Wash Day - My Beautiful Laundrette

Well who would have thought what a chance conversation with my daughter about how frequently I wash my pillows & then borrowing 2 drying balls would lead to?

So, today I've had a clear out of my cupboards. I changed my duvet to a higher tog rating because it's cold & washed my summer weight duvet. Thinking about it I didn't think I had ever washed it! So, I took it to the laundrette two minutes walk away - how convenient is that? £7 wash & 2x £1 drying & its all fresh & new.

I can remember when I was first married & did all my washing at the laundrette or I hand washed it. Then when my daughter was born & I had towelling nappies to wash we bought a Service Twin Tub washing machine. I thought I was in heaven! Actually it was a pain with hoses to fill it with water & to drain the spin dryer. That was exactly 50 years ago. It was years before we could afford a front loading automatic.

 

I can't remember when I was last in a Laundrette, but it was a very long time ago. It all came flooding back. The bags of service wash, the out of order machines, the general grimyness of everything, the broken floor tiles, the numerous notices telling you what to do & not to do.

But it was an oasis of calm in my normally too busy day. I read the paper. I read my book. I watched the washing go round.

I must go there again & wash everything in sight. It's so relaxing & peaceful. Having clean duvets & pillows is just a bonus!

Genocide - Syria - Eastern Ghouta

There has been Genocide in the Holocaust, also against the Armenians, in Cambodia, in Rwanda, in Bosnia, in Darfur. Now Eastern Ghouta in Syria is the latest scene of Genocide.

Holocaust Memorial Day was on the 27th January. Elie Wiesel a Holocaust survivor said:-
"I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering & humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the opressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented".

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/22/russia-un-resolution-eastern-ghouta-ceasefire-syria

 

The Russians have been blocking the UN motion for a 30 day ceasefire in Eastern Ghouta. They are delaying the motion so Syria can continue the bombardment. Shame on them. I have to hold onto a belief in Karma. I have to believe that they will pay a price for their criminal political meddling which is causing human suffering beyond belief.

Human beings are capable of selfless compassion & action for others. They are also capable of the most heinous crimes against others. Complete polarity between good & evil. Heaven & Hell is within us all.

We just have to hope that something approaching heaven triumphs. We should not tolerate silence & neutrality. Inaction results in the death of the innocent.

Bravery ? - Florida Parkland High School shooting

Deputy Scot Peterson "arrived at the building where the shooting broke out about 90 seconds after the first shots were fired, and (that he) remained outside for about four minutes. The attack lasted six minutes" -  Sheriff Israel.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43164634

 

Think about it & at least try to be honest with yourself. What would you do? 

Deputy Peterson is 54 & worked at the school for 9 years & had been a policeman for 33 years.  He has resigned & would be entitled to actually retire after an exemplary career.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/armed-officer-resigns-parkland-shooting-article-1.3836465 

The press is full of judgemental comment about him & officers are reportedly guarding his home. Whatever disciplinary procedure takes place his life is ruined & he will have to live with the consequences of his inaction.

I don't know what the protocols are for single officers facing an armed shooter situation. Are they supposed to wait for backup? One man against a well armed shooter, (AR 15 semi automatic rifle), in a panic situation.

 

Do they have any training for situations like this? Apparently not according to the National Association of School Resource Officers. 

https://nasro.org/training/nasro-training-courses/   

Are they armed at all? Do they just carry side arms? How effective would a side arm be against an AR 15?

This is a highly dangerous & volatile situation happening suddenly out of the blue. No one is prepared to face something like this. The "fight or flight" instinct kicks in immediately. Our basic instinct is to avoid danger & live. 

There are heros. Some people are brave & altruistic & their immediate response is to help the victims. But do we know how we personally would react? No. So do we have the right to condemn someone who is in shock, afraid & stops to think? I don't think so.

Yes he was a policeman. So he was presumably trained to deal with all sorts of violent situations. 

Unbelievably the history of school shootings in America goes back to the 1840's / 50's but it didn't become mass shootings until the University of Texas Massacre in 1966.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States

The number of incidents increases over the years, but the number of deaths remains in single figures until the notorious Columbine High School in 1999. The highest number of deaths is 33 at the Virginia Tech in 2007. The current Wikipedia list, culminating in the Parkland shooting, seems endless.

All those deaths & injuries. All that trauma & pain. All those families destroyed by a man with a gun. 

And nothing happens....

Dictators, Paedophiles, Mysogenist Abusers, Murdering Shooters - What's the Common Denominator.

Jacob Zuma - Barry Bennell - Harvey Weinstein - Nikolas Kruz

We seem to have an epidemic of bad news about the behaviour of men. But we do have to remember to keep things in proportion. The world is not only populated by criminal men. There are men we all know who are perfectly normal, who behave reasonably well, both in the public eye & out of it.

There are also women who behave really badly & commit crimes.

The problem is that although there is a reasonable balance in the general population of men & women, the overriding number of criminals are men. Like most sexual species, the sex ratio in humans is approximately 1:1. Whereas statistics have been consistent in reporting that men commit much higher rates of criminal acts than women. Differing explanations include men's evolutionary tendency toward risk and violent behaviour & their lower levels of self control.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_differences_in_crime

I think the thing I find most worrying about the current spate of dreadful behaviour by men in the news is the sheer brazen effrontery of it. These men thought they were above the law, not just in a legal sense, but in terms of acceptable behaviour. You have to ask if personality types like these actually feel a sense of entitlement to behave in this way. I'm no psychologist, but most people have a mechanism which allows them to control aberrant behaviour. There just appears not to be an off switch in these men. They are unable to see their victims as human beings. So are they all Psychopaths?

"Psychopathy is among the most difficult disorders to spot. The psychopath can appear normal, even charming. Underneath, he lacks conscience and empathy, making him manipulative, volatile and often (but by no means always) criminal. Adult psychopathy is largely impervious to treatment.
Brain anatomy, genetics, and a person’s environment may all contribute to the development of psychopathic traits.
The terms “psychopath” and “sociopath” are often used interchangeably, but a “sociopath” refers to a person with antisocial tendencies that are ascribed to social or environmental factors, whereas psychopathic traits are more innate. Both are Antisocial Personality Disorders".

Is this type of male behaviour getting more prevalent, or is it just more widely reported? That judgement is above my pay grade. However I do think that there are a lot of children being brought up in poverty, in homes where parenting skills are poor, non existant or even abusive. My guess is that there have always been social conditions like this, but nowadays we know more about them & the impact they have on children.

So whose responsibility is it? Parents, Family, Friends, the Church, Politicians? All of those.

We should not be allowing children to need their schools to provide a daily wholesome meal. We should not be allowing families in work to need food banks to get by. We need politicians to really tackle poverty, not just here & in the "developed world" - (I use the term loosely), but in the world at large. We should not be silent when politicians are corrupt & let them "divert" vast amounts of money to their own coffers. We should pay heed to "whistle blowers". We should listen to the victims of powerful men.

Politicians do have the power to change things, but so do we. Our voices should be loud & should be heard. What sort of world do we want for our children?

2 : 5 Fast Diet.

Good news - In 5 weeks I have lost 11lb. Bad news - Most of that, 10lb,  was in the first 2 weeks. Since then I actually gained weight one week & then have been static at the 11lb loss for a couple of weeks. So, I'm pleased to have lost an average of 2lb a week, but I wonder what's going on that I'm plateauing.

Anyway I'll keep at it. It isn't that difficult so long as I can swim at lunchtime & keep busy - No problem with that - Actually a bit of downtime would be good.

I haven't measured anything - I'll leave that till I've been doing it for 2 months. I just weigh myself in the morning every week. I'd like to get rid of some waist fat, (visceral fat). Apparently that's the most dangerous & the most difficult to lose when you are over 60. It "interferes with liver function -- increases your risk of heart disease and sets you up for type 2 diabetes". Great!

Apparently - "If you intervene with diet and exercise, belly fat will shrink. A study published in the journal Obesity in 2012 showed that after one year, post-menopausal, overweight women who participated in 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise five times a week and who reduced their caloric intake, experienced a notable reduction in their body mass index, waist size and percentage of body fat". www.livestrong.com

Well diabetes doesn't appeal at all, so "no pain, no gain" or rather "no pain, some loss".