Friday 20 March 2009

caution - unwarrented rant ahead

i have lived in this wonderful country, england, my adopted land, for 12 1/2 years. and after all this time, there are still occasions where the entire system completely eludes me and i find myself wailing and teeth-gnashingly screaming why? WHY????? WHY IN GODS GOD NAME WOULD YOU EVER EVER SET SOMETHING UP TO RUN LIKE THIS???????????

i have found that the answer to the above question usually has something to do with the fact that the system in question worked perfectly fine in neolithic/norman/edwardian times and the fact that you have a problem with it is probably because you are a new world softie and if you don't like it you can bugger back to where you came from.

but can anyone, anyone explain to me the rationale behind supermarket organisation???? and why there are no goddamn poppy seeds for sale even though you can buy poppy seed buns? and why when you go into a shop and ask for something perfectly normal, like, for instance, poppy seeds, the staff look at you almost pityingly and say, oh no, not here. as if you are perhaps asking for, say, keys to the nearest moon base.

and how, exactly, i am going to make ukranian poppy seed cake without poppy seeds????????? hmph.

Saturday 14 March 2009

head exploding for all the wrong reasons

how can we be living in a world where the following can be read in the saturday edition of what is generally considered to be a progressive left-ish (though admitedly disgustingly middle-class) national newspaper:
"'i'm sure one of the things that attracted me about harry,' she says, sweetly, 'is that he's a very equal person. it's not like i looked at him and thought 'i want your babies', it's just that he's very fair. i did the lion's share, for sure. i gave up work for a long time, to look after the children. but for a guy, he does a lot, a lot, a lot."

AGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yesterday, a woman at work who has a very young baby (less than a year) was saying how she took off her hat to any working mother because it was so hard. she explained she worked all day then went home and had all of the laundry, feeding, cooking cleaning to do and by the time she had a minute to herself, it was 11 pm. i asked her why her husband didn't help and she said, oh - he just wouldn't - grew up with a maid, a real momma's boy, wouldn't lift a finger. and she puts up with this. like its some kind of force majeure or something.

what planet do these people live on? one where men turn into fairy dust if they clean a toilet? don't men find this insulting? of course, cleaning sucks. duh. and yes, in a world view where women are not-quite-human, it makes sense for them to do all of it. but if you believe women and men are both equally human, then you'd better be doing your share of the shit shovelling.