Parental Pride?

Today's entry is quite possibly the best entry I have ever written.

Unfortunately, the brick wall that stands between me and the typed word will prevent you all from ever reading it!!

So instead...

A news piece here in England caught my attention this week. Entitled "2 year old girl joins Mensa", it made me wonder how the hell that could be possible.

Here is the version from the net:

Brainy toddler Georgia Brown has become the youngest member of Mensa – aged two. Georgia has an IQ of 152, putting her in the most intelligent 0.2 per cent of the population, reports the Daily Mirror.

Mum Lucy, 44, said: "She was crawling at five months and walking by nine months. She would sit and read with a book."

Prof Joan Freeman, who set the IQ test, said: "She swept right through it like a hot knife through butter."

Lucy, boss of charity Disability Initiative, said Georgia benefits from having a large family – siblings Ben, 24, Sophie, 22, Charlotte, 20, and Olivia, 16, plus carpenter dad Martin, 51.

She added: "There is always someone around to offer her something." Georgia, from Aldershot, Hampshire, can count to 10, draw a near perfect circle, and knows all her colours and the difference between a square and a rectangle.

Maybe I am just a cynic, but I beg to question how crawling at 5 months and walking at 9 correlates to being in the most intelligent 0.2% of the population!! I realise that it is a fairly early age to accomplish these tasks, but by no means are they unprecedented in baby world.

Now, at the age of 2 she can apparently count to 10 and knows all her colours. Is it just me or does this not seem all that remarkable?

Maybe it is an indication that she absorbs information easily, and retains it well. Maybe it is indicative of what might be if her thirst for knowledge continues as she grows older. It certainly makes a mother proud when her tot learns these things for the first time. I remember beaming when mine did it too.

She is obviously, at least for now, a bright girl, but it seems to me the British Press are blowing the story up for the sake of having a story. Not at all like the Press!!!

The other thought, that I can't shake off, is that bright, intelligent youngsters are rarely catered for in British Schools. Their love of learning, and their sheer ability to absorb and retain knowledge is all too often stripped away from them once they begin mainstream education. A teacher, with 30 pupils, cannot teach each one individually. If there is one unusually bright child amongst 29 average children, you can bet your life the bright infant will soon be bored and frustrated at the lack of anything challenging. The enthusiasm shown in the early years often wanes, until the good old British Education system has brought them down to the level of her classmates.

I hope for Georgia's sake, if she is potentially as intelligent as the report suggests, that she can be an exception. You go girl.

Dying to Live

Another news story on my homepage caught my eye today, and made me wonder what I would have done had I found myself in the same situation as poor old Mr. Brandrick.

It's the age old question: "What would you do if you were told you only had one year left to live"?

I cannot imagine the turmoil this kind of news creates in one's life, or for that matter in the lives of those closest to you.

Apart from the fact that I would hate for people to tiptoe around me for fear of saying the wrong thing, or upsetting me, I would really hate for people to treat me differently.

First reactions - "Holy Shit", quickly followed by a complete nervous breakdown, and a couple of days of feeling sorry for myself. I would hope that following this self absorbed wallowing, I could and would be as brave as someone else I know that is in this very situation.

My initial thoughts I'm sure, would be about what I would miss with husband, my children, future grandchildren and my closest friends. Maybe that's selfish, maybe it's just survival.

I know for sure that I would treasure every single second of what time I had left and that I would ensure all those people knew how I felt about them, how much I loved them and how proud I was to be their mother, wife and/or friend. In that respect, I think knowing the end is nigh, is a blessing. How many people really get the chance to voice all those unspoken thoughts before they are taken from this world?

Then what? What comes after that?

Would I tell my enemies EXACTLY what I thought of them too? Tempting I guess, but surely a needless waste of precious time.

I would definitely plan my own funeral. Though my family know that the two cardinal rules when I die are absolutely NO black at my funeral, and bury me. If they burn me I have vowed to come back and haunt them...forever!!!

Would I go on a spending spree? Maybe visit all the places in the world I have ever wanted to see? Buy that sexy little sports car I always dreamed of owning one day?

Who can really say what they would do unless they are faced with the situation for real?

This is the story of one guy, who was told he had not long left to live:

LONDON (Reuters) - A British man who went on a wild spending spree after doctors said he only had a short time to live wants compensation because the diagnosis was wrong and he is now healthy -- but broke.

John Brandrick, 62, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago and told that he would probably die within a year. He quit his job, sold or gave away nearly all his possessions, stopped paying his mortgage and spent his savings dining out and going on holiday.

Brandrick was left with little more than the black suit, white shirt and red tie that he had planned to be buried in when it emerged a year later that his suspected "tumor" was no more than a non-life threatening inflammation of the pancreas.

"When they tell you you've got a limited time and everything, you do enjoy life," Brandrick, from Cornwall in the west of England, told Sky television.

"I'm really pleased that I've got a second chance in life... but if you haven't got no money after all this, which is my fault -- I spent it all -- they should pay something back."

If he can't get compensation, he is considering selling his house or suing the hospital that diagnosed him. The hospital has said that while it sympathizes with Brandrick, a review of his case showed no different diagnosis would have been made.

I don't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for the guy. He has a point doesn't he? So the question remains - If you were told you only had a year left, what would you do?

Today's News

While writers block is turning out to be rather more of a hinderance than usual, I came up with a backup plan! I'm resourceful like that!

OK. So I came up with a plan completetly by accident, give me a break.

I logged onto the internet this morning and my home page had the headline:

33 killed in college massacre

This story has been all over our news, and I guess it will be for the next week or more. I felt I wanted to say something, but what could anyone say, other than the obvious?

How was it allowed to happen?

Should America think about tightening their gun laws?

This is the question that is always raised, at least here in Britain, everytime we here tragic news story's like these. These story's have become all too familiar, and the trouble with that is the shock value when the story breaks diminishes with every new one. The shock value, I guess, is what makes people take action for change.

Anyway, I digress. I quickly decided two things. One, that there were probably not sufficient words to express what I felt. Two, selfishly, I wanted to write about more light-hearted things.

So I read down the list of News headlines.

Call to bring back Grammar Schools

As a past Grammar school student myself, I back this plan 100%, but is not very light-hearted, so I move onto the next one.

2.5M households facing fuel poverty

Fuel prices. Grrrrrr, don't get me started on that one, how can the government allow these companies to raise their prices by 20 - 30%? Nope, this is definitely NOT lighthearted.

I continue looking down the list of headlines.

Politics

Education

Crime

... all doom and gloom.

Is there nothing, apart from blogland, that could shine a beacon of smiles today? Then I saw this one!!

Hungarian Motorway blocked by 5000 rabbits

I just had to click the link to read the story. You gotta haven't ya? How the hell do 5000 rabbits come to be on the motorway?

Mental image No. 1:

Maybe that's not what they meant!!!

How do rabbits block the motorway? Are they being herded by a shepherd like sheep are, or by a farmer like cows? I don't think so!! lol

So I openend the link and read the story.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's busiest highway, connecting Budapest with the Austrian capital Vienna, was closed early on Monday after a truck carrying rabbits crashed, letting 5,000 of the animals loose on the road, police said.

... So, let me get this straight. The lorry crashed, the doors flew open, 5000 rabbits ran out of the back of the truck, and decided to conduct a sit-down protest on the motorway right?

The M1 motorway was closed around 40 km (25 miles) west of Budapest and could remain closed for hours while police try to capture the escaped animals, highway police spokeswoman Viktoria Galik said.

... So, let me get this straight, the lorry crashed, the doors flew open, 5000 rabbits ran out of the back of the truck, and decided to conduct a sit-down protest on the motorway right?

Get real. Closed for several hours?
You mean to tell me that a rabbit, on an outing with 4999 of his nearest and dearest is going to just sit there.

How long do you think it takes a rabbit to leg it?

What would you do?
Stand there, with all your mates because you miss that little cage you were trapped in...

... throw a party and entertain the motorists...

... or would you run for it...
Hey, Watership Down, comes to mind! Where is Fiver and his sixth sense when you need him huh?

"There are thousands of them on the road but they're not using their newfound freedom well; they're just sitting around, eating grass and enjoying the sun," Galik told Reuters.

Ok. So, the lorry crashed, and 5000 rabbits DID run out of the back of the truck, and sit on the motorway!

Stupid rabbits.

Run.

Escape.

Run for your lives little bunnies.