SUSIE MALLETT

My visitors today

Saturday 20 June 2015

Rain, rain, please go away tomorrow, just long enough for us to celebrate our 20 years of CE, Nürnberg



Our Little Princess, preparing for rain or shine!


Early this morning I wrote a letter to Andrew Sutton. I wrote in response to his recent posting about keeping cool in conductive centres...


‘Feeling the heat’



Andrew just replied, thanking me for my response and he wrote that his first response was to publish my letter on his own blog, but then he thought twice and decided to ask me to publish it on mine. So here I am!

(All you busy CE bloggers will recognise Andrew’s lovely method of encouraging us to get something posted after a bit of a lull on our blogs.)

Here is what I wrote –

On 20 Jun 2015 07:43, Susie Mallett wrote –

‘Dear Andrew

As well as being inventive with our games with ice when the temperature rises we are also experts on do-it-yourself air conditioning, not forgetting that our building is purpose-built for people with disability it is relatively easy to keep it cool.


When the temperature hits the mid-thirties we are used to closing the shutters over-night, opening the doors and windows early in the morning to let cool air in and then closing the shutters again to keep out the sun.


It also helps that our buildings are positioned so that the blazing midday sun cannot shine directly in the windows during the summer months but the low, cooler winter sun can brighten our sometimes grey days. 


Our children are also on the ball when it comes to keeping cool 


When the heat gets too much for the children and young adults wearing their hot and sticky, plastic-splints and thick, orthopedic shoes they often ask us for a bucket of cooling water to put their feet in. 


On very hot days often a child will phone to ask us to please go out to the garage where the paddling pool is stored and prepare it for the afternoon sesssion.

Stop the rain-dance, please!


Unfortunately we have none of these problems with heat at the moment; in fact it is quite the opposite.


As often happens around the summer equinox, and also on Mid-Summer Day, the weather turns cold and rainy. It looks like we will have to put the bad-weather-plan into action tomorrow when we celebrate our twentieth conductive anniversary – the weather forecast tells us that it will probably be held in a downpour.


Instead of all six of our conductive centres coming together for a rare gathering and filling the tree lined courtyard with activities that represent our work and with discussion amongst ourselves and with our invited guests, (who are coming from as far away as Budapest), it looks like we will be painting, drawing, singing and cooking in separate far-flung corners of the cellar in the buildings belonging to our association's sheltered housing.


I am not the only one wishing for a sudden change in the weather. 


All we wish for is just enough blue sky to make a sailor a pair of trousers. This would be much appreciated by all in the conductive groups who have been so busy all week preparing for this occasion. 


From Susie Mallett CE Nurnberg for 22 years !’


Notes


‘Feeling the heat’


(2015) Des nouvelles, Association CEC du Gard, 18 June –

Mallett, S. (2015) Beating the summer heat, conductively, Conductor, 14 June –

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