Tog Tags

The idea has been put forward that all older people should be tagged and kept track of using modern GPS equipment. The charity, Help the Aged, thinks this might be a good idea. It means the families of these silly old duffers and duffettes will have piece of mind knowing should their Togg wander off a quick phone call will result in COT* Squad rounding the offending wrinkly up and returning them to whatever Home for the Bewildered they have escaped from.
I can only think of my mother who would on occasion vanish for days or even a week only to return with her winnings from Reno or whatever high stakes Bingo game she had spotted advertised in the paper.
On the other hand I can see a special switchboard being needed for all the calls from the Toggs themselves. As someone who on the same day found the sugar inthe fridge, the hammer in the cupboard and the butter in the shed I think it might be a useful tool. No more standing in the middle of a shop wondering why I was there, one quick phone call and I can get an answer to the question I ask myself everyday,
'Where am I now?'
'Have I been here long?'
and of course
'Do I come here often?'

*Containment of Toggs

Molly at work.

Molly at rest.

Meg and Molly.

Meg, the bewildered dog this blog is named after.

Daffs are Naff?

Apparently the daffodil is past it, they aren't exciting or fashionable enough. It seems the Fashionista think they can now dictate what flowers we are supposed to like. Funny but I don't remember asking anyone to tell me what flowers I should like.
The daffodil may not be exotic or rare and maybe it is the fact they are so commonplace that opens them up to criticism by people who are looking for the next visual thrill.
But daffodils are more than just a flower. Even as the pale and icy snowdrops are gracing the floor of the woods in the last dark days of winter the first fronds of the wild narcissi are pushing through the soil.
In the garden the first slender leaves of the daffodils are showing.
Within a few weeks there is a carpet of yellow trumpets across the forest floor while the huge King Alfreds are starting to make their bold and brassy statement of springs arrival.
The daffs in March are bright yellow, the sort of yellow used to advertise easter. They are big and bold and have a 'Come on if your man enough' attitude to the cold, wind, rain of march.
Into April and the daffs are smaller, paler matching the warming, lengthening days. Their more delicate appearance marks the changing season.
The daffs tiny cousin, narcissi, joins the display.
Together the yellows and and oranges of the daffs and narcissi bob in the sunshine and breeze. Sometimes it seems like they are dancing joyfully, celebrating Spring.
So daffs may be naff, they may be old fashioned and even passe to certain people. They are sort of people who don't understand and can't appreciate that daffodils are more than just a flower.

Nagging

Nagging is asking or telling someone something more than once when you know they heard you the first time and haven't asked you to repeat it.
Nagging is at best a waste of time and at worst counterproductive.

Charlotte Wyatt

Charlotte Wyatt was born on 21st October, 2003. Yesterday staff at St Marys Hospital, where she has been since she was born and will remain for the time being had a party for her. No one knows if Charlotte enjoyed her party, no one knows if Charlotte is aware of anything that goes on around her. Though it is fairly certain Charlotte will never understand why her parents have never taken her home despite waging a legal battle to have her kept alive with a view to doing so.
Charlotte is severely disabled as a result of being born prematurely. If she can hear or see at all Charlotte doesn't have the mental capacity to make sense of the snesory information she recieves. Charlotte can not eat and has to be fed through a gastric tube. Charlotte's lungs can not absorb enough oxygen so must have a constant supply on hand. The only obvious sign that Cahrlotte is getting older is her body getting bigger a body that only continues to function so long as the drugs, feeds, oxygen and physio therapy are in place. She will never grow, develope or progress in any other way. As long as she is kept alive Cahrlotte will need constant care and supervision. Despite knowing this Charlotte's parents decided doctors were wrong to want ot let nature take it's course and went to the High Court demanding their daughter be kept alive on the basis that they believed Charlotte responded to them. The High court agreed so doctors had no choice but to treat Charlotte with a view to preparing her to go home.
The irony is when, earlier this year, doctors said Charlotte was stable enough to go home her parents had split. Parents who despite already having one child and knowing the amount of care that would be involved with Charlotte went onto have two more children in the interveening years between their victory and being told they could take Charlotte home. Parents who site the stress of the court action as a reason for their split. Parents who apparently have visited only sporadically on a few occasions since the doctors gave them the good news.
So Charlotte remains in the hospital where she was born until Social Services can find a foster home for Charlotte. Considering the dearth of foster homes in general and foster homes willing to take on the long term care of a severely disabled child in particular I suspect Charlotte may never leave St Marys.
So far keeping Charlotte alive has cost tax payers over £1 million including the legal fees since Darren and Debbie Wyatt qualified for Legal Aid to fight this case. It now costs the NHS £6 thousand to keep Charlotte alive every week added tothis will be the costs to Social Services should they ever find a home for her.
In the end it will all have been for nothing because Charlotte's life expectancy is a few years at best. The very care her parents insisted on will probably be her undoing. Like so many long term high dependancy patients Charlotte's body will eventually not be able to cope with the vast amount of drugs needed to keep her alive. The feeding tube will become a sight for repeated infections. In many ways Charlotte is like someone who has had a major stroke, the body can be kept alive but the chances of recovery are nil and eventually the decision has to be taken whether keeping to keep the body alive or not. At some point the question has to be asked who would benefit from prolonging body function and in this case the answer is becoming a litlle clearer and it isn't the one many expected.
The doctors and nurses who have had to care for Charlotte haven't benefitted. They know they are fighting a losing battle to keep a body alive, a body that will enventually not be able to go on. In the mean time resources that might be used to treat children with a chance of getting better must be diverted to Charlotte.
Social Services haven' t benefitted. They have the thankless task of trying to find a place for Charlotte to live outside the hospital.
Her family haven' t benefitted. Her parents say the stress of fighting for Charlotte lead tothe break up of their marriage. Her siblings only benefit so long as her parents don't bring Charlotte home because the care she will need would mean they spent the rest of their lives coming a distant second in their parents priorities.
Most of all Charlotte hasn' t benefitted. The functioning of her body has been prolonged but her disablities mean she will never have a life. She hasn't been given a chance because there was never a chance for her to take. Charlotte was used by her parents to prove a point and now it is Charlotte who suffers most becuase her parents are unwilling and/or unable to cope with the consequences of their 'victory'.

Tiresome People 2

There is a certain type of Christian with a rather disturbing attitude I tend to think of as 'Magic Wand Christians'
I will not deny the power of God and I do believe that miracles can and do happen but Magic Wand Christians seem to believe that God is there to provide solutions to every problem and fulfill every whim.
Unwell? Why change your diet and take more exercise when God can heal you? Unemployed? Why go to the Job Centre when God will find you a job? Addicted? Why go to Rehab when God will free you?
Why make an effort when God will do it for you?
Why take responsibility for your life or actions when God controls your life?
Magic Wand Christians don't go to God as a friend and ask for strength to cope, patience to see another persons point of view or the wisdom to find a solution when things aren't going well in their lives. They go to God as a personal servant and demand he fix whatever is wrong.
The result is either they assume everything is fixed to their satisfaction and go on with their lives pretending the problem never did or no longer exists or they become disappointed.
The world is full of people blaming God for the problems in their life because 'I prayed to God and he didn't give me what I wanted'
Magic Wand Christians are the spoilt children of the spiritual world. They see everything from their point of view and can' t understand why they should consider anyone else. Life should meet their every whim, wish, fancy and expectation and when it doesn't it is everyone else's fault including God.
Like all spoilt children Magic Wand Christians are never appreciate what they have and they certainly never say thank you.
Like all spoilt children Magic Wand Christians are tiresome because after a while you've had enough of listening to them brag about how much God has done for them or worse still listening to them whinge because God hasn't done what they wanted.

Tiresome People

I find predjudiced people incredibly tiresome. Whether they hate 'niggers' or 'pakis', think 'fems' or 'homos' are worthless or know for certain that 'mormons' and 'mooslims' are going to burn in hell the arguments and rhetoric are the same.
No matter who they are bashing predjudiced people's arguments can be summed up in one simple phrase, 'they are different'
Whether the argument is based on preceived culture, lifestyle, behaviour, intelligence or even moral standards the prejudiced person sees only how they think others aren't the same as them. Prejudiced people do not think in terms of individuals, they see themselves as part of a group and see the people they hate as part of another group. There is no room for any deviation from the narrow definitons of who does and doesn't belong to each group.
What makes predjudiced people truly tiresome is the fact you can't actually discuss what they believe. It becomes a waste of time and energy tryng to understand what they believe. They are unable and/or unwilling to think about what they say and believe and any challenge,real or percieve, is certain to wind them up and get yourself threatened and abused.
By nature I am a curious person and want to know the why's of what people believe. For this reason no matter how tiresome I find them I will continue to ask questions until one day I get answers.

Religious Thoughts 1

Every morning on BBC Radio 2 at 9:15 there is a Pause For Thought. Representatives of different faiths comment on world events from their perspective. It is always interesting, always thought provoking and often funny. Over the years the people speaking have come to represent more and more religions including Sikh,Hindus, Buddhists etc.
I was listening to Dharmachari Nagaraja(Buddhist) one morning and I got to thinking how strange it is that over the years how Buddhists have managed to fit into western society without feeling threatened. Same as Sikh, funny how there is such a large community of Sikh in Britain and yet they seem to have fitted into western society without feeling non Sikh are a danger to them.
So why is it a small number of Moslems (stick with me, this isn't about to become an anti Islam rant) feel so threatened by non Moslems? And why is it that there is a branch of Islam that will not be content until they have destroyed or converted the whole of the world. What drives a fear that large?
Yet their fear and hatred is a mirror image of certain Christian groups. They are just as afraid and will not be happy until everyone is either Christian or dead.
Both these religions stem from Abrahamic law and both share one thing and that is a hatred of Judaism.
Meanwhile their is a school of thought with in Judaism that believes everyone is out to get them.
When you look at the strife and war in the world you can' t help but notice all three of these religions figure in there some where.
It gets to the point where it doesn't matter who is speaking because the rhetoric is the same, the accusations are the same and the idea that death and destruction of their enemies is the same.
Bit ironic really, that the 3 religions with the closest historical links are the ones furthest apart.