Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Shopping 2

A week ago, I sought some pool supershock at the variety store -(take your pick of two) - only to see empty, yawning shelves. I asked at the enquiry desk. She pressed keys on a blackberry, and announced that they had none.
"We'll be getting more in," she said.
"You know that that's no use to me," I said.
"In 6 - 8 weeks, " she said.
WHAT? Do they have to walk to the factory to get it?
"This is a terrible shop," I said bitterly.
"Yes, it is, isn't it," she said.

On Friday, just 5 days later, being in the same shop, I checked the shelves out again.
Yup. There it was.

Shopping

Yesterday the granny behind me in the checkout queue pressed some bank notes into the hand of her (about) 10 year old grandson.
"Do you want to pay?" she asked. "Do you want to be the man and pay?"

Living in the past? Or brainwashing to shape the future?

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Slap

On page 11 she gives Hector his shopping list: 25 gm green cardamon seeds, 4 eggplants....
On page 24 Hector sees, in his garden "..the late season eggplants, full and black, hanging precariously ..."
Just carelessness, I expect.
An engaging, irritating book.

'An anthropological insight into modern Australian life," said one commentator on the ABC's bookshow.
Which was an interesting comment in itself: she saw the fiction as fact.
The characters were not like anyone I've ever come across...but they were similar to the scandalous mores that the newspapers trumpet.
"None of the characters are particularly likeable, but they're mostly uncomfortably recognisable," writes Leigh Sales. To my mind that's because they are largely stereotypes.


Another commentator on the ABC said that it is a soap opera. I'm inclined to agree.

It's an engaging, easy read. But not something I would urge someone else to read.
Interesting to talk about, though. The issue - someone slapping a friend's child - of more interest than the book, unfortunately.

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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Porn

Cindy Gallop, on a Ted talk, says that because of parental/school/society reticence, most children now learn about how to engage in sexual practices from hard core porn sites.
She has learned this from personal experience, because as an older woman, she chooses lovers in their twenties.

Because, as she says, these sites are owned by, run by, controlled by men, girls can find themselves obliged to cooperate in ways that they might otherwise not choose.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

These little birds are made from recycled metal by "the gathering" at Deniliquin. They have fooled my neighbour's cats, who like to short cut through my garden....I expect that they may now have sore teeth.