Should neutrality be a part of gender?

I’m confused. Nothing new there, then.

The era of gender choice, and any other choice for that matter, is now embedded into our lives.

Relaxing in bed this morning, having an extra few minutes of snoozing before I simply HAD to get up, I was shaken out of my slumber by a female voice declaring “I am identifying as an Elf”.

Before family and friends call concerned about the welfare of SWMBO I need to point out that the person uttering those words was American Kimberel Eventide, who refers to herself as an Elven, also known as an Otherkin, a person who “feels more like an elf than human at times.”

She was being interviewed on GMB and explained that being an Elven is “about a way of life and being connected to animals always”.

Kimberel, who wears prosthetic ears, told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid: “It’s not about the ears, it’s who you are on the inside and how you carry yourself. But ears do make it fun.”

Sorry, Kimberel, but did you find some funny tasting mushrooms in the woods of Middle Earth?

And then there are the children as young as nine who can chose to identify as a boy or girl or even declare themselves to be gender neutral with the full backing of parents.

Which leaves me in something of a quandary. If a nine-year old is mature enough to understand the choice they are making about their gender how is that Shamina Begum, the ISIS girl, did not know what she was doing when she went to Syria aged 15 with two friends?

Just asking.

Is medical i.d. company a Ryanair subsidiary?

Although I am disinclined to divulge my entire medical history I happily share with you the fact that I am allergic to wasp stings. The first couple of times I was stung, over a ten year period, I simply felt a bit odd and the area where the wasp hit the target was swollen.

The third time I was stung, more than 20 years ago, was during a round of golf when I was hacking about in the bushes looking for my ball, as is my want. Thirty minutes later I was in A&E at West Suffolk Hospital.

My GP subsequently prescribed an Epipen, which could prove a life-saver should I be stung in future and anaphylaxis develops.

I take the Epipen everywhere with me (well, I do forget it sometimes) and have a medical wristband to alert people that the stumbling pensioner they see before their eyes is not drunk but has been stung.

These bands don’t last for ever and, with a foreign holiday approaching, I thought it prudent to buy a replacement.

The one I chose from an online specialist was £14.99. Not too bad. But if I wanted it engraved with what I consider to be pretty crucial information such as name, allergy etc. that was an extra £5. And if I wanted it posted to me (doh!) that was another £4.

Meaning my £14.99 band cost £23.99. I purchased it but it did leave me wondering whether the supplier is a Ryanair subsidiary. Hidden costs or what?

Dumped fridge leaves me cold

It is a year since Norfolk residents started paying to leave their DIY waste at the county’s tips.

Although we live in Suffolk, our nearest recycling/waste site is over the border in Norfolk so we visit that. No passport required, by the way.

General “rubbish” can be taken for free but the site charges from £3 per item or 80 litre bag (?) for rubble or timber, £4 per tyre and £5 for flat glass and £9 for plasterboard.

Taken individually, the costs don’t seem too bad. But you will have to have deep pockets if you are having a REAL tidy up at home.

If you want the local council to collect a bulkier item, it charges £32 for up to five items and any additional items are then charged a further £3 each.

All this means that if you have one small fridge the council will charge you £32 to take it away.

Now it may be coincidence but both SWMBO and I have noticed an increase in fly-tipping in our area over the last year. Bags of rubble, cardboard and even the odd fridge dumped in the hedgerows along the minor roads near us.

The bonkers thing about all the fly-tipped material is the fridge. One assumes the owner did not want to pay the £32 it would cost for the council to take it away. One also assumes it was dumped from a car.

Which begs the question – why not drive five or six miles further and dispose of the fridge free of charge at the local “dump”?