Saying.. How Wonderfully True...

I heard a great saying the other day:

When you’re happy, you enjoy the music, but when you’re sad, you understand the lyrics.

Just thought I'd share..  I liked it.

Kids, iPads & Dining Out...

I don’t have kids.  Therefore most of the time I don’t comment about “kids’ stuff” as I usually cop death stares galore from people who then take great delight in saying “you don’t have kids, what would you know?” (I am not going to enter into that debate now.)

But I am commenting on what you are about to read.  Simply because I find if I don’t I may for ever wonder if I am living in the dark ages or if people agree even these parents took it too far…

Out for dinner on Sunday night in Cronulla (one of the best beach suburbs in Sydney!) and at the table next to us was a family of 4 (mum, dad and 2 kids; boys about 2 and 4) and who I can only assume was grandma and grandpa.  The kids have an iPad each and are watching Octonauts (thanks to my niece I know who these guys are..) – not engaging in any conversation or showing any interest in grandma and grandpa OR their parents and really, it went both ways. 

Okay, maybe I can live with them watching a DVD before their dinner is served (actually, I cannot – I mean really, it is bloody ridiculous when you are in a restaurant).  But then………………..

Then dinner is served – and bloody hell – they continued watching their separate DVD’s and the parents and grandparents picked their dinner up off the table and ate with their plate in one hand and their fork in the other because these iPads were taking up a lot of the room on the table (big dishes of pasta and pizza were served)……  I mean really?  I tried to reason with myself that growing up, some families in my era (oh lord I sound old) ate dinner in front of the TV – but that was at home, this was in a restaurant on a Sunday night at 6pm…

 

Is this lazy parenting?  I think so!  Take your kids out for dinner, stick them in front of an iPad and then promptly ignore them for 2 hours while you drink and eat (albeit eat very uncomfortably, juggling plates in the air).

Am I that old fashioned?  Do I need to pull me head out of the sand and appreciate this is what society has become?  If so, wow, our kids of today will have NO social skills what so ever when they grow into adults and enter the work force.

I felt the need to comment on this one.

White Ribbon Day: 25 November 2013

If you’ve made it to my page to read my latest blog I would only make one small request..  If you have a comment to make, please comment via the blog, not the social media platform I may have put it on to get the blog out there.  Thank you!

In 2013 White Ribbon Day falls on the 25^th of November: White Ribbon Org

 

Some of you may recall a blog I wrote just over a year ago.  Given White Ribbon Day is getting closer, I thought it apt to repost:  It Can Happen to Anyone

Did you know that one Australian woman dies every week as the victim of domestic violence: Australia's Dark Secret

I didn’t know that.

Go and check the site out, it will open your eyes to something most people refuse to talk about.  It’s taboo.  Almost like if we ignore it, it is not really happening.  Well it is.  And I just thought you needed to know.

The Week That Was..

It's funny now, looking back at the week that was...

Monday:
I am putting the bins out and all of a sudden something drops off the bin onto my hand; turns out it is one of those pen knives, it sliced my hand open and all husband could say was “damn, I wondered where that was”…  I now have my right hand bandaged…

 

Tuesday:
I am out walking my 5.5 kilometres as a warm up to the day, at 5.30am as I do…  Before I tell you the rest as a precursor, several times over the last 8 weeks there has been this guy who rides past me on a small type postie bike around where I walk, he  usually toots and waves and keeps going.  I thought it was someone being, well, neighbourly..  So, yesterday I am in the same area, not a soul around, and the same lunatic rides up next to me on his bike (visor pulled up, he really looks eerie) and says “hi honey, what you up to”.  I screamed, as it scared me (it happened so quickly) and shouted “Oh Fe*k off” and he rode off..  I mean WTF?  So for the rest of the week I have taken a different route..  FREAK.  I’m thinking of reporting it.

Wednesday:
I am feeling like he** on earth so take what I think is 3 pain killers.  WRONG.  Realised 30 minutes later I had taken 3 sleeping tablets – really, who does that?

Thursday:
I am driving home minding my own business when a truck pulls out and holds up all the traffic in a narrow little back street I use – we must have sat there for about 5 minutes waiting for his to reverse (nothing I could do, narrow street), painful but no big deal, it happens.  This lunatic behind me is honking at me and telling me to go round – then jumps out of his car (hotted up Subaru, say no more) and starts screaming at me through the window – I'd had enough so I jumped out of the car and lost it – and I mean lost it.  He is screaming back at me and then a rather large man got out of his car and came up and told the other dude to, well go away, and get back in his car and shut up.  The lunatic was saying he’d follow me etc, so the nice guy followed me for some of the way home, obviously to make sure I got out okay…….

Friday:
I stayed home and closed all windows and doors.  It was uneventful.

"America'd" Out?

As I go into the final week of my holidays I thought it time to put fingers to keyboard and write a brief blog on the possibility I am America'd out..

It's quite sad - I never thought I'd see the day really..  But as this trip draws to a close it is a stark reality I have found myself contemplating.  Sure, the shopping is good but we now have terrific online shopping to take care of that whimsical part of my love affair with the US of A.

San Francisco was great and I'm glad we visited.  But the truth is the things I used to find endearing I now find annoying. I think I started to feel this way after our September 2011 trip to New York.  I know most people love NY and while I have to be honest and say I am glad I went, I am left feeling nonplussed about it as a holiday destination.  If I want to encounter rude people I can stay in Sydney for that.  If I want to encounter outrageous crowds I can visit Pitt Street Mall on Christmas Eve 20 minutes before the shops close (you know what I mean, men trying to find a gift at the last minute, harried mothers trying to get home and of course, people going into melt down that the shops will be closed for a WHOLE 24 to 36 hours...).

Anyway, back to San Francisco.  I'd describe it as similar to Melbourne - which regular readers of my blog know I LOVE!  But there are only so many expensive meals you can eat and rude Americans you can stomach (okay, they are not all rude but SFO seemed to have a high percentage of people who really disliked tourists).  It's a tourist destination people!  If you don't like your job in hospitality, go work somewhere else!

So I think our aim for a green card died a silent death on this trip.  I've realised I am very happy to live in the land of the lucky.  I am going to appreciate our beaches and overall lifestyle more.  I am going to shop online if I feel the need.  And I am going to think about a trip to Europe.  People tell me it is a crime I haven't been but quite frankly, up until now, the thought of travelling for 30 hours to get somewhere has been horrifying.  I guess I will have to do what the rest of society do and suck it up.  And maybe save to travel business class.

P.S. Please note; Hawaii does not fall into me being America'd out..  It is a beautiful holiday destination and I love it!

Parkinson's Disease - Some Amazing Statistics

WOW!  WOW!  WOW!  Is all I can say..

 I’ve just read an article that says “Parkinson's disease currently affects around one in 350 Australians, and 1 per cent of people over the age of 60 will be diagnosed with the disease”.

Parkinsons Disease Article
 

I'll be honest, I had no idea it was that MANY people.  And if I have no idea, yet I have been living with someone who has Parkinson’s disease for 20 plus years, how can we expect the rest of the world to be educated?  And I guess the answer is we can’t.

I get so angry when I hear that Parkinson’s is not a recognised “disease” in Australia – my mum (who has Parkinson’s) was told the closet support group she could attend was an MS support group.  She got there and was told she wasn’t welcome..  The last 20 odd years have been akin to running in circles and I’m here to tell you it is bullshit the way we ignore anyone who has this disease.

I could tell you 100 stories of how ignorant this country is in relation to this disease (and I know this is relevant to many diseases, but I comment on this one as it is what affects my family), starting with a rehabilitation centre in Brighton in Victoria that can only be described as something out of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (my mum was supposed to be there for 5 days to learn how to manage her disease, instead she was there for 33 days and it really was a f***** up place; we signed her out because of the damage it did to her mind, her body and her self esteem).  Come to think of it, I should dedicate a blog to it and maybe one day it will, I am still mortified at the treatment or lack thereof that my mother received there in 2003 – I am sure it sent her back 10 years.  Then we have the “trial surgery” she underwent in 2006 that was supposed to see her in Melbourne for 7 days – 36 days later we were able to consider bringing her home.

Anyway, not to get too carried away, the point of this blog is approximately 1 in every 350 Australians is affected by Parkinson’s disease.  I say it again. 

 

WOW, WOW, WOW.

 

Muhammad Ali & Michael J Fox - both have Parkinson's

 

Getting Old is a Bitch

Anyone who knows me knows that I hate this getting older business.  I am not a hell of a lot wiser, I am not a hell of a lot smarter but I am a little bit slower than I used to be..  It takes that little bit longer to recover..

 

However; when I say growing old is a bitch I am coming at it from a different angle..  Let me explain.

 

Last night I called my great aunt, rather naughtily I haven't done that since about May.  You know, life tends to get in the way.  I knew she had not been well.  I didn't quite know to what extent until I spoke to her.  She immediately thanked me for calling as she had been worried it had taken so long to return their call (from 5 days before).  That comment immediately put me on high alert. One thing Auntie Barb doesn't do is ever get emotional.  We got past the "sorry, I didn't mean to worry you" and settled into conversation.  She was a little difficult to understand, it sounded like she'd had a stroke and her speech was somewhat laboured.  We continued to chat - she asked about Lily, as she always does and told me about Merlin, her new cat she is fostering with her husband, Brian.

 

Barbie and I are like two peas in a pod, we never had children, and she and Brian lived a magnificent life, always on the go and travelling.  She asked me if I ever regretted not having children, again unusual, as we never talked about sentimental stuff.

 

Then she went off on a tangent I didn't quite understand, and then out of the blue said "well, you don't know Vic, but he was my brother and he died 11 years ago the June just gone".  Vic was my grandfather.  It was then that I realised that Barbie is getting old and then it hit me like a ton of bricks, Barbie would have to be in her mid to late 80's.

 

I never imagined her to be old.  She was always this strong woman who I held in the highest regard (and still do) because of her no nonsense, no bullshit approach to life.  She told it like it is/was.  I remember going to her house in 2003, when I lived in Melbourne, and going into her garage to get a bottle of champagne (Verve, 2002 I was instructed to get) to have with lunch and I'll never forget there was a whole wall filled with bottles of champagne from all over the world.  Her motto in life was (maybe still is) champagne is for any occasion at any time of the day and it cures everything!

 

So we continued to chat, she asked me to send her a postcard from San Francisco, her memory obviously back in check, she told me to call again soon and we hung up.  I feel this overwhelming sadness that I didn't see this coming.  At what point did I not realise that people get old?  Maybe I just thought she was indestructible, maybe I wanted her to live for ever.  Maybe I just never thought someone, who I thought was so bullet proof, would ever change.

 

So, today, even though it is Dry July, I am going to raise a glass of champagne to my Auntie Barb.  I'll gladly pay the $25 for the pass out for a glass.  And I won't just send her one postcard from San Francisco, I will send her one every day.  And I will ring once a fortnight.  That is my promise to you Auntie Barb, it is the least I can do.