 |
 |
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