Fortunately, unfortunately

It’s been a week of ups and downs here. Have you ever played the game Fortunately, Unfortunately? That’s what my week feels like.

Here’s how it’s been:

Fortunately, I finally found a kitten that felt like it might be ‘the perfect kitten’ to be Miso’s new cat companion. Don’t get me wrong, she loves the dogs, but since our lovely Grey Cat died last year, Miso and I have been conspiring to take in another kitten. Don’t tell my husband. Unfortunately, on Monday this week, perfect kitten‘s mother was killed, leaving her four 12-day-old kittens motherless. Fortunately, my neighbour has experience of hand-rearing orphan kittens, and has taken them in. I know it could go either way. I’m not gettting excited, but so far, they are doing well.

Meanwhile, unfortunately, where I live, people toss a lot of rubbish out of car windows and our lovely countryside is rife with litter. Fortunately, another neighbour organised a group to litter pick, and between us, we collected… well, this much:

Unfortunately, I’ve pulled a muscle in my chest (of all places!) lugging my bagful around to the collection point and it’s agony. Even more unfortunately, there is already enough new litter around the verges to fill another bag. Fortunately, I have a day off work tomorrow, so I hope to get out and do exactly that.

Meanwhile, Unfortunately, due to holidays in China, I’ve had a lot of classes cancelled this week, so my month’s pay will take a hit. Fortunately, I’ve had lots of free time, and therefore have met my goal of finishing the first draft of A Hover of Trout (the second Jess O’Malley mystery). Unfortunately, that means I must now begin the tedious task of first edit.

In other news, my sister has decided that a sequel must be written for Dear Isobel. Fortunately, she has decided to be the one to write it. (We will co-author, and I will, unfortunately, soon have another book to first-edit!) Fortunately, despite her only previous writing experience being patient reports for her job, she’s doing it really well! It’s really good! Unfortunately, I forgot to call her yesterday for the promised developement chat. As it’s a sequel/companion book, it has the same potential pitfalls as A Hover of Trout, in that it uses the same setting and same characters, and therefore needs an unfortunate amount of planning and cross-referencing to maintain consistency and continuity.

Unfortunately, I’ve been too busy writing to get much done in the garden this week. Fortunately, I’ve found someone to help me with that. He is what I believe is known as ‘an absolute blessing.’ Unfortunately, the nice weather has come to a chilly end. Fortunately, that means it doesn’t take me so long to water the seedlings!

Now, that’s the trivial stuff.

The next part of this is serious and talks about a racially motivated attack on a friend.

If it seems political, or offends, I make no apology. I will stand up for this, and do my part.

The biggest unfortunately of all is not something that happened to me, but something that happened to a friend. I wanted to write about this completely and predominantly, but I am still too angry and upset to have finished processing it. I will write a proper article about it soon. It is far more important than to put here at the end of this week’s blog, but equally, it would be wrong to leave it unmentioned when it has affected a huge chunk of my week. Unfortunately, my daughter’s friend, a wonderful, kind, friendly, generous, delightful girl, of just twenty years old, was attacked this week in London. She was the victim of verbal abuse, and also stoned. Stoned. As in a group of teenagers threw what she describes as ‘rocks and stones‘ and more than she could dodge and avoid being hit by. This was a racially-motivated attack; this girl is Chinese. The attack happened ‘because’ that group of teenagers are part of the unfortunate cohort of imbeciles who feel that China is to blame for the problems of the world. And that a twenty year old girl who is one of the loveliest, gentlest people I have met, is to be blamed for the entire pandemic that is sweeping the globe. And viciously attacked. This is the world we now live in. I’m as aware as anyone that there has been a despicable amount of attacks on Asian people lately, and that this attack on this one girl who I happen to know is far from an isolated incident. This is a massive problem. And it is not okay. It is not acceptable. Whoever you are, wherever you are, close your eyes for a moment and imagine a young girl you know – any young girl, your daughter, if you have one – or even a young man, or an old man, or a woman, your mother, sister, brother, neighbour, or anyone. Someone you know. Now imagine them being stoned in the street, hurt, frightened, alone, and now afraid to go out. Does it matter what colour their skin is? What their culture is? What their heritage is? No. It does not. I will stand up against this this every fibre of my being. Racism has to stop.

And that’s where I will end for this week. Thinking of Asian people across the world, and anyone else who has been abused or discriminated against because of their race, their culture, or the colour of their skin, and sending solidarity and love to them all. I stand with you all.

RACISM is NEVER acceptable

Love, Jinny