Its Monday morning 11am, I am sat in the sofa facing the rest of my sister and brother in law’s little cosy house. My sister Fiona is showing me some arts and crafts stuff she has made with her friends, she is expecting her second son any day now so she is going through everything, nesting, she is looking beautiful, I try and show her the most attention I can as she seems so excited about all these things she had forgotten about. I am writing my thoughts…
 It’s a Glorious winters day. My two-year-old nephew Stephen is playing with a train (A toy one, not a real one of course!) next to me, he is quite noisy but I don’t mind it, I like it even, I reach out to touch his face from time to time, his cheeks are so soft, he is still so little… The sun is shinning into the house from the street, it is gently heating the side of my face and my neck… its so peaceful, no cars in the street, no noise except for my nephew playing, Toad the wet sprocket is playing in the background (That’s a band)… Its all so peaceful, yet, so many things are going through my mind…    Alexis (Fiona’s husband) introduced me to their shotgun the other day; he showed me how to aim it, to unlock it and said that even if your aim wasn’t good you could still blow someone’s head off… (Oh good, I was concerned about that!) It is like a big hunting gun, I tried to keep the expression of shock on my face concealed and just looked at it and listened as if he was telling me about how to grow cress. Fiona and Alexis got burgled last month, the man who stole from them was arrested and has been before for shooting (at people) and aggressive behaviour, so they feel safer with a gun around. I think my acting was a bit rubbish as my sister then insisted on making me feel better about it by telling me that everyone they know owns a gun and it’s quite normal, well that’s made me feel much better! (Hello!?) We went for dinner at one of their friends houses the other day and they own Smith and Wesson 9mm, my brother had one like that, except it was a BB gun, he used to shoot us in the legs if we came near to his room, mine was next door to his so you can imagine the state of my legs! Anyway, every body here has a gun, its normal! Its not so much the fact that my sister and her hubby have a shot gun behind their bed that is taller than their son that preoccupies me, it’s the fact that its normal, and to be honest, I don’t blame them for having one, you do feel safer, because you know that that is what people use, that is what people have…   I am now listening to Mozart, as his awesome music fills the room, I am looking at a little baby phone (a video one) watching my nephew sleep, my sister has gone for a nap too, he looks so sweet. The neighbourhood we are in Atlanta Georgia is quite rough, they have shootings all the time, you wouldn’t think so, its so peaceful, Fiona told me people drive by and shoot at each other, but its ok, because Stephen’s baby room is at the back of the house so the bullets can’t reach him, and my sister and Alexis’s room is facing the road, but its ok still because their house is on a bit of a hill… so the bullets shouldn’t reach them… Oh God, please protect them!! Did I tell you this is the Bible Belt?! Having grown up in a really nice area in Belgium and living in London, which I think is really safe; you’ve got to use your head of course! It is really hard to see my family here, but my point is: What is the world coming to? Where it is not only the baddies who have guns but the goodies are made to have one too to protect themselves! I think making guns legal must have been the stupidest thing ever since slavery! I know lots of good stuff came from America, like Coca-cola and… ehm… Starbucks! But the system here seems really messed up, if you don’t have money, you are nowhere, you don’t have much choice of where you can live, raise your kids, medical insurance is so expensive. I was wondering why people walk on the road and why no one fixes their pavements, the explanation for this hood is that if your pavement is clean, then the prostitutes come and “work” in front of your house and no one can do anything about it, but if it is messy they have to stand on the road and then, and then only can they get arrested for being on the street! I guess all these things become quite “normal” after a while, even though I know that if Fiona and Alexis had a choice they would move area tomorrow! I think we aught to be thankful that our government isn’t as a mess as it is here and that London is a pretty safe (As in cool and not too dangerous) place to be, also, the police and government are studying the gun crime in the States and working out its different stages of development to be able to nip it in the butt before it gets bad in the UK. I am not really sure what this blog was about, but if you are not assleep yet then, well, I just thought I would write down my thoughts, my nephew has now woken up, so I am going to go pick him up and give him the biggest hug ever!!!   God bless you xx     

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