Letter from Europe

[Barbara Nadel]

But they have to dress up like women from the 1700s, so at least they put out a bit o' effort for their cash. I think Shakespeare was right. The world would be better without most of them.

Ah, but if we don't have ceremony in this country, what do we have? The Olympic Stadium? That's just been deemed unfit for football matches and seeing as it was meant to be becoming a football stadium after the games what will they do with it now? Bit too large to be a basket for apples I think!

[Barbara Nadel]

Just been reading a thread about slow drivers in the Discuss Detroit forum. I agree that people should keep their speed up in the outside lane of the motorway [[freeway) and here in the UK people do tend to drive much faster than they do in the US, We have few speed traps on the motorways even though our other roads are full of them and most people on the outside lane exceed the 70 mile per hour speed limit by a lot [[90 is not unusual, some people in crazy cars go at over 100). But away from the motorways and the A roads people are driving more slowly here too a lot of the time. It's because the road surfaces are so awful. We used to be a country with excellent road surfaces but not any more. A series of snowy winters plus this recession have rendered lots of our roads just pockmarked messes with pot holes, erosion and cracked tarmac. No-one wants to break their suspension.

[Gannon]

Talk about your missed perceptions...on both sides of the pond!

I've always thought that the roadways of England were as polite as tea parties.

You seldom hear of anything traffic-related...but when someone like Mr. Bean is busted driving his McLaren the way it is supposed to be used, it makes huge news.

[[yeah, I know his name...and I consider him Britain's Charlie Chaplin of our times, fully brilliant comedy and beyond!)


Here, most of the freeways are filled with folks who don't notice how their stressful lives cause them to go faster and faster. While our former national speed limit of 55mph was too low for the open roads, I don't think the current 70mph within city limits is a good thing at all...especially with the differential with the 'lorries', which have a speed cap 5-10 mph lower. Because laws are written by those who have never driven large trucks.

Funny you should think us slow drivers, when all I can see are berserkers careening from jobs they hate to home lives they can barely tolerate before the alcohol starts to work. I avoid rush hour as if it were filled with the plague. It truly is...stress is a plague.


Cheers!

[Gannon]

And HOW is the new stadium unfit for football?! That seems a tiny bit odd, doncha think?!

[Barbara Nadel]

And HOW is the new stadium unfit for football?! That seems a tiny bit odd, doncha think?!

I have no idea. In the rarified world of British football a lot of weird things happen that the rest of us just don't understand. Money moves about as if by magic and awful people you would cross the road to avoid do peculiar deals with other people who would cut your legs off for looking at them in the 'wrong' way. It's all a very long way from what football should be about. I expect the reality is along the lines of someone else wants the stadium or rather the land for some other reason entirely. But at least it ain't snowing at the moment! Although it might do next week.

[Barbara Nadel]

Well today's big news here in the UK is that our biggest Trades Union are - shock, horror - threatening to strike during the Olympics in July. What the Unit Union leader actually said was that there were 'no plans' to call a strike of public sector workers during the Olympics. Typical hysterical UK press and government. However Mr McCluskey, the Unite Leader didn't rule a strike out and also he did anticipate that some civil disobedience may take place during the games. He's probably right. The Occupy London, Anti-Capitalist camp on the steps of St Paul's cathedral was broken up by police two nights ago but the activists have said that they will continue the struggle. A lot of people see the games as 'a jolly for rich people' and there is some truth in that. Occupy London want the world to see that it isn't all British gentlemen and cream teas over here. On the other side of the coin the more conservative elements in society feel that the if the Olympics are a flop the UK will lose foreign business.That is a possibility but what is also a possibility is that our government have chosen this year to try and get a Bill through the House of Commons to allow more competition in our health service. This, many of us feel, is privatisation by stealth - and that is a much more serious issue than the Olympic games.

[Django]

Got your book in the mail yesterday Barb thanks again. What a cool book to have on my shelf.

[Barbara Nadel]

Got your book in the mail yesterday Barb thanks again. What a cool book to have on my shelf.

You are very welcome. It is absolutely my pleasure.

[Barbara Nadel]

Hello everyone. Finally made it back onto the forums by using a new browser. Also I've had a few issues. My mum is not well and was admitted to hospital on Tuesday. Don't know what is wrong as yet but if I'm not about a whole lot then that's the reason.

[gazhekwe]

I'm sorry to hear about your mother, sending best wishes for her speedy recovery and good health. Do please keep us posted.

[stromberg2]

Good luck to both of you, Barbara.

Stromberg2

[Barbara Nadel]

Thanks everyone, your good wishes are really appreciated.

[gazhekwe]

How is mother doing today? I hope she is improving and they are getting a handle on what is wrong. You are both on my prayer list.

[Barbara Nadel]

How is mother doing today? I hope she is improving and they are getting a handle on what is wrong. You are both on my prayer list.

Thank you. Mum is getting a little better, although we still don't know what is wrong. Will keep you updated. Have to go to London on business now so my husband is in charge. He's brilliant so I have no worries on that score.

[Barbara Nadel]

Back from London now and glad to say that my mum is getting better all the time. The doctors now think that she just got totally stressed out and it made her brain go a little odd for a while. She needs to slow down a bit, which she is doing. But it's tough for someone who has been very active and who gets very worked up about the appalling politics in this country. Now they want to sell off our roads! God help us, what next? And who is going to buy our terrible roads? Vladimir Putin? The Chinese? Who?

Anyway back from a great trip to the capital where I managed to get a lot of things done. Wishing you all a great Nain Rouge march - wish I could be there with you.

[gazhekwe]

I'm so glad to hear your mother is improving. As our parents age, we are learning so many things can lead to confusion, things that have nothing to do with chronic debilitating dementia. Dehydration, medication interactions, stress, common illnesses like a cold, drinking a little more vino than usual, blood glucose variations.

For a time I really thought my father had lost it as I stayed with him to help him recuperate from knee surgery. He was wandering about in the night doing all kinds of things he shouldn't with his knee, and thinking he was exploring somewhere strange. I'd wake up and find him at the opposite end of the house lost. Turns out, it was taking him over a week to work out the anesthesia, or at least, that is the best the doctor could come up with. He was also on pain pills that we discontinued in favor of ibuprofen. We turned on the lights at night so when he woke up, he could see where he was, and from then on, he was fine and is still doing fine at home today nearly two years later.

[Barbara Nadel]

I'm so glad to hear your mother is improving. As our parents age, we are learning so many things can lead to confusion, things that have nothing to do with chronic debilitating dementia. Dehydration, medication interactions, stress, common illnesses like a cold, drinking a little more vino than usual, blood glucose variations.

For a time I really thought my father had lost it as I stayed with him to help him recuperate from knee surgery. He was wandering about in the night doing all kinds of things he shouldn't with his knee, and thinking he was exploring somewhere strange. I'd wake up and find him at the opposite end of the house lost. Turns out, it was taking him over a week to work out the anesthesia, or at least, that is the best the doctor could come up with. He was also on pain pills that we discontinued in favor of ibuprofen. We turned on the lights at night so when he woke up, he could see where he was, and from then on, he was fine and is still doing fine at home today nearly two years later.

Thank you. Yes, there are just so many things that can cause confusion in old age. I just have to be there and help her to keep on top of it. A few years ago she didn't have enough salt in her system and we had to deal with that. Now that is right and we have the iron thing. It's a fluid situation but we care for them because we love them. That's all that matters.

[Barbara Nadel]

Did you hear about the terrible murders of three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in France? Appalling scenes. I feel so much for them. But apparently the French police have the alleged assassin cornered. Let's hope they get him and that nobody else gets hurt.

[Barbara Nadel]

Happy Marche du Nain Rouge! Have fun getting rid of the little devil for another year!

[Barbara Nadel]

Madness in my country at the moment consists of people waiting in line at petrol stations in case there is a strike by petrol tanker drivers. Completely orchestrated by the government to get people to side with them against the tanker drivers perfectly democratic right to strike over health and safety issues, this has caused chaos. People queuing for hours on end, fighting each other, screaming. Then the government ramp it up a bit more 'get petrol in any container you can and keep it in your home' they said. And then of course the inevitable happened, a woman did just that, she took petrol home and then started to decant it into glass jugs in her kitchen. The cooker was on, for some reason, and the fumes from the petrol caught fire and now she's in hospital with 40 percent burns. Now the government say, please don't take petrol home. And the moral of this story is, don't ever listen to this current UK government.

[Pam]

Madness in my country at the moment consists of people waiting in line at petrol stations in case there is a strike by petrol tanker drivers. Completely orchestrated by the government to get people to side with them against the tanker drivers perfectly democratic right to strike over health and safety issues, this has caused chaos. People queuing for hours on end, fighting each other, screaming. Then the government ramp it up a bit more 'get petrol in any container you can and keep it in your home' they said. And then of course the inevitable happened, a woman did just that, she took petrol home and then started to decant it into glass jugs in her kitchen. The cooker was on, for some reason, and the fumes from the petrol caught fire and now she's in hospital with 40 percent burns. Now the government say, please don't take petrol home. And the moral of this story is, don't ever listen to this current UK government.

Wow, I hadn't heard about this. Aren't trains an option if there is strike?

[RaumVogel]

It's time for the Detroit logical to take control and restore sanity!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO2cH...feature=relmfu

[Barbara Nadel]

Oh, sanity has just about been restored now mainly because the government have finally climbed down and, not said that they got it wrong [[heaven forbid) but have said that maybe their timing was not right. So no strike yet. But in answer to Pam's question about trains, yes we do have them but they are a bit limited and very expensive. A lunatic called Dr Beeching recommended that vast tracts of our train network be closed back in the 1960s because cars were the future. Another stupid government thought this was a good idea and so there are now large parts of the country that don't have any railways. Just goes to show the pitfalls of listening to so called experts.

[Barbara Nadel]

Went to a chocolate festival at the weekend in a little town called Ramsbottom. This is a typical northern ex-mill town and like a lot of typical northern ex-mill towns its harbours some strange customs. Stuffing yourself with chocolate for 2 days is a comparatively new one. But an old 'Rammy' custom is black pudding throwing. This involves throwing black puddings [[blood sausages) as far and as high as you can and is one of many really weird British customs. We also have gravy wrestling, where people fight each other in a vat of stuff you normally put on your roast beef, cheese rolling, where people run down a steep hill after a cheese and often break their bones and of course dancing around maypoles wearing lots of bells. Most of these things happen in the spring and are rooted in ancient rites to banish evil spirits. Weird in this most secular of countries, but we enjoy this stuff. But then we are the people who, until the 19th century, used to put stakes through the dead bodies of murderers so that they couldn't rise again. Happy Easter!

[canuck]

Went to a chocolate festival at the weekend in a little town called Ramsbottom. This is a typical northern ex-mill town and like a lot of typical northern ex-mill towns its harbours some strange customs. Stuffing yourself with chocolate for 2 days is a comparatively new one. But an old 'Rammy' custom is black pudding throwing. This involves throwing black puddings [[blood sausages) as far and as high as you can and is one of many really weird British customs. We also have gravy wrestling, where people fight each other in a vat of stuff you normally put on your roast beef, cheese rolling, where people run down a steep hill after a cheese and often break their bones and of course dancing around maypoles wearing lots of bells. Most of these things happen in the spring and are rooted in ancient rites to banish evil spirits. Weird in this most secular of countries, but we enjoy this stuff. But then we are the people who, until the 19th century, used to put stakes through the dead bodies of murderers so that they couldn't rise again. Happy Easter!

Love your description of these customs.

One british custom I particularly enjoy is the naming of towns like Ramsbottom. There is a bit of pithy Python wordplay in that one...