I’ve just posted two newspaper opinion pieces from the same newspaper, published on the same weekend. One, by a doctor, describes OCD pretty accurately: a “living torture, leaving many sufferers with a sense that they are trapped in their own minds”. He gets it spot on when he says “being a tad fussy about lining up … soft drinks doesn’t even begin to merit the diagnosis.” Being clean and tidy? Good for you. I wish […]
Sunday. 04/10/2015 This appeared THE VERY NEXT DAY. Liz Jones is an awful person who writes awful things, which I normally just ignore, but this crossed a line. Warning: idiotic content. Post proper to follow once I’m over raaage.
Saturday. 03/10/2015 Don’t judge me but I was reading the Daily Mail (my uncle writes the sports for it). The Daily Mail, for those not in the know, is an absolute rag of a newspaper. It is terrible, sensationalist garbage. Anyway, this appears… All very good. Sympathetic, you know? And then Sunday hit…
I recently went on a nostalgia bender. That involves watching 1990s music videos on YouTube. Cher – Do You Belieeve in a Thiiiing Called Love! 4 Non Blondes! Madonna – Beautiful Stanger! Lou Bega! Len! And Soul Asylum… Runaway Train was released when I was 14. I always liked it, if I thought it was a little sad. But I’d never watched the video. A little sad?! It chronicles the details of about 12 children […]
My friend and I have a game (there are no winners). I can’t remember exactly how it started, but the basic premise is to come up with as many words-that-are-spelt-the-same-but-pronounced-differently. For example, Polish/polish; entrance/entrance; refuse/refuse. And so it goes on. I thought I was onto a right winner when I came up with ‘number’ (you see, you could be feeling more numb than before! Number!) but I started thinking about the word resent recently. It […]
There is a story by James Thurber I like very much. It is called “The Bear Who Let It Alone” and is about a bear who is a notorious drunk, comes home having been on the lash, knocks over the table and falls asleep on the floor. His wife, we are told, was greatly distressed and his children were very frightened. He then turns teetotal and a spokesman for the Temperance Society. Boasting about how […]
Christmas so far: Finished bro’s pressie. Finished all my pressies, actually. Hooray! Ate turkey and enjoyed it (normally find it too dry). Christmas tree: And new niece!! Sadly, my sister is very ill and in hospital and I’ve looked after her eldest daughter. To my eternal credit though, I managed to stay with her all day! And though I was Puh-layged with intrusive thoughts, I DID IT!!
It’s shameful, I know. I’m well-educated with an international Classics degree, for goodness’ sake! And I know I shouldn’t, but I do. Yes, I am guilty of that most perverse pleasure: reading chick-lit. Godddd, I love it. I gobble up ‘Shopaholic’ books and Bridget Jones’ diaries faster than you can say Tolstoy. Or Austen. Or Dickens. Or any of those other books that I know I should read, but I don’t enjoy as much. I’m […]
By the way, I have been featured as a guest blogger on http://www.diaryofanocd.wordpress.com. Find me here: http://diaryofanocd.wordpress.com/guest-blogging/maria-this-is-my-ocd-tell-me-yours/ My dad gave me a lift to work. “I’m sorry,” I said, as I closed the door. “What for?” asked dad, doing driverly things. “I’m not sure. Being a bit late? Making you go ever so slightly out of your way? I don’t know, but I’m sorry.” “That’s all right,” said dad as he drove along. Silence. “I’m […]
Warning: long. It was Thursday and I was meeting a friend for lunch. Like me, she is partial to mugs and notebooks, so we skipped into Tottenham Court Road Paperchase. Lovely! Mugs, notebooks, ribbons, pom-poms – everything a girl could want! We looked at pretty things, we looked at useless things. We looked at pretty useless things. Then we looked at this: We both have OCD. Normally, I can make a joke about it. […]
