Hi Tina,

thanks for your reply and not to worry about being
slow. I have a lot of things to finish before the
holiday and then will be gone the following week to
Key West for some writer thing, so am trying to clear
the desk as much as possible in the meanwhile. 

> - I have never heard terms like that used in an
> academic context before but
> I can imagine that they are present (in one form or
> another) in many subject
> areas in the UK - not just the sciences. 

I've heard such terms from grad students, pre-med
students, etc, and then there's also there's aspect of
generals, interviews for med or law school , etc,
which seems, from the outside anyway, to be as much
about seeing how the student reacts or bears up under
various modes of social shame, humiliation, as
anything. 

> - I know that some GPs in this country will use part
> of their budget to fund
> therapy for their patients.  Many will not.  A
> friend of mine was really
> impressed that her GP sent her for
> counselling/therapy rather than

Well, that's remarkable, that the GP would help in
that way. There are therapists here, I have no way of
knowing how many since this is just what I've heard
secondhand, who will reduce payment or not require any
payment depending on the person's ability (or mostly
inability!) to pay,  though they can, of course, take
only so many. 

As for great grandmothers and their handkerchiefs, I'm
not sure what the handkerchief thing was either.
Except possibly Kleenex hadn't been yet invented!
since men also used to carry around handkerchiefs.
Though with women and handkerchiefs, the perfuming of
them, dropping them discreetly, it was probably part
of the  way in which the Victorians eroticized
everything. 

Ergh, I don't like Lily of the Valley as it reminds me
of Easter and funerals, probably from some childhood
association with great grandparents. It is good though
that you did get to hear your great grandmother's
stories, and you are lucky in that. I heard bits,
second and third hand, and for the most part, we grew
up as orphans of orphans.
 
> -	Not at all.  Thanks for sharing the story of the
> 'witch'.  It made
> me smile because I have a neighbour who seems very
> similar.  She has herbs
> growing wild all over the place, lots of cats etc. 
> I wonder what the
> children at the end of the street think about her.

I guess it would depend upon the rest of her
circumstances! I am somewhat similar in that I have
four cats, all of which are 'mine' only via my
children, and some herbs, and a wild head of hair on
many a morning. We live next to a school and the
children are often wonderful, 
I'm always surprised when they asked 'if I've written
any poems lately' as if it would be a great thing to
do so, but then I've been to the school for poetry
things and they know my son. There was at least once
some kid, guessing from the scrawl, who drew on the
front door a scribble, a stick figure with a wild head
of hair and wrote under it 'butch'  so I'd guess kids
now are more 'sophisticated' (if that's the right
word) about the 'real threat' of witches, lol, 

regards,

Rebecca

yes, yes, I'll snip! 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com