Sexting.......and Snowy ( or is that Soay) Sheep

A year or so ago a girl I know only vaguely mentioned to me in passing that her part time boyfriend had "sext" her.
I had no idea what she was talking about and said so. So you could imagine my surprise when she showed me the said "sext" which turned out to be a most unattractive piece of his anatomy.
Yesterday, as I was baking, I listened to a sobering talk show on LBC  radio. The presenter, James O'Brien, was discussing the subject of sexting and concentrated his discussion with parents who have had first hand experience of their children's " sexting" behaviour.
I found the whole programme, riveting, shocking and terribly depressing as caller after caller shared their stories where children, some as young as eleven and twelve , had been caught sharing intimate photographs of themselves.
According to one 18 year old girl who rang the station, the practice was commonplace, with photos being bandied around the Internet when teenage love affairs broke up, as they invariably do.
Sexting, I thought, was perhaps a silly joke between adults.
I had no idea, it was a phenomen well known to school children.

The young girl who rang LBC had a good head on her shoulders for she complained that with Blackberry technology, the multitude of apps that are freely available and access to 24 hour Internet, children of all ages are bombarded constantly with sexual imagery.
Its become a norm in their fast, gadget filled young lives.

I was reminded of those child soldiers in Rwanda. Children not yet into double figures, that were " conscripted" into killing gangs as deadly and as cold blooded as any mercenary task force. These  children saw death and cruely everyday as a norm, and subsequently grew up to be twisted, cold and empty individuals.
Our children are growing up desensitised too, desensitised to porn
The imagery of sexual behaviour is everywhere.....and children now are sexualised as a result.....

Technology is a wonderful thing eh?

Anyhow I will leave you with a more positive change of subject, for Irene and Sylvia the Soay Ewes are back to their normal inquisitive and bouncy selves.

I have been worried about them when the snow really came down last Friday, for they took  themselves away to sit quietly in the shelter of the hawthorn. I took them pellets, water and hay, all of which seemed to be left untouched, as all they wanted to do was to " sit out" the snow in a rather passive and " fed up" way.

Gentleman farmer Ralph, who had been effectively snowed in up the lane for days,told me this behaviour was typical of mountain sheep......they don't like things too easy......

It's heartbreaking to hear that thousands of animals in the Welsh hills, Scottish highlands and in Ireland and the Isle of Man have been killed sheltering in a similar way from the elements.....

At least in my small corner of the world....my two girls are safe and sound