Miscellaneous

[poliphilo]

The weather has changed- I can feel it in me bones. Yes, I really can these days; it's like flu without the head-cold.

I was looking at my LJ for 2008. Back then I could post a review of an obscure late story by Kipling- and get nearly 30 comments- 50+ if you count my replies. Them days is dead and gone.

My mother's carers come from all over; the one we see most of is from the Philippines. The drivers who deliver our parcels (who work for Amazon, Argos etc) are even more cosmopolitan: they're from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe. This is what immigration looks like. Without immigrants our society would seize up.

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

And without immigration it would be deadly boring!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Much less lively.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Feel free to review more Kipling anytime - I'll still read it!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

No doubt I shall. Kipling has been a constant in my life- one of the handful of writers I keep returning to.

[w. lotus (from livejournal.com)]

So would America. That's why I don't understand or tolerate all of the xenophobic talk going on here.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's always easy to blame the problems of a society on its least powerful members. And too many people in positions of authority encourage it because it takes the heat away from them.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Canada needs 300,000 immigrants a year to keep our economy going. The cities that have the most immigrants (including mine!) are the most vibrant.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's universally true, I think. And it works both ways. Cities are lively because of immigration and immigrants naturally flock to lively places.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I still feel ok with LJ in the sense that these days it's more like a small gathering of well-known and appreciated people.

The anti-immigrant people just don't get that without immigrants, countries would indeed collapse. They do a country a great amount of good.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm happy with LJ as it is. I love the ethos. It's just a shame that fewer people know about it.

Immigration, emigration- the movement of peoples- that's how ideas and cultures spread.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Same here. Ray just saw a doctor (Chinese), we have builders working on our altan (Lithuanian), a new grocer opened in town (Afghani) and a lovely pizza restaurant near-by (Kurdish). And this is a village (Swedish definition) of 4,500.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's impressive. Villages round here are affluent and monocultural- though the towns (Tonbridge for instance) are fairly diverse.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

Today seems to have been the first autumn day here as well - and a lovely one, but with grey skies, high winds and temperatures just under 20 degrees.

When my grandmother still lived in her own house, her best carers were mainly middle-aged immigrant guys. Personally I only met Mohammed from Afghanistan, but there were a few others - and having a Middle-eastern man helping her washing herself intimately was no issue whatsoever. (You DO have the option of choosing carers of your own gender, but my grandmother never really cared about that. After all, they're just people doing their job.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That hasn't arisen for us. I think all the people employed by the agency are women.

It's still quite warm here. We haven't seen much of the sun, but I was sitting out on the patio this afternoon.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

"Just under 20 degrees" still counts as warm for me. Lovely weather to be outside, except for the wind.

My granny's carers came through the council. She had 5 visits a day before she moved into a nursing home... And two food deliveries. The staff was absolutely stellar! (As is the staff of her present nursing home; it's lovely. And she feels safe and happy there. My uncle bears the brunt of the responsibility, visiting her 1-2 times per day - he lives a mile from the nursing home - but generally she gets 2 visits per day from different people. Sorry if I'm boring, but I could go on and on about all the people doing wonderful things for my granny...)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My mother gets one visit a day- early to mid morning. The carer helps her wash and dress- and we manage everything else ourselves. She's not difficult to look after. She has dementia, but she can move around and take herself to the toilet and all that sort of thing.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I miss getting lots of comments. I think people do read, but LJ conversations are hard to get going now, most of my friends migrated to Facebook where they don't have to do think pieces.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah, but the think pieces are the reason I'm here :)

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

I see your posts. As you probably know, I am dealing with my mother being in the hospital right now, and trying to take care of my Dad and wondering if I'm going to have to retire and move in with him. I see your posts, and I will comment when I can.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I know.

I wasn't complaining. Just making an observation. I imagine I'll carry on posting here whether people read me or not.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I do find LiveJournal very restful after Facebook. I'd have nothing to do with Facebook if I could, but so many friends and family use it and you find you're out of the loop if you don't have an account. But I rely on LJ for thoughtful writing on a wide variety of topics.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ailz has a FB and she alerts me when there's something that might interest me- like pictures of the grandkids.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, that weather is definitely autumnal now.

And yes, lJ is much quieter than it was when you could easily expect more than 20 comments.