Immediate Concerns.

The more I think about Daughter and her op, the more nervous I get, so I have been looking up Colposcopy, and the treatment of pre-cancerous cells in the cervix, on the Internet. There is a lot of information, thankfully, because the more informed we are, the better we can deal with the situation. It is quite scary, though, and I am quite cross that her GP didn't send her for a smear test six months ago when she went to him with excessive bleeding. It says quite clearly on the various websites, that excessive bleeding is one of the symptoms of Cervical Cancer, yet he told her to come back later if the bleeding didn't go away. I would have thought that when she told him that she had had what seemed like a period for at least 3 weeks, he might have considered sending her for a smear test? There is not much one can do about it now, except hope that all the pre-cancerous cells have been zapped. I have suggested that we both go for an appointment with her GP when he has received the Consultant's report, so that we can ask questions and see what the prognosis is. I'm sure that they have everything covered, but where my precious Daughter is concerned, I'm not taking any chances.

I haven't bought my copy of The Sunday Times yet, but am looking forward to reading what they have printed about the supposed blackmail of one of the Royal Family. Surely, though, we know that our beloved Royal Family has always had more than its fair share when it comes to sex (just think of all those mistresses and affairs - and not only in the past), and probably drugs too. I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but I do know that where drugs are concerned and where money is no object, the more likely it is to be spent on drugs. I know my two children were fairly short of money in their teens and mostly that was an advantage rather than the reverse. (They couldn't get into much trouble on their allowance of £30 a month.)But it was common knowledge, apparently, that all the 'rich kids' at senior school were the ones who could afford the drugs, and therefore had the related problems (if not then, they do now). If only the Royal Family had real jobs and less money to spend...

The other news item that caught my attention was about Gap and the fact that child labour has been used to produce some of their clothes. I don't know any of the facts so can't really comment, but I'm not sure how it helps to destroy the clothes that have been made in this way? OK, I understand that this means they can't profit from the sales, and that is commendable. But those children are probably helping their families in the only way they can - and it isn't so very long ago that child labour was fairly normal in this country. (Not that I'm saying it's a good thing!) Charles Dickens knew about it, experienced it and wrote about it. Are we so far advanced, so civilized, in this country that we can afford to condemn what happens in other, less affluent, countries?

This is all very serious stuff for a Sunday. I'm off to have lunch with a London Best Friend, whom I haven't seen for about a year. It's pouring with rain and very grey here, but I know she will make me laugh. We met on Skyros in 2001, on a magical holiday, and have kept in touch ever since. We chat on Facebook - I wonder if she's seen that terrible photo..