A new ad for volunteers for a survey on brain health calls for subjects between the ages of 50 and 79, to see how they're getting along. And a couple of insurance ads on TV (no-medical life insurance) limits eligibility to ages 50 to 80. So - I am beyond the pale,that is, unacceptable. I looked it up. I knew the meaning but not the origin. A paling was a fence, from the Latin palls, meaning stake, the kind used in building fences. Fences were built to keep unacceptable people out, or in, as the case may be. I first encountered one in Ireland but pales where common in Europe before the phrase came to define outsiders. So I am past counting or being noticed. Kind of freeing, that. The reason I save coupons is that when one passes its expiry date I can throw it out with a clear conscience. So here I am, past my expiry date, as it were. Beyond the pale. Free at last!
it's over
Valentine's Day is over. I read that Migraine and Crisis Centres in North America get more calls on Valentine's Day and the day after than any other time of the year. That's because, they say, the usual V-Day gifts, apart from diamonds, of course, are red wine, chocolates and cheese, all great triggers of migraine (histamine). That's the physical cause. Yes, well, what about the emotional cause? What about wanting to be loved, or at least, appreciated? Remember when you were a kid your classroom had a Valentine mail box and everyone mailed cards to their "sweethearts"? Do they still have that? That was when it began, the pain that led ultimately to migraine. You didn't recognize it as the pain of rejection, not then. More likely, you felt a pang of envy for the popular kid who got so many declarations of like. I wonder what's happened to him/her?