I HAD TO WASH with washing-up liquid today. The soap I had bought (a kind of soapy fruit salad with all kinds of bits floating in it for the same price as normal) has vanished. Still we have no hot water - which means no baths. And we never did have a shower. Except the sort that comes as rubber tubes to fit over your hot and cold taps (those mixer-tap "faucets" (as Americans call them) aren't the norm in this country. Even the rich often prefer individual hot and cold on sinks and baths. Where the water is allowed to mix itself. This rubber implement you can only shower under by crouching exceptionally low - nearly curled into a ball - in the bath. Hardly a practical daily thing. And though we did have one a few months ago, somebody even stole that ... So washing facilities here are reduced to XIIX Century standards. Ho-hum ...
It is, at least, all quiet along our landings and hall this afternoon. Sounds of human carnage boom from a warfilm on Matran's television. Which probably means he's still sleeping off smoking Laundretta's earnings last night. Yesterday evening he had the audacity to suck his teeth at me then try and poach my dealer - all within the space of half a minute! "The Man" was quite affronted at Matran's question. And pulled a big face behind their backs as they left.
Laundretta's on-off bad behaviour we've all got so accustomed to that her adult toddler weep-&-wailing episodes by now seem to us utterly mundane. Only when someone from outside hears her self-magnified misery and says "what on earth is that?" does the point hit home that this is no normal behaviour for a 25 year old woman. But there you go ...
The crazy neighbour probs mentioned yesterday were not mine but a Scottish couple's that I know. They asked my advice on this man's bizarre and unreasonable behaviour and I said (speaking from bitter experience) that the man sounded to me that he was paranoind and genuinely mental. Thay'd not considered this possibility but said on reflection that my "diagnosis" seemed correct. If this is so, then they are suffering from our Government's disastrous Care in the Community agenda. Where patients have been tipped out of mental hospitals where (politically incorrectly, but truthfully) many actually prefer to be because the environment is straightforward, nonjudgemental and nonchallenging and sheltered from the worst of the world outside. Many have been forced to live among ordinary people while in a frankly psychotic state - where they're highly likely either to get taken advantage of - or to take their paranoia out on others and cause all manner of chaos. Often they're rational-seeming and plausible enough to take in lawyers, the police and housing managers who will do their bidding, causing all kinds of unnecessary havoc. When actually, all along, the "problem" has been residing inside them and their overactive imaginations. All this done -- why else? -- in the name of saving money ...
Right it's Sunday afternoon. I'm off now to my friend's for lunch. I'll see y'all later. Take care -
G
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TIMEZONES are still weirding me out. Before I took up blogging I never had cause to wonder what time it was on the American West coast. Now, at ten minutes to eleven and dark outside, I'm thinking "it's ten to three out there and still midafternoon" I wonder what so-&-so's doing ..."
Little things; little minds - so the saying goes ...
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Does anyone know the Travelling Monkey Blog?
This (soft toy) monkey gets all around America. Seattle, Las Vegas and California were his last three visits ...
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And this is one of the entertainingest photo-blogs I've ever seen: VillarOhYeah. Text is in Portuguese but there's barely any of that. The international language of ugliness rules here. (Click the link & you'll see what I'm on about..!)
It's a photocollection of people with the bizarrest faces ...
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Yeah, I know I shouldn't have bought stupid girlie soap ... but as it melts down with use, I sometimes get the urge to kind of pick the coloured bits out ...
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PS Click on this: the Sneezing Panda. One of very few clips to make me genuinely "LoL" ...
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Wanna hear some Chinese pop? This young lady has it as soundtrack to her blog: http://dabadeedum.blogspot.com/
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FOUND A FANTASTIC other video clips blog called College Videos. I've already borrowed two of their works for my Novelty Clips Blog
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DOES ANYONE KNOW MUCH ABOUT Second Life? I just joined and am awaiting my "confirmation email". My character is called Gledwood Uggla. It is a girl with a hairstyle that looks like horns growing out the back of her head. I chose to be female on a split-second whim and am now feeling "confused". I was assured I can have a sexchange once I get in there. Is that true. Oh well. And I bet I wasn't supposed to give out my "avatar's" name, was I? Who cares? If anyone knows anything about this game, please tell me! Because tomorrow I'm braving my way onto it. (Not in the mood at all right now ...)
Do I have to be a human being? Can't I be a hamster or a panda or something in second life? Maybe I will become a colony of garden worms living in a wormery... oh no that would be just as boring as my First Life - ho-hum ...
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PS Anyone like the song Waiting for the Man? I posted Lou Reed and Velvet Underground versions on my musical blog ...
Peksy soap snatchers! I'm sure your surroundings aren't doing you any good. Going to pop on the links now.
ReplyDeleteRx
I know they're not but I've just become expert at tuning them out ...
ReplyDeletecrazy people are very very hard to take care of. So true. They wont sign themselves in, and if they do the hospitals are overcrowded...then the ones who are out are disturbing the peace.. it's an uphill battle. And we still dont understand the nature of mental illness recovery without the use of pills. There is so much misunderstanding... Many statistics show that drugs have not helped overall at all but the pharmaceuticals show pretty tweaked charts. Not that they make info up but that they have a botched group., or so I've heard. And then Nash got better just by wandering around princeton. That story helped me understand mental illness a lot better... it's a gradual thing.
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteI read your blog religiously but I'll be the first to admit that I am terribly negligent in ever leaving comments. I'm more of a lurker ever since I broke my left arm especially as I still do not yet have full mobility which is extremely frustrating whenever it comes to typing. I'm also in the middle of a rather huge move - going to eventually even update my own journal! - as well as having just returned to work after having almost a year off.
I promise to show more interest in my fellow bloggers in the very near future.
Peace, love and happiness...
Ivy you're dead right. The crazies who most need to be in hospital most avidly avoid it. Others who want to be there (the true sense of "asylum") get in and do not leave ("bed-blocking"). It's a ridiculous situation...
ReplyDeleteHey Sickgirl - I saw the pictures of your arm you posted up they were truly horrible. Hope you're well on the road to true recovery.
ReplyDeleteG
xx
My friend Stephen Collins uses Dreft (dish washing liquid) to wash his hair. You're not alone.
ReplyDeleteOn his HAIR?? Doesn't it wash the life out of it??
ReplyDeleteNo, that's what I thought! But I felt his hair and noticed how soft it was. That's when he said "I use Dreft". I couldn't do that as half my scalp would probably come off in the process.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHow fascinating!
ReplyDelete