Warning. Not a fluffy bunny story but a rant, if you want fluffy bunnies, today is not for you.

One of the best things about getting away from the Met(ropolitan Police) was escaping the insidious comments
about & perpetual interest in everyone's personal lives, & in particular their love lives.

I know it must go on in every large organisation & in small ones too I guess, but for a year I have felt free of it.

Yesterday was a jolt of reality.

A friend repeated a rumour which has apparently been circulating about me since I left. The rumour is untrue,
I wish it was true, it sounds like I had a great night. (note, use of deflecting humour).

The friend told me the story with the best possible motives, ie. to ensure I heard about it from them, rather than a malicious source.



Here's the thing. When I left the UK, I felt emotionally raw, like I was missing several layers of skin.
That feeling is very easy to re-call.
People who I didn't consider friends were continually asking whether or not I had broken-up
with my boyfriend. I felt very vulnerable & knew I couldn't discuss the situation without becoming upset at work.
I categorically lied & said we hadn't separated because I am an intensely private person & thought it was
none of my work colleagues' business. Note ; work colleagues, not friends at work.

I have no problem with the fact that I lied to people to save having to discuss my personal life with them.
The other option was to tell them I didn't think it any of their business. Perhaps I should have done that.

My time away was very good for me emotionally, my outer layers are intact again.

I suspect I will tell anyone who feels brave enough to be nosey about things which don't concern them
to mind their own business.

It has got me to thinking though about an aspect of life here which has shocked & dismayed me & which I didn't
realise was the case before I went away. It's the complete obsession that the media have with other people's lives.
Today, I started to watch 'This Morning' & turned off after about 20 minutes. I like both hosts & I have watched this
programme quite happily on & off for quite a few years BNZ.

It appears to me now, to be obsessed with how people look, how much they weigh & whether or not Angelina & Brad
are having an affair. I would by the way (in both cases). Seriously though, I feel quite repulsed by this shallow,
voyeuristic interest in other people. The media frenzy surrounding the Beckhams is a case in point.

I confess, when I heard the story, I was interested & a bit sad because I liked to believe that they were happily
married. What makes my stomach churn is the way the press over here are gloating & saying it's her fault because
'she left him alone & what can she expect ?'. Nauseating. I know the Beckhams have courted publicity but this gleeful
savaging of another human being is repulsive.

The End

:(

So much for being calm, like Linda. Maybe tomorrow.