What's happening in your world?

['thul]

'thul woke up not long ago after sleeping for some fifteen hours. 'thul was smart enough to skip sleeping the night between Saturday and Sunday. If smart is the word to use there.

[Rendezvous]

There was a period not long ago where I was unable to access theplenty.net for a few days, from any computer (work, laptop or home computer).

[Farseer]

The first thing I thought when it became apparent that I was unable to get on to thePlenty was,"Could Mervi have banned me? Maybe I should have been more positive with my Terry Pratchett response."

Actually, I am still having a few dramas, even after all of the modem resetting etc. Having searched endlessly for reasons why only one website doesn't work at times, there seems to be no firm reason...just a myriad of little, frustrating ones!

Did you have to do anything to get things back up, Rendezvous?

[Rendezvous]

No, just one day i tried to get in and it worked... I assumed the site was down or deleted... I was most displeased.

[Farseer]

I assumed the site was down or deleted....

*gasp* Never may that happen!

From what I have been able to ascertain, this sort of thing can happen when sites experience a lot of traffic...so Google seems to be troubled by it regularly (though I have never experienced any time before). That's one theory though...

[Farseer]

So much happening in my world but the one thing that sticks out most is that my eldest son has only one more week of school left...ever (until he hits uni of course !).

[redchild]

What? In the middle of November? (sorry I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the school system over there)

[Farseer]

I'm not sure what happens elsewhere in Australia (though I doubt it would be a LOT different...someone jump in if it is!) but up here in Queensland we have four school terms to the year and the lengths of the school terms (usually from nine to eleven weeks) vary a little, depending on various influences eg public holidays at the beginning or end etc.

Usually, the first term begins in late January and lasts until the Easter break. State/government schools have "ten days" break over the Easter period (this includes Easter Friday and two weekends so, effectively, is only one school week off..."ten days" just sounds so much the better so that's what everyone says!) and private schools tend to have two whole weeks.

The second term then begins and continues until the second last week of June with the mid-year, winter break usually straddling the last week of June and the first week of July. State/government schools receive two weeks while, as for the Easter break, most private schools tend to end up with an extra week so get three weeks off.

After the third term, the spring holiday break then straddles the last week of September and first week of October.

In mid-November, the senior (Year Twelve) students from both private and state/government schools graduate and then state/government school Year Ten students as well as students from all year levels in most private schools finish up about a week or so later. Students in other year levels in state/government schools then continue attending school until around the second week of December.

To confuse things further, students in state/government schools considered to be in a "rural and remote" location finish a week earlier as they get an extra week of holidays compared to students on the east coast or down in the south-east corner (of Queensland). As far as I have always known, this is to allow for extra travel time to holiday destinations as there are quite vast distances to cover to reach the coast (isn't that nice of our Qld Government to do that for us ?!). It has been this way since I went to school so not much has changed in two decades!

A long-winded reply...possibly just posting THIS would have been easier...why didn't I just look there first ?!

[redchild]

Thanks for the reply (and for typing all that up!)

Interesting how the school year gets split up in terms. In the US its usually just seen as one big chunk of time usually from September to June with some holidays, winter and spring break in between. Though it seems it's about the same length, I think I would have appreciated the thought of having breaks inbetween terms, haha. I was just wondering whether the Australian system also goes by season than by what month it is. I wonder what the reasoning is behind starting school in fall and ending in summer.

Congratulations on your son's graduation. Now he's free to study what he wants to study Any idea on what major?

[Rendezvous]

Thanks for the reply (and for typing all that up!)

I wonder what the reasoning is behind starting school in fall and ending in summer.

Australia has hot fantastic summers, lots of good beaches and holiday spots, it makes sense that you would want to holiday In the summer for as long as possible!