Friday 21 August 2009

Returns

Parting is NOT sweet sorrow, no, forget that sweet bit.
I miss Teddy's voice, Holly's smile, Ellie's havoc. All the little shoes have gone, as has Marmaduke, the most cuddled toy cat.
Shucks, Superstore offered fewer shopping opportunities.
But, they got back without incident, plane took off on time, landed early and they managed to get on an early train. Too early. Austen had pre-booked tickets for off-peak, but with three overtired small children and three large suitcases, he and Sue were unwilling to wait for over an hour. Plus, the train pulling in was a rare direct one.
Determined to pay the additional charges, they got on. The ticket inspector read the tickets very thoroughly. He looked at his watch. He re-read the tickets. Then he gave them back to him and went on his way. Excellent man. There should be a word to denote the opposite of a Jobsworth.

Meanwhile, back at the empty Schloss, Kev and I caught up on some TV viewing. We have been watching the new series 'Hung' with half attention, you know, so far it has been one of those programmes you can keep one eye on whilst doing something else. And then Rhea Perlman appeared. Watching Rhea Perlman is like watching someone with barely hidden devilment, you're just waiting for it to break out.

Can't wait to see District 9.

Germaine Greer, writing in the Graun, has highlighted another of those little problem areas for gender politics. The unhappy case of Caster Semenya, a gold-meadal winning athlete who is having to undergo tests to prove that she is a woman. In sport, which is the test of the physical, it must be that women compete with women and men with men, and therefore it has to be allowable that either can be called to prove their gender, in exactly the same way that sportspeople can and should be tested for performance enhancing drugs. But as ever, of course, Caster has been pilloried and poked at by anyone and everyone who think they have some right to demean her. To my mind, that alone proves she's a woman.

Plans are underway for next summer. My friend Dawn and I are going to Alaska and I am already looking forward to it. We have to decide whether we are going to go a few days early to visit Denali National Park and either before or after the trip, I'm hoping that Dawn will be able to spend some time here for the BC experience.

And I go back to work on the 14th September.

2 comments:

Sleepy said...

I can wind myself up into a proper frenzy about Caster's treatment.
Bastards.
Utter, utter bastards!

Some of the Septic athletes look butch enough to get you pregnant but nothing is said about them.

Using the IAAF 'rules' that because she did SO well something must be amiss, I demand all male athletes who finished a long way behind the rest of the field should be tested to make sure they are not women.

Schneewittchen said...

Haha! I like it. In reality, they should just make it a standard test for all athletes BEFORE they compete.