Torture!

I have just been to my second Pilates class at our "local" gym - about as local as anything is where I live! The first time was last Monday and when I got home I sort of stumbled out of the car, absolutely shattered, ate a sandwich, had a cup of tea and went to bed for the rest of the day!! Made me wondered what the point was? Today was a little better as I managed to keep up with most of the class (I positioned myself to the left with three other fatties which made me feel a bit better!). I also wore more tightly fitting gym togs so that I could see whether it was my shirt or my wobbly bits that were sagging onto the mat! I sweated gallons but felt good after a shower but my problem is, I am now STARVING!! I shall drag myself round the mall and then drive home to eat. This is the start of a regime in which I am determined to lose a few kilos before May - God help us all!

Auschwitz

I'm reading Auschwitz:Tales from a Grotesque Land. It's so absolutely shocking, even though I have read other books on the subject, that my mind constantly wonders at "Man's inhumanity to man". Are we actually SO uncivilized? No better than animals? No - worse than animals as we are supposed to be thinking, caring, HUMAN beings! Although in my studies I have learned that hatred for the Jews has been rife for thousands of years I still don't understand why "Christians" have such intolerance for other groups. Why can't people just get on with their own lives and leave others alone if they don't want to mix. I don't always want to mix with others and yet, when I am forced, am often pleasantly surprised!!!! I wonder if the problem lies with radicalism? If there is such a word! Hassidic Jews are really intolerant of anyone outside their clique which I find most unpleasant and yet I wouldn't do anything about it except leave them to their own devices! If I saw one in trouble I would help but am certain many people wouldn't! We see them all the time in Switzerland, they keep to themselves, dress differently, stay in their own hotels and (especially the men) are VERY unfriendly! The women and children are shy but friendly as long as the men aren't around. This paternal society - including Quakers and Mormons - just asks for outsiders to target them. Personally I couldn't be bothered to target anyone but I suppose the more aggressive humans can't resist.

Another thing about places like Auschwitz, Birkenow, Buchenwald and the rest of the death camps is that they were not exclusively for Jews. Gypsies (sort of understandable) Political prisoners (ditto) academics (why?) etc were all incarcerated. I keep wondering what would have happened if EVERYONE targetted had been killed. Most of the Germans after the war was over were NOT intellectuals. Same with the Russians and all other nationalities. In fact I should think that only about 2% of the worlds population were actually intellectual at that time - a world full of dummies? What was the term someone famous used once "The Lumpiat Masses" or something like that!

My final thought about the death camps is: How did ANYONE actually survive? Just the very thought that my children had been taken from me and killed, or my parents, or husband, would surely be enough to make one succumb to the bitter cold, lack of food and sheer hatred endured by those survivors. Why didn't they fight back? If you look at some of the photographs taken in the camps, the inmates, weak and fearful though they were, vastly outnumbered the guards. Sure many hundreds would be shot, savaged by the dogs or beaten to death but surely thousands could have overcome the guards and taken over the prison camps thereby keeping the Germans OUT? Hmm but then a siege situation would endure and they would all be starved to death. Oh yes - I also don't understand how the rest of the world just stood by while all this was happening and I find it highly possible that it could all happen all over again in one form or another in the future. Maybe not in Europe and maybe not the Jews but somewhere else and with other groups of people whose thinking is not quite the same as "ours".

Christmas with the Family

You know how it is when you look forward to something for so long? Well that's how I felt about 2/3 of my kids being with us for a long weekend just before Christmas. I kept going to the shops and buying more food (heaven forbid they should starve) and cleaned the house from top down - even painting the upstairs annexe in case they thought it wasn't up to scratch. 1/3 of the kids and wife arrived on Thursday evening and the next 1/3 arrived Friday evening with Best Grandson Ever! From then on all was a chaos of food, washing up and everyone trying to please each other! Jack decorated the tree we had purchased specially with all my matching baubles (bought specially!) and we piled the prezzies under. Grandpa wanted them opened on Sunday morning but was voted down (Gee, I guess HE knows just where he stands now in the Greater Scheme of Things!!!!!) and we ripped and unwrapped contentedly on Saturday evening before stuffing ourselves with prawns done to perfection on the braai by Golden Boy. Oh yes, Golden Boy has been having issues in his head (apparently for the last 30 years) and decided to unburden himself to me on Friday morning. I won't go into it all here as it really is very serious to him but after making me feel like The Worst Mother in the World (I promise he didn't mean to but somewhere in my roots I must have Jewish blood as I immediately imagine ITS ALL MY FAULT!) I was quite glad he got a nasty bit of sunburn on his feet, knees and arms where he sat on the rocks by the river unburdening himself! My poor baby, all I can say is we really do our best as parents but Hell it's not easy, especially when the parents are not in step with one another. It took Daughter No.1 to make me feel better about myself - she, with all her problems in her busy life, picked me up, dusted me off and took all my baggage away!

On Sunday Golden Boy and Golden Wife left and the rest of us relaxed while a storm crashed in the mountains above the house - hardly a drop of rain fell on us but the soak area of the mountain took a pounding. 10 minutes later the river came down in flood with tree trunks and topsoil turning it into a dark brown stew of roiling water. We watched as helicopters circled above the kloof upstream, imaging all sorts of horrors. Heard later that a climber had fallen and got stuck between the rocks, breaking a shoulder blade as he did so. He was finally rescued and taken out at 5am next morning!

On Monday Daughter No1 left for work, leaving us with Beloved Grandson until he too left on Wednesday. Suddenly it's all over and the house is eerily quiet and empty. We are back to our usual slobby selves, eating too much, resting and reading too much (IS there such a crime?) and back to the gym to try to futilely work off some of the wibbly wobbly bits.

Oh Yes - Forgot!!!! Grandpa asked Granny to marry him in May 2011 and she answered YES!!! Must be mad but what the hell, I always was a sucker for lovely man!!!

God Bless All who read my Blog and may 2011 bring all you wish for - within moderation!

Belgium in 6 days

We have been staying with friends in the Flemish part of Belgium for the last 6 days and having an absolute blast! They have made us SO welcome and taken us around all the places of interest - that, coupled with fantastic weather until yesterday, has made us think of a return visit to do all the things we just couldn't manage this time. Between OAP's sore hip and our hostess's sore leg (she fell in Jordan and broke it and has a plate and screws which are paining her muchly) I felt as if I was on a cripples day out every time we ventured out! Eventually the two of them would find a bench to sit on while our host and I would dash off to see the rest of the sights! We did Antwerp, Brugges(Broosch its pronounced!) and Brussels and there is still loads to see. Today we went to the botanical gardens in Antwerp which, though small, are very comprehensive and then we had tea and pancakes in the Toneelhuis (Theatre) which was VERY baroque. In the morning we cruised a huge department store called Carrefour where OAP bought himself TWO PAIRS of lovely suede boots which look remarkably like Caterpillars (the boot not the insect!). But we learnt that in Antwerp there used to be many canals threaded through the city - the ships would come to the mouth of the huge river and then offload into the barges which would then take everything upriver to the city. But when plague broke out the city fathers thought it was due to the stagnant water in the canals (more like to be cholera in those days with all the sewage in the water!) so they drained them and those they didn't fill in they sold to the townsfolk who had to "cap" them. This they did and then built houses on top of the caps but apparently the canals (refilled naturally from the water table) still exist underneath and you can do a tour of underground Antwerp by boat with a torch!!! I HAVE to do that! In Brussels we went up the Atomium which I last saw in 1958 when it was built for the World Trade Fair - what a blast from the past that was. Brugges was quaintly beautiful with all its little canals, ye olde coffee shoppes and ancient buildings and bridges and we did a tour of the town in a motor boat as the handicapped amongst us couldn't walk too much! For once in my life I am as fit as a flea and poor OAP is champing at the bit with his problem. In two weeks time we are back in SA and will have his hip looked at by an expert to see what can be done.

Camping August 2010

Like a swallow we fly from land to land

Seeking the sun to shine on our skin

And when that skin is suitably tanned

We return to SA, my children, our kin.

This year it snowed

It rained and it blowed

We fried and we froze

From our toes to our nose(S).

We shivered at night

And sweated by day

Our backs got all cranky

We drove home - oh yay!

But through all we had a great time

So I tossed of this poem - which doesn't quite rhyme!

I just HAD to post this pic of Sal and R fffffffffreeezing to death in the "lounge" part of our tent during the Swiss midsummer camp at Scuol! All the mountains around were covered in snow and we nearly froze to death! R was the only one who was warm at night because his lilo had a puncture so we put fold up mattresses under him and he wore all his clothes in bed! Sal put her thermo-rest under her mattress and I used the car mats under mine! This tent was bought three years ago because we were under the impression we would be able stand upright in the centre section - but NO! That would be too easy and we have to crouch in there which means that if its raining or cold we all end up with bad backs! I have rebelled (still suffering with the back a week later) and refuse to camp again unless we either get a STAND UP tent or a camper van! For heavens sake we are all geriatrics in our 60s and 70s so we should be able to camp with a modicum of comfort. We will also be buying a couple of blankets. Sal has a special sleeping bag which makes her look like a michelin man but we looked at it when packing the car and said "Nah! It's August so we wont need that" famous last words. She must have lain there at night shivering and thinking about it relegated to the back of the cupboard! At least if I was freezing (which I was people!) I was able to snuggle up to OAP until the next hot flush drove me back to my freezing lilo!

Off Camping!

DON'T EVER LET A MAN PACK THE CAR!!!! This morning sis#2 and I packed the car for our camping trip much against OAP's wishes!! He wanted to do it. You know, I am living with 2 very strong willed people and am pulled this way and that way about everything we do! Anyway we got our way and pulled all our gear out of the box in the garage and drove up the driveway where we laid out a tarpaulin and organised our stuff in full view of the inhabitants of Les Arsets! Sis is a packer of note and has managed to stow it all in our tiny car with room to spare which makes me wonder what we have forgotton!! So tomorrow we leave for 10 days camping and, guess what, we looked at the weather forcast and it shows rain over the next 5 days!! Oh great! Oh well, no changing our minds as we have friends arriving to use our apartment while we are away. In 10 days time I will blog again and let you know how the holiday went. I still can't do pics although sis had a cable I can use to download my pics from the camera. But when I "browse" I can't find "my pics" - any ideas?