Thursday 9 October 2008

Fairy Tales

Manners maketh the...well, person. I have difficulty explaining to the less able why good manners from men towards women do not undermine feminism. It's because they are not connected of course, but it seems difficult for some to appreciate that.
Frequently, here, husband and general supporters notwithstanding, men don't wait for you to go through a door first, so it is always refreshing to have visitors from Europe.
Recently of course, Seth was here, and during the summer, my French helper seemed actually physically unable to walk in front of me, even when carrying a box of leaflets that was almost as big as himself, and bidden to do so, it kind of blew his diodes to try to deal with the concept.

Kevin is still ill, so today, I had to go and bottle the wine myself. Usually, we both rinse the bottles and then we have division of labour.
Normally, we just get on with it, but today, there seemed to be a chap on hand to gently make helpful suggestions, to smooth things along. And whilst I did feel that this was because I am a woman, I think it was because a woman is more approachable, we'll take the help.

The general election is next Tuesday. I know! Fancy being able to vote on not-a-Thursday, weird.
So election fever is upon us and as so often with fevers, there are going to be deaths. Tonight, there were groups of supporters on the corner of every intersection. People holding huge boards and being rowdy. Now add that to the lack of driving skills in Richmond, plus the habit of using mobile phones while driving badly, and it doesn't bode well.

And I had readied myself to meet more candidates outside of Superstore, but alas, I was frustrated in my anticipated debate in French, or about Richmond's gay community.
One candidate looks worryingly like someone I know, whom I wouldn't want to see in charge of a supermarket trolley only with better hair, another, I was told by a friend with the same surname as the candidate, is some kind of Über-bigot.

I've had a bit of a disagreement with my friend over the true meaning of Halloween. For me, it is not for children, and there is no possible reason for giving children piles of sweets. Plus, that has nothing to do with Halloween.
No, Halloween is for grown-ups, it is an adult festival with dark and dreadful implications.
And that's another thing I prefer about Europeans, we know that sometimes, children need to have the bejabers scared out of them. Grimm's Fairy Tales and in fact, Fairy Tales in general, are there to scare kids and introduce them to monsters that will lurk in each one's personal darkness for a lifetime. Without that, life becomes unreal.

6 comments:

Raymond's Brain said...

I spoke with a young Japanese woman once who thought a feminist was a man who holds open doors for women.

Sleepy said...

Not voting on a Thursday... Now, that IS witchcraft!

Schneewittchen said...

Raymond - I love it!

Sleepy - I know, good thing I don't have a vote really, it'd probably give me jetlag.

Kateryna said...

I love opening a door for a guy but that dosn't mean I don't like a door opened for me unless it's in a relationship then they can open the door for themselves.

I agree with the Grimms theory. Well, it isn't exactly a theory. It is fact that to exorcize the demon of fear they must be confronted head on.

Kateryna said...

p.s. A speedy recovery to Kevin!

Schneewittchen said...

Thanks Kat, he seems better this morning.