We share the planet with animals - not ours to abuse

On Twitter, many organisations and individuals are involved in preventing animal cruelty. On Facebook too, there are many contributors concerned with preventing cruelty to animals as well as gaining convictions for those who somehow think they have the rightt to inflict cruelty on a sentient, living being Consequently, I see photographs and videos that people post online to show the world the true horror and scale of animal cruelty.

I will not describe the pictures to you here - I will spare you that horror, but I will say that the cruelty depicted of all sorts of animals suffering, and suffering so badly, stays with you. Once seen, you cannot unsee. Strangely though, I am glad that I have seen them. Those images stay with you and spur you on to do what you can to prevent animal cruelty. Shocking, chilling and even frightening though the images are,  and such a damning indictment on humanity, nevertheless, knowing what is happening creates groups of people who are determined to do all they can to prevent cruelty to one more animal.

Some people seem to labour under the delusion that animals are there for human use entirely, for those who so wish to abuse them because they are 'only animals.' Animals are sentient, feeling and often intelligent beings. If you have ever owned a dog and looked into its eye you will immediately understand that that dog has a soul and can be loyal, protective and tuned into your moods.

Such horrors happen to animals that we should all be ashamed of. How will history judge us? Bull fighting? Really? Did they allow that? Barbarians!

As Mahatma Ghandi said - 'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats it animals.' Just so.

Roxy, the boxer dog from Bristol who was starved to death

You might have read about this case - a case of deplorable animal cruelty by a Bristol trainee solicitor.

This woman, left her own house to go and live with her mother. She packed her stuff up and moved in. Naturally, her mother asked about the dog. Katy Gammon lied and said that her ex-boyfriend had the dog, Roxy.

Neighbours began to complain about the smell coming from the house she had left, along with the huge number of flies, and phoned the police. The RSPCA were then contacted and made a tragic heartbreaking discovery. Roxy was dead. She had been shut in the kitchen with no food and no water. She had been there for ten weeks.  She had been starved and dehydrated to death.

Disturbingly, this woman had had two offers from people to take the dog in and look after her, but she had turned then down.

 The most chilling aspect of this case is that this woman had piled dog food and dog treats just outside the kitchen Roxy was shut in. She had rigged up a length of rope between the kitchen door and some hooks in the hallway, to ensure the kitchen door was kept closed. Why leave the food just out of reach?

Katy Gammon was sentenced to just eighteen weeks in prison. I hope there are some animal lovers there...

Norris and Mary - characters or caricatures?

To begin with, Norris - is he is a true character or just a caricature? Well, some of his reactions are what might be called and understood as 'typical' Norris, including his busy-bodying and his lust for gossip. These aspects of Norris and are so predictable that he is at these times presented as a caricature. To be a character a person needs some depth and in his dealings with Rita, Norris is clearly a character.

His attachment to Rita has been quite a torment for him and indeed for us too. Does he love Rita as a friend? Is he in love with her? They must know each other inside out having worked alongside each other at The Kabin for decades - seeing each other at their best and at their worst - tired, angry, frustrated - they will have seen it all from each other.

Rita and Norris have their roles - Rita - the one in charge, the wise one, the tolerator of Norris. Norris is the tolerated one the nuisance, the one who sees the worst in everyone and telling them about it, and let's not forget, the tormentor and love object of Mary.

Mary's name is always accompanied by words such as weird, odd, strange and creepy.  It's a shame though because she is undeniably different, even unique and she does offer such huge comedy potential. Her uniqueness is genius. Whoever created the character of Mary deserves many congratulations. So is she a character or a caricature? Certainly there is a predictability about how she behaves and she does live in a motor home. She has great cooking skills too, but what makes her a real character is how tenderly she cared for Dev's children and how sensitively she handled her responsibilities to make things as easy as possible for Dev as he dealt with his own grief and tried to manage the children's grief.

Mary's attachment to Norris is baffling - to all but her. That said, she is not totally blind to his faults and has been known to berate him and to point out his idiocies. Yes she did try to seduce Roy, but soon realised what a pointless task that was. Devoted to Hayley as we knew he was, we never feared for a moment that Mary would take him from her.

Now though, in an attempt to take Roy's mind off Hayley and provide distraction ad mental stimulus, she  plays chess with Roy - with no designs on him.

 Whatever they are, Norris and Mary are invaluable to our favourite Street.

Friends

Friend is a word we all use quite loosely to describe someone we know and their relationship to us. We may only have spoken to them a couple of times, but they quickly gain the status of a friend, because to say that someone is a woman/man I have known for a while, we're not close, but we pass the time of day and we both support Sheffield United, is a little too long-winded to explain who they are, so friend fits the bill.

My brother and his wife don't really have friends. They know a lot of people but my brother and his wife are with each other all the time.  They do not seek time away from each other - ever. In fact, they do whatever they can to spend every minute of the day together. I have often thought that if they each walked their (very lazy) dog separately, that the dog would benefit from two walks, rather than the inadequate one that it has currently.

My mother pointed out to me, from a young age, that I was very lucky because I had a lot of friends and was gregarious. She's right. To this day I have been lucky to have such great friends. Along the way you lose some as your circumstances change and you are very busy with work and looking after children. Or sometimes, we just grow out of each other, no harsh feelings, it's just how it is.

This weekend I met up with the 'girls' I was at school with from age 11. I had been in touch with them  on and off since leaving school, for big birthdays ending in a 0, weddings and so on. But never had the four of us met, not at a birthday or wedding, but just because we wanted to. We met in a cafe and stayed there for 5 and a half hours. During that time we had several drinks and lunch and filled each other in about the ups and downs of our lives.

It was great. I felt very at ease -as at ease as I did with these 3 when we were at school together, decades ago.  Next year, it's a long weekend away.  Can't wait!

 

Ebay - it drives you mad!

Have you ever bought or sold anything on eBay? Was it a smooth transaction? For your sake, I really hope so.

Last summer, I bought several pairs of sandals at half price or less, admittedly having become a little carried away over the tempting bargains. This summer, I see that several pairs are not suitable. So I am going to put them on eBay and take my chances. But, I am doing this with some trepidation. Past experience tells me that I may not receive the money for them. It is worth knowing though, that  this may not be eBay's fault, or the Royal Mail's fault, but the buyer's fault. The buyer can simply say that they did not receive the parcel. They may actually have received the goods but will say that they haven't.  Hard to fathom why someone would do that other than to get something, by cheating, for free.

If someone says that they have not received an item, after a reasonable length of time, they are encouraged to be patient a little longer, and then to 'open a case'.

I have been an eBay user, on and off, for over ten years. I have had a case opened against me twice. One in 2008 and one today.

The one today somehow doesn't surprise me, which may sound odd. I decided that I would only sell in the UK, thinking that there was a much greater chance of something getting lost, the further it travelled. When a person from Poland contacted me to ask if I  would send the necklace she wanted to Poland, I agreed. I shouldn't have done. First of all, she took ages to pay. The vast majority of people pay within twenty-four hours. This buyer took a month, telling me that she had various bills to pay, but not to worry she would pay. I was really regretting this.

Today, my suspicions were confirmed. She complained once that she had not yet received the necklace. I sensed where this was going. She asked if when I posted it I would send it signed for. I did. It cost £8.70. She only gave me £5, despite my request for more. I just wanted to get it over with so sent it anyway. And what do you know?
 
Today, she opened a case. She hadn't received the necklace. GRRRRRRRRR!
 

A monkey in a cage in a house.

The way in which a society treats its animals is a reliable way to judge just how humane and compassionate that society is. We are, as most people have known since childhood, supposed to be a nation of animal lovers.

Recently, I have seen and read much that suggests otherwise. One horror which has come to my notice is the puppy farm. Here, in many cases, the dogs are kept in disgusting conditions - insufficient food and water, no feeling of affection for the dogs and the over -breeding of the bitches until they literally die of exhaustion caused by this over-breeding.Those breeder-bitches are a sorry sight - litter after litter, sometimes of as many as ten puppies, each time they give birth. Their teats after feeding so many puppies, almost reach the ground.

In the paper today was a story about a woman who kept a monkey in a cage for ten whole years in her flat in Hampstead, North London . I know - madness. This woman brought Joey, a capuchin monkey from South America. Incredibly, it is legal to do so. She quarantined him for six months and obtained a Dangerous Wild Animals licence from the local council.

This woman was a fraudster who conned people out of vast sums of money on the pretext of being able to heal their terminal illnesses. Cruel, yes, but these people had a choice - Joey the monkey did not.

When Joey arrived in Hampstead he was a baby and in good health. Then Joey began to suffer from brittle bone disease and became progressively deformed. There he was in a cage in a house in Hampstead. Is it any wonder? And what of the mental torture, the trauma of a monkey being away from other monkeys and his natural habitat? Such an act of self -indulgence, for a con-woman in a wealthy area of London, absolutely defies reason, belief and any semblance of humanity.

Eventually, Joey was rescued. He was the most traumatised monkey the sanctuary who rescued him  had ever seen. He also had poor bone density, curved bones and a fused spine. It was thought he would never make it but Joey had a fighting spirit which he put to good use to save his life.

Joey now socialises with other primates and helps rehabilitate other distressed monkeys at the sanctuary.

Joey is just one animal and he has had a rare happy ending after much suffering. It is our duty as the most intelligent animals on earth to look after the animals with whom we share the planet and never ever to inflict unnecessary cruelty.

A clear preference for Winter.

British people, on the whole, become very excited about the advent of summer- looking forward to hot sunny days, holidays and barbecues in the garden.  A hint of sun and warmth is sufficient for the British to begin flinging their clothes off, sunbathing and turning the music up loud.  Got to make the most of it while it lasts, is the philosophy and hope, for its continuation seems to be almost universal.

There are though some of us who, when people tell us how beautiful it is, have to agree, but do not have their heart in what they say. If someone comments on the hot weather favourably as the vast majority do, it is expected that you will agree. If you express instead your real view, that you do not like hot weather, it rings a discordant note, and it causes confusion and a little embarrassment, just as if you are trying to be clever or be deliberately difficult, so it is a damned sight easier to simply agree.

Though it makes you come across as strange, in some people's eyes, I nevertheless will, unabashedly state that I do not like the summer. I do not like being hot and feeling sluggish, the way heat makes me feel. Barbecues are never very successful and it will take a while to forget the ice and the pink in the middle of a supposedly cooked sausage. Standing to eat is not something I relish and it is what happens at most barbecues.

Airports - the very word fills me with horror. Hoards of people flying off to hotter climes, the waiting,  the squabbling, the tiredness, the disgusting food at insane prices, the security check, the little plastic bag to put cosmetics in, the removing of the shoes, the jacket, the scrabble to reclaim your goods from the grey plastic tray and the putting back on of the shoes.

And if that's not enough, the seemingly eternal wait at the the gate, the trips to the toilet to save you from having to queue on the plane. Then there is the boarding. The false smiles of the flight crew, having to push past people who are putting luggage in the overhead storage, the tuts of disapproval and then the finding of the seat. The poor steward who performs the safety routine and then finally a tray of barely edible food. You eat it though as it passes the time.

On arrival at the resort, there is often an all day buffet which people eat too much of because it's an all-in deal and you want to get value for money. Cake, bread, eggs, beans, bacon, sausages - no limit - eat it all.

Families flung together all day every day - there's bound to be tensions with no escape to work, school or any other distraction. Parents then often argue over child discipline, ice creams and treats generally.  All told it is an achievement that any marriage  survives.

It's not just the holidays of summer which make it unpopular for me. There is  always a drowning, often of a child and a parent/adult who tries to save the child. Often too a child is abducted. Coming out of nightclubs in summer can be a flashpoint for a fight. People don't seem to mind hanging around post 3am in the warmth of a summer night. The blood is hot and a brawl begins.

Sweating, not being able to sleep, the dawn chorus at an unearthly hour and the pressure on women to pass themselves off as never having had any hair anywhere other than on their head - all difficulties.

As the clocks go back towards the end of October, I relish not only the extra hour, but also the knowing that we are heading towards Winter. I still love Christmas despite its excesses, and sitting by the fire on winter nights watching television or reading (or blogging).  Big jumpers, boots, gloves - fabulous.