Cultured Views

Goodbye summer

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As we settle into the colder weather here in the UK and Europe, back in Australia the population are casting off the excess clothing as summer edges it’s way in.  Well, when I say ‘excess clothing’ I mean jeans, jumpers and the like because Australian winters don’t really run to the freezing conditions that Europe and the UK does.

In the schools as well the kids will be moving into summer uniforms which always mean’t something when I was in high school back there…shorter hems!.

As I went to a catholic girls college there were strict rules governing the subject of hemlines on our uniforms and the nuns often went to extremes to enforce them. Not all the nuns though…just a dedicated few. We girls liked our summer uniform dresses short and we knew just how far up the hem could go before it attracted the eye of one of these nuns. And it wasn’t very far I mught add.

Our headmistress, Sr Noela, used to carry a ruler around in her pocket and did playground inspections on a regular basis. She would wander around, and if she saw a girl whose dress had too much space between the top of her knee and the edge of the hem, she would make her kneel on the ground and get out the old ruler. She would measure the offending ‘gap’ and whip out a razor which she would use to cut the stitching on the hemline. You’d be left walking around with a horrid two inch of raw hemline hanging down over the top of your knee.  This happened to me several times. Next day, of course, you’d be back at school with hemline as it was originally, but you’d just stay out of her way for a good while.

I still have my old school uniform dress from my last year there; it is covered in signatures from my very last day at school aged 16. I know some women like to keep tabs on their weight by trying on their wedding dress now and then, and I know it is quite tragic to do the same with your old school uniform, but yep, I have done it. Actually about five years ago it went on ok albeit I must have grown taller after I left school so it was rather short. Sister Noela and her razor came straight to mind.

And no, I haven’t tried it since.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Kate McCann cries on TV…are the public satisfied now?.

The parents of missing toddler Madeline McCann have given an interview to be aired on British TV tonight. They spoke to a Spanish news team. During the interview Kate, Maddies mother, broke down and wept. Why would she not…her baby girl has been missing for nearly six months now with no trace of her and no progress made by either Portuguese or British police as to her whereabouts. These people have been failed, not only by the law but by the vindictive British general public. And it is disgusting. But tonight the British people will get their pound of flesh; because tonight they will see Kate McCann cry. At last.

Ever since Madeline disappeared the British public have condemned them for not thrashing around in front of the cameras in the throes of extreme grief. ‘She’ must have ‘done something’ because she does not cry.  ‘He’ must have ‘done something’ because he does not cry. The fact is, when you look at their situation, how would any of us  say exactly how we would behave in public when faced with it?. The answer is…we do not know. Until we actually face it ourselves. Ok, how many of you wish to volunteer to be in the McCann’s shoes?.

You only have to look at this woman to see how she has deteriorated before our eyes over the last few months. She is thin, wan, and obviously numb. But, going by the comments by the public to the British media, this is not enough. The people want tears, lots of them…blood even.  The McCanns have not satisfied the voyeristic general public enough yet.

I remember back in 1993 the dignity with which Denise Bulger held herself in public after her little boy, James, was abducted and literally destroyed by two ten year old boys. I remember her public bearing and admired her fortitude in the face of the unimaginable horror, pain and grief she had been dealt. No-one persecuted her for that. If I was in a similar situation, the last thing I would want to do was put on a ’show’ for millions of complete strangers just to get their ’sympathy’. The public are not involved; their child is not missing; who ARE THEY to tell the McCanns how to behave!. Kate and Gerry have every right to ask this question.

Yes, tonight those insatiable voyeurs have the opportunity they have all be waiting for…the chance to see a grieving and distraught woman, at her wits end, break down in front of them all.  Just as they have always wanted. The British public, more concerned with the way her distraught parents behave in front of the cameras than with Madeline’s fate, will finally get their pound of flesh from the McCanns.

Now. What next do they want from them?.

Popularity: 3% [?]

The Housing Boom in Northern Ireland

The recent housing boom in Northern Ireland has seen the price of fairly ‘average’ homes go right through the roof; so much so that now there is a genuine deficit in those people who can afford to buy and those who cannot. Along with this, there is now the situation where rentals have risen markedly creating problems for those who cannot afford to buy and are now finding difficult to afford to pay rent.

Our home in Belfast, or Holywood to be exact, is a good example. We bought it for £93,000 in 2002 - today it’s value sits at almost £300,000. Granted, it is in a great location; overlooking the water and very close to the city airport, but what a sharp increase!. It reminds me very much of the housing boom is Sydney back in the 1980’s when I lived there.

Almost every day we have agents popping their little business cards in our letter box offering to sell it for us but we cannot be tempted I’m afraid. I’m just wondering how things will be in another 5 years with regards to house values. It makes you fell sorry for the first home buyer.

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