Monday, June 9, 2008

Polly's Cars Warp World

You know, recently I seem to have had so much going on that I have found it very difficult to choose just what exactly I should concentrate on. It's called sensory overload.

Sensory Overload is a term that I was first introduced to by John Mazza who tutored me while I was undergoing my ENB 176 Certificate in Operating Theatre Nursing training at Leeds General Infirmary. I hesitate to admit that this was almost twenty years ago. I wonder what my friends and erstwhile colleagues are up to now?

Meanwhile over the years this term has cropped up over and over again. For me it has come to have particular relevence as this is one of the numerous symptoms which make up the condition of Fibromyalgia. I suffer in particular to a sensitivity to bright lights and noise, all of which can lead to a nasty headache at best and insurmountable fatigue accompanied by pain at worst! As BJK has often said "it's a great life; if you don't weaken!"

It's funny though, when I think back to my teenage days; I used to revel in completing my homework and studying in the sitting room. I would lie on my tummy, probably with legs in the air, absorbing the heat from the open fire beside me; all the while with one eye on the TV and the other on my books. On other occasions I would do much the same lying on my bed with the radio for company!

In those days entertainment was very basic. At the age of sixteen I spent a summer in London, marvelling at the cyclists bombing around with the new wizzbang invention from the Sony corporation; The Walkman. We didn't have things like that at home, that's for sure...

In the next few years the price of these marvels of modern technology came down as rival companies got in on the act and started to produce cheap knock off's. I got my first one ten years or so ago, as a companion for labour; with deep breathing exercises and hippie music for support! In many respects I am so grateful for the fact that money was tight and new things were slow to visit us here in Ireland; I have learned to love peace and quiet and am content in my own company.

Elsewhere I see the signs of affluence everywhere, from the youngest of children carrying the latest in mobile/cellular phone design to marquees erected in the smallest of gardens to accomodate the overflow from a family function. It has never been like that in our house. The children BB and LB have been encouraged to save their pocket, Christmas and birthday monies to buy their own hand held computer console games; ie Gameboy's, DS's or MP3 player's.

Only yesterday revisited the '80s out in my studio. Having been lucky enough to track down a record player I'd installed it out in the studio. Foolishly I had left one of my favourite records on the turntable and the heat of the sun beaming in through the window had altered both its appearance and its sound!

I remember when the first pictures of people slain on the streets of Beirut were first aired on the Six O'Clock News; it was horrific to the extent that I had to turn my head as did most. There was public outcry that children in particular should not be exposed to such terror.

Today this is accepted as being the norm in the field of news reporting and we are bombarded with images of death and torture. Only a few years later we have become imune to those same images; when these things touch upon our close-knit community we soon forget about the impact such incidents have. Over exposure to such things has lead to an insensitivity which makes us less than human.

Maybe I am unusual; or maybe not. Whichever it is the world I visit everyday appears to be as twisted and warped as my old vinyl Cars LP...








Polly Peirce

Purveyor of Fine Handmade Greeting Cards and Wedding Stationary

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't we all dream of "those days"? The simple things like climbing trees and chasing butterflies. I used to spend hours in a lilac tree and pretend it was a house. Silly really as all I could do was sit on a branch and balance precariously but I suppose it was "my" place. The days gone by eh?

Polly Pierce said...

I used to sit in the middle of a forsythia bush in the front garden; hidden from sight by the lush dark green leaves and only yards from civilization!

That was too long ago; as frankly the forsythia bush in my garden wouldn't take the weight of LB, let alone his slightly overweight Mom...