Bass is Romantic

A Bass

So says Richard [of RBB].
I don't completely agree.  The music played on a Bass can be romantic, but the Bass itself?
No.
Admittedly, the Bass is full of curves, and could even be said to be voluptuous.  It's highly strung and very sensitive to pressure and temperature.  It performs at it's best when being stroked by a man of experience, but can produce ear-piercing shrieks if abused.
So, the Bass is not romantic, it's a WOMAN.

I much prefer the other Bass.  The one which can be caught fairly easily and after suitable preparation, can leave you feeling filled and fulfilled

Another Bass

Thank goodness it's Friday, it's been a fraught week.  Most of the relievers we use are unavailable, as there is a huge demand from many schools this week because of winter sports tournaments.  We also have 3 staff off with stress-related sickness, 2 off with colds/flu, 1 left permanently, and 3 on courses.  So that's about 15% of our teachers away, but we're expected to soldier on.
I'm not knocking the NZ system, but it's vastly different from Scotland. 
We had a simple rule; no-one went anywhere during term-time.  The only excuse for not being in school, in front of the kids, was if you were really sick.
Any courses were run during the holidays or teacher-only days.  Sports were secondary to education, and tournaments ran during the school holidays, so the kids were also expected to be in school every day.
As an aside, any students who were caught outside their class without a written note from the teacher could expect an immediate weeks detention.  That meant 1 hour spent quietly studying in the homework center every night for a week.
Failure to attend the detention was an immediate suspension and probable expulsion.
I think we will have to start doing things similarly.  I'm seeing far to many kids roaming the school.  Suspending 5 or 6 of the little sods will bring many of the borderline kids back under control, they and we need it.
Have a nice weekend.