Posts

Showing posts from April, 2006

Where's my baby?

Milestone today as son celebrated his sixth birthday. Six years have zoomed by just like that. Where has my baby gone? In six years' time, according to his 'little red book', he would be about my height. And then of course another six years after that when he's eighteen, he'd be .... God willing, he'd be doing something worthwhile with his life. Fathers don't take birthdays as mothers do, I think. I can still remember many of the little details surrounding son's arrival. Being an older first-time mother meant being asked numerous times whether we wanted to test for Down's. I felt under a lot of pressure to test. It was as if the NHS did not want another Down's baby to burden the system or that they wanted to make sure that we do not turn around and sue them for not discovering early enough that baby could have Down's. Signs of our time. Baby was so-oo overdue. Seventeen days to be precise. By Week 41 I was begging the midwife to have it induc

Gone fishing

Not really, but when I received this email "Hi! I keep up with your blog and see you haven't written since 10th April when you were having trouble due to rsi, are you o.k?", I thought perhaps I should post something. It is nice to be missed. Thanks, Lyds. My arm is much better now. Maybe a spell away from the computer (as much as I could) did help. Thanks for the concern. It's the Easter break and like most parents I've got a little one to look after. Husband has also taken some time off -- which is nice -- and we try to spend family time together. Have we been "on holiday"? Strictly speaking, no. I find the British have a strange way of using the word "holiday". It always seems to mean going away from home for a short period. My idea of "holiday" is just not doing the normal chores or following the usual routine for a change. So not waking up every morning at 6am is a holiday for me. By the British reckoning our family has not been o

Chinese exploiting Chinese (2)

My right arm is hurting quite a bit, which is probably due to a recurrence of RSI from an excessive use of the computer. So this will be short. Last week I came across a 'Trading Standards' display at a local shopping centre. Of course I walked up to take a look. On pirated DVDs Me: What are you doing about the Chinese vendors selling such DVDs? Trading Standards Officer: We can't do very much. We take them to court and the judge normally hands down a tiny fine of £20 or £25. Me: But what can we do for them? It is clear that they are being controlled by a gangmaster. TSO: That's really a problem with the Immigration Department. We are dealing with the small fry. Me: So they only get those small fines. TSO: Sometimes they are jailed for a week or so. But they like being in prison as they are warm and well fed and they each have their own bed, which is more than what they usually get. Back to Organic-Ally .

Chinese expoiting Chinese

I don't know how you felt when you read about the conviction and jailing of the Chinese gangmaster found responsible for the death of his fellow Chinese cockle-pickers at Morecambe Bay. I do not understand how an immigrant can exploit fellow immigrants the way that this callous young man did. My father also emigrated from south China to Singapore many years ago. Famine and poverty where he lived drove him to take that long arduous and dangerous journey to Singapore. I think his elder sister had already arrived in Singapore then. He was young and strong then and worked in all kinds of jobs so long as they paid for his sustenance and a little bit more which he remitted back to his family still left in China. This is the pattern of most economic migrants. There was, and is, no welfare system in place in Singapore and there were no handouts. But he did have a supportive network of 'family' from the same vicinity of his origin. There were what is known as tongxianghui (village

Mum and yesterday's food

I don't normally get cross with mum-in-law. So I felt it especially bad that it came on Mothering Sunday and all. She was going home on the coach and I suggested she took a sandwich with her. 'O, no! I can't eat anything after yesterday's meal.' I kind of blew my top. 'If that works for all those starving people in Africa, wouldn't it be great?' For me, yesterday's food cannot feed today's body. Technically most of our food would have been broken down and either absorbed or discarded. If yesterday's food could feed us today, there'll be much less starvation and malnutrition. 'It's not possible! Technically it's not possible that you are still full from yesterday!' I found myself saying, quite rudely, I must admit. I find it very offensive that someone could say, 'O no! I can't eat anything else after yesterday's lunch' especially when one has had a light dinner and then a substantial breakfast in between. N