Arm Pits

Oddly enough have been forcing their way to my attention for some days maybe weeks so maybe its time to give them an airing. Or more realistically shed a little light on female body hair in what I've grown to think of as unreasonable places.

For most of our lives most European women don't have to worry much about body hair, there's some on legs, arms and even face but not much and all easily dealt with. Under arm hair is not a problem either most of us shave or dilapidate it off whenever the weather is hot enough for sleeveless tops or whenever we're going somewhere special.

I think if we're honest most of us get rid of underarm hair from late spring to mid autumn, unless of course we're in the early days of a relationship, and that's my point. Most of us don't shave underarms all the time or even all the year.

Course we're not supposed to say that we're all supposed to spend all our spare time in the bathroom titivating ourselves, well guess what? Most of us don't and the older we get the more this applies. Its not lazy or indifferent its not about how we feel its more about what we wear and how what we wear makes us feel. And if any man thinks women dress to please men they are kidding themselves we dress to please ourselves and possibly annoy someone else.

Which bring me to the reason many older women probably don't shave underarms as often as we once did. Upper arms sag, there's no hiding it and as far as I know no cosmetic surgery to disguise it our upper arm muscles just lose their spring and droop rather more obviously and with more wrinkles than bust or buttocks. So the days when we wore sleeveless anything grow very few and far between

Aging has unforeseen and unexpected side effects, arms sag, hair you never had suddenly appears on face, arms, legs, anywhere and while face, arms and legs are still highly visible and easily dealt with underarms are suddenly covered. To avoid shaving? No! Sleeves become more popular because of upper arm sag and perhaps an off shoot of this minor annoyance maybe to let underarm hair stay where it is for longer than we did when we were younger.

I don't hate underarm hair but it does distract attention from that outfit you spent a fortune on and very often underarm hair completely fails to match the colour of the hair on your head. It might if you didn't dye your hair but who's going to stop dying their hair or start dying their armpits? No one. And, anyway what difference would that make to the sagging upper arm problem?

So, all these silly young things droning on about underarm hair not only show their ignorance of the female they show their ignorance of the aging process   I don't think its rude to mention the subject and it doesn't embarrass me but it does say something about those who think we either should or more likely we shouldn't shave under our arms.

We should do whatever the hell we please and the older we get the more we should do it.

Manchester Ariana Grande Concert

In a big English city hundreds of young girls were allowed to go to a pop concert given by Ariana Grande. Young people would have driven their parents nuts to go and see her many parents would have taken them and either gone to the concert with them or have dropped them off and waited either outside or at home waiting for the call to go and collect them. 

Instead an appalling, disgusting tragedy struck, some terrorist murderer blew himself up and murdered twenty two people including the young people caring parents had allowed to go and have fun. How those parents feel is beyond guessing, every parent knows they have to let go, most do so gradually taking them to concerts, letting them go inside alone to enjoy a couple of hours of screaming, dancing and shouting freedom.

Now that innocent minor rite of passage may end. Concerts may become another no go area for anxious parents. Twenty two people died, many were injured and that's not cuts and bruises we're talking about, that's children who may have lost limbs, may never walk again, maybe scarred for life.

The UK is not an anti Islamic country, oh, there are people like me who complain of the danger Islam represents to women and children but we are mostly abused or ignored. The UK is a multicultural country, politicians never stop telling us how successful multiculturalism is and anyone who disagrees with them is called a racist and a bigot.

Who is going to heal the hearts and minds of young people, who is there to care enough to make sure people suspected of having terrorist associates and/or ambitions are dealt with in a manner severe enough to discourage others, who is going to shut down all extremist Mosques? It won't be government not left or right politicians have neither the honesty or the courage.

Because of politicians thousands of young girls have been sexually abused by immigrant men. The silence and indifference of the authorities was and is too wide spread for the instruction to ignore it to have come from the bottom it came from the top and now we will hear about politicians meeting to talk about, what? How to prevent the British people from becoming angry? Yes that's likely all British and EU politicians will discuss, minimize the danger of attack, maximize to the hilt the 'danger' of racist bigotry. And, by the way acts of murder by racists and bigots are very few and far between. 

The only real way to protect all the people in the UK is to teach everyone in the UK that UK law is paramount and all who break UK law will be dealt with in UK courts not Sharia courts. In that way the UK will at least ensure everyone knows the risks they run.

I've Had Better Days

But it all started so well! I felt fine, so fine I decided to go to town and do a wee bit of shopping. I told myself I wouldn't buy much, indeed I know full well I can't afford to buy much! But undaunted by dire financial straits I got ready, I hate my hair it has to go, and walked to town.

And, it was a lovely walk, not too hot, this is Ireland, but not too cold or breezy either. I want to be clear I enjoyed the walk to town and if I was a little puffed when I got there the last schlep is what the generous might call uphill.

I popped into the 'pound' shop not to get any shopping but to ask if I left my wonderful walking stick there about six weeks ago. I had not nor had I left it at Tesco so I'm very disappointed and upset to have to confess that I've lost the walking stick. I can't help thinking that if I had the stick what happened to today wouldn't have. Or at least not in the dreadful, upsetting and even embarrassing way it did.

But I'm losing track. I went to Tesco. I swear I'm incapable of going into a shop that sells cat and dog food without coming out with some and this time even though it wasn't cats club and wasn't in a tin I do think this time was the proverbial time too far.

I decided to walk home, sure there wasn't that much in the bags and on such a lovely day what could possibly go wrong? I could, that's what could go wrong.

The bags got heavier my feet ached and I think I became slightly light headed because I got as far as the end of town and literally had to stop. I felt sick, I felt dazed I felt I needed to sit down but I couldn't walk as far as the nearest bench which is no less than a hundred or so yards away.

I didn't know what to do. I really didn't. I just knew I would never make it home on foot. I called a taxi and I must say I'm so grateful to the taxi driver. I'm not sure I made a lot of sense but he knows me and when do I ever make a lot of sense?

At home I made a cup of tea  tried to get my breath back and act normal. It didn't work. In the end I lay on the bed and took the time it needed to recover.

I will never buy food in town again. It will have to be delivered I will never carry anything even slightly heavy again and the strange thing is that this incident so much less dangerous than the illness that saw me into hospital somehow felt more frightening and much more dangerous.

I would hate to be incapacitated or even worse! Die Alone on a road.