tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post7279994738630158112..comments2023-06-28T22:58:28.247+10:00Comments on Sixth In Line: Navigationally challengedElisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-14982174308404968142009-09-13T19:48:49.008+10:002009-09-13T19:48:49.008+10:00I grew up in a family where my father saw nothing ...I grew up in a family where my father saw nothing wrong in announcing that he'd just had "a good clearing out" and a mother who had no problems asking if we'd been that day. I've just read a novel by Paul Auster where the protagonist does go to the toilet and we're told exactly what he does. Other than that the only other instance that springs to mind is in <i>Nineteen Eighty-Four</i> where one of the characters uses a toilet "loudly and abundantly". Oh, and of course Beckett had no problems with any kind of bodily activity. No doubt there are more but I can't think.<br /><br />As for the ovaries episode I wish I could remember more about it. I couldn't even tell you who else was there. Quite possibly my brother was but I don't remember. Katie was a very down-to-earth girl, very open. I'm sure she would have had no problem in describing in great details her bowel movements had she had any problems that way; she may well have done. She was the kind of girl who, if she'd just had breast implants, would offer me a feel and if I balked at the idea she'd very likely grab my hand saying something like: "For God's sake Jim, they're just breasts!" I never regarded what happened that day as "intimate" but I felt trusted and I have a soft spot for her down to this day even though I probably haven't seen her in maybe twenty-five years.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-39412546167294429112009-09-13T12:05:47.624+10:002009-09-13T12:05:47.624+10:00I took myself to the doctor’s and he fed my suspic...I took myself to the doctor’s and he fed my suspicion that I might have a bad case of constipation, not so dire as cancer of the ovaries but uncomfortable nevertheless. I’m now drinking buckets of water to try to get things going again, but not a lot has happened yet and I fear a total shut down of my internal workings. It’s also embarrassing to write about these things. Why is this so? Why do we rate our bodily toilet habits as so unacceptable in literature? Is it that like the act of defecation itself it must be confined to the toilet? the doctor also prescribed an ultrasound for next week to check my innards, if necessary. I trust not.<br /><br />It seems a strangely intimate offering, to let one's brother in law touch one's ovaries in the family backyard. It reminds me of the strange intimacy of blogs, but maybe it seems more fraught when it involves family.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-48178985824898609552009-09-12T21:48:13.046+10:002009-09-12T21:48:13.046+10:00My brother's first wife let me feel her ovarie...My brother's first wife let me feel her ovaries. I don't think many men outside the medical profession could say that. They were rock hard, like a couple of smallish eggs. It was in my parents' back garden of all places too. I can't remember if they gave her pain or even the reason for their hardness I'm afraid. Of course if the pain is more at the back then it could be your kidneys. Having had a kidney stone I can tell you that is not a fun pain. Other than wind I can't say my intestines have ever given me much trouble.<br /><br />As for England, I just think of it as down. Mind you I couldn't tell you what direction I'm facing just now. And for some reason that doesn't seem to bother me.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.com