Well I managed a lie-in this morning at least until I got a text from my sister at about 10am. Even though I always tell myself the night before a bank holiday that I'll get up at 8 and do all those jobs I'm usually too busy to do, I never manage it. The temptation to take a lie-in when you're working 6 days a week is just too much. Now I know I don't have it too bad....during the week I could get up at 9am and still be at work by 9.30! Maybe washed and not fed but I could do it if I had to.. but I'm sure all of you with kids know that such a luxury never happens. The text from my sister wanted me to call her which I duly did. Now a call from a family member so early on a holiday morning is usually not good news and so it unfolded. Her son who is struggling with alcohol and depression has gotten himself in trouble again and now a previous suspended sentence kicks in and he's facing a five year prison term. His depression hasn't been treated as the court ordered service is understaffed and he was only assessed by an intern, once. He doesn't drink because he knows alcohol makes hm do stupid things. But he did Saturday evening and set fire to a wheelie bin. Too drunk to run away he was caught, brought before a special court sitting and sent away that evening. Our hope is that now this gentle 26 year old will get the help he needs when in jail but realistically what are the chances of that? We know he did wrong, he knows he did wrong but is sticking him in jail for five years because its what the law decrees going to help anyone? The Irish judicial system needs an overhaul badly but that's not going to happen when we need to bail out the banks now is it?
On a lighter note I had my first bottle of my homebrew last night. This is the first time I've tried brewing since I was sixteen. Glad to say the final brew was a lot nicer last night than the one brewed twenty-nine years ago. A nice IPA which was quite potent and a couple more weeks in the bottle will do it no harm at all.
Whats on TV?
I recorded the Italian movie Gomorrah a few weeks back after watching a very good documentary on BBC4 about the Napoli Mafia. The hold the mafia have on that city is incredible and it looks unlikely to be broken anytime soon. If Berlusconi's party aren't connected then I'm a Dutchman. The refuse hasn't been collected in eighteen months! Watching the movie last night was almost no different from the documentary. The movie was a very accurate telling of life in the city from five different viewpoints, each one dealing with the Gomorrah in some form or another. Harsh viewing but worth watching.
No comments:
Post a Comment