Tuesday, June 22, 2010

I know in a previous Blog I mentioned that I believe circumcision to be a worthless operation and strangely, after having written it, I saw in The Headlines that 20 young boys in the Eastern Cape had died from the operation and others were hospitalised, four boys having to have their entire genitals removed. Sixty others have been rescued from the so-called circumcision schools. The practice is common amongst the Xhosa and Ndebele and evidently the Zulu king wants it reintroduced for Zulus as he believes it lessens the risk of HIV infection. Last year 91 initiates died and hundreds were hospitalised. The authorities say they know who the perpetrators are (illicit practitioners in the bush) but parents are reluctant to bring charges, so I wonder how many more young boys will die before the practice is finally done with, if ever. Evidently in the UK amongst the Muslim community there have been boys hospitalised because of botched operations.
The intense heatwave seems to have passed but we are only in June, there is still another two months of summer to go. Hopefully the heatwave won’t be repeated. I dread to think what the electricity bill is going to be what with fans going for hours on end. The price of electricity has gone up and so has VAT which increases it still further. Okay, maybe it is still cheaper than the UK but it is beginning to stretch the budget. The guys are suggesting we get air-conditioning for my bedroom which does get far too warm. Going into the bathroom area is like stepping into an oven. It is impossible to sit in the breakfast room after ten at the latest and before six. When we came out to Crete looking for a house we came in august, the hottest time of the year and we went house hunting the hottest time of the day when Greeks sensibly are having their siesta, just to make sure we could take the heat but I don’t recollect it ever being as hot as these last few days. Maybe it’s just because I am that much older.
It would seem impossible that one who lived such a varied and interesting life could write a book so dull. I managed to last to the end but name name name name (was there anyone who was anyone she didn’t know?) and party party party party party after party must inevitably get boring, just as self-adulation overdone goes the same way.

‘The buttocks are the most aesthetically pleasing part of the body because they are non-functional. Although they conceal an essential orifice, these pointless globes are as near as the human form can ever come to abstract art.’ - Kenneth Tynan
Pointless? I hate to think how uncomfortable it would be sitting without them. On stone benches or hard chairs after a while it can get pretty uncomfortable even with them.

‘Oh Hugh, may I stroke your bottom?’ – John Betjeman to Hugh Gaitskell (who replied, ‘Oh if you must’).

2 comments:

Lewis said...

Circumcision has always been practised by most African tribes. I think the Venda are an exception. Further north the same applies and, of course, in Moslem regions and in the formerly Jewish Ethiopia it is cult practice.
It often goes wrong even in the most modern Western hospitals. The "solution" is then to turn the boy into a girl - it never works, evidently. At best you are left with a malfunctioning pseudo-Lesbian.
Bill Gates has set up a fund to encourage the practice in Africa, because the WHO claims that it reduces the incidence of HIV infection. Quite apart from the fact that the HIV=AIDS equation is very moot. Clever munts who would have had it done anyway, take the cash and honour tribal custom at the same time. Moslems will soon cotton on to this, too, I've no doubt.
"Hygiene", they all cry. Well, you don't cut off your toes to prevent smelly feet, you wash them.
As for the WHO - do you know what I mean when I say "Swine Flu"?

Lewis said...

Gore Vidal tells the tale of how he introduced Tennessee to JKF when the latter was still a Senator (GV was Jackie's half brother, you may recall). There was a bit of target shooting, and, while JFK was taking aim, TW said, "What a cute ass!"
When Vidal told JFK about it later, he got a reply which, as I remember, was "Well now I find that interesting."