Caramba!

Ay Caramba! - was basically what we said today as we panicked. A school had cancelled a programme this morning, so I had an appointment elsewhere at ten.

Approximately five minutes before I was intending to leave the building, a class arrived. The admin person hadn't told us she had re-booked. You've never seen anything like our little bee bums getting our props out.

Respite from the heat continues. I am enjoying it while it lasts.

One of those things that no-one likes to talk about - well apart from me obviously - is the menopause, probably because it affects older women.

And yet it will at some point affect all women and therefore also, by association, most men.
I am at an age where friends and relatives are starting to experience symptoms as will I sometime in the next few years, maybe I do already to a certain extent.
Thus, I have been reading about HRT. Now this is not as easy as it sounds, advice on whether it is dangerous, or in fact how dangerous continues to be confusing, no-one seems to be sure about whether it is good or bad.

Today in the Guardian however, Sarah Boseley gives it a firm thumbs down. And guess what? It turns out that the confusion is largely being generated by the drug companies themselves.

According to Boseley, use of HRT has dropped from two to one million women over the past four years. But she uses this as a springboard to make a very pertinent point.
She says that no-one is suggesting that women should not use it to deal with the severe symptoms of menopause, but all agree that use should be short term.
300,00 women a year enter menopause, of whom 20% suffer debilitating discomfort, 60,000, so it would seem that even if some of those 60,000 are taking it for several years, there are others who are taking a risk.

Experience has taught me however, that you never know how you are going to react until you are walking that path. So, it's good to have this overview of the research, but when push comes to shove, will I or won't I?
Time will tell.

Tomorrow, Kev is going down to the States to help his dad do some work on the RV. I will join him on Friday. So, Friday I will attempt to cross the border for the first time on my own. I'm hoping this will be a dull crossing. I already have my visa waiver from before, so in theory it should be a wave through.
Again, we'll see.

On TV earlier on, there was a quote from some First Nations chief who could not understand why the white man needed to know the time to tell if he were hungry. Of course this is presented as some incredible insight, some brilliant wisdom.
But it's not, not in my opinion. It makes no difference whether you let your tummy tell you it's hungry, or the clock. You'll probably still eat the same number of times. And maybe watching the clock requires more discipline, a skill that the white man needs.
Why do we always assume that because we do it, as in we westerners, we technocrats, we progressives, that it's wrong?

Not all that glisters is gold.