From Ireland comes this RTE Health Report entitled "Grumpy Old Women", discussing a recent piece of British Psychological Society research. It found that older women become grumpier than do older men, and are more prone to expressing their anger publicly. It concludes by saying, 'There are now plans in place to design an anger management course specially for older women.'
I wonder what Crabby Old Lady would have to say about that. She was certainly miffed when the BBC began their 'Grumpy Old Women' TV series and didn't invite her to take part. Having seen the couple of episodes that have since been broadcast by 'OUR' ABC - the latest just this evening - I can assure Crabby that she would not have enjoyed being lined up with those others selected as representatives of our gender. On the whole I found it hard to identify with these smug, self-indulgent women - who even included our very own Australian rep, the cringeworthy 'Germs' Greer.
As Brian Coutis of THE AGE wrote after the first week's episode:
.... These are more your Worrying Middle-Aged Women than Grumpy Olds. They're sorry at life's barbs, rather than cantankerous about its irritations. But, while often brave and amusing, the big diff you will notice is that, whether it is from Germaine Greer, Annette Crosby, Miriam Marglyes, Jenny Eclair or Jilly Cooper, the grumpiness is far more self-centred than from the old fellas.
These are delightful women who seem stuck looking in the mirror, their curious complaints ranging from facial hair gains to pubic hair loss. Sagging boobs, sagging bottoms, the discomfort of underwear, cosmetic disasters and an apparent choice of fashion colours ranging from beige to camel brown: these fill the list. And the women with these whinges do so while looking far from grumpy and far from old....
In tonight's episode the grumpy girls were scathing about other women: women with prams, their undisciplined kids, their pooping dogs - and horror of horrors - single women besotted with their cats! (Although here Arabelle Weir confided that she was being very careful about what she said, as following her previously expressed anti-cat sentiments she had been subjected to a barrage of hate mail.) Perhaps at this point I should discreetly take my leave.....
But anger management? What's wrong with a bit of good old 'tell it how it is'? Self-expression is healthy so long as it's not damaging of others. My interest would be in going to a course on sorrow management - finding out how to deal with those enormous waves of melancholy that began to come upon me in my later years. Some might call it depression, but it isn't that, it's more an overwhelming sadness about anything and everything - despite feeling quite OK about myself. My answer was HRT, but every so often I test the waters without it.
But back to being Grumpy - check out this one:
How to find out whether you or someone you know is a Grumpy Old Woman
The unmistakable signs
- Shop assistants cower in fear when you return shoddy goods
- You are the litter police
- Young men are afraid to be left alone with you lest you pounce
- You like a slip-on shoes - saves all that bending
- If you wore a thong you might look like a sumo wrestler
- You start collecting used margarine pots and plastic bags
- You start to enjoy pottering
Things that Grumpy Old Women say (Well maybe in England!)
- It's a bloody disgrace
- I want to talk to the manager
- Cheerio
- Struth
- Spending a penny
- Whoops
- Is it me or is it hot in here?
- I could murder for a nice cup of tea
- I can remember those flared trousers first time around.
Sweet potato is one of my comfort foods. I first began eating it during my years of living in Papua New Guinea when "English" potatoes were hard to come by. (That is also when I developed a taste for the leaf tips of pumpkin vines because other fresh greens were often either unavailable or very expensive.) From long habit I still always refer to sweet potato by its Pidgin English name of 'kaukau'.
No-one can call in without feeling obliged to take some away.
