What do you call a parasite that lives off of Beetles? Heather Mills.

It has just occurred to me that the last entry didn't particularly have a resolution. THERE IS NO RESOLUTION. Not even on the monitor. Even now, I'm on the laptop, and I've just had to sit back while Windows "installed" MS Word for me.

Anyway, never mind the last blog. This is a new leaf, freshly fallen from the tree and ready to spend half the year mouldering unattractively on the forest floor. No, I swear I'm an optimist.

What is it with people my age? (God, in saying that I've just sealed my reputation as future Battle-axe, comparable to the indomitable Anne Robinson or even *gasp* Baroness Thatcher.) Why can't we just shut up and put up? Or, alternatively, why can't we bloody well do something about the things that upset us?

Having had an ex-boyfriend with the all the consideration for fellow man and emotional scope of Heather Mills (yes it's begun) and been shipped from A+E to General Practitioner until my intestines finally exploded forth, I've now reached the peak of my physical and emotional trauma (one can only hope) so I have the benefit of being sage-like and trustworthy to my peers and friends alike. But one thing I cannot tolerate is people keeping quiet when something wasn’t quite right.

I have a fantastic band of friends, but I do still find little comfort in the fact that all of them were happy to watch me and previous ex-boyfriend argue, wind each other up and bicker in public, ruining nights out and generally making things uncomfortable for everyone involved. Pretty much the same happened with my Heather-a-like ex. Things even went as far as one friend actually flirting with him. What got me was that as soon as she'd done it, she'd look at me, like a kid who puts their hand in the biscuit tin and looks straight in its mothers eye.

Luckily it's passed now, and my friends are now quite happy to tell someone they're out of line, but I'm seeing it again with the kids at my local Drama Group ('drama' of course being the operative word). If it's not "The Director yelled at me today", it's "She only got that part because her mum's on the committee" or else "She can't act/sing/dance/run a bath, let alone a production".

My answer? Yes, it'll all change and they'll all be obsessively picking something (or someone) else to shreds next week, but in the meantime...Why not just say something to someone? There's always someone willing to listen. There's no point suffering in 'silence' (i.e. shooting your mouth off) or posting a pseudo-pointless rant onto a message board (cough, cough).

~ Teeny – "Thank God I didn't have to pay £24 million to shut the useless twat up"