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Welcome to the world of the Vincent D'Onofrio obsessed - and a bit of real life thrown in.


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Life, but not Vincent

Not yet. I'm not in the right place yet.

Yesterday his nurse and I took my student with ALD to the theatre to see The Tempest. They were pretty true to the text, even though most of the audience was under 11. Alex was the only older student there. He had audio description headphones, as he cannot see the stage even from a couple of feet away. I'd like to say he enjoyed it, but it really wasn't possible to tell. He was sick a couple of times before we set out, then again in the car.

Today I had to take my cat Amber for her six-weekly kidney jab, so I decided to ask the vet to arrange a chicken cremation. Unfortunately I cannot have the ashes back as chickens are classed as livestock, and it is not permitted. Amber was uncharacteristically angelic. I wonder what she's up to?

At 6.30 there was a street meeting with the safer neighbourhood police team. As usual it was pretty poorly attended (I suppose that could be classed as good, meaning people don't have many concerns) but I thought I ought to go, as a local assembly co-ordinator. There were a few people asking for information or advice. I'm not a great lover of the police - almost have the scars to prove my demonstrating past - but these are a pretty OK bunch.

There were quite a lot of drivers who looked at the gathering as if wondering what crime had been committed by whom. One lowered his mobile phone so as not to be caught using it while driving (which is illegal over here) but didn't even wait to be past before lifting it back to his ear.

Coincidentally, the newspaper today had a query in its question-and-answer section about what you should do if you see someone texting while driving. One tongue-in-cheek answer said, Take a photo of them on your mobile phone camera as you overtake them.

Mmm, must try that one...

7 comments:

JoJo said...

Driving while texting or holding a phone to your ear has just become a primary offense in Washington. Before they could only bust you doing it if they pulled you over for something else. The loophole, done for taxi drivers and truckers, is allowing you to have the phone on speaker and use it like a handheld CB radio. We are only allowed to use the phone to the ear in an emergency and it has to be a damn good one. Doesn't matter, no one is paying attention to the law anyway.

Ruby said...

'Glad to see you're back on the keyboard, Val! Please know that we're thinking about you and still sending hugs.

Anonymous said...

This is my biggest pet peeve...being behind or around another driver with a cell phone yakking away and not paying attention. I have seen people forget to use turn signals or go across the center line on the road. It infuriates me that we have waited so long to enforce laws meant to save people, and, it's only after a majority of them have been killed that we do. It should be against the law in every state...period, end of discussion.

Anonymous said...

Using Cell phones while driving is not permitted in Canada either. You still see lots of peeps doin' it though. It irritates me to see people out right refusing to abide.
I suppose they see it as a low risk offence so they try and get away with it. Just like taking you dog onto public beaches, until they get caught they keep doing it.
Glad to "see" you back Val, missed u.

SnarkAngel said...

Just glad to know you're staying active and involved, Val. That's very healthy. XOXO

Eliza said...

I've never understood how people can drive and use a mobile at the same time anyway..I can't walk and text at the same time, let alone be in charge of machinery :-p

Glad to see you being involved in neighbourhood life...we've been trying to organise a summer street party round here and so far there are 2 of us actually involved in the planning..apathy is a terrible thing

Unknown said...

Using Cell Phone while driving is forbidden in France. We can lose a lot of points on our driver license...
....
Do you feel better, Val? I hope so. I'm happy to see you back too. :D

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