August Births
Both C and myself would have considered ourselves successful; she as a barrister and racehorse breeder and myself as a computer programmer, who helped create a multi-million pound company. We were both born in August many years ago.
Our most successful son of three is at the peak of his profession in London, despite leaving school with no qualifications at all. And he too was born in August.
So why this stigma against August births? Perhaps Leos and early-Virgos have a drive lacked by others, born in colder months.
I should say that some years ago I analysed all the birth weights for a year in an English county to see if we could find any patterns that might point to why some children were born with a low weight. One of the findings was that twins were more numerous eight or nine months after Christmas. Unfortunately, the data wasn’t good enough to know if the twins were identical or fraternal.
So I do wonder if some August children, having been conceived perhaps after a party, just want to get on with life and don’t succeed.
August Birthdays
With Samantha Cameron having given birth in August, there has been a lot of talk recently about the disadvantage of August birthdays.
But it wasn’t always so!
Both my late wife and myself would have considered ourselves successful; she as a barrister and racehorse breeder and myself as a computer programmer, who helped create a multi-million pound company. We were both born in August many years ago.
Our most successful son of three is at the peak of his profession in London, despite leaving school with no qualifications at all. And he too was born in August.
So why this stigma against August births? Perhaps Leos and early-Virgos have a drive lacked by others, born in colder months.
I should say that some years ago I analysed all the birth weights for a year in an English county to see if we could find any patterns that might point to why some children were born with a low weight. One of the findings was that twins were more numerous eight or nine months after Christmas. Unfortunately, the data wasn’t good enough to know if the twins were identical or fraternal.
So I do wonder if some August children, having been conceived perhaps after a party, just want to get on with life and don’t succeed.
Empty-nester? Buy underwear…
This was the come-on for one of the inside articles in today’s East Anglian Daily Times. It was subtitled “Lynne Mortimer’s sage advice”
It wasn’t advising mothers, who just packed their last child off to University, to buy something sexy to get the old man or possibly a new one in their lives, to get the production line going again, but a plea for mothers to make sure that their sons had enough pants to take with them. Preferably the same colour as their towels; black.
A New Test for Autism
This report on the BBC shows the way that modern medicine is going. I know that I don’t suffer from autism, although I’m a bit weird, but then programmers are a lot of the time. These sort of scans though, will help doctors sort out stroke sufferers like me.
Let’s hope the medics and the programmers, who work with them keep going!
They have had one of the researchers involved, Christine Ecker, on BBC Breakfast this morning. She reckons that soon they will be able to use the test with children. They have even developed a quiet non-claustrophobic scanner, so children won’t be frightened.
I am very enthusiastic about this test and feel it will have other beneficial effects. Obviously, as the research techniques get better and we know more about the brain, they will benefit people like me, who have had strokes to those with more serious brain problems or injuries.
I also think that C, my late wife, would have welcomed this test. She was a barrister and most of her work was with families, divorce and children. She said to me many times, that childen with things a like autism and ADHD, put a tremendous strain on the marriage and often caused the break-up. Sometimes, that strain was caused by the difficulty of getting a diagnosis.
Hopefully, this test will reduce those problems and might even help couples to stay together!
Adoption
They are talking about the problems of adoption on BBC Radio 5 this morning. I feel I must comment.
C was adopted and for most of her working life, she was a barrister dealing with family matters, like divorce, money, care and adoption.
In her view most of the times, things worked out well provided that you had good professionals involved. What worried her in the last couple of years of her practice and life was the cutbacks imposed on court and social sevices by government, which meant problems got worse rather than better. Surely, it is better to get problems properly sorted earlier, rather than have a child grow up to be a drain on society.
But to end this on a happy note. Several times she was acting in an adoption case, where at the final hearing, the new adoptive mother had got pregnant. So instead of one new child, they had two and were twice as happy. It must have been the relief at it all.
It’s a pity she’s not here now, as being uniquely adopted, a mother to three and a barrister working in the field, she would know exactly what should be done.
She was also involved in a unique case, where a black 18-year-old girl, who had been in long term care with a white family applied for her own adoption by them, when the care system expired. The judge and my wife both said that it made being a lawyer worthwhile.
My Late Wife
I can’t go on calling her this in this blog, especially as many of you know her real name.
So I’m going to call her C.
Beware the Ides of March
I had my stroke on the 15th March, which is The Ides of March.
This is not a suspicious day for me, but it was my mother-in-law’s birthday. My late wife always said that we should beware the Ides of March.
Now I didn’t get on too well with my mother-in-law, as she was a lady with different principles to me, but surely my stroke isn’t her fault?
The Anonymous Widower 