Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in redhead_walking's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, July 15th, 2010
9:58 pm	I fully expected to be shamed with a Stephanie Meyer comparison, but somehow came out as Leo Tolstoy. (Presumably they're referring to a particularly bad translation, but nonetheless!) And, hmm... (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
8:18 pm	So when my pregnant friend said that the only point in living she could see was in having children, I laughed at her and suggested that perhaps I should just kill myself in that case (yes, sometimes I can be a little aggressive!) She begrudgingly noted that she didn’t think that, but notably didn’t take back her original statement either, adding that she had seen what had happened to other couples who had not had children, telling me about an aunt and uncle who had a boring life without children. Now apart from the fact that after questioning she admitted that the uncle actually did have children from a first marriage, I’m pretty sure that you can be bored with or without children, and that’s not really the best reason to be having children in the first place. Maybe it would push you to try knitting or joining a book club, but not actually having a baby, no. Now I know that she’s had a difficult pregnancy and is probably needing to hold on to it all being worth it, but actually I’m getting quite pissed with superior and entitled parents who think they’re better than someone who chooses not to have children and deserves more than them. Luckily I have found a form of support group in: http://stfuparents.tumblr.com/  Here I have learned about a common Facebook phenomenon called “mommyjacking” and seen much evidence of the ridiculous nonsense that some parents seem to believe goes with the territory of having children. You know the sort of thing that starts with having a “Children on board – please drive slowly” sign (as if their children are somehow more precious and important than other people) and somehow develops into berating elderly people with disabilities for daring to park in a parent-and-child parking bay. Of course parents like this always think that you’re either jealous of them, or hate children. On the contrary, I’m delighted with my life and actually really like children, I’m just not always keen on their parents. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
10:58 am	Another overdue update So I have started a new job. I would say that it feels like only yesterday that I was doing this, but in many ways it actually feels like 10 years since I last started a new job, or some other period of time that can be reliably be compared with a lengthy prison sentence. I have been disappointed, de-valued and stressed all at the same time in the last job, though at least I have been able to garner some amusement from the fact that it has been so unremittingly awful. I won't waste any time in describing the many ways in which this job failed except to note that had I been having any second thoughts about leaving (I hadn't), they would have been quashed entirely by attending my leaving do. To which managers attended uninvited, got drunk and did offensive impersonations of my colleagues. Phew. Anyway, so as I was saying I have started a new job, a promotion, in a different area - in pain management. I am also about to start a new course - a 2-year course in cognitive analytic therapy. In some ways this is bad timing, as this is going to take up a lot of my time and it would be nice at this stage to concentrate on the new job and building on the friendships I have started to make in Birmingham. However, I must be just about the luckiest person in the world as while this course would normally cost about £16K over the course of the 2 years I am getting it for free, funded through the NHS. And this despite turning up to the interview for this course 30 minutes late and winking at the interview panel (how I wish I was joking about that). We managed to take a week's holiday in between jobs and went to Amsterdam. This was a lovely place to go and relax - we took a boat round the canals, hired some bikes and rode around the city (Amsterdam is the best place I have ever been for cycling), went up to Groningen to see the unusual art gallery, ate as much fondue as we could and tried out some other traditional dishes (fresh herring - no; oolag chips - chips with mayonnaise, peanut sauce and onion - yes please) and visited many museums - my favourites the Anne Frank house and the KittenKabinet (cat museum). Everyone in Holland spoke English fluently - most of the bookshops had an English-language books section - and people were friendly and laid-back. The city has a great deal of charm and walking around the canals, it did remind me at times of a more alive Venice. While Venice is one of my favourite cities ever, to my mind it suffers from the volume of tourists, which unless you leave the main area can make you feel like as if Venice is entirely populated by tourists and people providing services to tourists. The rest of the summer seems to be taken up by a surprisingly large number of weddings - 6 (it would have been 7, if 2 didn’t clash). This is probably the best treatment for my slight wedding-phobia - I expect the exposure to have completely cured me of it by the end of the summer. Well, it will either do that or reinforce it and I’ll start flinching when I see as much as a meringue in the cake aisle in Sainsburys. I would even say I am looking forward to some of these weddings (though dreading the one I know will involve a very religious service). Best reception so far was the last wedding – dancing to Beastie Boys in a barn in a field and doing a pub quiz on the happy couple, with plenty of real ale and posh cider – I like the weddings that are personal to the couple, rather than generic, tastefully managed affairs I’ve decided. (10 Comments |Comment on this)
10:23 am	Oh My God Beyond parody… (Comment on this)
Monday, January 26th, 2009
9:56 pm	Birmingham Moving was not the smooth, stress-free process that I had fantasised about when handing over more than half a thousand pounds for someone to help us move our possessions an hour up the M5. I had envisioned that that sort of money would be rewarded by the provision of a truck with 3 people to help. What we got was a Luton van with two people to help. After filling the van to about half-full, they acknowledged that there wasn't the slightest chance of them being able to fit everything in and suggested that they do 2 trips. After taking one van-load up, they then suggested that we pay them over double the original agreed fee for this. We respectfully declined and hired our own van. When I asked them why they had only provided a van to move all our things, they said that they hadn’t expected us to have so many possessions. In particular, they noted that we had "too many books". Hah! That cheered me up at least. The house and the area that we are living in are lovely. In the house I have been especially impressed by our remote-controlled fires and the toilet facilities which outnumber the people living here - that’s really living, right? Outside of the house, everything we need is under a 5 minute walk away, including a great independent book shop, a nice deli, as of only last week a Michelin-starred restaurant and many pubs, of which we’ve visited two so far. One is a little more expensive and is somewhat over-popular (particularly with well-off students), but it is extremely pretty and has a great range of beers. The other is cheap and cheerful and has to resort to theme nights with free food to attract people – on Spanish night we had that well-known and highly regarded tapas of salami, gherkin, iceberg lettuce and tomato sandwiches - mmm. I like both these pubs for somewhat different reasons, it must be said. Work is leaving a little to be desired at the moment, but I am hopeful that difficulties will eventually be ironed out. The differences between this and the last job however are vast, in terms of the population for just one example. In GP practices in Cheltenham, posters generally gave information about such issues as flu vaccination or smoking cessation. In the GP practice I was in last week, the 3 posters on the wall gave information on domestic violence, "honour killing" and profiting from prostitution. (Comment on this)
Monday, January 5th, 2009
10:04 pm	2008 I think I'm going to get in on this meme thing (I started to write a review of the year and it was very loooong). Did you enjoy 2008? Yes, but in many ways it was also a difficult year. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? Lots of things. Some of the better things included: selling a property - my flat in Bristol. Moving in with R. Abseiling in a cenote in Tulum, Mexico. Having a turkish bath and massage at a hamam in Istanbul. Watching lucha libre in front row seats in Mexico City. Going to see Funny Girls in Blackpool Did anyone close to you give birth? No. Did anyone close to you die? J. wasn’t a close friend, but he was a good friend. Did you keep all of last years resolutions? Didn’t make any. Have you any resolutions for next year? Get fitter. Get at least one scuba-diving certificate. Make more of an effort to get out more and meet new people when we move. What countries did you visit? Turkey and Mexico What would you like to have in 2009 that you didn't have in 2008? More friends living close by. What date in 2008 will remain etched in your memory? Not a good one, I’m afraid. 30th October getting 3 e-mails telling me about J. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting a new job. Supporting Mum & Dad through heart op. and after. What was your biggest failure? Not getting out enough! Did you suffer any illness or injury? No. What was the best thing you bought? Apart from the fights to Mexico, the tour to San Juan Chamula. Whose behaviour merited celebration? My Mum’s GP, R. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? Close to home – the usual suspects, although I’m beginning to feel more sorry for them than angry with them. Further afield - People who voted for Boris Johnson – even if you didn’t want Ken Livingstone in again, there was a decent alternative you could have voted for. In the time since Boris has been elected, these are just some of the things that he has done (courtesy of thefword.org.uk): he’s cancelled the Capital Woman conference for International Women’s Day, cut funding for Soho Pride, purged his team of women (the 5 top women in City Hall were ousted) and cut back on his promise to provide £744,000 funding a year to fund rape crisis centres in London stating now that he will only provide £233,000 a year. And to be honest, who thought he would do anything else? You were an idiot if you voted for him. Where did most of your money go? Rent and travel. What did you get really really really excited about? Moving in with R. Going to Mexico. What songs will always remind you of 2008? I’ve not been great at buying albums this year, but I’ve enjoyed a lot of individual tracks: “Dance Wiv Me” – Dizzee Rascal “Je Veux Te Voir” - Yelle “Wearing my Rolex” - Wiley “Lights out” - Santogold “American Boy” - Estelle feat. Kanye West “Blind” - Hercules and Love Affair “Gamma Ray” - Beck And quite a few more… Compared to this time last year are you: A Fatter or thinner? A little fatter. B Happier or sadder? A little sadder, but like the above that’s up to me to do something about. C Richer or poorer? About the same. Kaupthing Edge disappearing wiped out any interest on savings I’d made there and not working while on holiday in Mexico wiped out some more. What do you wish you'd done more of? Reading (non-work related) books. Going to gigs. What do you wish you'd done less of? Staying in, being shy. How did you spend Christmas? Just the two of us for one luxurious day, creating our own Christmas traditions. E.g. singing loudly along to the John Waters Christmas album and at least one Denim album while preparing the feast. Which LJ users did you meet for the first time? None. Did you fall in love in 2008? Stayed in love. How many one night stands? None. What was your favourite TV show? Mad Men. I didn’t see Flight of the Conchords till January 2008, so that too. Oh, and Pulling – that was great. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Hate is too strong but I have several strong dislikes that are new including Paul McCartney (go away now please) and Duffy. What was/were the best books you read? Non-work: When you are engulfed in flames – David Sedaris Work: Learning from the patient – Patrick Casement What was your greatest musical discovery? Following many recommendations we went to see Jens Lekman and liked him. I also liked Santogold and Yelle (I’m a sucker for a bit of French rapping). MGMT and Hercules and Love Affair too. What did you want and get? Great holidays A new permanent job What did you want and not get? A permanent home. What was your favourite film this year? Man On Wire, The Orphanage, Mamma Mia (I still see this as a classic, I don’t care what anyone says). What did you do on your birthday and how old were you? Went to see the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy. Formally accepted my new job. 37. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying? Seeing my friends more often. Living somewhere else (a nice big city, preferably London or Bristol). How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Pfft. What kept you sane? R. of course. Going to see friends or having them visit. Cynicism. Which celebrity did you fancy the most? Jemaine Clement/ Jon Stewart Which political issue stirred you the most? Lots – the main ones were the mayoral elections in London, the abortion limit being successfully defended and the American election that you may have heard something about? Who did you miss? All my friends, none of whom live here. J. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this year? Not this year, but one that I’ve been thinking of as J. taught it to me. He helped me to be able to say it AND to mean it when I’m getting too uptight: “Fuck them.” It sounds too simple but it’s been very useful. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year... Nothing sums up the whole year, but this bit of “Your heart out” by the Fall sums up much of the past few months pretty well: Just take for instance a time of great depression Fade out of reason bad time's in season Don't shut your heart out Don't cry your eyes out Don't cry for me, Mexico Or Savage Pencil I'm nearly healthy And they try to take my eyes out Friends try to work my soul out But I don't sing, I just shout Heavy clout, heart out (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 20th, 2008
9:31 am	Christmas I am getting very excited about Christmas this year. I think this might be partly to do with us telling both families that we are doing our own thing this year and won’t be seeing either of them until after Boxing Day. But also, the office Christmas parties are much more fun than at the last place I worked. Yesterday, one of the managers played his bagpipes while we ate the lovely home-made food (some great curries) that had been brought in. And later one of the admin staff showed me some new Bhangra moves that we amused/horrified the others with. To contrast and compare, at my last job they aren’t even having a Christmas do because they can’t decide on where it should be. I'm also really into making gifts for people this year. Most of these are nicer than half the ones that people usually give at Christmas without any thought involved. I am definitely making the Krupnik and some of it may even get past me to get given away (though I’m promising nothing). (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
11:46 pm	'Cause you're so beautiful... Like a tree. Or a high class prostitute. For those of you who like me are in withdrawal from Flight of the Conchords, you can see the first episode of the second (and apparently last!) series on: www.funnyordie.com/videos/c48f423bdf/season-2-online-premiere-flight-of-the-conchords-from-flight-of-the-conchords If you're outside of America download this: www.anchorfree.com so that you can see it. In other news we have found a fantastic house to rent in Birmingham and will be moving there in January. I CANNOT WAIT! No more 2-hour commutes and back to what I love the most - a proper city! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 11th, 2008
8:56 pm	Don't call it a comeback I identified with this by bluedevi so strongly that I started nodding at my laptop. Unbelievably this still didn't magically cause my thoughts to get transferred onto the screen, however. I think that I shall try to post little and often for a while. If I'm too tired after 3-5 hours commuting every day there are always photos:   This was Xochimilco where punting up and down the hanging gardens was an altogether more colourful and noisy experience than I was used to. Vendors cook you up a taco on a passing boat while another boatful of Mariachis board your boat to sing some traditional songs. The fact that the Mexicans enjoying their weekend with their families still easily outnumbered the tourists made it a good escape. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, September 14th, 2008
12:58 pm	Yay for Fey It took them less than twelve hours to find this and take it down! In the mean-time go and see it at: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/ I'll post a new Youtube link when it inevitably appears again, as I did with the other Fey clip a couple of edits back. (Comment on this)
Monday, September 1st, 2008
8:44 pm	So please be assured that while I may not have been so prolific on the keyboard I have made many, many LJ entries in my mind. Oh, yes. I have been interviewed and offered and have accepted a new job. The interview itself didn't inspire confidence in the employers - I had to come up with and write a presentation in 10 minutes on a topic given to us on the day about adapting therapeutic models to work with ethnic minorities. So, while the topic was very relevant, the task itself was something that had approximately NOTHING to do with the job. However, you don't sneeze at a permanent job in today's NHS and I'm excited about working in a somewhat more diverse area than Cheltenham (which to be fair is pretty much ANYWHERE ELSE in the UK, but in this case is Birmingham). Plus, this gives us an excuse for a long-haul holiday. We are going to Mexico! For 4 weeks! Frida Kahlo! Diego Rivera! Lucha Libre! Scuba-diving! Ancient sites! Day of the Dead! Yay! No? We were e-mailed today by one set of parents asking us to consider cancelling because they had read up about all the kidnappings and drug gangs etc. I know logically that this is extremely unlikely, but other people's anxiety has a catchy quality to it, so I think now that I'll probably have to be there a little while before I'll be able to shake the feeling off properly. Pfft - thanks a lot caring and well-meaning in-laws. Actually, I know that the main problems are in the border towns between Mexico and the USA. The Lonely Planet guide is great about this. Of course the guidebook has to cover the entire country in case anyone wants to know about this, but for virtually the entire Northern part of Mexico, it says things like "If you find yourself stuck in X", "If you have to go to X", "X has little to recommend it" and so on. I have actually been to Northern Mexico before for a couple of days and would tend to agree there's not much point in going there. When we stayed in Ensenada I pretty much felt I could have been anywhere in America, except for the directly expressed racism and hostility between Americans and Mexicans and the abundance of Mariachi bands. Anyway, this is what I have to try and remind myself when those nasty little kidnapping thoughts creep into my head. (Oh and hey Elise, I know you're probably holding down about 5 jobs at the moment while studying, but if you do fancy a break in Mexico, you should come and meet us there - we'll be there for most of October). (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 19th, 2008
9:46 pm	Hold on to your f-ing hat... A minor update might be due then. I finished the doctorate. After completing a ridiculously stressful research project, I graduated with the rest of my year in November in acute back pain and on a variety of fairly hardcore prescription drugs, signed off sick from the job I had only just started. I tell you, that graduation photo is not my favourite picture of myself – an orange gown and a smile that looks like I’m doing an impersonation of a tense Cherie Blair. Hmm. I was so pleased to see the back of the degree that it was a while before I realised that life was okay again, even good. I sold my flat in Bristol and moved in with Rob in Cheltenham into a little rented terrace house, where we’ve become very lazy. We have “lounge pants.” I’m not sure we shouldn’t be ashamed. But you know Cheltenham is not very big on the culture front, so you make your own entertainment. And have friends round (that’s an invite there). Or get the train to Birmingham or Bristol. Which we do quite a lot… I’m working in the Adult Mental Health Service in Cheltenham – this has just changed its name to 2gether (oh don’t get me started). I love this work and feel really passionate about it, but like everyone else in the NHS (I imagine) I am constantly frustrated by how the system interferes with our work and how this impacts on clinical decisions. Mostly I’m amazed how hard it is for someone to get therapy from a psychologist these days and how complex the client group is compared to only 5 years ago. More recently we’ve had a very nice holiday in Istanbul (stories and photos to follow when I’ve edited out the really drunken ones of me). Also Mum had a triple heart bypass – terrifying, but she seems to be doing okay. I might try and write in LJ a bit more than I’ve managed up till now – we’ll see how that goes. At the moment I’m feeling very disheartened by the attempts to restrict abortion - http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2280895,00.html But very amused by watching this Tina Fey sketch - (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
11:41 pm	I want to not be doing research anymore. Soon, please? (Comment on this)
Monday, June 18th, 2007
10:49 pm	Good thing: the new Prince record. Bad thing: Thurston being a dick (I particularly dislike the comparison he makes in his last paragraph). (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 14th, 2007
3:48 pm	3 months on from my last diary entry, with not so much as a position piece on the Eurovision - this LJ is being seriously ignored (in favour of actually getting my Doctorate). Still I thought I'd post this bit of research I was reading about in the BPS Research Digest, which I found very thought-provoking - I think you might be interested in this too bagrec Reading violent scripture that's been taken out of context can increase people's aggressiveness, especially when God is said to sanction violence, a new study suggests. Brad Bushman and colleagues presented hundreds of students with an obscure, violent passage from the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. It tells the story of an Israelite man plotting revenge on a murderous mob from Gibeah, eventually leading to the deaths of thousands of soldiers on both sides. Crucially, half the students read a version of the passage that included the Israelite man and his associates praying 'before the LORD', together with the sentence: 'The LORD commanded Israel to take arms against their brothers and chasten them before the LORD'. The remaining students read the exact same story but excluding these two sentences that mentioned God. Next, the students donned headphones and played a reaction time game with a hidden 'partner'. They were told the loser of each round would be blasted with noise over the headphones, and that they had to choose prior to each round how much noise they wanted their 'partner' to be blasted with (on a scale of 0-10 from no noise up to 105 db). This was the measure of aggression. Overall, the most aggression was shown by those students who read the bible passage that included God sanctioning violence, and furthermore, among that group, it was those who said they believed in God and the Bible who were most aggressive. "Even among our participants who were not religiously devout, exposure to God-sanctioned violence increased subsequent aggression" the researchers said. "To the extent that religious extremists engage in prolonged, selective reading of the scriptures, focusing on violent retribution toward unbelievers instead of the overall message of acceptance and understanding, one might expect to see increased brutality". ___________________________________ Evans, G.W. & Wener, R.E. (2007). When God sanctions killing. Effects of scriptural violence on aggression. Psychological Science, 18, 204-207. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01873.x (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 5th, 2007
10:43 pm	Tickets giveaway! For a craft show! No, keep reading! This one's a really good one. Not a single wooden mushroom in sight, I promise. So, I won 2 tickets to this show in London. But as I'm not in London so much anymore now Rob's moved and I may never have any free time again till about September (and that's if everything works out okay with the thesis), I can't really justify going there for the day. Which leaves me with 2 free tickets which can be used from the 9th-12th February and are worth £24 altogether. Anyone want them? I don't want anything for them (though if you felt inclined to pop me some M&S belgian chocolate covered fruit in the post, it would be churlish of me to complain) - they cost me nothing after all. Just let me know in a comment and I'll post them to you! Seriously, if nothing else you'll be amazed how much people are willing to pay for a hand-made scarf these days at a craft fair... (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
9:16 am	Oh, marvellous news... http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1996585,00.html Yes, the judges have rejected ALL the reforms, even the idea of expert witnesses because apparently  "their use would cause delays and prove expensive, unnecessary and 'inappropriate'" Does nobody want to convict rapists? Why are people so scared of helping to convict more people? Why are people more concerned in ensuring that the tiny minority of people who might have a fake claim made against them are more protected than the vast majority of women who have been raped. I really, genuinely don't understand. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 22nd, 2007
2:46 pm	Big Brother's been making all the news, but I was more concerned with what followed it on last night's television. Consent was drama/documentary/reality tv about a fictional incident where a woman accuses a work colleague of raping her after a party. After the dramatisation of what happens before and after the rape, there follows an account of how this rape case is tried in a real court with real policemen, solicitors, jurors (12 people randomly selected from the electoral register) and a judge. What happens in the course of the trial is bad enough - the woman is predictably attacked by the defence and forced to refute that she is "lying" over and over again and told that really she "enjoyed" the evening. Her pants gets passed round the jurors for no good reason. But it's after the trial that I started feeling really nauseous. In the jury room, a number of the women on the jury decide very quicky that the woman was just embarrassed about a sexual encounter, not based on facts but about their feelings on what they think is reasonable behaviour i.e. what they would have done. So, one says that the woman can't have been raped because if it had been her she "would have found some inner strength, from somewhere, to fight him off, or at least scratch him, but this man hasn't been scratched" Another disputes that anyone could take six days after a rape to report it and simply refuses to accept when another woman suggests this might have been due to shock. A man suggests in an authoritative way that this might be true if the incident had been really traumatic, but that this incident clearly wasn't. A number of people nod. Another woman who clearly doesn't believe in sex before marriage says that both the man and the woman are guilty. Fairly rapidly they are talking about how they admired the way the defendant carried himself in court as if this was proof of his innocence. The authoratitive man says that it doesn't matter how long they take to come to a decision, that there's a man's life at stake. (Not a woman's life as another woman notes). These are real people who would make up a jury in case like this. I'd previously thought that cases might falter on the difficulty of proving consent. With this jury they don't even bother themselves with facts but rely on their biased opinions, they have next to no understanding or knowledge about rape and its consequences. No wonder rape trials have a conviction rate of 6%. In case you were wondering, the defendant was found not guilty, although he had raped the woman. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007
3:05 pm	Well, I have absolutely no hope of summing up everything that I’ve been up to since I last did so. But, obvious mentions have to go to: 1. The Nightmare before Christmas. A festival where the men appeared to be contractually obliged to have beards and push their microphone so far down their throat that the vocals could truly be said to be more retching than singing. This was a place where Wolf Eyes were seen to be one of the better bands - oh dear. Thankfully, countering all that nonsense was a pop set by Sonic Youth, an electrifying performance by Iggy Pop, amazing shows by the Melvins and Gang of Four, my first view of Deerhoof who sang about bunny rabbits and unlike 90% of the bands embraced tunes, and my favourite show of the weekend MC5. Of course the best part of the weekend was spending it with friends. It was great to see Paul again who had turned down a support slot with Gary Numan, (despite his managers assurance that he wouldn’t have to tell anyone about it) in order to share a Butlins chalet with us. There were a few disastrous things happening in the old home life at that time, but I like to think it didn’t show too much. I guess it might have been evident in my emotional interpretation of Billy Ocean’s “Caribbean Queen” on the DDR.  2. The Nightmare that is Christmas. Actually I love Christmas. What I’m coming to realise more and more however, is that I don’t much like spending much of it with families. Especially other people’s families. (My parents decided to visit Hawaii, Vietnam and Hong Kong this year, the buggers). It’s not as if my family are any better, but at least I can argue with them. With the boyfriends family I have to be “polite” and sit on my hands and try to cut my tongue off with my teeth so I don’t have a potty-mouthed outburst. I did snap a couple of Christmases ago at Rob’s father’s suggestion that Ronald Reagan was a great president. “Not if you were poor or black” popped straight out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop myself. At least I didn’t swear.                                                      Still, we got to stay in a lovely cottage in Stanton in the Cotswolds:                                                                   We also visited the neighbouring towns of Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-the-Marsh (where we got some lovely Stinking Bishop), Broadway and Chipping Campden. They were all very picturesque and quaint and incredibly dull and I’d have a huge drugs problem if I had to live in any of them.                                                                                                                                                                                           We climbed up one of the Cotswold Hills to Belas Knap, a prehistoric burial mound. This was a beautiful, peaceful place:                                                                        (I think we’re going to dig out my copy of the Modern Antiquarian and see some more of these places this year with any luck). And we played a lot with Rufus my nephew who at 3 months seemed to have developed 3 looks – horrified, resigned and windy (more than most supermodels to be fair). He was very cute. 3. New Year – Spent drunk at the Cube again. My Ambulance is on Fire was splendid. The Cube Orchestra were tight. A short play     included a scene where a man in hamster mask threw cornflakes onto the floor before writhing in them. Truly another Cube experience.     (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 13th, 2006
2:05 pm	There have been 2 excellent posts today by LJ friends that everyone needs to read. The first is a locked entry, but has been made available here. It tells of Caroline Phillips experiences of the last weeks tornado (or as I imagine she might refer to it - 7.12) as reported over 2 pages in yesterdays Evening Standard. It seriously boggles the mind. The other is from bagrec here. He links to a series of articles that make depressing though interesting reading. I was also going to write something about this, as the reporting on the murders of the women in Ipswich has been making me feel quite dismayed in terms of how the police specifically are tackling this. I watched TV yesterday as a policeman impatiently explained "We've told the women" (referring to the sex workers of Ipswich) "to stay indoors and not to come out. I don't see how we can be any clearer." As if women do sex work for a bit of extra cash on the side or a laugh and can therefore just afford to stay at home indefinitely. As if it's their fault somehow that this has all happened. I don't think there's much to add to the excellent article by Julie Bindel that bagrec links to, except maybe to note another excellent article on the same day by Diane Taylor which shows how (some of) the police forces attitude allows violence to be treated as some kind of occupational hazard and devalues womens basic rights to be protected against violence. In this instance, the police have not once asked themselves how can they protect the women in vulnerable situations, but have placed the onus (and the blame) firmly onto them, and that's a disgrace. (3 Comments |Comment on this)