2006-04-06
Jings! Two days in a row! As I’m going to be away for ten days I thought I’d keep up the one entry a week average. I have some odds and ends floating around my head again which I might jot down ready for the monthly brain dump. And…if I can work out how to do it I’ll leave some people access so that they can do guest entries for me while I’m away. Absolutely no obligation; I’ll not cry if no-one has been in when I get back.Someone asked about Jo. We are in regular contact through the secret mail account. I get a bit worried when I see that she has read what I wrote but hasn’t replied, or has deleted the back history. I’ve come to know that deleting means she’s nervous about the correspondence being found and that that kind of nervousness means tension – or worse – at home with Dave. By yesterday evening I’d sent three message with no response but this morning she was back saying she’d just been having some problems with the wi-fi connection and demanding children. Also that it has been raining for several days solid in Northern California and she hasn’t had a chance to put little Alex out in the garden while she types a reply. (Please! Don’t tell me if this was a fib!) All in all I think she’s doing OK being a mother of two in a foreign land but I’m concerned about the return to this country. Presumably Dave has been having a great time and is going to find this country and his old job pretty constraining. He’s also not going to want to get back into daytime childcare responsibilities, and certainly won’t want her returning to be anywhere near me. It’s going to be stressful for her, and on top of that she’ll be getting back into work after a year off and worrying about her children and her health. In many ways I know she’s better where she is just now. I guess if you love someone you want what’s best for them, even if it isn’t best for yourself.
But. In 39 days time she’ll be back sitting beside me! WooHoo!
Something completely different. Am I the only person who can’t understand all this bird-flu fuss? For weeks news broadcasts have been fixating on dead birds across the world having the virus, getting ever closer to our shores. And now finally, last night they found a dead swan in Fife that may have it. And so all the journalists have flooded up to Anstruther (home of one of the world’s greates fish and chip shops)..for what? What do they expect to happen? What is the problem? Only in extreme circumstances has the virus crossed species and infected humans. And yet it’s lead story on all the news reports in which they concede there is no danger from eating eggs or cooked chicken but people are being warned to stay away from wild birds. Why? In case we’re all tempted to take a bite out of one? One reporter even gave a warning about drinking fresh swan’s blood. Who does that? I thought all swans in the country belonged to the Queen and it’s an offence against her to kill one.
It’s one of my business ideas that someone should publish a magazine called ‘Panic Scare Monthly’. I know plenty of people who would subscribe and there’s clearly no end of stories to put in there – this month’s would be a bumper issue to rival the SARS scare that came to nothing here. My in-laws are forever coming up with ‘you know you shouldn’t…’s like
“You know you shouldn’t put knives in the dishwasher pointing up, in case you trip over and stab yourself”
“ You know you shouldn’t put an umbrella on the backseat of the car in case you stop suddenly and hit yourself in the back of the neck”
Fear of stabbing features high in their lives – and of course
“You know you shouldn’t pave your drive with mono-blocks because they’re more icy than paving slabs”
See you all when I get back