Me plus beer = missed deadline

Annoyingly, I've had a pretty good week, so not many things have aroused my ire (other than the lack of things annoying me, of course). Damn me for pulling myself together. However, I can think of a few things that have got on my tits. They include (but are not limited to):

• The fact that I drank loads of beer yesterday, instead of publishing this on time (this one is quite major - let's hope it's not the first of many such transgressions)
• No alcohol is safe
• Fake life jackets
• Not having time to do anything (although see my point about getting beered up)

First things first. Actually last things first. On Sunday I annoyed myself by deciding to drink loads of beer and go to bed early instead of writing this post. Actually that's not strictly true, I wasn't annoyed until this morning. That's the thing about beer; it rarely annoys you until after the event. I've been drinking lots in response to the news last week that we're not supposed to drink any booze at all. I'm not medically qualified and the following neither constitutes medical advice, nor is it even an informal recommendation, but I've decided that in my case the consumption of alcohol (specifically beer) confers the benefit of reducing the stress of having three young kids and that this far outweighs any deleterious effects it may have, so I think I'll carry on for now. And if you need me to tell you that small children should be cared for by at least one sober adult at all times, then you're an idiot. But it's yet more bad luck for single parents.

Whilst we're on the subject of children, mine have been getting my goat by continuing to sneak into my bed every night.

I had considered writing something about the plans to move GCSEs and A-Levels to accommodate Ramadan but, of course, the examinations boards (via the JQC) claim that they haven't and, perhaps more importantly, I don't actually care that much. Some people have suggested that children don't have to observe Ramadan, but my understanding is that they are meant to do so once they reach maturity (puberty), so I reckon anyone taking their GCSEs or A-Levels is not exempted by the kids rule. Since you are supposed neither to eat nor to drink during daylight hours, I think the only thing I have to say on the subject is that, if it were me, I'd probably break the fast and take my exam sufficiently hydrated and then pray for forgiveness afterwards. That sort of behaviour is deemed okay for most religions.

Okay, now onto something a bit more serious. What the fuck possesses somebody to make fake life jackets and then sell them to people who are desperately trying to make a very dangerous journey across the sea? A journey which has already killed many hundreds of people. I can't say anything about this other than that it is really depressing.

And of course last week I annoyed myself significantly by deciding that I'd publish a weekly rant when I'm actually quite fortunate compared to the vast majority of people, so any ranting might not be very seemly. I'll have to think about that a bit more.