the full three years prior to the start of the course. Unless my kids go to school in the UK, this criterion isn't likely to be met. In addition, during that 3 year period, the main purpose of residence in the UK must not have been for the purpose of receiving full-time education. In other words, even if the kids went to school in the UK, they would still not be legible for "home" rates if they were only in the UK for the purpose of going to school.
So, as I said above, it seems likely that my kids won't be able to claim "home" tuition rates.
Pity.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
My to do list
I currently have three very important tasks on my to do list.
1) Find out if Gerry and Gordon can attend University in the UK for free
One of the benefits of growing up in the UK was that my education was paid for by the British Government (or the British people depending on your point of view). However, will Gerry and Gordon be able to avail themselves of this benefit if they decide to study in the UK? Is British citizenship enough for them to get a free pass or are there other requirements?
2) Check out the classified section of the newspaper for job listings
I need to identify some nice jobs that Gerry may be interested in based on his current interests and find out the skill set that those jobs require. With this in mind, we can then start planning the kind of extra-curricular activities that Gerry should get involved in. This will allow us to "sell" him on those activities early so that he can have a head start in building up certain key skills which will be relevant to him in future. For example, getting him involved in speech competitions will help build his presentation skills which is important no matter which career he ultimately chooses.
3) Find out whether my grandkids are eligible for British citizenship
Both Gerry and Gordon can claim British citizenship on the basis that I am a British citizen (and in fact, Gerry has already done so). However, in some countries, this only applies for one generation - so if the UK follows this rule, then my grandkids would not be eligible for British citizenship. What I need to do is find out if the UK follows this rule and if so, what we can do to counter it.
Oh - one last point. One of the above tasks is a joke - can you guess which one?
1) Find out if Gerry and Gordon can attend University in the UK for free
One of the benefits of growing up in the UK was that my education was paid for by the British Government (or the British people depending on your point of view). However, will Gerry and Gordon be able to avail themselves of this benefit if they decide to study in the UK? Is British citizenship enough for them to get a free pass or are there other requirements?
2) Check out the classified section of the newspaper for job listings
I need to identify some nice jobs that Gerry may be interested in based on his current interests and find out the skill set that those jobs require. With this in mind, we can then start planning the kind of extra-curricular activities that Gerry should get involved in. This will allow us to "sell" him on those activities early so that he can have a head start in building up certain key skills which will be relevant to him in future. For example, getting him involved in speech competitions will help build his presentation skills which is important no matter which career he ultimately chooses.
3) Find out whether my grandkids are eligible for British citizenship
Both Gerry and Gordon can claim British citizenship on the basis that I am a British citizen (and in fact, Gerry has already done so). However, in some countries, this only applies for one generation - so if the UK follows this rule, then my grandkids would not be eligible for British citizenship. What I need to do is find out if the UK follows this rule and if so, what we can do to counter it.
Oh - one last point. One of the above tasks is a joke - can you guess which one?
Monday, August 16, 2010
The Premiership starts anew
Hoozah - the new Premiership season is underway and, despite "only" managing a draw against Arsenal in the opening game, there is hope that Liverpool will do much better than they did last year. More importantly, this is a good opportunity to plug another website which I enjoy reading but which I haven't yet mentioned on this blog.
Which website is that? Zonal Marking of course!
Zonal Marking is a website dedicated to analysing the different football tactics which teams use. I first started reading this site after I realised that the match engine in FM2010 was good enough that tactical nuances could be analysed and then exploited. The problem was that my lack of knowledge re football tactics meant that I didn't know how to analyse or exploit opposition tactics.
Naturally, the first thing I did was to jump onto the forums at sigames to start reading forum posts on favoured tactics. However, one thing very quickly became clear. There was no super tactic that would always work. The key was in finding the right tactics for your players, having squad depth so that you could change the way your team played by using subs and then using all this to exploit opposition gaps. Easier said that done - as I said above, I didn't know how to do this.
Luckily for me, one of the posts had a more general discussion of football tactics which included a link to Zonal Marking. I started reading ZM last season and the in-depth analysis it provides is a great way to better understand what is happening on the pitch and why the players are doing what they are doing.
Definitely recommended reading for footie fans (irrespective of whether you play FM2010 or not!).
Which website is that? Zonal Marking of course!
Zonal Marking is a website dedicated to analysing the different football tactics which teams use. I first started reading this site after I realised that the match engine in FM2010 was good enough that tactical nuances could be analysed and then exploited. The problem was that my lack of knowledge re football tactics meant that I didn't know how to analyse or exploit opposition tactics.
Naturally, the first thing I did was to jump onto the forums at sigames to start reading forum posts on favoured tactics. However, one thing very quickly became clear. There was no super tactic that would always work. The key was in finding the right tactics for your players, having squad depth so that you could change the way your team played by using subs and then using all this to exploit opposition gaps. Easier said that done - as I said above, I didn't know how to do this.
Luckily for me, one of the posts had a more general discussion of football tactics which included a link to Zonal Marking. I started reading ZM last season and the in-depth analysis it provides is a great way to better understand what is happening on the pitch and why the players are doing what they are doing.
Definitely recommended reading for footie fans (irrespective of whether you play FM2010 or not!).
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Banoffee pie
Banoffee pie is a deliciously decadent dessert from the UK. And if you have never had one, then you are truly missing out on one of life's great indulgences. Of course, if you have never had one, then you will have no idea what I'm talking about so let me enlighten you.
This is a banoffee pie:
In essence, it is a biscuit base (although the original recipe uses a pastry base) with a layer of dulce de leche, banana's and lashings of whipped cream topped off with chocolate shavings.
Yum!
Here you can see a side view with the soft caramel oozing onto the plate. Although hard to spot, there is a layer of banana's under the cream.
And below, proof of the delicious nature of this world famous pie.
:)
Look - even the people on the TV wanted some!
Gerry caught in the act of snarfing some down.
Even little Gordon, so often left out of family activities, managed to get some!
This is a banoffee pie:
In essence, it is a biscuit base (although the original recipe uses a pastry base) with a layer of dulce de leche, banana's and lashings of whipped cream topped off with chocolate shavings.
Yum!
Here you can see a side view with the soft caramel oozing onto the plate. Although hard to spot, there is a layer of banana's under the cream.
And below, proof of the delicious nature of this world famous pie.
:)
Look - even the people on the TV wanted some!
Gerry caught in the act of snarfing some down.
Even little Gordon, so often left out of family activities, managed to get some!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Why parents hate parenting
As I make my travels across the series of tubes that is the internet, I occasionally find an article that rings so true to my own experiences that I can't help but wonder why people actually needed to conduct a study to prove the point. As the father of two children, this article rings of such truth.
Its hard to summarise such a long article while keeping the key message intact so I strongly urge you to read the full article if you have the time. In brief though, the article talks about how parenting doesn't make the parent happier and, if anything, actually makes the parent less happy.
Anyway, two points in the article resonated with me in particular and I wanted to add a little more comment on those points from my own perspective.
Moments of transcendence
It's possible that the author doesn't buy this argument herself but one of the points mentioned in the article is that children "offer moments of transcendence, not an overall improvement in well-being". The author labels this as being a "fatalistic explanation" but I'm not sure that I concur.
As a father, those moments of transcendence are unbelievably powerful and pack one heck of an emotional punch. I've talked before on this blog about one such moment with Gerry. Another such situation occurred over the weekend.
Normally, Gordon doesn't like me much. He spends most of his time cozying up to either his mother or the maid. In fact, the only time he willingly lets me hold him is when we are getting into the car (I'm the only one who knows how to put him into the baby seat). However, over the weekend, Gordon deliberately held up his arms for me to hold him. And this was despite the fact that the missus was holding him at the time.
Moments like this are treasures for which words cannot do justice. Moments like this make all of the other crap you have to put up with as a parent worth it.
Kids destroy every other joy
One of the other quotes in the article which really resonated with me is on page 3. Kids are "a huge source of joy, but they turn every other source of joy to shit".
The reality is that I have given up all pretence of having a life, with the exception of videogames which can be played after the kids have gone to sleep. All of my social activities have basically died as a result of the time I spend with the kids (although I do go out and meet with some friends whenever there is a blue moon). This is likely to continue until the kids get a bit older and realise that hanging out with your parents is seriously uncool.
This used to bug me a lot. I used to regret having to give up all the fun things that I used to do like badminton, snooker or just hanging around with friends in a pub. As you can imagine, this isn't a healthy state of mind and over time, it would probably have negatively impacted the kids as well. Luckily for me, I eventually came to a realisation which helped me get over this.
In the end, I realised that my favourite leisure activity was playing videogames and that I was damn lucky to be able to have kids while keeping my favourite hobby.
:)
Its hard to summarise such a long article while keeping the key message intact so I strongly urge you to read the full article if you have the time. In brief though, the article talks about how parenting doesn't make the parent happier and, if anything, actually makes the parent less happy.
Anyway, two points in the article resonated with me in particular and I wanted to add a little more comment on those points from my own perspective.
Moments of transcendence
It's possible that the author doesn't buy this argument herself but one of the points mentioned in the article is that children "offer moments of transcendence, not an overall improvement in well-being". The author labels this as being a "fatalistic explanation" but I'm not sure that I concur.
As a father, those moments of transcendence are unbelievably powerful and pack one heck of an emotional punch. I've talked before on this blog about one such moment with Gerry. Another such situation occurred over the weekend.
Normally, Gordon doesn't like me much. He spends most of his time cozying up to either his mother or the maid. In fact, the only time he willingly lets me hold him is when we are getting into the car (I'm the only one who knows how to put him into the baby seat). However, over the weekend, Gordon deliberately held up his arms for me to hold him. And this was despite the fact that the missus was holding him at the time.
Moments like this are treasures for which words cannot do justice. Moments like this make all of the other crap you have to put up with as a parent worth it.
Kids destroy every other joy
One of the other quotes in the article which really resonated with me is on page 3. Kids are "a huge source of joy, but they turn every other source of joy to shit".
The reality is that I have given up all pretence of having a life, with the exception of videogames which can be played after the kids have gone to sleep. All of my social activities have basically died as a result of the time I spend with the kids (although I do go out and meet with some friends whenever there is a blue moon). This is likely to continue until the kids get a bit older and realise that hanging out with your parents is seriously uncool.
This used to bug me a lot. I used to regret having to give up all the fun things that I used to do like badminton, snooker or just hanging around with friends in a pub. As you can imagine, this isn't a healthy state of mind and over time, it would probably have negatively impacted the kids as well. Luckily for me, I eventually came to a realisation which helped me get over this.
In the end, I realised that my favourite leisure activity was playing videogames and that I was damn lucky to be able to have kids while keeping my favourite hobby.
:)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Back in Phuket - part three
The last set of holiday pics. :)
One of the really fun activities that the hotel had was an animal towel folding tutorial. And basically, its exactly what it says on the tin - teach you how to fold towels into animal shapes!
This is a picture of me making the head of some animal - can you guess what it is?
That's right! It was the head of an elephant!
Here you can see the finished product.
A couple of swans. How lovely - I actually have this in crystal form as well!
Elephant, rabbit, monkey and two swans. By now, we have a veritable zoo!
The only thing missing was an aviary!
One of the really fun activities that the hotel had was an animal towel folding tutorial. And basically, its exactly what it says on the tin - teach you how to fold towels into animal shapes!
This is a picture of me making the head of some animal - can you guess what it is?
That's right! It was the head of an elephant!
Here you can see the finished product.
A couple of swans. How lovely - I actually have this in crystal form as well!
Elephant, rabbit, monkey and two swans. By now, we have a veritable zoo!
The only thing missing was an aviary!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Back in Phuket - part two
Some more pictures of our holiday in Phuket.
One of the advantages of taking Gerry to a resort hotel is that the hotel has a shallow swimming pool for children. In this particular case, the swimming pool had a water slide which Gerry absolutely loved. He must have been up and down that water slide at least a hundred times over the course of the week that we were there!
Here you can see Gerry as he gets to the bottom of the slide. You could always tell that he was on the slide as the foam board that he has would make this horrible screeching noise on the slide.
Check out that grin on his face! If nothing else, that grin tells you exactly how much he loved that slide.
Here is a closeup of Gerry as he hits the water. Even with his eyes closed, he is still grinning away.
A rare break to take a rest from the sun. Unfortunately, we didn't have any shades so had to improvise...
And a clear photo just in case you weren't sure that the person in the photo above was really me.
:)
One of the advantages of taking Gerry to a resort hotel is that the hotel has a shallow swimming pool for children. In this particular case, the swimming pool had a water slide which Gerry absolutely loved. He must have been up and down that water slide at least a hundred times over the course of the week that we were there!
Here you can see Gerry as he gets to the bottom of the slide. You could always tell that he was on the slide as the foam board that he has would make this horrible screeching noise on the slide.
Check out that grin on his face! If nothing else, that grin tells you exactly how much he loved that slide.
Here is a closeup of Gerry as he hits the water. Even with his eyes closed, he is still grinning away.
A rare break to take a rest from the sun. Unfortunately, we didn't have any shades so had to improvise...
And a clear photo just in case you weren't sure that the person in the photo above was really me.
:)
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