Ante natal sessions should be compulsory, or should they?

If you don't want to read a gripe, move on to the next blog.
You know how you can say "What's on your mind?" on Facebook?  Some of the recent things that have been posted on my wall have riled me just a little.
Last week, a friend posted how she couldn't wait for her "son", (and she has already given the baby a name.....my sister-in-law was assured she was expecting a boy, and had a beautiful baby girl,) anyway, I digress.  She posted how she wanted to hold her babe and nurture him, she's still got around 8 weeks to go, so babe would be premature and more than likely have to be put in an incubator if he had been born then.  So I just put how as much as she was looking forward to baby arriving, she shouldn't wish a premature birth, for various reasons.  I got a snippy reply, and I mustn't have been the only one to post similar, as she took the post down.  This person has moaned all through her pregnancy...publicly on Facebook.  She just needs a copy of Gordon Bourne's Pregnancy, then she would know what to expect. 
The second "mum", (and she is actually a Mum and has been for 17 months,) posted that her baby's nappy had exploded after only 16 hours of wearing!   Why was the baby in the same nappy for 16 hours, she then went on to say that nappies usually lasted 20 hours before they were due to explode. 
I was taken aback by this.  Surely that poor baby has a very sore bottom.  I'm not speaking out of turn here, as I have three children, well they are all young adults now, but mine were only left, at the longest for around 8 hours, without a change, and that was if they slept right through.
I blame disposable nappies for the "it only lasted 16 hours" comment, as they just get heavier and heavier as the resin in them absorbs the urine.  But what the manufacturers don't say is that the filling can react with urine, as it did with my daughter.  She had disposable nappies for a holiday we went on, and I decided to use the pack up when we returned home.  I carried on changing her as I usually did, when she was fed, when it was obvious she was wet, or dirty, but she developed a rash and I can only conclude it was from the disposable nappies.  They don't let the skin breathe as easily as a terry nappy does.  I stopped using them there and then, and her sore bottom cleared up immediately.
So....prospective parents should go on ante natal classes, to learn the basic good practice of caring for a baby.  And possibly to have explained how heart breaking having a premature baby can be.
I've finished having a moan now.

Just who's bright idea was it?

I know I have posted about this before, but they rake the beach every day in the summer season.  I don't know who had the "brilliant" idea to do this, but they need shooting.  Before they started doing this, the beach next to the Midland Hotel had a small stony area, directly in front of the Midland, but the rest was, on the whole, sandy.
Now, thanks to the raking, there is only a small area of this beach that is completely sandy.  I know the beach is raked to take away flotsam and jetsam that washes up, and rubbish the people leave behind, but surely........it would be better to put more bins on the prom, allow the person who patrols the beaches to fine litterbugs.  Raking the beach has spread out stones along the length of the beach, and it breaks up the lovely little shells.  What child doesn't like collecting seashells?
SO....what some bright spark at the council thought would make the beach look tidy has spoilt it in my eyes. I much prefer the beach in the winter months when it is not raked daily.

Austerity measures aren’t working?

Austerity measures aren’t working?

Yes, that is the conclusion I found in an article I was reading today.  I wonder whose viewpoint they were viewing this from.

My wage was frozen three years ago, and although we have been told that we will get a wage rise this year, it has been limited to 1%, with a clause tying everyone into a limited wage rise for three further years.

This wage freeze and now very small wage rise has been worked out to be in effect a wage cut.  How is it a wage cut, I hear you ask?  Well, no one has put a price freeze on foods, energy, etc.  So consequently, even those who have had annual pay rises at the rate of inflation have less buying power, and disposable income than they had 3 years ago.  And people who have had a pay freeze are beginning to struggle.

The people who are saying that we are not under austerity measures, must be those who had plenty of money to start off with.

One price rise that might illustrate the squeeze the less well off are under is this, around 3 years ago you could buy three packets of standard own-brand pasta at Asda for £1.  Recently they have “price freezed” some prices, the same packs have been cut to 50p/pack. I think the highest was 69p for these packs. Therefore at 69p that is only one and a half packs per £1, and even with the “rollback” two for £1.  So your £1 buys you 33% less food. I don’t think this is across the board, but it is no wonder the “economy” supermarkets are becoming the most popular.  And if the wages ever become less regulated, I can’t see people going back to the dearer supermarkets.

Incidently, I had some of this discussion with my plumber, and the company he installs boilers for has given them a generous pay rise each year he has worked for them, without any negotiation.

Farewell to two authors

In the past month both Tom Sharpe, (Blott on the Landscape, Porterhouse Blue, and others,) and Iain Banks, (Wasp Factory, The Crow Road and others,) have both died. 

Sharpe was a popular comedy writer, Blott on the Landscape being televised with David Suchet in the role of Blott, before he became Poirot.

Banks wrote fiction and science/fantasy fiction.  I read The Wasp Factory in the first year of my English degree, a very though provoking book, with a twist at the end that5 I certainly didn’t anticipate.

There are many brilliant authors writing today, but Banks and Sharpe’s input will be missed.

Time for celebration :)

Why?
I have my desktop pc back, no more dodgy laptop with missing keys on the keyboard.
Also, Happy Solstice to one and all.
It's been a lovely day here in Morecambe.  There's a bit of a wind getting up right now, but otherwise it is still fine.
I have at least one post stored on my memory stick, the lovely owl one I got for Mother's Day, but I couldn't load it via the laptop as it had an older version of word than I had written the post in.  And I couldn't post at work, because of the filter that stops the students going on sites that they shouldn't for various reasons.
So, I'm back and will be posting more regularly.
I should say a special thanks to Stephen  from work who sorted my pc out.  Thanks, Stephen, whirly sweets will be with you by Monday.

Still here

I haven't abandoned my blog, just without my pc at the moment & typing on this erratic laptop keyboard is not easy.