more cloud...

...more Mez meme-

(Thanks, dued xxx)

1) Do you find yourself scratching when someone else says they feel itchy? Always. And if The Child says she feels itchy,then doubly so! Itchy and panicky, followed by a thorough head inspection! We have had "The Nits". I never so much as saw the shadow of a headlouse until The Child went to nursery. An absolute nightmare. She would tell me all sorts of stories about the lovely little lice town they built on her head - very picturesque it sounded too, with a church and even a fairground. She was also on about keeping them as pets... *shudder*

2) Ready Brek. What are your views?
I used to like it, when I was a kid...back when Will's mother was a boy, but I didn't want to glow, the whole idea of leaving the house with a radioactive orange aura quite appalled me. So did the idea of breakfast gloop made with milk, for the simple reason that I don't like warm milk...I can't stand the smell or the skin it forms if you let it boil too much and anyone who knows anything about me and cooking, will realise that of course I am going to let it boil too much and come back to a pan with only half the original contents, which are now bubbly, smelly and partially covered with lumps of skin, some of which are stuck to the saucepan. That's without mentioning the nasty milky mess all over the cooker! Thoughts on Ready Brek then: well, although it seems that I am not at all keen, I will eat it if it is made with water, but I have always preferred proper porridge or toast. Or cake.

3)How far should feminism be taken and do you think that sometimes it can go too far? Oh, slip in a simple one, why don't you? Feminism needs to be taken as far as it has to to make people, all people, realise that although there are anatomical (and hormonal) differences going on here, we are all just people, of equal worth, innit. Of course, that is a reductive and simplistic view to have, but I am privileged. I am lucky that women before me bothered to fight for what is now my right to vote, for the fact that I can get divorced not be divorced, own my own property, not be beholden first to my father and then to my husband, go where I like, get a bloody education for heaven's sake...All those things. I have never had to live without them or fight for them because I am female and therefore, the world I live in doesn't think I am entitled to them. I don't want to get all ranty, but until women everywhere can take certain fundamental, basic rights for granted and never ever be looked on as second-class citizens because of their gender, then feminism hasn't quite made it.
Take the Child's grandmother: when the whole family is together, the men get the decent cutlery and the nice napkins - women get the forks with the plastic handles and paper serviettes - and while any of her daughters or grand-daughters can get up and fetch, carry, clear, clean, etc., woe betide a man if he moves! I once told her that if her son washed a few dishes and some pots, it didn't mean his penis would fall off (tact and diplomacy rears its ugly head there, but...) Ok, so feminism arrived too late for her and although we do take the p1ss out of her little foibles, there is something quite tragic about it, too and it might be silly, but she has brought up four daughters in much the same mould, so feminism hasn't gone far enough for me. Too far? Well, where I am, cut off from civilisation as we know it, I haven't yet seen any cases of it.

4)What do you do when confronted with people who stand for an overly long time in front of a painting at a museum and hum and har knowingly? I don't do anything. Not even if they are standing between me and the painting. Actually that's a lie. I usually stand behind them and pull faces or make rude gestures and then whoever's with me - usually The Child - gets the giggles and we get The Disapproving Stare from hum-har persons or a museum worker and then we have to make hasty exits, which is counterproductive really. I am not the right person to be taking to see art if people are going to hum and har and block everyone else's view. I am also not a good influence.


5)Which song never fails to cheer you up a bit?
The Court of King Caractacus...Big smiles. I don't know why. I think I have loved Rolf Harris since birth (hey, an ex-boyfriend's brother was even named after Mr Harris, such is his Rolfy goodness). Then there is Cow Town because singing about going to see a cow beneath the sea is silly and you can't do that without smiling and Never There, which is also my ringtone and it's funny, because as soon as my phone rings, I see people moving in time to it - excellent! Oh, and of course, Jilted John. It was The Child's calm down song (yes, really) when she was a tiny baby and I used to have to sing it to her, and dance her around the room. Smiling through gritted teeth. Oh happy days. Worked every time.