Sad stuff.

This past week I've had a number of subjects buzzing around in my mind to write about on this blog, but they were all a bit depressing, so I held back. Just to set my friends' minds at rest - there is no bad news about Ken or anyone else at this end! We had to spend nearly $700 on having deadlocks installed on all our exterior doors and most of our windows, after receiving the renewal on our house and contents insurance policy, which had increased considerably. When I phoned the insurance company to ask if they could reduce it, I was asked if we had an alarm system (no) and deadlocks on all doors and windows (no) and the lady said if we get that done, they will be able to reduce the premiums. So we did the deadlocks and got a bit of a reduction. We've since learnt that there have been a few burglaries in our area lately, so I suppose it is just as well we were 'forced into' getting the locks.

I got really depressed last night after watching a doco on the Biography channel on Foxtel, about an English reporter who spent some time at a children's home in Bulgaria. What she saw was shocking to the core; the children had been abandoned by their parents because they couldn't cope with their disabilities. Some were blind, some deaf, others physically or mentally handicapped. The carers weren't nurses - all they did was wash and feed the children, and that took all their time because of the state of the kids. Kids died from malnutrition and illness caused by that, and some of them went insane because they had no other attention or love in their day to day lives. It was the saddest doco. I've seen on t.v. for a long time. The English reporter wrote to the Bulgarian government about it, and received a very hostile letter back, defending their position in caring for orphans. During the doco. there were the usual advertisements for beauty products, new cars, etc. and it made me feel sick, to think there are children suffering so much in the world, while we go about our lucky lives in the Lucky Country. I just feel so helpless. Ken couldn't watch it after a few minutes - said it made him want to cry, so he went downstairs and revved the hell out of his Honda.