For the sake of it

I read an article this week, nay, saw a video - thanks to the BBC's website determination to stop the entirety of the country from reading - about a father who slapped his sixteen year old daughter, who accordingly contacted the police and had him reprimanded. I have mixed thoughts about this situation. His father obviously thought her out of line for whatever she had done, but I think a slap round the face in anger is not the way to go about discipling her. There is a very fine line to tread between hitting a child in anger, and punishing them with a smack. The way that the story was portrayed was interesting, too, as the video did not side with daughter or father, and left the viewer to make up their minds. I was caught out by this, confused as to what my opinion should be, when the news does not tell me. It seems a shame that we have become so reliant on others informing us of our opinion, especially on relatively simple story.

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I have been watching the Olympics via the BBC website, and enjoying it hugely. Despite the fact that Great Britain never seems to do that well, we always believe we have the possibility of doing so. Never before have I become so passionate about table tennis, or even a lady running 10,000 metres. And yet I was watching that race at the same time a friend in Bombay was watching it. The global connection it brings about it amazing, and I cannot wait for the Olympics to arrive here.

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I am heading off for two weeks to America. I have packed light, to enable my suitcase to contain my brother's vastly British shopping list. It does mean that I shall have to purchase clothes when I'm out there. Although initially happy at this, Mervyn King, our esteemed leader of the Bank of England, has just given a gloomy financial outlook for the next few months, and it didn't take long for the pound to stumble, and lead to the frustration of having to work out the conversion rate of 1.75, instead of 2.00. I'm less worried about the money I'm losing, and more concerned about me standing in the middle of a shop trying to figure out the price in pounds.

Additionally, I won't have my laptop with me, so that my mother can use it for DVDs when she is away. Which also means I shall be laptopless when in Edinburgh. I shall have to revert to pen and paper for any amusing thoughts, of which I normally have many when it comes to the Americans. Bless 'em.