When the day is already bitterly cold with the wind making it appear even colder, the pavements are 'unlicensed ice rinks' and you have no reason to go out, what do you do?
We sleep late, eat 'sensible' food, speak to friends, read books, the newspapers on line, catch up on programmes or films that we have either missed or that we want to watch again.
Simple things happened, like banning fruit juice at school, children now drink tap water and the city refusing sponsorship to events that take money from Coca-Cola or McDonalds.
In an eastern part of the city, a cooking class takes place every week, the class is not just for children because their parents come as well.
A volunteer, Amira El Ashkar, whose family came from Egypt, said every week they come together to cook and to change the traditional recipes, she has introduced healthy versions of the tagine and couscous dishes. She said "Families want to eat healthy food - they just did not know how".
We sleep late, eat 'sensible' food, speak to friends, read books, the newspapers on line, catch up on programmes or films that we have either missed or that we want to watch again.
And this is how we came across the article in today's Guardian newspaper.
Eric van der Burg is the deputy Mayor of Amsterdam and he put into place a new and radical way of tackling the problem of obesity amongst the young.
The schools are the 'front line' as it were against this problem in the Netherlands where in the city of Amsterdam, a fifth of its children are overweight.
The schools are the 'front line' as it were against this problem in the Netherlands where in the city of Amsterdam, a fifth of its children are overweight.
Simple things happened, like banning fruit juice at school, children now drink tap water and the city refusing sponsorship to events that take money from Coca-Cola or McDonalds.
In an eastern part of the city, a cooking class takes place every week, the class is not just for children because their parents come as well.
A volunteer, Amira El Ashkar, whose family came from Egypt, said every week they come together to cook and to change the traditional recipes, she has introduced healthy versions of the tagine and couscous dishes. She said "Families want to eat healthy food - they just did not know how".
From 2011 to 2015, the number of overweight and obese children dropped by 12%, the biggest drop was amongst the lowest socio-economic groups.
The schools realised that it is much easier to prevent children from putting on weight than trying to sort it out later. How true..
It's an article that she will send to various friends and suggests that you read it in full yourselves, she wishes that more parents and schools were this pro-active.
Go to:
www.theguardian.com/society/2017/apr/13/amsterdam-solution-obesity-crisis-no-fruit-juice-enough-sleep
As it is now time for our late lunch, we bid you "stay safe and IF you have to travel anywhere by car, make sure that your mobile's fully charged, that you take: something to eat, a large thermos of a hot drink, long boots, gloves, a hat and a rug in the car with you.. plus a big shovel".
Because.. those people stuck for hours in the snow on country lanes or on motorways didn't think it would happen to them, that's for sure!
Constance used to sling a 100 weight sack of potatoes into the boot of her car, it made her car 'sit' down on the road and stopped her skidding on ice. But in those days, everyone who lived in the country.. had snow chains!
GeeGee Parrot.
March 3rd, 2018.
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