she was a danger to herself

I am now officially sick of work. I was attacked by a seven foot long Berkshire pig today. It was one of the most terrifying things I have ever experienced. Ironically Berkshire pigs are described by the Rare Breeds Society as 'vulnerable'. He savagely sunk his teeth into my leg. I now have a massive purple bruise.

I miss weekends so much. Seven day shifts are fucking cruel. I miss holidays and lie-ins and friends and feeling young and not having to wear filthy shapeless clothing. Obviously this job pays incredibly well and there are numerous advantages and high points, but today was a horrible, depressing, emotional day. Afterwards I wanted to forget about everything so I went shopping and spent too much money (well actually I only spent £25, but I feel disproportionately guilty any time I spend any money at all these days. It's probably because I'm feeling so old and withered and sensible.) The cherry on the cake was getting lost in the dark on a bike on the way home and practically ending up in Dagenham. I was cycling along one of those badly-lit alleyways next to a motorway junction, exactly the sort of place people get raped and murdered. Why am I such a depressive nervous wreck at the moment?

In The Observer on Sunday there was a long article about the shambolic disastrous state of the juvenile courts at the moment. I hate it all; not just the ASBO-powered, agism-fuelled governmental attack on young people but also the calculating, repressive way that people are being criminalised for legal, legitimate behaviour. ASBOs are a devious, incongruous way of repressing groups of society that have the potential to influence our thoughts: namely young people and political or non-political protesters. And our government is prepared to use social stereotypes and outright prejudice in order to portray innocent, and often vulnerable members of society as some kind of threat. In exactly the same way British Muslims are also being targetted through Jack Straw's intrusive, ludicrous comments about women who wear veils. The government's campaign against Muslims in this country is no more than racist scapegoating, and again a method of depicting legal, normal behaviour as somehow dangerous and destructive. As printed in a SSAW email recently "Do you think Straw would ask a nun to remove her habit? Do you think Straw would ask a punk to remove the safety pin from his/her nose? Would he ask a Rastafarian man to shave off his dreadlocks? No, because the government along with the mass media is peddling the disgusting idea that Islamophobia is the only respectable form of bigotry. "

It shocks me that the government now find it acceptable to comment on what people should and shouldn't wear, let alone arrest someone for not keeping to a curfew or protesting peacefully in the street without prior permission. According to the report, off the 3,135 ASBOs that have been handed out to young people since 1999, 1,100 of them were to children with a diagnosed mental disorder or accepted learning difficulty. This what our government perceives as a threat: not Israeli tanks in Lebanon, not cluster bombs, not Drax Power Station, not illegal occupation, but disillusioned, disadvantaged children, Brian Haw and women who wear veils.

3 days 'til the weekend.
23 days 'til Edinburgh.
17 working days 'til Edinburgh.
61 days 'til my lonely, empty Christmas.
In 9 months and 7 days I'm going to quit my job.

Put like that, everything's almost bearable. +_+
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