Me me me me me

I've been quiet for a few days. Partly general misery. Partly going into respite care. Partly having nothing to say about anything.

But I'm now out of respite care, still fairly miserable, but starting to have things to say again :)

Respite care is one of the few places I ever watch television. I can't get over how immensely more disturbing the news is with moving images. I lived for 25 or so years watching the news, then 18 months without has turned me into... well, I'm not sure what:

an oversensitive person? I don't think so... I mean, I am oversensitive, but I don't think it is inherently oversensitive to be upset at seeing films of dead bodies and bombs

a more easily shocked person? Maybe...

a less accepting of horrific things person? I like to think I was never accepting of horrific things, but maybe I'm now less accepting of witnessing them.

*Sigh*

I did some more card making yesterday. I really enjoyed it! And am as pleased as I ever would be with the results... I'm not that creative, but if I do this stuff for fun, when I'm in the mood, I find it relaxing, and it means I have 4, yes FOUR cards ready for any approaching birthdays or card-requiring activities.

I like pretty things :D

Who Gives a Shit?

London shortlisted for Olympic bid is what the radio news has been telling me all day.

Who gives a shit? This country seems to spend half its time trying to get shortlisted, an almost equal amount of time trying to get chosen, and a small (but essential) amount of time not ever being chosen, and then the whole rigmarole starts again.

I very much doubt we'll win the bid this time. We never do. We will waste £millions on pretty pictures and such and we won't be picked. And whether we do or not, I don't care. I don't think I know anyone who does.

And a man has been arrested for impersonating a police officer at Windsor Castle. Again, who gives a shit?

No members of the Royal Family were at the castle at the time and police say the pair, both in their 30s, did not breach security.

Ok, so not only do I not care, but it seems to be a non-story as well. There were no royals there (yawn), and this guy and a woman with him were in a public area... Why is this on the news?

And why are the royals so protected? What makes them any more important than me? Or you? Why?!

However, I do give a shit about the gay weddings stuff in Massachussetts. Here is a fabulous BBC photo report on the story, with a special appearance from the evil website people (note no link, don't want to encourage them).

A peace rally in Israel provokes some moving photographs too, and the Baghdad bomb attack photographs really show me more than I can deal with seeing.

Since I got rid of my television nearly 18 months ago, I feel the impact of visual images of such things much more strongly. Now that I get the vast majority of my news on the radio and am not bombarded daily with images of disasters, I find these types of images much more powerful and disturbing than I ever have before.

Protest photos are important, I think, to remind us that there are many millions of us who despair at the state of the world, and who are willing to shout, dance, cry, write and be all-roundly creative to change things. Photos from the Wall Must Fall demo last Saturday are inspiring and beautiful.

Not for the first time in his life, it seems Peter Tatchell was causing controversy. I have to admit to some sympathy for him on this one. Pretending that the Palestinian authorities are perfect is inappropriate if it's not true, and it is totally ok to stand up for Palestinians against their occupiers, while at the same time pointing out discrimination which occurs within its own communities. The two are not mutually exclusive or contradictory.

It's like there is sometimes an unspoken feeling within the anti-war communities that there must be no horror from anything done by Iraqis or Palestinians, say, because they are fighting the occupations of their territories / countries, and thus are justified. However, while I understand the reasoning and hatred and fear and bitterness behind any such actions, I still maintain the right to feel horrified at a man being beheaded, for instance.

It's all complicated. I know where they are coming from, and I support the determination for freedom, but I am essentially a pacifist and I want the fighting, all the fighting, to stop.

It hurts my soul.

Alarmed?? Yes!

Yes I am alarmed to look at my funky new list of referers to this blog and find that incurable hippie's comes 5th in the google results for "keep britain for the british"... argh! That was thanks to this entry in which I ranted about Kilroy standing as a UK Independence Party candidate in the forthcoming European elections.

I was secretly pleased to also come up on the results list of google searches for Charnock Richard Cycles which is the place of the best radio jingle ever, from my youth listening to Rock FM which I reminisced about in April. Awww.

I love being able to see my referrers just down there on the right hand side of the page. I think it will become a very interesting pastime!!

This Church of Critical Thinking entry about Catholicism and transubstantiation will make any Recovering Catholic smile and is informative for anyone who wants to have the "yes it is Jesus's actual body and blood, not just representative of it" stuff clarified.

It then goes on to look at the influence of the Catholic church on Amerikan politics, which is very, very interesting and contained stuff certainly new to me.

Mother Doesn't Want a Dog is a cute poem from Snowball which is worth a read, especially if, like me, your mum wouldn't allow you pets as a child!

I hadn't heard of Margaret Keane until recently, but I find her work totally absorbing. Both beautiful and disturbing, and I'm glad I was pointed in her direction.

An email update I just received has informed me that the (scary) Christian Institute are opposing a bill to ban smacking children. That's right, you read it correctly. They think hitting children is good, it seems. They are also complaining about the proposed civil partnership laws, allowing same-sex couples to register their partnerships, on the basis that siblings, and disabled people and their carers could not register theirs... Seems a bit spurious to me.

They give helpful examples, like:

A 60-year-old homosexual man picks up a 22-year-old in a gay bar. Shortly afterwards the 22-year-old moves in to the older man’s London home which has been in his family for generations. Within a month the two have entered into a civil partnership. The older man dies three months later and the 22-year-old inherits the home. Because of the partnership, he pays no inheritance tax.

What can you say to that then? Stone them! Stone them all!

And I'm sure they didn't intend the gay men cake decoration to be cute, but it really is!!

14/5 or 5/14 or just my birthday yesterday :)

Irene Stuber runs an incredible website at undelete.org all about undeleting women from his/herstory.

The Women of Achievement section of her website tells me some significant events around women's herstory which have occurred on May 14th, my birthday. I especially like that on May 14th 1918, the right to vote and stand for political office for all women of the Canadian Province was validated.

Another site tells me that Thomas Gainsborough and Cate Blanchett share my birthday, and elsewhere I find that the month of May is...

• Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

On May 7, 1990, President George Bush signed a proclamation declaring May to be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, recognizing the first Japanese immigrants arriving in the United States on May 7, 1843.


• Better Hearing and Speech Month



• Better Sleep Month



• Egg Month (National)



• Mental Health Awareness Month



• Huntington's Disease Awareness Month



• Neurofibromatosis Awareness Month (World)



• Older Americans Month



• Physical Fitness & Sports Month (National, US)



• Teacher Appreciation Month



• Trauma Awareness Month (National)

though these, of course, are very US-centric.

And how can I not follow a link to Favo(u)rite resources for Catholic homeschoolers, which tells me that 14th May is the Feast of St. Matthias (d. 65) Apostle and Martyr, and birthday of Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686) German scientist.

I guess of all that I'm most inspired by Canadian women getting the vote, 59 years (I think!) before the date I was born.

I had a lovely day yesterday with friends and beer and the sun was shining :) I'm now 27...

Oly-hay Ible-bay

Oly-hay Ible-bay is the official title of The Bible in Pig Latin, which is worth a look or two.

And Britain's Favourite Flowers from the Guardian is a bit of eye candy which seems rarer and rarer in the days of more and more horror being recorded for posterity and shared. No links to that because I can't stand to see any more of it.

And if you want a proper giggle, try We Like tha Moon. Leaving it running through several times almost guarantees insanity.

Sorry it's not so inspired today. I am tired, stressed and miserable.

Independence, Insults and Inherent Idiocy

I was, for some reason, stunned to read thatKilroy will become a UK Independence Party candidate in the forthcoming elections.

The BBC gives a fair summary of the whole Kilroy issue, but basically, he was an MP in the Labour Party, then became a TV talk-show host, apparently to provide a British equivalent of Oprah...

He was on at 9am on a weekday and was the mainstay of morning viewing for kids on half term, and uni students. Mainly, though, cos the better TV hadn't started yet... If you wanted an early morning row, usually over street muggings and such, you tuned into BBC 1, until you either got insanely irritated, or until Trisha started at - I think - half past.

Kilroy was characterised by beginning with a mini speech by the man himself, a fairly in-depth story from one or two audience members, then a discussion, leading to anarchy in the audience of often over-60s. Though the programme may have usually started with a seemingly sympathetic look at someone's situation, it soon descended into right-wing diatribes, almost always against people on the dole, single mums, or drug users.

Incredibly moralistic, his meagre attempts to show himself as an objective interviewer proved futile as his own moral agenda became clearly visible.

Anyway, earlier this year, many grinned when he well and truly dropped himself in it by launching into an anti-Arab racist rant entitled, "We owe Arabs nothing".

I'm not going to reproduce it here, because that kind of attitude already has too much webspace, but you can imagine, I'm sure. Anyway, he got bollocked and eventually the BBC suspended the show.

Soooooo that was January this year, and now he's standing for the UK Independence Party it seems. I don't know much about this party, but what I know and what I read on their site tells me that they are essentially very anti-Europe, and full of the whole "keep britain for the british" stuff that I hate.

He sounds like, umm, an ideal candidate :-/

Racist fucker.

The Terrifying Tale of the Missing Beeps

I have to admit to a certain scepticism when my source informed me of the mysterious disappearance of the middle two beeps before the ten o'clock news. I challenged her certainty that it had been the middle two beeps specifically which were absent, suggesting that it was equally likely to have been, for instance, 1 and 3, say, which were missing.

However i was quickly reminded of her inherent superiority, on an intellectual plane, to not only myself but the majority of the thinking world. She patiently explained that there had been 2 beeps, then a gap, then the final 2.

My Nancy Drew-like sleuthing powers kicked in and i surmised that we were almost certainly dealing with a kidnapping. The most obvious suspects were, of course, the notorious Tory Rebel terrorist cell.

This was certainly a typical, though more hard-hitting than we are accustomed to from them, attempt to throw those liberal lefty radio 4 listeners right off course. The missing beeps, in combination with the recently broken quarter chimes on big ben, was clearly a tactic intended to scare the wishy washy world into submission.

And it was working.

I witnessed a grown man squaring his jaw as he had his long liberal locks shorn, a social worker leaving work early to go to the British Legion, and a well-known lefty campaigner joining... the Labour Party.

With such devastation around us within moments of the affront of the missing beeps, the Tory Rebel terrorist campaign was proving to be not only severe and heartless, but also effective. If we didn't find the beeps and restore them to their rightful slot before the 11 o'clock news all hell would, without a doubt, break loose.

Has to be seen - genius

Ok, I know I've only just posted and it's already all disjointed and now I'm adding something else under a separate entry and it's all very bad blogiquette, but I couldn't let you leave without readingthis amazing entry from The Church of Critical Thinking

Mish-Mash

The Infected Papercut led me to a list of 100 Mistakes for the President to Choose From, apparently in response to a press conference where dubya was asked to name a mistake he had made, and amazingly he couldn't.

There's nothing on there you won't have heard before, but it can be handy to have a whole lot of references on the one page.

---

I started looking for short free online courses, and decided to list some random ones here. I was quite surprised by the variety (i.e. they're not all beginners' Spanish). However, don't expect too much. Many of these places offer a free introductory lesson in an attempt to then sell you the rest of the course, others are courses written to promote a product, and yet others are so surrounded by adverts it's hard to keep track of what you're supposed to be there to do.

There are a few, however, which seem to be there for the good of humankind, which can only be a good thing. However, I guess the 7 million free Bible study online courses I found would argue that they were there for that purpose... I have not listed those here incidentally!

Anyway, click away if there's anything that catches your fancy, just bear in mind my warnings above.

Free online photography courses

Free Education on the Internet

Free Online Courses from the University of Washington

Web Building Tutorials

A Jazz Improvisation Primer

Free online self help courses

Bookbinding, a tutorial

BBC Learning - Online Courses

Free Stop Panic Attacks course

Judaism and Vegetarianism

Ukrainian Language for Beginners

Digital Camera and Digital Photography Courses

W3Schools - online web tutorials


Hmmm you always come across something you don't quite expect when you're doing an apparently straight-forward search...

And... did you ever want to download the internet?!

---

Mixed bag today it seems...

---

Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant!
"May barbarians invade your personal
space!"
You are highly confrontational and possibly in a
bad mood. You would have sworn in this quiz,
if I had made it an option.


Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

---

Gay Bear


Which Dysfunctional Care Bear Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Sheep and Shit-Stirrers

I have finally got round to finding a photo of theHermit sheep 'Shrek' shorn of 6-year-old woolly fleece. Well, ok, that makes me sound proactive when in fact someone sent me the link, but, you know, I clicked on it.

The sheep in question looked totally different to how I'd imagined him, and I can kinda see myself emerging looking something like that after 6 years of self-imposed solitude as a hermit as well. All enclosed and protected by a huge ball of fuzz. So, so tempting.

It seems the government has had another marvellous idea - to charge failed asylum seekers for healthcare. Not only is this totally outrageous and denying the necessary health care many people need, but also I can't imagine the money saved would be anything other than negligible. I could actually even imagine that it could end up more expensive if they have to treat people as emergencies, when conditions which could have been easily managed earlier on have now become more dangerous or severe.

It's just racist shit, pure and simple. The government is trying to appeal to and placate the fascists (and Tories by showing how tough they are being on these scary foreigners, but in fact, the only reason asylum seekers have become a big issue here is because the government and the tabloids have made them that. It's a self-perpetuating situation which has led to the evil BNP gaining seats and credibility, and people getting tougher and tougher.

The facts are that asylum seekers are here to escape extreme situations in which they would be killed or tortured. They have left their homes, often their families, friends, possessions, jobs and communities to do this. They arrive elsewhere and are forced to live in poor housing, in abject poverty, and as if that was not all horrific enough, but then they also have to face bigotry, racism and fascist attitudes coming from the media, the government, and certain people around them.

I cling onto the hope that it is a minority of people who truly hold negative opinions about asylum seekers. But one big problem is that for anyone who is undecided or not so knowledgeable on the issues, the papers and government's attitudes and propaganda can easily push someone into believing that asylum seekers are people to be feared, to be hated, and to be "sent home" at all costs.

No borders!!

And, for the hamster feature of the day, check out this cool site I found where you can upload photos of your own hamsters and gerbils and you can find Pierrot / Nepenthe, Heidi and Clara.

Christianity, Cutting and Corn Dogs

When I come across a link entitled Weblog: Is Christianity to Blame for Teen Self-Mutilation?, it is the kind of thing I cannot often resist reading. When I then realise that the blog is written by Christianity Today I certainly cannot resist!

It is written in response to a Guardian article which turns out to be about self harm generally in young people, about the worryingly younger ages of children who are self harming, and such. The section about which the Christianity Today blog is referring to is as follows:

"Images of self-harm are all around us, particularly in religious iconography. Christianity is founded on the notion that Christ suffered for the world's sins and there have been sects which practiced self-flagellation and mutilation throughout history. Pain and the spilling of our own blood are seen as ways of cleansing ourselves. Likewise, when teenagers cut themselves they often say it is a release, a way of punishing themselves or others."

Now, while I would never say that Christianity or Catholicism have caused my self harm, for life is never so simplistic, I will say that the doctrine of punishing your body, of mind-pleasure being superior to bodily-pleasure, of overriding your body's needs, and of overriding pain for the sake of spiritual development, have all contributed to a state of mind in myself where self harm seems not only acceptable, but even kinda the best thing to do, with regards to a Catholic lifestyle.

Not logically, of course, but in that place where your head can take you, especially if that head is a Roman Catholic one.

But unfortunately, the above weblog's intelligent response to the debate was "Whatever" so I'm not much wiser on the other side of the argument.

"What does the Bible say about body piercing?" was an equally intriguing link, with almost laughable prescriptive and out-of-context quotations from Leviticus et al, and references to the evil background of body piercings and tattoos in (oooh) witchcraft and false religions (sic)...

Helpful comments such as, "Some even have this done on unspeakable parts of their bodies. These are abnormal and unnatural." and "Because the youth of our day are despising and rebelling against their parents this is very displeasing to the Lord as one of the Ten Commandments in the Bible is to honor our parents" really do not contribute much to the debate of the rights and wrongs of body piercing / adornment / whatever.

And is anyone surprised by this tirade of contradiction and woman-hating...?

"It is a different matter when women wear pierced earrings as a custom, without the rebellion and pride attached to it. However, this could even be wrong if women are filled with vanity and pride over their appearance. Remember God looks at our heart attitudes. In fact, the Bible speaks of a generation of women that will be alive at the coming of the Lord that will be judged severely for their flirting and their haughtiness."

I think not...

Unfortunately it is what we have come to expect from Christianity. I don't care what people do or don't believe in, but really, if you are going to have the backing of something influential (for right or wrong) like Christianity, use it for *good*. Use it to feed starving people or to banish oppression. Analysing the differences between pierced earrings in respectable women, compared to pierced earrings in women who are doing it to rebel, and condemning anyone and everyone over minutiae, just makes most people raise an eyebrow and walk on.

And, in the spirit of totally lowering the tone of intellectual discussion, meet corndog.

adopt your own virtual pet!

Consider the bandwagon truly leapt upon ;)

BBC - Ouch! - Columnists

As some of you know, I love BBC Ouch website - link at the side for instance, and I was just reading through the weekly newsletter and about to link to a fabulous article about Evil Mat wanting to take over Mat's interviews as an actor with journalists who ask stupid, offensive and just plain rude questions about his disability.

So yeah, I was about to do that and I was still working my way through the newsletter when I came across this bloglist on their site, listing blogs they found which look at disability issues, and bloody hell fire, there is little old me!!

Am I mad to be so totally excited?! Well, actually, we already know I'm mad, so I will just say...

I am so totally excited

He he he he he! And I really already had started this entry with the Evil Mat link before I'd got as far as the bloglist page!!!!!!

In any case, this is how they described my blog:

This UK blogger, who has a number of interesting entries on mental health topics (and has the good sense to link to Crippled Monkey), describes herself as a "mad, in debt, radical, angry, pacifist, warrior, flower-power chick ..."

Ok I will stop being so sycophantic and stuff now, just so totally excited!!

I also love radio 4 with an undoubtedly inappropriate passion. I love that the broken quarter bell of Big Ben is being treated, quite rightly, as the biggest crisis to hit Britain so far this century... What will the world be like now with a whole week of beeps instead of chimes at 6pm and midnight...?

Yesterday upon the stair

I met a man who wasn't there / he wasn't there again today / I wish I wish he'd go away

Hatred, Holiness and Hamsters

A SocietyGuardian article today tells of a CAB report that people with mental illness face widespread discrimination. This comes as no surprise, and the article and the report make depressing and not very surprising reading. On the one hand it's good to have statistics like these to back up arguments and make your point, on the other, of course it would be better if this was never the situation so statistics weren't necessary.

Holy Disorders is also an article well worth reading, comparing "modern" anorexia with the starvation and self injurious behaviours of female saints throughout history. And of course, race training for all mental health staff can only be a good idea. Follow it up with awareness of women's and LGB issues and we might start getting somewhere...

On what was supposed to be a *nicer* point, here are some photos of my hamsters. It was supposed to be a nicer point in a chilled, cute way. In fact it was stressful in a *you can't do tables in html using only instinct* way. I like things to be instinctual, hence being a music- and language-type. In any case, at some point I will actually learn how to do them and re-do the page. For now, hopefully their cuteness will take precedence over the crappy page layout, font, colours etc. etc. etc.

Hmmm...

Burlap, Blogs and Boredom

Billy "Smiles" Evans


I am a very sick little boy. My mother is typing this for me, because I can't. She is crying. Don't cry, Mommy! Mommy is always sad, but she says it's not my fault. I asked her if it was God's fault, but she didn't answer, and only started crying harder, so I don't ask her that anymore. The reason she is so sad is that I'm so sick. I was born without a body. It doesn't hurt, except when I go to sleep.
The doctors gave me an artificial body. My body is a burlap bag filled with leaves. The doctors said that was the best they could do on account of us havin' no money or insurance. I would like to have a body transplant, but we need more money. Mommy doesn't work because she said employers don't hire crying people. I said, "Don't cry, Mommy," and she hugged my burlap body. Mommy always gives me hugs, even though she's allergic to burlap, and it chafes her real bad.

I hope you will help me. You can help me if you forward this e-mail. Dr. Johansen said if you foward this e-mail then Bill Gates will team up with AOL and do a survey with NASA. Then the astronauts will collect prayers from school children all over America and take them up to space so that the angels can hear them better. Then they will go to the Pope, and he will take up a collection in church and send the money to the doctors. The doctors could help me better then.

Maybe one day I will be able to play baseball. Or maybe just use my lungs and heart, when the doctors make them. The doctors said that every time you foward this letter, the astronauts can take another prayer to the angels. Please help me. Mommy is so sad, and I want a body. I don't want my leaves to rot before I turn 10.

If you don't foward this e-mail, that's OK. Mommy says you're a mean heartless person who doesn't care about a poor little boy with only a head. She says that she hopes that you stew in the raw pit of your own guilt-ridden stomach. What kind of wretched person are you that you can't take five lousy minutes to forward this to all your friends so that they can feel guilt and shame for the rest of their day, and then maybe help a poor, bodiless nine-year-old boy?

Please help me. This really sucks. I try to be happy but it's hard. I wish

I had a puppy. I wish I could hold a puppy.

Thank You.
Billy 'Smiles' Evans,
The boy with just a head.
And a burlap sack for a body.


This is about as good as subverting the perceived power of chain letters as anything I've ever come across! Go, burlap boy!

I want to link to some of my friends' LJs and blogs. There are some Open Diaries too but not sure if they're secret so I won't yet.

Anyway for now I give you...

/drum roll/

faintpraise, Becksydee, Shy_Fae and Snowball.

/applause/

When I get round to it I will add a links section to the right to blogs I like - the best ones tend to be the ones you get to through following links from links and more links. You find a gem and have no idea how you got there.

There are some really impressive photography ones for instance. And very good social and political commentary from all over. And funny stuff too, of course, I'm not totally boring and serious.

Optical Illusions are always good to fill a few minutes of boredom.

Degrees and DJs

I got an Aegrotat Degree. That is the first definition I have ever come across of them. Not that I've especially looked, mainly through the shame / denial of the whole thing.

I shouldn't be ashamed, they say, because not only is it a full degree, but they are very rarely awarded because it is rare that someone's work is at a good enough standard to have guaranteed that they would have passed had they sat the final exams.

Hmmm.

I hate chain letters. I hate chain letters. I received one today and am angry about it. Not the email kind - they're bad enough, but this was a real, paper chain letter, making me feel it has even more power.

Yeah I know it's a stupid piece of paper, but that's not how it feels.

I am currently having a not-so-mentally-healthy reminiscence over Red Rose Rock FM as it used to be called.

Weirdly, it seems that Adele from Big Brother is now a DJ on there.

I remember Mike Toolan but really I was looking for (just worked out his name) Paul Jordan who, according to Digital Spy Forum, dotJournalism, Emap and many others, is now MD of Rock FM, though MediaUK says he is Head of News. I'm guessing that's out of date.

The Digital Spy Forum also mentioned Claire Anderson and Kev Seed, both of whom I remember.

97.4 Red Rose Rock FM from the Rocking Church at St. Pauls Square, to the Tower Of Power at Winter Hill across the Great North West

More rock, less talk

Buy a bike, buy a bike, get down to Charnock Richard Cycles. Buy a bike!

We're rocking the north west!

Charnock Richard cycles doesn't seem to have a website, but it was certainly worth linking to the google search results, as every single link to it seems to mention the ad jingle!

I have no idea where I was intending to go with that, but all that googling has taken me way off the track of whatever it may have been.

Bush, Lush and Personality Disorders

I can't decide whether this Personality Disorders poem is cute or offensive...

The world and the news are too depressing currently to comment on, so I will leave you with my latest poem :))

Lush and Bush

If George W. Bush
Ever visited Lush
I just know he would chill out so much

Poor countries he'd feed
He'd legalise weed
Following the footsteps of the Dutch.

With each bar of soap
He'd increase our hope
For a world with no fighting or war

All fresh and organic
He'd be the mechanic
Of justice, equality for all.

He'd melt in the bath
Enjoying the aftermath
Of all of his spending and giving

With a smile in his eyes
Amidst bubbles he lies
Knowing he just improved someone's living.

So go on, Georgie B,
Buy a bath bomb or three,
And help make the world a nice place

A refreshing quick shower
You'll use all your power
And abolish the nuclear arms race.

by me

Ann Widdecombe - Agony Aunt Extraordinaire

Buck up!

Manchester

I spent yesterday in Manchester with an old friend (in length of time we've been friends, rather than her age) and was quite shocked to see Manchester city centre nowadays.

Lots of glass and such buildings - very modern, whatever that means, striking, and almost certainly built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games which were held there.

I also couldn't help but notice the sheer number of designer and exceedingly expensive shops around. This could have just been representative of the area we spent time in, though we were pretty central which could suggest this is how the whole of the shopping centre is. Selfridges was large and impressive, though almost frightening in prices, and it was not alone amongst an an incredible array of capitalist blatancy.

That's not to say I didn't have fun or indeed indulge in the shopping experience. I left Whittards with Almond Amaretto and Irish Cream flavoured instant coffees, and chocolate milkshake stuff, which I hope will go well with my soya milk supplies.

I also spent a little too much on purty things in Paperchase which is an incredible shop indeed, and I could easily spend a year's wages (if indeed I got wages) in.

I couldn't, however, imagine what Manchester City Centre is like for those souls who live in Manchester but, as will be the case for the majority, don't have the income to do their regular shopping in a centre like this. Sure, I spotted a Mk One and other such bargainous shops, but to be surrounded by such oppressive extravagence and indulgence must be somewhat depressing.

I got the inescapable idea that, in catering for the many visitors which Manchester must get, Commonwealth Games or not, they have perhaps lost sight of their city's residents' needs. It was a fabulous place to visit and see, but if I lived there, with the minimal income I have, I would find going into the city centre a thoroughly depressing experience as it highlighted how little I have and how much some have, the huge gap and unfairness implied within that.

It had been quite a while since I'd visited Manchester, and I would certainly go again, though most likely next time I would avoid the uncomfortable crowds which are so inevitable on Easter Saturday in school holidays.

Incidentally, this must be the first Easter ever when I seem to have managed to not buy a single Easter Egg. Impressive.

Arsenal vs. Man United

I'm sitting here watching the game
And if I'm honest, it's quite lame
Apart from when United scored
Mostly I've just been quite bored.

Finally the game has ended
Feigning interest now suspended
Man United, in the lead,
To the final now succeed.

Arsenal must be quite frustrated
Thoughts of victory all abated.
It's taken over the TV
And is of no interest to me.

Even now the game has finished
Debate and woes are not diminished
They will discuss it now for ages
And fill up all the sports back pages.