CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
At St Ninians Primary School in Stirling, where she was headteacher, she made time during every school day for each child to run or walk one mile around the playground.
Super that she is taking initiative in that way but wouldn't it be nice if they could do that on the way to school?
Indeed, Min. But then parents would have to leave their motorised, climate controlled, home entertainment mobile bubbles, and actually use their legs, breathe in the open air, etc. Shock! Horror! How dare you even suggest such an egregious assault on their human rights to drive with impunity!
There was a debate on Scotland 2015 last night about the free fruit for school kids (incidentally I'm aware that Edinburgh is now incorporating this statutory provision into the school lunch to save on wastage).
The point was raised by one speaker that schools were being used to make up for the failings of parents and society in general. Which does rather raise the question of what everyone else is doing to help improve children's health? Why are primary school teachers the fall guys/gals?
Ha yes, I hate that teachers are increasingly being demanded to parent children as well as teach them.
Reclaim playgrounds from teachers car parks. It is not a right to get a parking space at your work.
At James Gillespies HS, what should be the playground is currently being used as a staff car park, while the remainder of the school gets built. (There is to be a new staff car park built, I believe). It was so full of cars today, they were parked across each other, blocking each other in!
Worse, the entrance to it is blind and narrow (6ft high stone wall either side). It also crosses the pavement where literally hundreds of nursery, primary & secondary pupils walk by on the way to school.
Seen schools in Glasgow, where an area has been created for carparking in a space which was clearly once part of the playground.
At Towerbank in Portobello they did the opposite. The former very large car park has been reclaimed as playground. Which was the right thing to do.
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Obesity and overweight levels in Scotland have stabilised since 2008.
BUT
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https://creatingahealthierscotland.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/10-facts.pdf
"In 2014, three quarters of adults assessed their health in general as either ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
YET
46% of adults had a long-term health condition in
2014 and these conditions account for 80% of all GP consultations in Scotland."
I would say that I have good/very good health but I do suffer from Asthma and occasionally visit my GP so I don't think the two are mutually exclusive.
I suspect likewise if you have well managed diabetes you could consider yourself to be in good health.
I used to walk my children to school, was good exercise for us all (I was also pushing the bike up the hill). Sometimes other parents would stop and give them a lift. I was always grateful. But if everyone agreed not to drive anywhere near the school then all the kids could walk themselves. And all the parents and carers could just go straight to work. Not sure how to crack that one.
Most teachers won't live near their work. Schools without car parks will be less common than schools without playgrounds. I know several of the people I pass in the morning who are heading west are teachers cycling to work but they are not the norm.
"but they are not the norm"
Not just within teaching.
Some (most?) teachers prefer not to live in the school's catchment area (probably secondary more than primary). Some are reluctant to travel by bus when pupils do.
Whether that means LAs should provide parking is another matter. If it is at the expense of space that really should be required for playground then that's undesirable.
I think there are minimum standards of space for pupils (which can be dealt with through staggered playtimes.) I wonder if any Edinburgh schools 'fail' because of parking?
Not 'school' related, but there has been a lot of chat and frustration in my workplace this week about the terrible traffic - both in Edinburgh and on the M8.
One workmates wife who works at RBS took 45 minutes on a bus to get past Edinburgh Park (about a mile, maximum)!!
Said workmate (also a daily cyclist) and I did wonder if we were reaching saturation point for motorised transport in parts of Edinburgh?
We also both noted how unstressed we both are about the traffic as our commute times are pretty much unaffected.
Random
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With more time at work and behind the wheel, and less time being active, Houstonians, like Lisa Moberg, are quickly learning that their bodies are now taking the toll.
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http://abc13.com/health/is-your-commute-affecting-your-health/1068259/
"I would say that I have good/very good health but I do suffer from Asthma and occasionally visit my GP so I don't think the two are mutually exclusive."
Yes, me too. However I think the stats suggest some overestimation of health on the part of 21% of the population. Unless Scotland has 21% rate of asthma which would make it an epidemic.
Diabetes is a more serious issue, IMHO. Then again asthma can be serious in the wrong circumstances.
Does the tally of long-term health conditions include mental health? Because anxiety/depression account for plenty of GP visits. And I'd say I'm in fairly good health, but I also have a long-term physical health condition (banjanxed thyroids mean pills & annual blood tests for the rest of your life). I can think of a lot of conditions that you might consider as sort of seperate from the "rest" of your health, especially if you know you'll be living with them for a long time/the rest of your life.
Denis Law from the article:
“Back in my day, there were no cars about so we would play a lot of football in the streets. There was no television then either, so we played football all the time.
“Where do kids play now? They can’t play in the streets now, there are too many cars."
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The cafe’s website claims it has the “eating culture of the 1940s & 50s, an era when fat-free, low carb and counting calories did not exist . . . or obesity.”
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http://www.scotsman.com/news/city-diner-snaps-back-at-bad-tripadvisor-reviews-1-3960189
The 1940's and 50's. Riight before the Americans started getting fat. Just saying.. ;-)
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Obesity is the biggest threat to women's health and the health of future generations, warns England's chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies.
In her annual report, which this year focuses on women, said tackling obesity should be a national priority to avert a "growing health catastrophe".
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Councillor Paul Godzik, city education leader, said: “We also actively encourage walking and cycling to school, which offers many benefits to children.
“In addition, we strive to achieve PE targets for all pupils, and are currently trialling a programme of daily physical activity in two of our schools, which we hope to roll out across the city in future.”
Public Health Minister Maureen Watt said: “Obesity is a notable public health issue in most of western Europe, and Scotland is no exception. The Scottish Government is committed to addressing it by taking action to improve diets and encourage physical activity.”
"
Two hours PE in schools isn't going to solve this problem. Walking and cycling to school is all very well but again it won't solve the problem. Better diet obviously but perhaps we need to look at the amount of food we are feeding our children. Parental responsibility??
"Parental responsibility??"
Undoubtedly, but food industry is also 'involved'.
Remember SunnyD - aimed at parents 'who want to do the right thing' - but turned out to have MUCH more sugar than fruit.
Advertised on telly of course.
From link -
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The campaign group named Starbucks’s Hot Mulled Fruit (grape with chai, orange and cinnamon venti) as the worst offender. At 25 teaspoons of sugar it contains more than three times the recommended maximum adult daily intake.
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Hot Mulled Fruit (grape with chai, orange and cinnamon venti
There is a part of me that thinks that if you want to drink a hot mulled fruit chai cinnamon venti then you kinda deserve it. ;-)
There is another part of me that thinks TWENTY FIVE TEASPOONS???
Unbelieveable- at 5g per teaspoon (is this correct?), that is 125g of sugar...
@paddy it was taking 4g as a teaspoon. So it's "only" 100g.
Think I'd rather have a bacon roll...
Slightly related -
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You’d think the big brands would be eager to help fund a scheme like this. You’d be wrong. Coca-Cola, AG Barr, Red Bull, Tennent Caledonian have come out hard against the Deposit Return System. Irn-Bru have just got rid of their refundable glass bottle. You think that’s bad? Guess who supports these huge vested interests – our national anti-litter charity Keep Scotland Beautiful. And guess why? Because they are part-funded by the drinks companies, the big retailers and the packaging industry. Where else in the world would you find an organisation supposedly dedicated to removing rubbish from the highways and byways of this beautiful country, taking money from the major producers of litter and speaking out against a proven method of eliminating it?
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