15th February 2023

Dear Pat of Weaver of Grass put the question as to how we felt about women and equality in society.  Such an enormous question, given the complexity of being female in a roughly equal division of female and male.

Sometimes women go on the attack, as they have a perfect right to given the things they experience.  What we are fighting at this present moment, is beyond pinched bottoms and wolf whistles, it is equality in the workplace, for women to sail beyond the glass ceiling and fill the CEOs chairs like their male brethren and also, there is hope and optimism here, slowly female barristers, judges, politicians are there  and maybe bringing a different point of view to the table.

 'The Times they are a changing' as Bob Dylan would sing, but it is a slow change and there will be mistakes along the way.  Women and men have very different functions in life, and it is addressing these problems women have to face, such as childcare and homemaking, so treasured from the past that adjustments have to be made.

Judging men from the really bad throwbacks that occasionally emerge is not the option, men are not the problem, but certain men are, and it is these dinosaurs of ignorance, such as the extreme right in America and of course the shameful effect of a religion on some Muslim women that we need to speak out about.  But Western culture should be very wary of telling others how to live their lives!

Still I will not ramble, only to put the following video on, it is Professor Mary Beard interviewing Rebecca Solnit on her book. = 'Recollections of my Non-Existence.'  Also the tale of the mansplaining episode.

Edit: I forgot ;) I have been ill with the dreaded lurgy, whatever it is, in my case a bad cough and cold.  But.......also my ear, there I was standing in Boots the chemist waiting to pick up my daughter's prescription, and the sound just changed to an echoing sound of  a strange noise.  It has got better, though still somewhat deaf in that ear.  Went round saying I had middle ear infection, though truthfully I don't know what that is.  Doctor appointments are almost impossible round here, so should it not get better I will see the pharmacist.  

It perhaps tells you just how bad the NHS is here by the size of the building built a few years back, but now with hardly any doctors in now.

Todmorden medical centre.

2) Now here is a mystery? Banksy is supposed to have painted this as a Valentine, but the council have stepped in real quick and removed the freezer and chair. Was the council ashamed of leaving litter down the alleyway for weeks or did they not understand the significance of the graffiti.

Banksy in Margate