Germaine Greer and Guy Fawkes

Enjoyed the talk by Germaine Greer at the Sage, a full house. A more mellow self, but still hugely entertaining and informative. Freedom, children are the least free of our society, which begins from being swaddled and then ordered around. I agree that children need rules, but I didn`t ever have any growing up and was allowed to roam around as I pleased without restriction.

A mix of bad parenting and free thinking. The old saying "Never did me any harm." comes to mind, but is that true or did me and my brother just "bury bad news" as they also say? Greer explored Sharia law, the hijab, women`s lib, rape and orgasm comparing the latter to revolution, it doesn`t last.

Guy Fawkes gathering at my brother D`s and sister in law A`s.....We open the patio door and there is much steam from the oven. Husband D`s glasses steam up and he asks me for a tissue. He is very irritated as I root through my bag, not quick enough for him, so I say "It`s not going to kill you to wait for a tissue is it??" my brother shows where his allegiance lies when he says "It would if you had cyanide on your eyes"

My brother made a pizza, his own base to which he`d added yeast. It is the
6th of November, Sunday. He`s showing off wafting the dough which has risen due to addition of yeast. Jamie like, he spreads the secret ingredients,then black olives, fresh prawns and 2 cheeses. The taste, I have to admit is wonderful, bastard!!! We quaff red wine and sister in law A saws wood to fuel the chimenea. Brother D pontificates on using a patio heater, could his carbon footprint be sullied? I point out that the people who pontificate to us on such subjects AKA Tony Blair, have 3 houses and have enough furniture in their homes to supply a small rain forest, fly around the world more times than Tom Pepper, so why should we worry about a teensy weensy little patio heater? We KNOW that we are adding to global warming, but it`s only a tiny contribution, isn`t it???

So... we dress up in halloween costumes that I brought and brother says "It`s not technically Halloween is it?" to which I reply
"Well, it`s not technically Guy Fawkes being the 6th is it?" "Aye" he says "Fair point, another drink?"

Being a greedy cow, I have eaten chilli with loads of cheese on top and a slice of pizza. People are in the garden setting off rockets and going "Ooooh, that`s a lovely one" and I spy a bowl of nuts on the kitchen table. After eating most of them, brother D is really concerned when I say "Lovely nuts" he gasps "They were for the bird table, they`re not fit for human consumption!!" to which my lovely husband drawls "That`s ok, she`s not human"

We hear A shouting "Is it ahad" The fire she means, so we need more wood.
D and A take it in turns to saw wood and we sit outside from 6.30- 11.30, it`s freezing cold, but we are well wrapped up in our woolly coats, scarves, witches hats, wings and vampire capes. Nobody remembered the false nashers which we had last year.

Brother D wants to show me the spiders colony they have in their shed, WHAT, is he mad, can`t he remember the near fainting fits at the sight of a spider. Although I am reaching at the thought, he still goes on to describe the "lovely patterns" on their backs "Shut up, or you will end up on the bonfire!" But, he`s back in the good books as he rang next day to find out if I`m ok after gorging on birdy num nums. (For the people who don`t get the reference, it`s from The Party starring Peter Sellers, watch it, the best film ever)