WAR, PEACE AND PANCAKES

So today is Pancake Day in Commercial World and Shrove Tuesday in the Christian World – traditionally a day when you get rid of all your good decadent stuff to prepare for the 40 days of Lent and fasting and abstinence – not for me, I eat what I like, when I like – in case you hadn’t noticed.

My children have always enjoyed a pancake or two on this day, I find it a bit of a bind and cheat a little with a pancake mix - A bit of lemon and sugar and Bob’s your uncle!! When I was a child my parents would make a big thing of this day (we are Catholics) - (I am lapsed) - we would have an evening of flipping pancakes and filling them up with whatever we fancied – bananas, nutella, jam, honey – it was a happy time, simple pleasures and all seven of us kids enjoyed it immensely. It was a good bonding time, slightly competitive i.e. who could flip the pancake higher, without hitting the ceiling, who would be the most inventive with their fillings, or recipes as we called them, but always with good humour.

Competitiveness in children is not a bad thing as long as they learn to take the winning and the losing equally well. All too often I hear children jeering and making fun of the losers – or should I say ‘those who have not won’, then again those who have won are terrorised for winning, which takes the pleasure out of the whole event.

Just recently I have been listening/watching my sons playing on their new Xbox 360, it has a microphone attachment so that when they are playing on line the players, from all over the world can speak to each other. Lovely I thought, communication with other people from all walks of life – not really – I have never heard so many insults fly around in my life: My own sons seem to have a thing about Northerners (English) and constantly make references to the way they speak, my elder son told me that there is actually far worse language coming from the majority of other players, regarding Race, Colour, Creed and even Sexual orientation. So not only is there a war raging on the gaming platform (Gears of War) but there is also a war of words happening at the same time – not a good thing. Let’s see what happens with this one, will it actually increase intolerance of differences or will it be a forum for venting your spleen – either way war is war.

On a much lighter note ‘The Boyfriend’ surpassed himself this Valentine’s Day and bought me an assortment of odd items. The one pictured below is of a cow car – it moos!! He also bought me a light-up Duck (Darth) Vader, which lights up in the bath and a squidgy ’I Love You’ pillow, chocolates and a pair of Minnie Mouse briefs – two sizes too small (Is he trying to tell me something?)



Well until the next time ‘MAKE LOVE NOT WAR’

Jo xx