In The News
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Thursday, September 1st, 2005I really cannot quite believe that it has taken so long to get aid to New Orleans and other areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Heaven forbid that Bush should land his bloody plane and get out and see the trouble these people are in. And then do something about it. More quickly than he has done.
Having spent a fair amount of time in Alabama, Florida, New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico I have experienced hurricanes and tornadoes more than I would have liked to. They are very frightening but I always felt they were sort of manageable, by which I suppose I mean survivable. Katrina has shown the full force of nature’s fury and so many of the least able residents in the area affected were caught up in it. This of course is bad enough but the lack of help and organisation to help those who did survive, well, there is no excuse. Really no excuse.
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More bombs
Thursday, July 21st, 2005More bombs in London today, two weeks after the bombs that killed and injured so many. It’s hardly a surprise, although so far repeat bombings have not been al-Qaeda’s (appalling) “style”. So we watch and wait for more news. And I feel worried that terrorists can bring large parts of London to a standstill and shock and scare the commuters who have to use the London underground and bus system every day.
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Posted in Worrying About Society, In The News
Fifteen weeks pregnant
Wednesday, July 13th, 2005Last Thursday was a great day as I FINALLY STOPPED THROWING UP.
But then my joy was quickly over as I realised that the London transport system was being bombed. I have found it hard to write about anything, hence my lack of posts, because I just feel so disillusioned, as I did after 9/11, by the fact that some extremists can get on a train or plane and blow up innocent people. Also in the news this week is the tenth anniversary of the massacre of Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in Bosnia by Bosnian Serb troops while the town was under the so-called protection of the UN. Men, boys, as young as 14 were taken away and shot. 8,000 of them.
I just don’t know how one person can do such things to another.
So I am feeling so much better physically but I am feeling a bit down about world events. Today I heard the baby’s heartbeat via the Doppler machine - I was relieved as I had literally gone from feeling dreadfully sick, eaten a supper of mash potato and cabbage and then felt immediately better and haven’t felt sick since and given that the nausea in my previous two pregnancies tailed off gradually I couldn’t help worrying that something had happened to the baby. But no, there it was, its little heartbeat pounding away. But emotionally I am edgy after the suicide bombs in London, lying awake last night in this excessive heat we are experiencing, wondering if I had everything to hand quickly enough if London is hit by a dirty bomb and we have to prepare for the nuclear fallout. I am prepared but if the wind is blowing this way we might have twenty minutes or so to prepare a room to live in for ten to fourteen days. Yes, I am a worrier. But if I am prepared I worry less so I live my life in a constant state of preparedness. It’s my way of dealing with things. Matthew is heading for the airport again as we speak and I can do nothing about that - his work necessitates travel to Europe. My brother works in London and uses the underground line that was bombed. It is generally agreed that the terrorists may well strike again. But I control what I can and I try not to worry about the things that I can’t.
So this week’s pregnancy update is less about the physical side of being pregnant, but more about the mental and emotional state that I am in.
Oh and I have thrush. Which is lovely in this heat.
[SEE THE SPROGGING CATEGORY FOR MORE PREGNANCY POSTS]
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Posted in Worrying About Society, In The News, Pregnancy
Not knowing
Friday, July 8th, 2005The news is full of the families of people missing since yesterday morning. These families have searched the hospitals and not found their relatives.
Twenty one or so people still lie in a carriage deep in an underground tunnel, thirty-six hours after the blast.
I cannot imagine what these families are going through, having to deal with the not knowing.
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Frightened
Thursday, July 7th, 2005Matthew has landed safely at Heathrow after his plane was delayed after being switched for security reasons. Sitting in front of him in Business Class were Mr and Mrs Bin Laden - this may also have had something to do with why the plane was delayed, wouldn’t you think? Matthew said he was very relieved when the plane landed and he is not given to dramatics.
I am relieved that he is out of Heathrow airport. I have long suspected that the underground would be targetted by terrorists because it is just so easy and so devastating because it is underground. But I have also worried endlessly that Heathrow would be a target - it only takes one or more madmen to walk into the check-in area, before any security is even reached, to cause massive destruction - and Matthew is there almost weekly. I am NEVER happy when he is at the airport.
Matthew is making his way out of London on the gridlocked roads. My brother who commutes to London on the routes affected today is safe and well. I hope he has found somewhere safe to stay in London.
I had such a terrible premonition-type dream on Tuesday night when Matthew was away in Paris (although I should say I dream about terrorist attacks, or scenarios where my children are injured or separated from me, with more frequency than I would like). Today the almost exact scenario I dreamed about became reality. Only today my children and I were at home rather than being separated in the panic of the terrorist attack that I dreamed about and for that I am relieved and also a little ashamed that I feel that way when I know so many others were affected.
Commentators and leaders are talking about how Britain will not be cowed or frightened by terrorists. But I feel frightened.
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