Natasha’s Notebook » 2009

Italian woman tells English woman why she prefers a single rose

November 21st, 2009 by Natasha

WHILE staying at my late grandmother’s village last week, situated in the outskirts of Naples, I played translator between an Italian and an English wife.
Men
And the subject of the conversation? Their Men! It all started on the last night of our stay when my mother’s cousin brought us to a restaurant where we sampled the area’s finest dishes.
A Taste
After our meal Paolo and Francesca, close friends of the family, popped by to say hello. As we all sat at the table, Francesca gave her partner Paolo a taste of the food she had just tried with the spoon she used to eat from herself.
Shock
Now, my aunty Jane, an English woman married to my mother’s brother gasped in disbelief. The subject of her shock? Francesca’s pride in feeding her man in public.
The discussion which took place next between the two women, lasted over an hour and it went something like this:
Jane: “In England women do not feed their husbands or boyfriends in public.”
Francesca: “Why ever not?! There is nothing wrong with letting your partner taste something you like and want to share.”
Jane: “But it looks so, so degrading.”
Francesca: “Nonsense! What about feeding your children? Do you think that is degrading also?”
Jane: “Totally! There is no way I’d share my spoon with my children or anyone, it’s disgusting. My cutlery is for my use only! Do you not have women’s rights here?”
Francesca: (after an explanation of women’s rights) “Sure we do but it doesn’t mean we avoid showing affection to our loved ones. I suppose you detest seeing two lovers in public holding hands or cuddling?”
Jane: “Most definitely. I always say get a room!”
Francesca: “You know, Italian women love affection and romance. If there were two men and one gave me 100 red roses and another gave me a single red rose, which he had to steel, guess which one I’d prefer?
“The latter, you know why? Because the one who had to steel the rose risked far more in obtaining the gift for me.”
Jane: “Okay, That’s just nuts!”

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God’s Waiting Room

November 8th, 2009 by Natasha

A report published this week revealed that thousands of patients dying in hospital are not getting the care they deserve because of poor communication between medical staff.
Just four weeks ago my family witnessed our grandmother die in hospital and the whole episode as you can imagine was highly heartbreaking.
Gloomy
Angelina Santangelo had spent over one month dying in a ward with other elderly women, too weak to stay awake at times.
Each visit to my grandmother’s ward was becoming more and more gloomy. There was one co-patient in particular with Alzheimer’s we believe, who constantly repeated demands like:
“Will someone please tell me when me when the bus gets here, my husband will be worrying about me,” and “Oh my legs, will you give me some of those tablets I had last night, they really helped me, please nurse, I had a good night’s sleep last night” and her laments would go on and on.
Whatsa matter you, ah shuddup you face
At one point, when my spirited grandmother was first admitted, exacerbated she yelled: “shut-up” to which her talkative co-patient replied: “who said that? I’ll sue you!”
My family’s concerns deepened when our Angelina took a turn for the worse and she was back on the old oxygen mask to help her breathe.
Who knows?
My mother asked the senior doctor in charge of her mother if she would get better or worse. And his reply consisted of the following remark: “If I were to cross the road and get hit by a bus would I make it through? We do not know.”
Let me stay at home!
So, to an already distressed daughter this only made my mother feel worse which is perhaps why one of the report’s outcomes, titled Caring to the End? - about 60 percent of deaths in England occur in hospital, although two thirds of patients would rather die at home.

Posted in Out and about in London, Observations, Today's News | No Comments

The future is direct-to-the-public

November 2nd, 2009 by Natasha

MY recent feature on Essential Writers.com lamented the plight of the freelance journalist.
It is a case of survival-of-the-fittest out there for freelancers who are never too sure where their next paycheque is going to come from.
Amazing
However, an amazing development has taken place in America and it comes in the shape of www.futurity.org
This website has been set up by a total of 35 research universities and together they publish discoveries made by their scientists directly to the public, cutting out the middleman - newspapers.
Shift
The reason I describe this as amazing is that it represents a shift, away from the almost monopoly-like, big name media outlets, towards a more grass-roots type of communication.
In turn, this avoids distorted information and specially selected stories which support a newspaper’s agenda.
What’s your agenda?
When I read the Daily Mail for example, I often feel like a fuddy duddy who would prefer to be living in the conform-loving 1950s is lecturing us by the stories it chooses to publish.
Take a look at these headlines from Tuesday 27 October, 2009: Downs’ cases soar as women delay a family; B&Q to teach DIY because Dad’s too busy; Yes, children DO make you happier; and these are all before page 11.
The future
Futurity.org separates its research stories into Earth & Environment, Health & Medicine, Science & Design and Society & Culture.
The academic brains behind the website state that the reason they created futurity.org was because there were not enough research stories in the mainstream media, due newspapers cutting back on science pages and reporters.
Direct to the public
This amazing development signifies a drop in power for these mega-bucks media moguls. So freelancers go forth and be creative in the way you communicate – the future is the likes of futurity.

Posted in Observations, Today's News | No Comments

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Italian woman tells English woman why she prefers a single rose

God’s Waiting Room

The future is direct-to-the-public