We're not all bigots

I had a total blast at my cousin's Civil Partnership last week. The service was lovely and the couple looked great in their coordinating outfits. They had bridesmaids and flower girls and the whole shebang. About 100 of their friends and relatives attended and it was nice to see so much support for them both. In a week when I read a report that Northern Ireland is the most bigoted place in the world, it's good to see that the homophobes didn't get in the way last Friday. I know that many of our relatives from the older generation who attended, all of whom are devoutly religious, were a bit saddened that it wasn't an ordinary wedding, but they were still all able to accept that this is how it is and to support their niece/granddaughter.

As always, I had some mad crack with my cousins, caught up with one of them I hadn't seen in years, drank vodka for the first time and managed to get a bit of a boogie too. So it was a proper Irish wedding. I stayed at my dad's place that night, and we left before the fighting started. Nah, only joking, it was a nice, well behaved crowd, in spite of all the Derry people there ;-)

I haven't been blogging or reading other's blogs so much lately. First I was spending my computer time researching our holiday and for the past week, I've been looking at cars. We've now decided to exchange our 6 yo Alhambra for a 2 yo Vauxhall Vectra. We'd bought the 7 seater thinking that we'd be taking Gordon's mum out with us often, but that hasn't happened.

But then when I did catch up on news or blogs, it was often just depressing. Like the report mentioned above, or the news about the couple jailed for disgusting abuse of their 4 yo child with cerebral palsy. What the hell kind of world is this?

I got an e-mail from the Aspies for Freedom group, saying that the Autism Speaks (spit) group are making inroads in Britain. We don't need this fervently anti-autism, miss-named gang here. AFF are asking those who support autism rights to sign their petition,though only UK citizens can do so.

To top it all, the UK government is currently re-thinking its position on elective home education, and it's expected that we will be subject to much more regulation at the end of it, which would compromise our ability to provide a customised education suitable to each child and their individual needs. A recently formed campaigning group, Ahed, is seeking to limit the potential for a reduction in our freedoms.

I mean, right now, I'm writing this, supervising Lady's work on her maths, helping Thomas get into his superman suit and drawing a Legoland map for Duncan at the same time (it's just taking a long time!) The vocabulary Duncan is using is amazing; he's telling me where we are going and what we're doing on the map. This would never come under the National Curriculum, but it's what works for my boy.