A happier nation?

Prozac

According to a report in yesterdays 'Observer' traces of the drug Prozac, or Fluoxetine to give it it's generic title, have been found in the UK's water supplies. Despite our water being treated to remove pesticides and the like it would appear that we take this drug in such numbers it still remains to be recycled into its next unsuspecting glass of water!

The report states that the level to be found, once it continues it's journey back into the water system, is likely not to pose any threat to individuals given it's greatly dilute state. I for my part wonder if perhaps we will all gradually become a nation of wonderfully chilled and happy people!

All joking aside this in theory at least is marginally worrying. We have long been concerned about the quality of drinking water in the UK and this will only serve to send a new battalion of concerned souls rushing headlong into Sainsburys to buy up stocks of various bottled products. As an individual I have never subscribed to the bottled water option, I prefer to take my chances, there are greater things to worry me in this world but I understand the concerns of those that do, particularly those with children to consider. If Prozac can find it's way back into our water system then presumably so too can other chemical compounds, that I find more worrying, Prozac is at least manufactured for human consumption, manufacturing and agricultural chemicals are not!

What I find far more worrying than finding this drug in our water is the fact that the numbers of people being prescribed it are high enough to cause this situation in the first place. This I hasten to add is not an indictment of the medical profession on my part more an indictment of the society so many of us live in. I do not believe that in the main doctors prescribe this drug unnecessarily, quite the reverse. We are a nation forced into longer and longer working hours, we live in a 'must have it all' culture where we try to attain perfection in our lives, we have more personal debt than ever before and live with the permanent threat of one atrocity or another hanging over our heads. Is it any wonder so many of us rely on a drug to keep us going?

I over simplify the situation of course, 'pill popping' is not the best answer but for many it is an answer or at least part of an answer. I am angered often by blase statements I hear from entirely unqualified individuals regarding the use of Prozac and it's like. Commonly I hear people say things such as "Oh I would never take tanquilisers" or "you shouldn't take those you know, they are addictive" blah blah blah. I was party to such a conversation yesterday by coincidence, in which someone blithely said "tell her (a colleague of mine) to stop taking the prozac, they don't work anyway" Had this woman any idea of what she was saying she perhaps would have realised what a dangerous statement that was both physically and psychologically.

We are it seems far more frightened of Prozac than most other drugs and mostly in my opinion because it has had some bad press and the differences between this and previous drugs used in the treatment of the illnesses indicated for its use, are not fully understood This is not an old fashioned tranquilising compound such as Diazepam ( though that too has it's uses) it is a modern SSRI antidepressant which has transformed the lives of millions and is a great pharmacological breakthrough.

The side effects of this compound are well documented, the most serious of which of course is a claimed higher likelihood of suicide in some users. This is still under dispute and subject to investigation but the incidence when compared to the incidence of those using it with no serious ill effects is minute. I do not of course detract from the tradgedy of that for those affected in this manner but life is a compromise, nothing is completely safe and under the correct medical supervision Fluoxetine is comparatively safe. Drugs used in chemotherapy are extremely dangerous but we accept the down side to gain the positive benefits, depression etc. for some is no less life threatening than cancer.

In an ideal world there would be far less use of this drug. Those suffering from the various disorders, which include among others anxiety, depression, OCD, and bulimia, would receive the appropriate therapy and the millions suffering an over abundance of day to day stress would find other ways to reduce their stress levels. We do not however live in an ideal world, we live in a real world with all it's inherent problems and those who expound, without the appropriate knowledge, on the use of Prozac are perhaps lucky enough not to have not suffered one of these life damaging illnesses. They might also bear in mind here that for some of those illnesses no amount of therapy will rid the sufferer of all the symptoms because depression etc. are not in all cases purely 'in the mind'.........for many the cause is chemical and needs to be addressed chemically!

Things are looking up......

....how could they not be after all those nice comments, thank you you lot :o)

Work was very little improved today although I did 'win' a big bar of chocolate! Strange I know. These little in-house competitions seem to be related to the very sudden and new positive attitude displayed by those in authority. Of late there seems to be a considerable attempt to improve moral among the grass roots and prizes are part of that. Please excuse me if I sound a little sceptical, I don't decry the efforts and I'm not ever adverse to chocolate but the words horse and stable door spring rather rapidly to mind when I consider what caused the particularly low moral in the first place!! For anyone reading this who is new to my rambling go here if you would like to catch up.

Anyways, enough of that for now,I am am sitting here typing between mouthfulls of a particularly large pizza with an obscene amount of extra olives and fresh parmesan. I have 5 glorious days off ahead of me to do with as I wish and to play to my hearts content!

Along with that we (that's PG and myself) had some good news today. A couple we are friends with have just discovered they are pregnant! This couple, although we don't see as much of them as we would like are particularly special and were a great support to PG during a very difficult time...... Such exciting news is brilliant.

So congratulations D & W.............you know who you are :o)

I also received an email from someone I thought I would not hear from again ( I hate losing touch with people) and another from a man for whom I have great admiration and didn't expect to ever be in personal contact with. The latter has asked me to be a 'guest writer' on his blog. I have never been asked to do that before and it's very flattering if a little daunting. More on that at a later time.

So as they say in these parts.......... 'I'm in much better 'fettle' now and thanks again.

Rant alert!

I've got the right hump!

Work has been considerably less than fun the last two days and damn hard work. 'Joe Public' seems to be suffering a shortness of temper in the now considerable heat and humidity and yours truly just has to keep smiling and being unendingly polite.

Just how much would I like to have told just one of them precisely how I feel as a response to their offloading on me!! How much I would like to remind the odd one or two that my being in the position I am does not render me a lower lifeform, happy to be treated with no respect and spoken to with so little common decency..........A lot I can tell you!

Hey ho........ in the end I suppose that's what I'm paid for, to take the crap and look happy, a model of retail service. I didn't feel like one today, I felt like I had something closer to a grimace glued to my face and being shouted and sworn at was harder than usual to rise above. I managed it none the less, though inappropriate responses where closer to seeing the light of day than usual.

So I'm just home now, my head hurts, my back hurts, my legs hurt and I'm tired and hungry but I have no appetite. PG has had a hard day too and as a consequence has a mood to match mine and ontop of all that there isn't even Big Brother to distract me tonight! Damn......no mindless TV!

Ok...rant over, my apologies. I'm off to bed, tomorrow is another day :o)

Oh... to be a cat.

Relax!

Today I wanna be my cat.....this looks a good life! Instead I have ahead of me three workdays. I just sooooo don't wanna go there. No time for meandering through blogland sipping coffee, playing with templates or gazing into the countryside, Joe Public calls and will doubtless test my currently short patience.

Stop moaning woman and get on with it..........

:o)

Two of the reasons.....

....I love living where I do is seeing these sights each time I go anywhere!


Highland cattle


Foulden Village

Arghhhhh!

My comments delete icon has mysteriously disappeared (this may well be my fault) and despite my best attempts, including trawling the template with a fine tooth comb for hours looking for bits I may have lost or damaged I have been unable to resurrect said icon.

So I emailed Blogger support three or four days ago asking for help. My mail said, and I quote here,
"The trash can icon by each comment posted has disappeared and I am unable to delete any comment. Please can you advise".

This morning I received a reply and again I quote,
"To delete a comment, first make sure you're logged into Blogger, then
visit the Post Page where the comment is displayed. Next, click the small
trash can icon next to the comment".

Am I missing something here or did I not state clearly enough that I have no bloody icon!! I am only too happy to be shown I have made an error somewhere but purleaaaaase!

I perhaps shouldn't knock Blogger who so kindly provide us all with this free service, but just sometimes.............

Arghhhhhhh!

A creature of habit

I hate doing that......I woke up late today, 11.15 to be precise. I never do that despite rarely going to bed before 02.00 I'm always awake by 07.00. Life is too short to spend it asleep, we are a long time dead, a state that in my limited imagination must be like sleeping without the dreams. There is too much to do in life to be asleep.

We humans are a strange breed, creatures of habit, this one small change in my routine has rendered me flumoxed. I have wandered around getting nowhere, keep looking at the clock wondering where the day is going so fast and thinking of all the things I wanted to do today that now won't get done!

In the workplace we all merrily claim to 'embrace change easily', we all include similarly blase statements in our C.V because we know employers expect it of us. In reality when the slightest thing is changed and our normal day to day work routine is disrupted we hate it and most complain bitterly. The change may be for the better (though frequently with employers it is not), but it is not the change itself that we dislike it is the fear of that change and of the anxiety that creates. We do not like the unknown. This is so much the case that there are now highly qualified psychologists and behaviourists that specialise in the management of change, in teaching us and those that force it upon us how to face the inherent fear we carry.

And yet, when forced, as a race we are perversely, extremely adaptable. In times of war and great challenge for instance we manage to adapt marvelously and deal with whatever life throws at us. In our personal lives too, when change is forced upon us we adapt with remarkable speed. As an individual I have had significant changes in lifestyle forced upon me twice, that had I tried to imagine would have terrified me. I would have balked and avoided them at all costs, but none the less once in the situation, in what seems a blink of an eye, the apparently terrifying situation becomes the norm and often a positive thing.

Coping with change is like many of our traits a matter of practice, those who's lives dictate much change will become 'practiced' at it, at dealing with the anxiety it creates until such a time they no longer have fear of it and embrace it. The rest of us who's day to day lives by necessity are made up of routines continue not to gain that practice and continue to be happy in those routines.

One late wakening and my day is completely upended........ We are indeed a strange and contradictory breed, or at least I am!

A summers evening

And so you might wonder, what exotic and interesting entertainment a grown woman avails herself of on a Scottish summers evening. Warm soft air, a gentle breeze and a clear moon in the sky, the possibilities are endless. A romantic meal, walking hand in hand along the beach under the moonlight. A gentle walk through fields of ripened corn perhaps?

But it was none of these..........instead two grown women, no sordid comments please guys, with a joint age nearing a figure I cannot disclose, on opposite sides of the globe............. did this!


Doodle!

Cheers Magz......what a giggle!

Wednesday silliness

I'm 39% freak!!

Take this test!

My currently confuddled mind does not recall where I stole this one.....if it was you thank you and I hope you don't mind!

Cor blimey mate!

Well I made my self imposed target, almost at any rate. I was at 98 by midnight but went over the 100 hits mark by 00.17 ...... that's good enough for me!! In the 24 hour period I would normally have received something in the region of 50-60 hits, I woke up this morning to find 155!! Hells bells, my day is made.

This feat is in no small part thanks to beFrank,who's blog incidentally is one of the best on the block (go there if you haven't already) and who leapt athletically to the top of my referrers list in the said period. So much so that my other target of going over 2000 by the end of the week is looking possible now....amazing. It's the small things in life that make it worth living......that and referrer stats.

So a big thank you beFrank........I owe you one and have you by chance ever considered charging for advertising!! :o)

Hit record!

Wow!

I have already today exceeded my 'hits for one day' record. Not a massive number in comparison to many but a small feat for me. 72 hits and still hours in the day to go.........perhaps I will make the magic 100 before the day is out. Dare I wish for exceeding 2000 in total by the end of the week........pushing my luck a little there I think!

Am I the only one here with the new obsession that is counter stats. and tracking?? I check my stats almost manically and am fascinated by tracking visitors to my site. To find a visitor from some obscure part of the world is a highlight in my day and I am amazed at the places individuals come from, albeit probably in error! When I began this blogging malarky I really didn't expect anyone to visit, save maybe for a loyal friend or two and thought that within a few weeks I would have ditched the whole thing for lack of interest..........so my friends, thank you for submitting yourselves to my ramblings and tolerating my typos, it is much appreciated.

Whilst on the subject of friends I have met some real nice and interesting people in my few months here. I hadn't envisaged at the start that blogging would be such a 'community'or that the feedback and interraction would be as it is. I love people and this has given me the opportunity to meet like minded and not so like minded souls, I would otherwise have never met. In the beginning there were and still are, my first 'blogrollers', Menina, Jenny at Demob happy teacher(I think we started this thing at about the same time), Francesca at Pushing an Elephant up the Stairs, Snowbabies and Black Rat at Someone else's Life. More recently there are new friends, Magz at Maggiezfarm, Brian at beFrank and Leif Wright from 'the other side of the pond.' For anyone here for the first time or for those who haven't done so yet they are all well worth a visit!

Happy reading............. I'm off to check out the hit counter now..........

:o)

Red Moon Rising

The Scream

When Norwegian artist Edvard Munch produced 'The Scream' It was not his intention that it signify the subject on which I am posting. That said art is many things to many people and this famous pastel has long been one I have felt an affinity too and loved, not only for it's obvious attractions but because strangely perhaps it has always illustrated for me exactly how I feel on certain occasions.

The title of this post does not of course exclude you guys from reading or commenting on what I am about to say, it serves rather as a gentle warning for those of you with a squeamish nature where the physiological aspects of womanhood are concerned, that you may prefer to give this one a miss!

Let me say here, just in case there is any doubt, that I do not enjoy having my life dictated but something completely out of my control, that renders me clumsy in the extreme, causes me to drop anything I lay my hands on, trip over and bump into things that anyone with any reasonable degree of spatial awareness could avoid without effort. I do not enjoy spending days at a time driving like a fool, unable to rationalise and falling apart in a pathetic display of tears for no apparent cause. I do not enjoy my back aching, my legs feeling like they are fashioned from lead, the spots, more bad hair days than you could shake a stick at and a stomach that feels like it has 'gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson'

And so what has caused this rant?...........individuals who blithely say to me and others, 'Oh, you have PMS I suppose' or some similar dismissive comment and expect us to be amused.

Yes it has it's funny side but mostly PMS is patently not funny, this is a condition that many many women suffer for years on end and has a profound effect on their lives. It is the butt of many jokes and a condition that affects all those around the sufferer. I for one would not like to live with me at these times and consequently understand the male jokes and aggravations in dealing with a woman who most of the time is a normal human being and then suddenly becomes mildly insane.

What concerns me more is the apparent lack of understanding in some quarters. PMS it seems is not an excuse to take time off work, to under achieve on occasion, to cause erratic behavior or to prevent one attaining goals. Well no you are right it is not an excuse it is a reason and a valid one. Those who are lucky enough not to have to arrange their lives to some degree around this particular female peculiarity, and I include women not only men here, should perhaps take a moment to consider the impact such disruption might have on their life and the difficulties it would cause.

Unfortunately this is a state that if one has not experienced it is probably very difficult to imagine. It is pain and mental confusion that I can't equate with any other, it has foibles all of it's own and has been used as a successful defense in murder trials, not I add thankfully, that I suffer to that extreme.

Some may consider this not a subject to be posting on but I do not apologise to those people for doing so. This is the 21st century, I am proud to be a woman and menstruation is an inherent part of my femininity. Thankfully we are no longer hidden away and considered as 'unclean', save for one or two cultures an religions.

I don't want for the women among us who know only to well about what I am talking, sympathy or platitudes, just a little tolerance when we display these strange changes in behavior. I can accept and even laugh at the jokes if you laugh with me not at me. I don't want to use it as an excuse I just want a little consideration.

And so why 'The Scream'......despite it not being the artists intent,in fact the 'screamer' is a man, this image captures for me, far better than my words ever could, precisely how I have felt for a quarter of my adult life!

Comment failure

I have decided an explanation is in order here and in some instances an apology no doubt! About what do I refer?........comments.

For any one of you loyal people who post much appreciated comments here and don't get a reply I sincerely apologise........I really do try to post a reply to each and every one but I fear that here and there I may have missed some. It is not intentional I assure you I just seem to lose track now and again!

I see a way here for someone brighter than yours truly to make a killing. Has no one written code for something that will keep a track of all ones comments and of the comments we leave on the blogs of others? If they have I sure can't find one but I could use it! Heaven knows how I would cope if I was the author of one of the many successful blogs that receive 100's of comments!!

My second apology is to anyone who receives a comment from me that is drivel.......my excuse? I generally 'blogsurf' late at night, feel driven to comment on interesting posts and then find myself barely able to string a sentence together for lack of sleep. So again, if you find a barely intelligible comment from me..........I apologise in advance. :o)

....give me strength!!

The idiosyncrasies of blogger and the various other bits and pieces of HTML that I use here confound me at times.

I arrived home from work last night wanting only to eat and sleep, to discover to my chagrin that my blog had mysteriously rearranged itself, not for the better I might add! Those invisible gremlins had been at work again and for no apparent reason.

Two items in my sidebar had moved to 'align left' instead of 'align centre'two didn't operate at all and consequently prevented the remainder of the page loading and my 'delete comments' option had 'done the off' altogether. Add to that some comments where repeated more than once and I just know it is not the error of the poster.

So miffed and tired I set about sorting it all out. The two misaligned items where fast realigned, tho strangely the HTML was still as it should be, nothing had changed it just didn't seem to be doing the job any longer, the two inoperable items I deleted having discovered that the host is suffering some gremlin of its own and the comment delete option remains defunct. A rapidly typed communication to Blogger help still awaits reply on that one!!

I have been considering 'moving' for a while and all this only serves to tempt me to consider further if I should relocate to 'movabletype' or some such, or at least run this from my own domain ( I would into the bargain lose the damn advertising that way). Two problems immediately strike me there, one I'm not entirely sure if my technical ability is up to movabletype yet and two, my domain host seems to have rather more 'downtime' than I would like. Arghhhhhh!

This morning among all this and having noted from one or two readers that the blogger comment system has various failings, I decided to change to Haloscan. Again I encountered more aggravation. As I expected, unless I run both comment systems I effectively lose all my previous comments (and I don't want to) and having duly inserted the code , you've guessed it.........Halsocan wasn't working!! I have visited many sites using haloscan and I have to admit on a number of occasions it wouldn't allow me to comment so I don't know why I was surprised!! Suffice to say for now I have removed it again.

I do this for fun????..........give me strength!