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Thursday 11 October 2012

When Savile became Vile

I am a 70’s child and grow up watching Jimmy Savile on the TV. He was a very popular and larger than life character who I saw as a successfully entertainer and charity worker. I respected him for his hard work and support of Stoke Mandeville hospital. Like millions of ours around the country, I was saddened when he passed away last year.


A few weeks ago we started to hear the rumours that he may not have been the man we thought he was. There were stories appearing in the press of the way he had a liking for underage Girls. I was of the opinion that it was probably some glory hunter trying to make some money by spreading unfounded rumours about a widely respected public figure, who could no longer defend himself. That sort of thing really annoys me and I refused to believe that any of these, quite frankly, sick rumours were true.

There was an ITV programme last week that purported to be an investigation into these horrible claims. I had no wish what so ever to watch this piece of alarmist television, as I believed it would be total fabrication. However, Mrs. T-E wanted me to record it and against my better judgement I ended watching it with her.

What I heard horrified and disgusted me. “Surely this can’t be true?” I told myself, but the realisty was that I was beginning to waver. As the week progressed, more people came forward to admit that they’d heard the rumours at the time and done nothing to stop it. It appears that they thought him “Untouchable” and such behaviour was common place at the BBC in the 1970’s.

Currently the Met Police are looking into these allegations, although I doubt there is now anything that can be done to put this right. The damage was been done long ago and Jimmy is no long here to confirm or deny anything. I suppose that if the truth is properly uncovered, his victims will finally have closure and be able to get on with their lives. There may even be others still alive who were guilty in aiding Jimmy in his sick activities and could still be brought to justice.

I would like to think that Jimmy Savile was not in fact a vile and disgusting child abuser, but somehow I fear that he mislead us all for a very long time.

Update:

Since I started writing this article, more victims have come forward and have made complaints to the Police. In the last few days, road signs, memorial plagues and even his grave stone have been removed. There is even rumours that his body may be removed from the cemetery in Scarborough that overlooks the sea.

Jimmy Savile’s memory has probably been soiled beyond repair and I feel extremely saddened that I and millions of others had been taken in by him for so many years. He wasn’t someone who deserved our respect and admiration. I doubt even Jim himself could fix this.


Regards



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Friday 5 October 2012

Don’t Say the V Word in Front of the Cat!

Last week Bruno (Cat No.3) seemed a little under the weather, but by Sunday he had cheered up a bit. We just put it down to the sudden change in the weather. However, on Sunday evening Mrs. T-E noticed that his left ear seemed to be weeping and by Monday morning his left eye had joined in as well.


After work Monday we took him to the Vets to have him checked over. We had chosen a different vet as our usual one has become increasingly more expensive over the years and friends of ours recommended another local one. We called them and they told us that they have first come, first served sessions every evening between 6 and 7.

When we arrived the waiting room was packed to the rafters. There were 3 cats and 5 dogs in front of us and others kept arriving as we waited. Two of the dogs were fitted with lamp shades, in various states of disrepair and one of the others had a very nasty looking chest wound. In all it was pretty lively in there and Bruno purred the whole time, occasionally pawing Mrs. T-E through the bars of his box as if to gain some attention. Eventually it was Bruno’s turn to be seen and we were beckoned into one of the side rooms.

The Vet poked, prodded and generally examined the poorly lad. The whole time Bruno wriggled and struggled and flatly refused to let the Vet stick her fancy torch thing in his ear. He even had to be weighted in his box, which told us that he was a tiny bit heavier than he should be. She didn’t seem to worry about this as he’s a large cat anyway. Apparently the average weight for a cat is 4kilos and Bruno is 6Kilos, but he’s not fat. Smudge (Cat No.1) only weighs 2.5kilos, which we know is too low, but due to her age (19 years) is not uncommon.

He has his temperature taken (1 degree high) and received injections of anti-biotics and pain relief. The conclusion of the vet was that he had received an infection, possibly from a wound to his ear and was put on a weeks course of Penicillin tablets. See also recommended using cold Tea (no milk or sugar) to clean up his ears and eyes as required. I always knew that Tea could cure anything except drowning.

With Smudge, tablets have always been an issue. Hiding them in food has never fooled her, so we have got very good at holding her upside down and feeding them in manually, which is a 2 person manoeuvre. I didn’t relish the thought of doing this with Bruno, as 3 of us couldn’t hold him still at the Vets. Fortunately he has fallen for the “Small pieces of ham, wrapped around the tablet” trick and he seems to be making a slow recovery. The cold tea for cleaning his ears and eyes also seems to work. Although on the first attempt he had a sneezing fit and continues to wriggle quite a bit.

Currently we are keeping our fingers crossed that he will make a speedy recovery and can return to his favourite hobby of worrying the birds in the garden very soon.


Regards



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