The Word Cloud

Ahh, fine mornings when the sun is shining and the birds are tweeting is what everybody wishes for.
Reality on the otherhand?
Wet, dreary and wind which topples you with a single step out of the door.
Is it getting too much to hope for a nice summers day in Britain? Maybe it's because the world itself seems to be collapsing at a rapid rate from this 'global warming' issue.
How these greenhouse gases weren't noticed before they suddenly began to take affect is clearly humanities of effort to make change unless they absolutely have too.
We're a lazy bunch that is true.
We use cars instead of walking, we use trains instead of taking an extended journey to enjoy the landscape. Bikes, for most, cause too much of a sweat to make an appearence for say work or a meeting. We complain about getting dirt on our shoes or hicking a hill, we say we appreciate a photograph of a glorious mountain but we'd never actually go there.
I can't lie and say I'm different to this.
All I can say however, is that I'm really beginning to feel everything is being done for us in terms of our recent technology. Its like we are constantly being pampered like children given whatever we ask for or solving whatever we claim to be too much of a strain for us. They mask it by saying 'its for the good of man kind'. 
Can we really do anything for ourselves anymore?
We prefer to use email to chat to our friends who live nearby, such as Facebook rather than just taking the time to go over. We use our phones for entertainment instead of going out to participate in something active.
At least the young of the society do, the older generations are bogged down with work and stress of keeping a steady income as the pressure slowly takes over our lives sourly.
In a few words, this is my opinion on how society as a whole is deteriorating to a mundane lifestyle of routine and expectation. Before long, with technologys development we could find ourselves cut off from others without a need to leave the saftey of our homes, its power so greatly influencing.

I dunno. I think it’s Ez’s fault, making me melancholy ‘n all. It can be a shit life and there’s little you can do about it even when you are young and able. When you get old it’s just an accident waiting to happen to you.

I’m not sure I want to get old. I have two and a half examples for you.
My mother died in 2007. She had had a crap life all in all. From about the age of 35 she began to develop arthritis. Throughout her life she gradually got worse, but never actually yielded to it. Worked until retirement and never gave in to things like stair lifts and wheelchairs even though the stairs were a 10 minute challenge. Never wanted a bungalow, etc etc. Then the drugs she had been taking for years for arthritis exhibited their side effect and caused a heart/lung infection that eventually debilitated her until even she had to admit that she must go to hospital.

She beat the infection, but not the clostridium difficile they gave her while she was in there and after two whole months in the hospital, she just died. I thought long and hard about what I had seen, the cleaning practices, the way that the nurses and other staff were not following the hygiene regimen they were supposed to. I forced an investigation, which found that I had seen non of the things that I had seen, because they said so and I had no proof. So, what do you do? For a while I freely confess various nuclear options crossed my mind. But what good would it do? So I gave it to the BBC. I think it did eventually contribute to their motivation to investigate a hospital, but not that one. But what the hell. She died a shitty way and I can’t undo that.

Then there’s my wife’s mother. We roll up on a Sunday morning to take her out to lunch. We found her on the floor in her bedroom and three days later she dies. Heart attack. At the time she was being pursued by a debt collection company chasing debts incurred by a young woman of about 25 years, living some 40 miles away with a similar name. This scum were acting on behalf of a national energy company, who I will not name in deference to the site. The practice is called factoring.

As we went through her papers, alerted to this by a neighbour, the afternoon after we found her there was a whole series of correspondence leading up to a notice of bailiffs to seize goods to the value of some time in the coming week. It took me two days to get these low life bastards to back off and I know some heavy lawyers. What chance does a frail old lady in her eighties have? As to why she didn’t ask for my help before. Parents don’t think their children, even “married to their daughter” children can do anything they can’t, it seems.

In the end they never did admit any fault although I forced them into a written apology and a substantial contribution to charity. I also caused them to lose their contract with said national energy company, which gave me some satisfaction but probably just threw some uninvolved employees out of work. If you ever come across such a company hiding behind the Data Protection Act, then assume they are up to no good, attack with all your force immediately.

The half? My father had a minor sore on his ankle 3 months ago. Somehow, in the doctor’s surgery most likely, he seems to have acquired an MRSA infection and it's still active. Thus far he still has his foot. He’s in his eighties, too proud to let me help and what can I do anyway?

Overall, it seems life can be a bitch and then you die. Perhaps my father in law got it right. Worked flat out until retirement: Retired: 6 weeks later, he dropped down, dead as a hammer.

I think it was Oscar Wilde who once said "There's only one thing worse than being talked about .....and that's NOT being talked about." Have I got that right? Anyway I just love that quote. Sometimes I feel quite happy with it because at least if you're being talked about you must have something interesting about you even if it is negative! At least you inspire a reaction in people.

There's another quote which I love too taken from a poster that was up in an office I used to work in. it read:

Small people talk about other people
Average people talk about things
Great people talk about ideas

If that is the case then I am sometimes a great person but I have to admit I do love to talk about people. I mean we all do though don't we? Especially as I am a woman. We love it. Show me a woman who says she doesn't EVER gossip and I will show you a liar!

As a writer I HAVE to be interested in people and what makes them tick and I am sure you will relate to this too. The meaning of the word gossip has changed over the centuries from it's original definition of "kindred relation" to empty talk.  Now the Oxford English Dictionary definition of gossip is  casual conversation OR unsubstantiated reports about other people. Therefore I would say that the former is human nature-we all talk about other people and the latter is the bad thing. So gossip I think is only a good thing if we're not maligning people or spreading rumours. I've probably just stated the obvious I know but maybe we all need to be reminded from time to time about what is acceptable gossip and what is not.

Some people dream of fame but I'm so glad I am not as I think I would be having nervous breakdowns every day with the amount of gossip you get in today's media.I think that is an utter scandal in itself and people like the paparattzi and  gossip columnists should bow their heads in utter shame making a living out of other people's misery. It's worse than it's ever been.


 As long as gossip isn't malicious or maligning it can be a good thing surely. For example I really want to have a gossip about one set of neighbours on my Close to another! The reason being that one set of neighbours are being utterly grumpy sods with us these days. They've suddenly gone from being really nice to really grumpy and almost shunning me and my partner. I've tried the proper route by talking to them direct but to no avail. Now if I were to talk to the neighbours on the other side about them I may discover something useful like Bob and Linda are grumpy sods because Bob lost his job or someone in their family died. That way I would understand what is going on and I wouldn't want to gossip about them anymore!!!!

Anyway I guess I'll keep on gossiping (in the "interested in people" sort of way) because if I didn't I don't think I would have much to write about!
"Hell is other people" John Paul Sartre once said and when it comes to malicious gossip they are. But I think just talking about other people generally isn't so "small" after all.  

'Til next time,
 Jazzgirl

The  mass  passive  agressive,  and  the  chessive  cats  come  get the  beasts  off  your  chests,  it's  the  best  play  we  wreckon,  to wreck on, and the fish - is always dished from the Harb's, and even the Arabs catered the crabs, and the fish with their pond frogs, fragme(a)nted from the Budweisers alliance, and rivers stem, one can phlegm that a bit of cod could be a lady's... splodge,


 squeaky  squid  go  for  quids  down  the  markets  of  the stalls  of  all  dreadfalls,  then,  night  falls for the fishers of man to go to the liquid land and go commit murder, kill the inno's of cent,  so the men, are meant to get quids for their squids, and such, for not much more than the cents they are worth, and worth life, deadicy to the creatures, that cannot keep from the cruels of these people.

We need people politics in the mermaidal odd'yssea's, and to take pictures of these, evidencies and send them to provinces, to avoid new eras of whale dick in chewing gum, foie gras from out the swamps grass, crocodile bags in vogue mags and on wags. One dolphin fin wags, and Asda chop it off and sell it live for a low 'rock bottom' price. It makes you know why, the rocks are heavy.

Once, the crime within sea is seen for what it is, heavy eyes will open wide and maybe see it for what it is. Not a sapphire scented, salted boiled fish but a bit of human being, or some sort of being, better than a human, and for it to be alive, and to keep being alive, it needs to be before extinctivity comes into more activity.

Born and reared in the west of Ireland in 1963, brought up in the farming life. Industrial school, primary school, Boarding school and nurse training. Now all grown up and enjoying motherhood and media writing. Everyone's opinion counts -so on the basis that if I don't give mine - sure as hell no one else will. Here's some opinion pieces that I've had published. Most of present and past day Irish life in representated. http://florencehorsmanhogan.blogspot.com/