Saturday 29 May 2010

Got your C card?

I've known about the C card scheme in my town for a while, I'm not sure whether it's local or national though.
The C card is a plastic card given to teenagers under 16 so that they can get free condoms without any questions being asked.
Last night my son came home from youth club with his C card and his supply of condoms HE IS 12 YEARS OLD.
My son knows about sex and about safe sex and he is bound to be interested but I advise him to wait a while yet, the local council knows better and are happy to provide 6 condoms a week to him.

I don't know why our country is having problems with under age sex

Condoms are available at the central library in my town so it was strange when a librarian complained about young boys harassing girls by making lewd suggestions and throwing condoms at them. 'Who the hell gives them condoms' she exclaimed. errr, we do

Monday 24 May 2010

the karmic nature of my health

when I was first diagnosed with depression I was (predictably) wondering what the point was and, as I began to make my first recovery I struggled with how the depression had changed my life, taken away opportunities and stained my memories. Depression is such a pointless thing and i really was resolved to cancel my subscription especially as some very special people didn't want me to be sad.
Then I get the second health blow, I suddenly find I have a heart condition and my future options are even more limited.
Either of these health problems is bad on it's own but I suddenly realise the heart thing gives meaning to the depression. people (professionals) look at my heart diagnosis and sort of mutter things like 'this could kill you' they then offer counselling to help me cope. Ha I don't need counselling because I have had a low level depression for years and death no longer holds any fear for me as in:-
'you might die tomorrow'
'that's ok, I have nothing to live for' (Ok not strictly true, I have one thing left and when I get there it will mean I need to live for a very long time)

Suddenly I don't think I'm making sense but at least I've found a way for depression to make me happy. Isn't the human brain an amazing thing?

Wednesday 19 May 2010

secret England fans

Absolute hell is breaking out in various fora and communities over the declaration that the wearing of England football shirts will be banned in pubs during the world cup.
I'm not sure what the rationale is behind this because it really is a case of Leopard's and spots. If a person is a thug or hooligan then making them into 'undercover' supporters won't change a thing. Perhaps it's about going into a pub awash with England shirts being intimidating for those who either follow another team or don't follow football at all. Sorry but that's reality, this is England and it is to be hoped that the majority of football fans will be supporting the 'home' team (no matter how embarrassing the government find them).
This issue isn't really about England fans as the same anger would be found on telling a Kiwi that they couldn't wear their All Blacks shirt or telling a Yankees fan that they couldn't wear their teams shirt on the day of the big game.

I am wondering if this is a clever ruse by the BNP to gain support. If it is, it appears to be working.

Sunday 9 May 2010

because my finger is on the literary pulse of the world.....

Fresh from my experience at the 2010 mobilemeet I bring you, my friends, the latest in current thinking, the very razor edge of the sharpest minds, the zenith of current research etc.
It may surprise you to know, if you have the odd book around at home, that you possess a therapeutic tool. Yes it's true! We had a speaker at the mobilemeet who told us so. Reading is a therapeutic activity!.
OK, I'm being unfair, we all know reading is therapeutic, many of us have experienced first hand the beneficial effects of literature.
What the speaker had very successfully done was to adopt and present a buzzword there-by taking a common sense, obvious fact and making it 'professional', 'sellable' and 'hip'. We don't say to someone 'sit down for 30 minutes a day and read and reflect we say 'I suggest you begin bibliotherapy as it may help with the issues you are experiencing'
The exciting and ground breaking things you should know
* People can recognise characters and situations in literature which are similar to their own and can use the fiction to see ways of dealing with issues
*reading helps the reader to experience emotions from a viewpoint other than their own
*reading about a situation can allow the reader to postulate on possible outcomes and use this model in their own situation.
*reading can help to positively modify mood.

The speaker told us, without any false modesty, that her initiative had made a massive, international splash so there is a lesson there. The thing is that the lesson is that we really should communicate better because 10 miles away a number of psychiatric workers had been advocating the same therapy for quite a while when she made her discovery.

so, there you go

Friday 7 May 2010

Geek alert ;)

Tomorrow I will be attending the 2010 mobilemeet. Yep, it's the annual get together for mobile libraries where we get to look at each other's vans, discuss mobile stuff and generally enthuse about mobile libraries and their place in society. I've never been before but I'm taking Leeds Libraries' brand new van which will be one day old! I'm rather hoping that there will be a nice van from another area there and that we can get them together and have lots of little mobile libraries very soon.
There are even prizes for the best van's, fleets etc.
I might even take photographs

Sunday 2 May 2010

do you love my stripey t-shirt?

Yesterday was party day here as we had two birthdays in da house.
The kids had decided to have a chocolate fountain and had set it up in the kitchen before going off to do 'kid stuff'
So there i am feeding more chocolate into the fountain along side Sophie my daughter who was using a long spoon to coax the chocolate down to the centre. Quite suddenly the spoon caught under the edge of the 'tower' section which lifted up. The whole tower(full of liquid chocolate) started spinning wildly and we were treat to a chocolate shower which, because of the rotation, was in neat stripes. I hit the stop button and we took stock. Various people rushed around being very adult about the mess, the cleaning up, who's fault it was etc........And there, in the middle I stood laughing my chocolate coated socks off. I love being the oldest kid in the house!