the A14's a long road.

that's the question....

from mid Suffolk to Bentham....

hmmmm

25. zoomy trousers

that's it

as far as i can remember

ttfn

trolly x

1. girl's bicycle and helmet
2. wellies
3. walking boots
4. gluten-free food
5. 6 bottles of wine
6. 1 bottle port
7. choccies for Mum, CDs for Dad
8. marble run
9. videos, books, pastels, paper
10. mobile phone
11. coffee
12. school photos
13. er
14. painkillers
15. anti-depressants
16. antibiotics
17. Calpol
18. Vit E cream
19. toothbrushes, toothpaste
20. PSP and charger
21. my daughter
22. me

back next week

trolly x

P.S. i forgot:

23. teddies
24. change for M6 toll road

polly's blog has got me thinking about serious snogging

sorry

but there you go.

even trolls like to snog

given the

chance.

One Day in History is encouraging UK citizens to upload a blog on 17th October 2006. The blog will then become part of the national archive held at the British Library.

If you would like to know more, see also a news report from the BBC.

happy birthday, mr.trolly

xxx

a story that is making the usually rather fluffy Yahoo news is a claim that clothes produced for Tescos in Bangladesh are being manufactured by children.

Tescos denies this, claiming that no-one under the age of 18 works for them in this way. and yet. and yet. Bangladeshi law, sets no such age limit. children from the age of 14 are able legally to work; curiously, this age drops to 12 for 'hazardous' industries.

and i've had that 'i can't believe this is so cheap' supermarket moment - on many an occasion. but these clothes come at quite a price.

even if they are cheaper than chips.

UNICEF is campaigning to end child labour. it says that there are many reasons why children work, not least poverty. but a key factor is demand for cheap labour. let's pause and consider that next time Tescos announces its profits.

i saw Baka Beyond several years ago in a church arts centre in Colchester. they split their time between recording, touring and doing music projects in Cameroon [including building a music house there]. sound music from a sound bunch of musicians.

here they are live in the Cameroon rainforest:

and live in Oxford:

in an earlier communication with Blighty, i've tried to think through where i stand on

pornography.

i'm interested not in the content as such, but its impact.

Salman Rushdie in his essay The East is Blue, has argued that pornography is vital to freedom and that a free and civilized society should be judged by its willingness to accept pornography.

that's quite a statement, and i can see where he's coming from [no pun intended].

but.

can pornography be viewed in abstract in this way? as some kinda litmus test for libertarian ideals and sexual freedom?

i'm not sure.

pornography is ubquituous. it's big business. it mediates women's sexuality. it confines, smothers, blinkers.

is pornography necessary?

to whom?

to whose freedom?

to whose subjugation?

for regular readers of my blog, this might make you smile.

my horoscope for today:

News that you may receive about your place of business or the people you work for could bring up some doubts about your future in this position, dear Cancer. You might feel that you aren't getting anywhere. Therefore you might be considering the possibility of changing jobs or even careers. Someone may put forth a type of opportunity that you've never considered before. Think about it, but don't decide for a few days.

i'll keep taking the tablets then....and looking for the fourth way.

oh, here we go again.

find something that can prevent a truly hideous disease, and much suffering and death

and then out come the counter arguments based on the notion that young women and girls are inherently 'loose' and should thus

be denied the vaccine which could prevent 75% of all cervical cancer.

[the premise being that vaccinated girls will become promiscuous and engage in underage sex]

cervical cancer is caused by the HPV virus. women only ever get this from sex with men. 80% of sexually active women will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives. some of these women will go on to develop cervical cancer.

so, anything that could prevent my daughter from having to endure this, and would make her considerably safer from the threat of what looks like a preventable disease has my vote.

and

the moral brigade can go jump in the sea.

my daughter, who recently started in Year 1, gave me this yesterday. she wrote it by herself:

'dear mum, i love you very much'

:D:D:D

oh bugger

what a week, or two. my jaw thing* kicked off again big time, and two lots of antibiotics later [neither of which worked] saw me in the worst pain i have ever known: it felt like half a dozen rabid dogs were trapped inside my head

wearing ankle spikes.

so, last Tuesday, my dentist phoned round the local hossies and faxed off messages to various oral surgeons to get my case moved up the list and seen as a matter of urgency...

i was utterly beside myself on Friday so i phoned up too, to be told that the person who reviews the cases is not in until tomorrow, Monday.

[trolly shuffles off to bed in despair]

and today?

almost pain-free, as this current episode of hell confined in my jaw seems to be backing off - still snarling - but definately tail between legs....

so whadda i do if i'm called tomorrow? i've waited so long this thing is fixing itself [kinda], but two severe infections in six weeks....? and i know it'll be back...

snarl.

*i have an infected dental cyst, they think, and something odd about the bone structure of my jaw [??]