Regular readers may be aware of my mild obsession with laundry. I do at least one load of laundry every single day, without fail. If I can't get to a washing machine I find myself getting distinctly jittery. The day I saw the bottom of my laundry basket ranks up there with getting straight As at A-Level for 5 star super dooper days.
My obsession is reaching new heights. I found myself, in an idle moment wondering what advice I would give to my sons as they flew the nest, and was faintly disturbed to find that most of it revolved around getting their washing done.
So, reader, it is a big confession that I have to make to you. Because I don't have a CLUE what those little signs they put on clothes labels to tell you how to wash the clothes actually mean. You know the ones - a triangle with a circle in it or the square with a circle in it and a cross through it. I don't like it when they have have a cross through it, it normally means don't do something and the problem is I don't know what I'm not supposed to do. This may explain why Dave's favourite ever jumper is now dressing a 12 year old.
Clearly the sign with a big 40 on it means wash the clothes at 40. That sign is my friend. But what of the others? There must be one for don't put in the drier which, not having a drier, I don't have to worry about. But the rest of them? Does anyone actually know what they mean?
On a slightly different tack, I was unpacking some of our old baby clothes at the weekend and came across a helpful note: "12-18 months The Red Dungarees dye EVERYTHING pink, which is why despite having 2 sons you have a lot of pink 12-18 month clothes". Good to know don't you think?
Monday, 23 January 2012
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Women's Lives: Do something different this Women's Day
Did you know March 8th is International Women's Day? I didn't either, until we moved to Bosnia. There International Women's Day is a HUGE deal and I rather liked the idea. It's a little bit like Christmas, with everyone wishing each other a 'Happy Women's Day' and the men wandering around with flowers to give to all the women in their lives - mothers, sisters, girlfriends, colleagues, grans, wives, daughters, you name it. I like it because it isn't a day where the women are defined by their role, no need to be a mother or a partner, just a moment to celebrate women.
There is a real need to stop every now and then and think about women's lives. I went to a Get Together on Tuesday night that encouraged me to. Oxfam are launching a campaign for this March 8th to highlight why women in developing countries are in particular need of additional assistance. Their campaign highlights how women need to overcome discrimination to secure their basic rights and they give examples of their work supporting girls education in Mali, supporting women in business in Vietnam and maternity care in Ghana.
Living in Bosnia has made me very aware of the particular challenges that women face, over and above those faced by men.
Think, for example, of all those women who lost husbands during the conflict and are left to bring up their children alone. Female headed households are particularly vulnerable. Jobs are hard to find in a post-conflict environment, jobs for women even harder and what about the childcare? I once wrote a post about the life of a friend of mine in Bosnia, we are about the same age but our lives could not have been more different. Paradise Lost in Translation used Women's Day to highlight the life of an Albanian friend of hers.
Women are discriminated against. They are more likely to miss out on education, less likely to find employment, less likely to be able to access adequate health care, which is of particular importance during pregnancy and child birth. They are vulnerable to abuse, sometimes cannot choose who they wish to marry and may not have a say in contraception or their own family planning.
Targeting development aid at women is beneficial to women and also has the potential to ensure the budget is effectively spent. If you want to ensure children are vaccinated then it is sensible to encourage the women (who after all are the ones who will be actually bringing the children to the clinic) to do so.
Oxfam's campaign is all about targeting women and they want us to think about what we can do to help raise money. This Women's Day they want us to Get Together, do something which will raise funds for other women. Maybe a tea party? Or organise a quiz? Or a mass chasing your children up a tree party? Doesn't really matter, just need to get together and raise some money to help other women around the world. You don't need to raise much to make a difference: £46 will train a midwife in Ghana. £135 will train 5 teachers in Mali.
So give it a go. Have a get together. Use this Women's Day to celebrate and support women around the world. You can register here.
I am a member of the Mumsnet Blogging Network, a group of parent bloggers picked by Mumsnet to review products, services, events and brands. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity.
There is a real need to stop every now and then and think about women's lives. I went to a Get Together on Tuesday night that encouraged me to. Oxfam are launching a campaign for this March 8th to highlight why women in developing countries are in particular need of additional assistance. Their campaign highlights how women need to overcome discrimination to secure their basic rights and they give examples of their work supporting girls education in Mali, supporting women in business in Vietnam and maternity care in Ghana.
Living in Bosnia has made me very aware of the particular challenges that women face, over and above those faced by men.
Think, for example, of all those women who lost husbands during the conflict and are left to bring up their children alone. Female headed households are particularly vulnerable. Jobs are hard to find in a post-conflict environment, jobs for women even harder and what about the childcare? I once wrote a post about the life of a friend of mine in Bosnia, we are about the same age but our lives could not have been more different. Paradise Lost in Translation used Women's Day to highlight the life of an Albanian friend of hers.
Women are discriminated against. They are more likely to miss out on education, less likely to find employment, less likely to be able to access adequate health care, which is of particular importance during pregnancy and child birth. They are vulnerable to abuse, sometimes cannot choose who they wish to marry and may not have a say in contraception or their own family planning.
Targeting development aid at women is beneficial to women and also has the potential to ensure the budget is effectively spent. If you want to ensure children are vaccinated then it is sensible to encourage the women (who after all are the ones who will be actually bringing the children to the clinic) to do so.
Oxfam's campaign is all about targeting women and they want us to think about what we can do to help raise money. This Women's Day they want us to Get Together, do something which will raise funds for other women. Maybe a tea party? Or organise a quiz? Or a mass chasing your children up a tree party? Doesn't really matter, just need to get together and raise some money to help other women around the world. You don't need to raise much to make a difference: £46 will train a midwife in Ghana. £135 will train 5 teachers in Mali.
So give it a go. Have a get together. Use this Women's Day to celebrate and support women around the world. You can register here.
I am a member of the Mumsnet Blogging Network, a group of parent bloggers picked by Mumsnet to review products, services, events and brands. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity.
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
In the Land of Blood and Honey
Angelina Jolie's first efforts as a writer and director was recently released in the US. Set in Bosnia during the 1990s war, it is a love story between a Bosnian Serb who ends up as a prison guard to his Bosnian Muslim former girlfriend.
It caused all sorts of furore when Angelina went to shoot it in Bosnia. Many Bosnian Muslim women felt that to write a love story in such a setting trivialised their own experiences in the camps where rape was systemically used as an instrument of war. The Bosnian Serb TV production company, Pink, refused to let Angelina Jolie use their production studios, saying they were fed up with the Bosnian Serbs always being represented as the bad guys.
There was a screening in Bosnia of the film in early December and it has predictably split opinion. I want to see the film (to spot locations it was filmed at if nothing else) but I'm feeling very conflicted about it. As Bosnia lurches from political crisis to political crisis and the possibility of a return to conflict grows, a reminder to their younger generation of the dreadful terrible reality of war is no bad thing. Yet the war in Bosnia is so recent and for those people who actually lived through these events, this film must be an awful reminder of how their lives changed.
It caused all sorts of furore when Angelina went to shoot it in Bosnia. Many Bosnian Muslim women felt that to write a love story in such a setting trivialised their own experiences in the camps where rape was systemically used as an instrument of war. The Bosnian Serb TV production company, Pink, refused to let Angelina Jolie use their production studios, saying they were fed up with the Bosnian Serbs always being represented as the bad guys.
There was a screening in Bosnia of the film in early December and it has predictably split opinion. I want to see the film (to spot locations it was filmed at if nothing else) but I'm feeling very conflicted about it. As Bosnia lurches from political crisis to political crisis and the possibility of a return to conflict grows, a reminder to their younger generation of the dreadful terrible reality of war is no bad thing. Yet the war in Bosnia is so recent and for those people who actually lived through these events, this film must be an awful reminder of how their lives changed.
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Destroyed (again) by a 6 year old
One of those afternoons getting the boys home from school. As in the I've lost it 3 times already and we are only 20 m outside the school gates and I'm beginning to despair we will ever actually make it home, let alone make it home without me killing one of them first afternoons.
Me: "Adam, I would prefer it if you left that sort of behaviour at school."
Adam (without missing a beat) "the teacher wants us to leave it at home"
Gutted. Beaten in verbal logic by a 6 year old.
Me: "Adam, I would prefer it if you left that sort of behaviour at school."
Adam (without missing a beat) "the teacher wants us to leave it at home"
Gutted. Beaten in verbal logic by a 6 year old.
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
A small rant at Clarks
Lets start the year how I mean to go on. Avoiding doing my taxes in favour of a good rant. I like a good rant and this one I feel is well deserved. I'm sure I can't be the only person to have lifted their hands to the heavens and shouted "Oi Clarks NOOOOOOOOOO!"
My particular bugbear? The one that has really got the blood pressure rising? I can direct it to one person. Whoever it was who works at Clarks who woke up one morning and said "I've a great marketing strategy, lets put some toys into the soles of our children's shoes! The kids'll love that and they'll pester their parents into always making sure that it is a Clarks shoe on their precious offspring's foot".
Where do I start? Deep breaths and calming thoughts to stop the blood pressure from flailing off the radar.
1. If I want a toy, I'll go to a toy shop. If I want a shoe I used to go to Clarks as Clarks are well known for making excellent shoes that last and are good for childrens' feet. In what way is having a small toy shoved into the sole of their shoe good for their feet? Not to mention the rubbishness of the toy.
2. Have you seen how long it takes me to leave the house in the morning? Most of that time is spent screeching "will you just put your (goddamn bloody) shoes on!". I do not need anything to make this process longer. Do you know what makes this process longer? Either looking for the (goddamn bloody) toys and/or getting them back into the sole of the (goddamn bloody) shoe. Every morning I curse Clarks name.
3. Don't think that we'll bend to pester power here either. The ONLY reason that Luke has a pair of these shoes is that they were the ONLY pair of shoes in a 12H (yes people my boy has feet wider than your house). Trust me I looked high and low because I didn't want to buy a pair of shoes with toys in the soles because I knew, just knew, how it would end up.
Now my main preoccupation is how to furtively lose the toys but at the back of my mind is a little niggling worry about what happens to the big space where the toys used to live? Does it just cave in? Because that'll be comfortable. I guess we'll find out soon enough because the toys will get lost with or without my assistance.
Right, rant over. I feel better but I will still be cursing the name of Clarks tomorrow as we try to make it on time to school.
My particular bugbear? The one that has really got the blood pressure rising? I can direct it to one person. Whoever it was who works at Clarks who woke up one morning and said "I've a great marketing strategy, lets put some toys into the soles of our children's shoes! The kids'll love that and they'll pester their parents into always making sure that it is a Clarks shoe on their precious offspring's foot".
Where do I start? Deep breaths and calming thoughts to stop the blood pressure from flailing off the radar.
1. If I want a toy, I'll go to a toy shop. If I want a shoe I used to go to Clarks as Clarks are well known for making excellent shoes that last and are good for childrens' feet. In what way is having a small toy shoved into the sole of their shoe good for their feet? Not to mention the rubbishness of the toy.
2. Have you seen how long it takes me to leave the house in the morning? Most of that time is spent screeching "will you just put your (goddamn bloody) shoes on!". I do not need anything to make this process longer. Do you know what makes this process longer? Either looking for the (goddamn bloody) toys and/or getting them back into the sole of the (goddamn bloody) shoe. Every morning I curse Clarks name.
3. Don't think that we'll bend to pester power here either. The ONLY reason that Luke has a pair of these shoes is that they were the ONLY pair of shoes in a 12H (yes people my boy has feet wider than your house). Trust me I looked high and low because I didn't want to buy a pair of shoes with toys in the soles because I knew, just knew, how it would end up.
Now my main preoccupation is how to furtively lose the toys but at the back of my mind is a little niggling worry about what happens to the big space where the toys used to live? Does it just cave in? Because that'll be comfortable. I guess we'll find out soon enough because the toys will get lost with or without my assistance.
Right, rant over. I feel better but I will still be cursing the name of Clarks tomorrow as we try to make it on time to school.
Monday, 2 January 2012
A Happy New Year to ...
you all, but in particular -
- the Bosnians who have FINALLY got a central government some 15 months after they went to the polls
- Jessie who sliced her foot open on Boxing Day and had to have stitches on her paw pad.
- the pet insurers who will be covering the tab (did you know bandages for dog paws cost £28 each?!)
- My PhD supervisor who has it as a mission to get me to submit my PhD by the end of 2012. You have to admire the man in his ambitions.
- My new shed which will be my office just as soon as I move my boxes from their various hiding places around the house.
- our lovely anonymous neighbour who has already complained to the council about my shed (for the record the council came, measured it, had a look and said there was no problem so yah boo sucks to you)
- you, my lovely readers. I have no idea why you keep coming back to read my waffle - even when I haven't written anything for over 2 weeks you still keep coming. I love you for it, do keep on coming!
May 2012 be an absolute cracker.
- the Bosnians who have FINALLY got a central government some 15 months after they went to the polls
- Jessie who sliced her foot open on Boxing Day and had to have stitches on her paw pad.
- the pet insurers who will be covering the tab (did you know bandages for dog paws cost £28 each?!)
- My PhD supervisor who has it as a mission to get me to submit my PhD by the end of 2012. You have to admire the man in his ambitions.
- My new shed which will be my office just as soon as I move my boxes from their various hiding places around the house.
- our lovely anonymous neighbour who has already complained to the council about my shed (for the record the council came, measured it, had a look and said there was no problem so yah boo sucks to you)
- you, my lovely readers. I have no idea why you keep coming back to read my waffle - even when I haven't written anything for over 2 weeks you still keep coming. I love you for it, do keep on coming!
May 2012 be an absolute cracker.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)