Power to The Zimmers

I know this might be old news but please forgive me. I have an irresistible urge to stand on my soap box again.

A couple of nights ago, I watched a repeat of ‘Power to the People’ which featured ‘The Zimmers.’ I’m sure you’ll have heard of them. I had, but I didn’t catch the documentaries when they were first aired on the television. Thankfully I was able to rectify this omission two nights ago.

‘Power to the People’ was a lighted hearted documentary with a devastating message about a sad & terrible story, namely the cruelty and stultifying boredom endured by the elderly citizens who live in this country. How dare we treat the elderly like this! How dare we shunt them into old people’s homes & allow them to waste away. Our apathy is a disgrace.

If young children were treated in this way, the horror & outrage in our society would fell the Government of this country in a matter of days. Bar a few protests, we are disgracefully unconcerned about the care of the elderly & the attention we pay to them & their needs.

We are going to get old. This is going to affect you and me and her and him. What are we going to do about it?




Of the people featured in the documentary, I particularly fell for Winifred who is THE most wonderful lady. She's a journalist, she’s 99 & she’s gorgeous! She does need a little help to look after herself and the only option available for her is to live in a residential care home. She's lived in 25 homes so far - she gets so bored because there's no one for her to talk to so she keeps moving homes! I can empathize with this. Can’t you?

Posing as a sound recordist with a small BBC documentary unit which was filming outside the Houses of Parliament. she managed to charm MPs into handing over their watches in the hope that one of them would lose the plot & have her arrested for stealing a watch. She wanted to publicise her belief that she would be better off living in a prison than in yet another residential home!

She has a point. She has a damn good point. Would an open prison be allowed to treat its inmates in the same way as we treat the older members of our society?

So Mr Brown, Mr Cameron & Mr Campbell -what are we going to do about it ?

Visit My Space to enjoy The Zimmer sound!

Postcardian Alert - more postcards have moved into the blog house!

I'm in deep, deep love with this guy who must surely be the coolest bird on Planet Earth. I'm going to look through Cathy's Gallery to see what other remarkable things she has created.

Three more postcards arrived today so I've added them to the Postcardian Blog Cathy, Heather & Roland - thank you very much!

A gold medal for a lark!

This morning Lula announced that she couldn't go to school today because ' I have lothd my memory.' OMD was lightening fast & said she'd probably left it at school so she'd better go & look for it there.

This was a good effort on Lula's part, but I think James deserves the gold medal for his demonstration of mental agility at a quarter to seven in the morning. I rise from my bed at this time, but I don't actually wake up until the clock has struck nine. Indeed I have been known to sleep walk until ten!

Needless to say, I'm an owl!

Chain charmer alert

If you'd like to see Melanie Moertel's 'Dark Chocolate' set of beads, please have a look at 'The Power & The Glory' in the 'Hands Up' section of my website.

Her beads are SO cool!.

'The Hug' by Tess Gallagher

I have a lovely poem for you today. It was incredibly hard to find a legible copy online & this is the best that I can find at present.

'But when you hug someone you want it
to be a masterpiece of connection,'

Isn't that perfect?

Alan Fletcher & 'The Art of Looking Sideways'

Today Ditsy Daisy would like to recommend two books by the graphic designer Alan Fletcher. 'The Art of Looking Sideways' has been my thousand page friend since I discovered it earlier this year & yesterday the substantial 'Picturing and Poeting' was delivered. How can I describe them? This article is helpful.

They're not to be looked at or read progressively - the idea is that you open them at any page you wish. They're rich with succulent ideas, images & inspiration. When I'm on an even keel I 'eat' books, but I lose this ability when I experience a blip. I'm particularly drawn to these volumes because it doesn't matter if your mind is in grasshopper mode - they keep up with you!

For the aforementioned reasons, I hereby declare that 'The Art of Looking Sideaways' & 'Picturing & Poeting' are Official Battle Books!

Will the world disintegrate?

Yeat's poem, 'The Second Coming' grows more pertinent day by day.