Beam me up, Scotty!!!

This has been a week in which I would have appreciated being abducted by aliens. I hit my saturation point on Monday: the noisy neighbor from Hell, all the rain playing havoc with my balance and my eyesight, people who haven't the brains of a doorknob but who are let out on the street to crash into those who are clearly disabled...it's been that kind of week. And it will be like this until the Olympics are over.Yuchhhhh!!!

I got decidedly fed up with the damp meter in my flat going all the way into the red. This, of course, had something to do with all the rain - but also the fact that these buildings are so badly constructed, all the ground floor flats have the same problem. So I ordered a dehumidifier, since I have no choice but to stay where I am - for the moment. As soon as I reach that all-important 80% (I'll bet you are as sick of hearing that as I am of saying it!!), the door will not hit me in the backside, I will be out of here at the speed of light.

I remember being attacked at Christmas last year-only for confronting someone very politely, and that someone turned out to be a raving lunatic. I promised myself at that time that I would never confront anyone again, for any reason - because I like my face the way it is. If I want it changed, I'll have plastic surgery!!

I mention this for a reason (anyone who has been following my blog knows that there is always a reason in there somewhere). A week or so ago, a story hit the evening news (and all the newspapers). A man was celebrating his birthday, sitting in a cafe with his family, but he went over to someone whose baby was crying constantly. He asked politely if the baby was okay - as anyone would do, given that the kid was screaming. Would you ask someone if their child was all right, or if there was anything you could do? Most people with children might have been concerned. Well...the father of the child went home, got a knife, and returned to hunt for the concerned citizen-and stabbed him to death.

The murderer was sentenced to over 20 years-27, I think. And that is incredible for this country, since animal rights protestors are given more prison time than rapists and murderers. There is even a known terrorist who is fighting extradition to Jordan because he claims that his human rights are being violated. Meanwhile, he preaches hatred and violence-but is on benefits, and the taxpayers' money is paying for his legal case. I find that absolutely disgusting. Why not shove him on a plane to Jordan in the middle of the night and then play dumb??

Now, nobody will confront anyone. Nobody will ask if a child is all right, nobody will offer any help to anyone who needs it-the fear of being stabbed to death is in everyone's minds. I never cease to be shocked by human behavior-or, rather, inhuman behavior.

I never watch soap operas, but I do watch anything that is science-fiction based (Lost, Falling Skies, and one of my favorite films of all time: Close Encounters of the Third Kind). I would be very sad to discover that humans are the most intelligent beings in the universe. We are destroying our planet, decimating our ecosystem. We are needlessly killing our wildlife with absolutely no conscience, or understanding of what this destruction does to us in the long term. And we are the only species that kills for sport. It seems that some of us kill because we like it.

Imagine aliens looking at our planet, and shaking their heads (or tentacles, or whatever) in bewilderment. Would any truly intelligent species behave the way we do? Hardly.

I will probably be one of the very few people who tries to help someone if I think they need help-but I will be very, very cautious in the future. And confrontation? Never.

I feel very sad for the children who are being born today; what kind of society are we leaving them?

I have to walk-every day, rain or shine, whether I feel like it or not. I will persevere, I will never quit, and I will regain as much of my balance and my vision as I can. I'm inspired by the paralympians who have no legs, or who have all kinds of physical challenges, most of them far worse than mine. Of course, "worse" is relative; to me, we have all suffered loss. If they can keep going, I can keep going, too.

However- I'm staying as far away from crowds as possible, staying out of central London, and I'm going to watch DVDs, read books, drink flat whites from Starbucks, and enjoy my Kettle Chips. I'm not into pain; my mother didn't raise an idiot.

And I still am rooting for the American team (just very quietly!!).