Driving, dogs and disappointments

Son's status has altered (barring accidents, speeding transgressions and eventual infirmity) forever and he is now a fully certified driver.

Fully certified, but not yet fully insured ...

The increase in premium is eye-popping, not double, but almost triple the pre-pass rate. Risk has to be covered, and the risk for teens in the first year of driving is sadly, extremely high - about 1 in 5 having an accident. But it could cost us about £5 a day just to have him insured to drive the car. What would we see back for that investment? - occasional supermarket shopping errands, heartache and worry (mother's prerogative), petrol pouring into an open drain of jaunts to visit friends, and anxious clock watching (mother again). Little chance of balance in the cost-return analysis.

So, until we find a cheaper insurer (hopefully tomorrow), the bicycle (and helmet!) will still be in service.

Dog worried by insects today - earwig invasion of his outside run (dozens of which, in training for earwig Olympic swimming event in dog's water bowl, have drowned, making for a crunchy drink) and spiders in the house (the sort of monster big, black ones that would have my sister walking around her house, with an umbrella up over her head, to avoid the risk of one falling into her hair).

Disappointments - what are those? And frustrations - why? I am reminded of a toy we had as children: a Donald Duck with a weighted, rocker bottom - no matter how hard, or how often you pushed it over, it would always right itself (unless you held its head down with a cushion). Life's a bit like that - feeling frustrated, hating work, worries snowballing - always, (as long as you avoid the cushions) there will be a self righting moment: pictures of innocents caught in riots, jumping out of windows, eloquent and full of grace in their loss, or of children caught up in poverty and starving in Africa, and a story, in the paper, of a normal boy bravely fighting to busy himself with living a new life, totally dependent on others, after an accident on the sport's field - these bring us back, re-strike the balance, and make us realise we should be smiling more. Gratitude and charity perhaps, instead of disappointment and frustration. Message to self (and others if they want to listen) - change what you can change, do what you're best at, procrastinate to your heart's content ... but be content.

Lastly, haven't told four legged friend that he will soon be enjoying another stay at his holiday camp - disappointed dog, driven there by whom?

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Walking The Dog

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