I wonder if my ex, Donna, knew the term Donna con Donna refers to Woman with Woman? Hrm, I didn’t either, but that’s before I bought “Queer Facts” – a lesbian and gay trivia book, which I’m now forced to dip in and out of. ‘s full of fun facts. I also picked up a copy of Tipping the Velvet (the novel) and a sort-of book called Far from Dull, which is essentially a lot of (generally really well taken) photographs of places with strange or silly place names. All of them were half price. I wanted to buy the new Ben Elton novel but it’s still only in hardback, and half of 17.99 is still an awful lot for one book. And then I realised I don’t even have the previous Ben Elton novel; but that wasn’t on sale. Nor was either of the recent Robert Rankin books.
Still, I should really not buy more books, but my mum took me into Waterstones despite my protestations that I’d end up buying things. Mind you, three books isn’t bad for me in Waterstones, and there’s only one there that’s an actual reading type book – and thus likely to interrupt my (lack of) study.
We actually went in search of jeans, because my mum was intending to get me some jeans for my birthday. Shopping with my mother remains an experience. As she got wound up by Next (fitting rooms were closed); attempted to tell me what size I was (unsurprisingly, I know what size I am better than her); and was frustrated by the fact that when I said I was after a pair of black jeans, I mean black black, not blue black, not blue, not stonewashed black. And that I might find these differences significant seemed to wind her up further… Still, in the end I got a nice pair of sort of velvety cordy trousers in green, which go with my dead nice black ones.
I just need to work on this stomach of mine; yet again I shall make the promise that I shall spend at least 20 minutes every day exercising; I’ve got that rowing machine, I should damn well use it. I just need to sort out that conservatory so I can. The problem is finding the enthusiasm to sort these things out when the prospect of having to move looms ever closer.
….These are all trivial compared to the news I’ve just heard, the news that Sri Lanka, my mother’s home, and a lot of other countries in that area have suffered huge numbers of deaths due to a tsunami of staggering proportions. I find it hard to grasp a disaster of that scale. 10 people dead, it has a meaning, you can see it. 500 people dead, that is a concept you can grasp (or I can); but 12,000 dead. 12,000. It’s beyond my comprehension.
I suspect it’s something like the complete destruction of several small towns. And that’s just Sri Lanka. 20,000 dead in the region. 20,000. It’s so big that it defies me. That so many people can be wiped out in a few hours… it is a huge tragedy; but it’s very hard to connect to it.
It seems likely that my late grandfather’s other family may be in that number; but I’ve never met them, I don’t know them at all. Similarly my Aunt’s family lives/d on the South East coast, in an area that has been decimated by the waves; but again, I’ve never met her, let alone her family. The connection for me to Sri Lanka is purely memories of people mostly already dead; and my mother’s incredible sadness at the destruction wreaked upon her country by this natural disaster.
For all the damage that we humans manage to perpetrate on nature, it seems remarkably adept at reminding us of the fragility of human existence. One short day and 20,000 people are dead. In the grand scheme of things; my inability to find the book I want doesn’t really carry much weight. Something that did bug me though, sending 7 empty charter jets over there to evacuate people. Could they not have sent 7 charter jets over carrying say, blankets, plastic sheeting, tents, food, medical supplies?
Perhaps it’s just me, but certainly to a degree, people seem to be concentrating on getting people home; which is understandable but could they not help the people who live in these countries at the same time?
