Last days

I have eaten out so much in the last two weeks. Mmmm. Tonight being my last night here, we went out for Italian, a rather bizarre thing to eat in the Caribbean, I know. It was excellent though, I had pasta with chicken and three types of mushroom, and then tiramisu, which I love. And one last rum punch, of course! So now I'm feeling exceptionally full.

I have spent the last two days sitting by the pool at the Hilton, working on my creative writing course, reading and swimming. It's been blissful. It'd be so nice to be able to write for a living and sit by a pool writing, and knowing that was your full time job. Sadly I have to go back to my real and tedious job next week, but I've managed to forget about it pretty much all the time, which has been lovely. Just what's needed.

***

So, while I've been here I have seen a lot of American TV. There are some local channels, but most are American. And I have to say, American TV is weird. There are adverts every 10 minutes, which is really irritating. There are constant adverts for other programmes, the same advert for the same programme every single advert break. It's so tedious. It makes me really determined not to ever watch any of the programmes after I've had them shoved in my face thirty times in two hours.

Also, the adverts are incredibly sexist. I criticise British adverts, but at least we have adverts that show men doing the washing and other non-stereotypical things. American adverts are so sexist it's unbelievable. There's actually a woman who gets so angry about a stain on her washing that she throws the washing machine out of the house, making a giant hole in the roof. And her husband, who owns the stained shirt, whined about it to her and then watched her totally lose it. Clearly this is the most important thing in her life. There are loads of adverts for prescription medicine too, with people constantly telling me to ask my doctor about medication for any number of conditions. And they're always "Side effects are mild, and may include internal bleeding, ulcers, and infection". Yes, very mild. In the UK, we get adverts for cold and flu medicine, and things you can buy over the counter, but not stuff you have to get on prescription. It seems so bizarre to me, I'd never dream of going to my doctor and going "Ooh, well I saw this advert on TV for a medicine, I think I'll try that!" I hope my doctor knows more about medicine than I do, or else I'm in trouble.

There's also a really irritating woman who wishes life was like a parking meter and she could just keep putting in money. I bet she wouldn't wish that when she was a minute too late putting her coin in, and her car got clamped.

Also, (and this is really not interesting to anyone except me) "Law & Order", in fact, all of the Law & Orders, have different beginnings and theme tunes in the UK and the US. Which seems pointless when it's a US series. At first I thought it was just an earlier or later season, but I've seen a few episodes here that I'd already watched at home. Before every US episode, you get this creepy man's voice saying "In the criminal justice system, people are represented by two different groups. The police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys who prosecute the criminals. These are their stories." (That's not the exact wording, but hey). "Law & Order: SVU" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" have similar explanations. I can only conclude this is because there are lots of Americans too stupid to realise what the programmes are about and therefore need it explaining before they watch them. I'm obviously not including any readers in this group, if you can follow my rambling entries you're doing better than I am.
Anyway, I should really stop my tirade against American TV, it's getting old. And there are some good things. Such as the fact I have managed to watch six or seven episodes of various Law & Order series without even trying. And the fact that "Frasier" is on every morning. Daytime TV is actually watchable when you can see things like that, and not the crap that's on every single UK free channel all day.

***

OK, so tomorrow I begin what is pretty much a 2 day journey home:
Leave apartment: 9.30am-ish.
Flight to Tobago: 11:50am
Get to Tobago (if all goes well) 12:15pm
Check in for flight to UK: 2:15pm
Flight to UK leaves: 5.25pm (10.25pm UK time)
Land at Gatwick: 7:15am UK time.
Get back to London, and across London to Liverpool Street station
Train from London: 1.30pm
Back in home city: 3.30pm.
It's hideous even thinking about it. I wish I could teleport.

Books I have read so far while on holiday

PD James "Cover Her Face"
Fiona McIntosh "Betrayal"
Fiona McIntosh "Revenge"
Fiona McIntosh "Destiny"
PD James "Death of An Expert Witness"
Jessica Valenti "Full Frontal Feminism"


On "Full Frontal Feminism", I read it not because I need an introduction to feminism, but just out of interest. I think it's an excellent book to introduce young women to feminism, but it also makes me incredibly thankful not to live in the US. I know the UK has major problems, and needs to do a hell of a lot for equality, but really, we're nowhere near as bad as America. If you don't think so, read the book, it's horrendous some of the things a so-called developed country does to half of its citizens.

It'd be nice if we had some decent British feminist overview type books, there are a few American ones now, "Manifesta" off the top of my head, but nothing equivalent that I know of in the UK. I hope it doesn't take our country screwing over women that much until we get one.

And, I've got a few days left yet, I may well read more.

Back again

I keep suddenly getting access to the web when I don't expect it. But hey, I'm not going to complain.

This morning I got up at 7.30, way early for me usually, but here it's so hot that you can't really sleep very late. I drank orange juice while sitting on the balcony, made real Jamaican coffee, and ate breakfast on the balcony while watching the parrots fly over. By 9am though, it's really hot, and I've had to come inside for some relief.

I wanted to point out this article on The Guardian's website, about Harriet Harman and Hazel Blears and the deputy leadership race.

Right, back to my exhausting morning of reading on the balcony, such a hard life.

Blissful

I've been meme-tagged, but as I'll be without web access from tomorrow until I get home, I'll be doing that when I'm back in the UK.

Meanwhile I've been to a gorgeous Caribbean beach with white sand and palm trees. I've been swimming in a sea that isn't freezing!! I haven't found any pirate gold yet, but there's still time. I have, however, seen monkeys and dozens of parrots flying overhead, and even a couple of hummingbirds, which is amazing.

I've been reading a lot, the Fiona McIntosh "Trinity" trilogy was excellent, very absorbing. It's so nice just chilling out and reading and not worrying about stuff. Mmmm.

Caribbean

I'm in Trinidad, having an extremely relaxing time and reading absolutely loads. I've been here 3 days and am already onto my third book. Blissful. I've seen monkeys and a hummingbird and been swimming in the sea. Proper updates when I get home, obviously.

I wanted to avoid all this while I'm on holiday, but of course made the mistake of clicking on The Guardian's webpage and this story was the top headline. *sigh* Do these damned judges not see that the conviction rate for rape is so low for a reason? Because of society's prejudices, because of the way victims are treated, because of the attitudes of judges just like them. It's not because the majority of rape vicitms are making false accusations, and I'm fucking sick of hearing about the poor falsely accused men. The rate of wrong convictions for rape is no higher than for any other crime, and we should be embracing any measures that are proposed to help the victims of this horrific crime. You can bet your life that 1. Most or all of theses judges complaining are men, and 2. If this was a crime that affected mainly men, they'd be doing all they could to do something about it, in fact, it would never have got this bad in the first place. It makes me sick. Until women aren't raped every day, we will never be equal. Every time I feel happy about some progress that's being made toward equality, I'm brought back down to earth with the facts about rape. While this still goes on society has a very long way to go.

Back to my holiday now. More ranting when I return.

Am writing this at Gatwick, mainly because I wanted to check my email, but stupid airport computers won't let me for some reason. Bahh.

All has gone smoothly so far, and am in the departure lounge awaiting my flight, and not buying giant Toblerones.

Yee hah.

Setting off

So my suitcase is (almost) packed and I leave this afternoon for my flight in the morning. I've packed many books, including lots of PD James for the plane (light reading), Wilkie Collins's "The Dead Secret" and Jessica Valenti's "Full Frontal Feminism". Oh, and a trilogy by Fiona McIntosh that I haven't read. So, reading-wise, I'm all set.

I'll report back on my first ever plane trip and holiday abroad when I return. Meanwhile, read this article on engagement rings, that I found via The F-Word.

See you in a couple of weeks!

What kind of freak gets a cold in June? Well... me, apparently. Been stuck in bed the last few days as a cold for me means bad asthma, and not being able to breathe. It's calmed down a little today though. I really hope I feel better for the Oysterfayre tomorrow, otherwise I will not be happy.

A brought home the paper though, and pointed out Beth Ditto's latest column, which is brilliant.

And I go on holiday on Thursday, down to London on Wednesday, so I can't complain too much, really.

Relaxation

I've somehow been way too busy over the last couple of weeks to do much, but yesterday A and I went to the beach, and rode the steam train up the coast, which was lovely. We ate handmade pizza from a gorgeous deli, had ice cream by the sea, and... well, ate more cake. It was gorgeous and relaxing, which was much needed.

But now there's only a week and a half until Trinidad! Still, I have at least managed to buy a few suitable items of clothing by now, which I hadn't this time last week.

I was going to write a really long rant about how disgusted I am at Cardinal Keith O'Brien and his exceedingly ignorant comments about abortion. Instead, I'll just make the following points:

1. Religion should stay out of politics. Religion is about belief and faith, and while it might affect people's personal opinions, it should have nothing to do with the way the country is governed or its laws.

2. A man, especially an old Roman Catholic cardinal, should have absolutely no say over what women choose to do with their own bodies. It's not something he can possibly ever understand, or ever have to deal with.
Also, as pointed out at The F-Word Blog:

"But it begs another, for me, bigger issue. Why all the fuss about abortion? The bible says nothing about abortion. If God meant the “no killing” rule to apply pre-birth, you would think He would mention it. And look at the miscarriage rate - for someone who disapproves of abortion, God sure carries out a lot of them Himself. "