The good, the bad and the ugly...
Looking forward as always to my weekly "agony" slot on Tom Dunne's Dublin Newstalk show (text or email in your dilemma!). The producer’s told me we've got some cracking dilemmas including a 36 yr-old man who’s completely grey and gets all the "Silver Fox" jokes going.
He doesn't have much luck with the ladeez because he thinks he looks much older than 36 and wonders if he should dye his hair. Oh god, I hate men with dyed hair - just look at Holby, Casualty, The Bill, and any other TV drama and half the men have dyed their hair.
You name it, any shade from “rich autumn sunset” highlights to “dark-chestnut midnight delight”! It just looks so bad! Btw, I've made up those shades - I've no idea what names men’s hair dyes have.
TODAY’S THOUGHT: if you're a gorgeous silver fox don't dye your hair. Revel in the fact that you have a sleek and sexy, silvery look - think Richard Geer who went silver early on - I think grey/silver hair is sexy as long as you act your age - and don't act like an old bloke!
One of my modern-day heroine's has been in the press - the wonderful Christina Schmidt, wife of staff Sgt Olaf Schmidt - the bomb disposal expert tragically killed in Afghanistan last autumn. Brave, courageous, and dignified - if only more people could be like her. She's highlighting the need for more training and time-off for our bomb disposal heroes.
I'm also adding to my list of fabulous women, Helen Newlove, the widow of Garry Newlove who was murdered in the street by yobs a few years ago. She's been made a Baroness by the new government and will carry on her work for improving the experience of victims in court.
While on the topic of women - why doesn't Fergie give back the title?!
Not in the slightest bit surprised by the "online and lonely" report out today from the Mental Health Foundation. It focuses on the 18 to 24-year-olds who are online but don't have face-to-face interaction as much as they used to. They're as lonely as the over 55s! Get connected - but to human beings today!
I mentioned that we'd been to the Maldives and that there was the "good, the bad, and the ugly" in our trip so here goes...
The good: the snorkelling and diving are out of this world. We were literally swimming with sharks - reef sharks up to 2 m long. And talk about finding Nemo? There was an incredible array of ‘Disney character style’ tropical fish that could’ve come straight out of an animated film.
I've uploaded three pix - one of me standing knee deep in water - when the hubby suddenly shouted "there's a shark behind you!" after he'd been snapping away - unfortunately he didn't capture the shark - and it didn't capture my leg!
The other good: the Maldivian people were fantastically warm and helpful.
And also we loved the curries and Maldivian dishes - had some mouth-explodingly hot ones!
The bad: however, I know people are desperate for any money they can make in developing countries. And it's partly my USA heritage that means I'm a generous tipper. But with some of the people we came across, like simply asking questions about snorkelling, you had the feeling you had to slip a couple dollars, euros, or pounds here and there for even the smallest service. As I said, I'm a generous person but at times I really felt uncomfortable about this.
The ugly: shockingly we couldn't believe the amount of litter that washed up on the pure white sand beaches. Tourists were dropping plastic bottles and cellophane packets from God knows where - off the side of boats, piers, wherever. I was disgusted with my fellow humans. We'd never come across this on snorkelling trips in other parts of the world. And it really was staggering. I spent half my time picking up rubbish as we strolled along otherwise perfect beaches, framed by tropical palm trees, with bath-water warm waters lapping on our toes.
Would love it if you'd share some of your experiences of the Maldives in "your e-mail of the week" and I'll post them up.
Enjoy your day, Pam x