Dropped the kids at school this morning, and had hardly been back when the phone went and it was the school telling me that Anthony had 'had an accident' and cut his face and his nose, and that they wanted me to come back down.

When I got down there, he was in the first aid room, cleaned of blood, and looking a very sorry sight. He had been sprinting up the steps (as is his wont) and tripped, and instead of catching himself on his hands, had landed on his face. His cheek was badly grazed and his nose also. His nose was swollen. I was a bit worried he might have broken it, but he said it didn't hurt enough to be broken. I'm half worried about it going septic and half worried about him scarring, it is bad enough. Himself wants me to take him to the pharmacy tomorrow to get it looked at, and see if there is any chance it will scar, and if so, what we can do to avoid that.

Anthony doesn't want to go to school, or swimming, or gymnastics until he is completely healed because he looks such a mess. I reckon he will have two black eyes, at the least!

In other news, Lala went to the gastroenterologist this afternoon.

He asked a few questions, but did no tests. He thinks that her continuing skin problems might be a reaction to maize products, and he will do an allergy test with the bloods he takes in January, to check her gluten levels are within what should be expected from a GF diet.

I have to keep a food diary and take notice of the state of her skin, and see if we can pinpoint what the problem food is. The dietician was there, and when the Dr suggested an exclusion diet, she put a stop to it because Lala is also lactose intolerant and the dietician reckoned she wouldn't have anything else to eat LOL

Just what she needs - another food intolerance.

I sub to a gluten free cooking thing and recently they posted this fools guide to making risotto. My mouth was watering, so I thought I would drop the link in here

http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/how-to-make-risotto/#more-366

I was walking up the lane this morning, after dropping the kids off, and I thought about how, 100 years ago, the majority of people wouldn't go out of their immediate environs for their whole lives.

A trip to the beach would have been an adventure, planned for and looked forward to. People bought their food locally, grew some of their own if they had the chance, all their friends were people they had known all their lives, they probably married someone they had known since childhood.

One wonders about the benefit of war. Frankly, I don't see the point, myself, but if one was looking for a benefit, then perhaps people might consider faster flight a benefit; the emancipation of women (land girls in the 2nd world war for example); the mixing of cultures during occupations. Computer advances are another benefit. We try to get better and faster systems than the enemy, so advances are made, and we benefit with things like the internet and laptop pcs.

Imagine we didn't have flight. Blogmeets would be out because I'm fairly sure that Mr Meno wouldn't fancy having Mrs Memo away for the time it would take to sail across the pond. Sminch wouldn't be able to see her family so often, and her move to Europe would have entiled a much different decision - one to affect her life, not just a (potential) period of life.

The internet - would any of us have met any others? I've never met any of you IRL - but I know you nevertheless.

We all have cars, now, and the money to travel about where the fancy takes us. Sweeping statement, yes, but how many of us stay in one village all our lives?

I have found myself becoming more insular. I love the place I live, which I think is why. I don't feel the need to go gallivanting around the countryside or the world, because I am happy here. I feel a deep contentment in my days and my way of life. I have joy in walking down the lane in the morning to drop my kids at school, the quiet lane, the birds singing, the kids anticipating their day. I love my house and garden, the view from the front of the house. There are inconveniences, yes, but they are far outweighed by the good stuff.

Perhaps wanting to stay in one place is a bad thing. There are places in the world that interest me - Egypt, Peru, I would like to see Australia again, I want to go to Ireland and visit our namesake village. I want to go back to Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, Bucks. I have no desire to go to London or any other big cities ... perhaps Oxford.

Contentment.

Is it just me, but does everyone get depressed reading PostSecret?
I feel so sad for these folks, that they don't have someone to actually tell these secrets to IRL.
AND that they have these things eating away at them.
What a bloody shame.

This is excellent!

I am reading "The Road Less Travelled" just now, and I haven't long started it.

However, there is a chapter there on truth. Obviously everyone's truth is different, but basically he is extolling us all to speak our truth. He talks about how even lies of omission damage us, and that we shouldn't do that.

Harder to say than to do.

How many times have we thought "Yes, that dress is stunning, but on a size smaller than you"; or "Yes, your living room looks amazing, but Ye Gods what inspired you to paint it that colour?".

Do you all tell the truth, all the time? Do you tell lies of omission? Do you think it damages us? Or would telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth damage the recipient of that truth more? Who is more important? The person who bends the truth not to hurt, or the person whose ego is preserved for another day?

I think I would rather massage the truth and suffer the consequences myself. But then, surely, to preserve someone else from hurt is better than wantonly going about speaking the truth and damaging friendships, egos, and hearts?

I'm finding this book quite hard going. So far I have disagreed quite a bit with the things he is saying. I kinda expected to agree with everything (or most everything) he said because of the reviews. They made the book sound like something that would adhere to my current belief system. I shall continue with it, even in disagreement, because we can't just discard a point of view because we disagree. That would be stupid. How can we grow and learn with a closed mind?

So, I'm interested to know - do you always tell the truth? Do you occasionally massage it? Do you bite your tongue sometimes?

I don't know if any of you do PAYE for the company you work for. I do. I hate it - it stresses me out beyond belief because it is too easy. They send you a CDROM with all the information on it, and all the calculations. You put in the month, the tax code and the net pay, and it tells you the deductions. I'm always convinced I have it wrong and men in black sunglasses and suits will be at my door to whip me off to debtors prison or something.

Anyway, I digress.

Each year, the HM Revenue & Customs issue you with a wee yellow booklet. Each month, you fill in the deductions bit, write out a cheque and give them loads of dosh. You have 13 payslips in the book. 12 for the months and a spare for the one you bugger up. They send you one every year.

Except - this year I didn't get mine. So I phoned them up this morning and the bloke said "Yeah, no one in the country has them yet. They didn't get printed on time. Here's the number to call, but you won't get thru because everyone is phoning to get their booklet. Oh, and if you have passed your payment date, you will need to speak to these folk, and make an arrangement for payment, so you don't get penalised."

Excuse me?

Right, they print these books every fucking year and they haven't gotten them printed in time this year? What - did they forget they needed them or something? Did they think we wouldn't notice?

Penalise ME. It was them who have let me down. I don't fucking think so!

But the best quote has to be "Here's the number to call, but you won't get thru". So - give me an email address or take a goddamn message you pillock!

This really is the government at it's best.