Why am I so tired at the moment? Is it shock to the system after being a lady of leisure for so many months? Slept like a log last night but fear I could have gone round the clock. Then am arrested by thoughts of how tired C must feel and am aware I'm behaving like a pampered bitch.
So the conference is being held in London on the future of Afghanistan. All sorts of profound mutterings about the Afghan government taking over responsibility for its own security within five years, to which end a hundred a forty thousand dollars has been set aside to pay members of the Taliban to lay down their weapons and join in peaceful negotiation on the 'way forward'. Always worry when organisations talk about 'the way forward'. It usually means the 'way forward' thus far has been an abject failure, and so they try to inject artificial energy by implying a sweeping change of direction. Why change the current 'way forward' if it's been a success? And if you impose too many different 'way forwards' you just end up going round and round and round in ever decreasing circles.
Radio 4 announced this morning that corruption is so embedded in Afghani culture that they have twelve words for it. Start musing about how many words or phrases there are in English for the very same. Bribery, extortion, fiddling, profiteering, pay-off, on-the-take, racket, bung, brown-paper-envelope, knobble, coerce, breach-of-trust, scam, back-hander, bent, shady, rotten, unscrupulous, underhand, fraudulent - much more than a dozen and the list goes on and on. Does that mean we're more corrupt? I give up on all the nonsense.
Meanwhile boys like my son are being killed or horribly mutilated.
H going away for the weekend, Dartmouth challenging but brilliant. R hopefully coming home. No news from C but never forget him ever.
Look after them please Lord
Speak soon. A soldier's Mum x
Post Script - a dear friend just rang and her mother lives in Wootton Bassett. She's very involved in the church down there and there's a flurry of excitement as tomorrow Charles and Camilla will be raising the colours and dedicating a flag pole to the town. The good people have shunned any formal or political recognition of their dignified observances, rejecting naming of streets and the like, but as they do not have such a facility at the moment, have agreed to its installation on practical grounds.
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