This arrived from my father-in-law yesterday: The suspect is definitely on the mend, with the medical team talking of a release into the tender mercy of her husband this coming week-end. Improved life signs include normal insatiable curiosity about other patients on the ward (sociological background, what the Polish girl thinks of working in MacDonalds in Tallaght etc) [see men do marry women like their mothers]. On balance this is a good sign. How small Dublin is – I was accosted in the supermarket today by a hill-running guy who is involved in mountain rescue to find him asking me “how is your wife?”. Apparently he was on call on the day in question and would have plodded up into the hills had not the helicopter boys scooped the pool
beforehand.”
Etiquette
The Dutch Mama came to stay last night. Just for one night and she brought the Princess a present. The Princess was so pleased that she took off all her clothes and ran around naked. A new phase perhaps? I have just realised that I never take kiddie presents when I go to stay with people. I will reform. The Dutch Mama also brought loads of gear for the twins because she is kind and good. To my deep regret, I opened it in the presence of the Princess who spent some time trying futilely to get into a 0-3 months babygro (MINE, MINE). She’s going to be so delighted when these babies are born.
Comments
Oh dear – the royal nose is going to be put out of joint. Poor princess. 0
Sweetie(s) given
Yes, Loc, I’m hoping she’ll grow out of it, apparently her uncle was a great stripper when a toddler and he seems to have grown out of it.
Yes, Norah, I’m terrified. 0
Sweetie(s) given
I’m not a feminist but
The other day, I heard a young woman say I’m not a feminist or any of that rubbish, but I hate it when older men patronise me. She went on to explain that for all of her career, she had worked for older men. What, she thinks that the rest of us have spent our careers working for teenage girls? Does she feel that it’s necessary to qualify her criticisms in this way so
as not to annoy older men or does she really believe that feminism is rubbish and it’s important to say so at every possible juncture? I found either interpretation very depressing. What did I say? Nothing. I am a feminist, but I’m a coward. Sigh.
It is supremely annoying, isn’t it? I wish I could pull myself together and say something. Perhaps next time I’ll say, “you know, it sounds to me like you might be just a teensy bit of a feminist, are you worried about that?” and watch for squirming. Or, more likely, I won’t.
That does seem to be the all-purpose-loophole-to-offend . I’m not racist but, I’m not being mean but, I don’t think the earth should be run by aardvarks with telepathy but.
Regrettably I too can only vent my spleen behind the safety glass of blogging.
I’m not a blogger or any of that rubbish, but I happened to be passing and I have to agree that it is rather depressing.
You should have decked her… she doesn’t deserve to get away with that level of sloppy thinking.
But if she’s not a feminist doesn’t that mean she would believe in a more patriarchial (sp?) society and therefore deserves to get patronised by men – silly cow!!! (sorry about language but people like that annoy the hell out of me too!)
Good point JZ. Norah, beautifully put. JD, is this the academic in you coming out by any chance? StarCorner, you restore my faith in human nature!
Probably.
Oh the pain
I broke a tooth eating a frozen Mars bar. Do you really want to know?
Anyway, due to amazing Scandinavian dental technology, my tooth is slightly better than new. But the bill came to, oh dear, 285 euros only a small portion of which I fear will be refunded by our insurance. Oh the pain.
on 26 July 2005 at 14:51
No, bobble, frozen Mars bars are delicious, truly (Norah, back me up here, please). But expensive.
on 27 July 2005 at 15:46
Christ – sorry about that. But who goes biting into Mars Bar Bricks? At least a bit of thawing was surely in order?
on 28 November 2005 at 16:54
“Gold Palle” is the nickname of this dentist, because he(Palle Hansen)is the most expensive dentist in Bruxelles.
on 28 November 2005 at 16:54
“Gold Palle” is the nickname of this dentist, because he(Palle Hansen)is the most expensive dentist in Bruxelles. belgianwaffle
Mr. Jensen, thank you, this is a superb piece of information…
Technical
We went to a garden party in the suburbs yesterday. It was all very civilised. And leafy. Our host was a man I knew when I was in Bosnia for a couple of months in 1996 and ran into again in a Brussels café last year. Small world and all that.
I was chatting to this woman and I asked her how she knew our host and she said that she had a blog. Ran into some blogging etiquette difficulty as I waxed enthusiastic about her very well-known blog in a polite way but havenÂ’’t really read it; so was frantically trying to remember whether she might have children etc. while wittily telling stories about the pleasures of being pregnant with twins.
I suppose it was inevitable that she should be the mother of twins. It turned out that a lot of people there were bloggers who knew each other, including our host. It was all very weird but the weirdest bit was when I was chatting to this Irish girl whose blog I cannot now find and she said to me “YouÂ’’re
belgianwaffle are you? I nearly keeled over from shock. “What� How did you know?” “Well, you’Â’re pregnant with twins.”
And while I’Â’m doing geeky, everytime I try to link to the sarcastic journalist, I get a message saying “You’ve been very, very naughty! You are the weakest link. Goodbye. What the hell is that about? If you are at all in the mood to be kind, you
might see if the link works for you and, if it does pass me on her email address so that I can see whether I have been blocked by accident or what. Oh come on, you know I havenÂ’’t been leaving nasty comments.
And finally, please admire the Princess’Â’s new hair style.
on 24 July 2005 at 17:16
Not sure if it helps, but I followed the link you gave and got the same thing. Even googling and following the link came up with the same message. So I don’t think it’s you, I think it’s a problem with that site. (Google still has it cached though)
(Homepage)
on 24 July 2005 at 20:14
It was lovely meeting you yesterday and you have the gift of the gob, my dear! I couldn’t even ask you a question 😉 There again, you may realise that in reality (although you don’t read my blog) I am, in fact, terribly shy. I had some tips for you that I was thinking about last night if ever you wanted some, re: twins, so do email me if you feel the need 🙂 I hope we meet again before the sproglets pop out – let me know and we can organise a BBQ chez-moi.
on 24 July 2005 at 23:01
Hey ‘waf.. that woman whose blog you don’t read is calling you a mouth!! 😉
on 25 July 2005 at 10:33
HJB, not only are you an A lister, you’re a saint as well. Disgruntled, it’s no wonder we’re disgruntled, frankly.
Nicholas, alarmingly so. Thank you for a lovely afternoon – more formal thanks to follow!
Oh dear, it’s not that I don’t read your blog, it’s just that I subscribed with bloglines and it never updates so I gave up on it. I would love to say that I am only very, very talkative in the presence of celebrities but this is completely untrue. I could talk for Ireland (and that’s saying something). Thank you for kind offering of advice re sproglets, I will be back to you. Am on first day of mat leave and gethering myself together to torment people.
Jack, what can I say, it’s true.
(Homepage)
on 25 July 2005 at 17:00
I’m sooo sorry!!! I hope we can get this straightened out.
on 26 July 2005 at 18:31
Sorry to make you keel over with shock! Nicholas had invited a stack of bloggers so I assumed that’s how he knew you.
on 27 July 2005 at 10:28
But no! And you know how dangerous it is to make someone in my condition keel over…Anyhow, where is your blog? I’ve tried Habseeligkeit in livejournal but it sneers at me.
(Homepage)
on 08 August 2005 at 20:14
Sorry, have been internet cold turkey for a while and haven’t been blogging. Most of the journal is locked – you can sign up to livejournal without bothering to post anything and I’ll “friend” you to read posts.
on 08 August 2005 at 21:54
It’s ok, I found you, Nicholas gave you away! Will sign up to live journal when feeling strong and let you know…
Nee Naw
On Friday, my poor mother-in-law fell and broke her hip while out walking in the Wicklow hills and had to be airlifted to hospital where, mercifully (and slightly incredibly), she seems to be her usual perky self and she tells us that she is scheduled to start walking about tomorrow. Can this be right? We’re all most relieved but a trifle unnerved all the same. The Princess is torn between worry about her Grandma (sore leg, poor Grandma) and excitement that her Grandma has had a ride in a helicopter.
She does seem to be extremely well all things considered. I guess trekking about the mountains has made her tough. Still, all a bit grim.