Copyright © Louise Bostock 2007-2013. Please give credit where credit is due.

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Cry for help

One degree at 10am in Cannobio today. Overcast.


Help me, someone, please oh please help me! 

I think I'm descending into madness. It's the voices.. The voices going round and round in my head... Voices from my past. Sometimes I think I recognise them... Baloo the Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, Zsa-Zsa Gabor - no wait - it sounds like Zsa-Zsa, but in some Twilight Zone reality shift it's not... 

Sometimes I can almost see them in my mind, but as soon as they take shape they disintegrate into something else. Winnie becomes a talking mouse and the mouse becomes Sherlock Holmes. The black bear turns brown and sprouts a green surcoat and weird feathered cap then morphs into a big marmalade cat. And they prattle not only in English, but in German, Italian and French too.

When I'm sleeping, I dream insane dreams. Nightmares of a foreign country. I'm lost in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background. I'm terrified - incarcerated in a narrow, trunk-like space. I'm surrounded by cats. Cats in the attic. Cats in the basement. Cats everywhere. And there are the dogs, always the barking, snarling, biting dogs chasing me across a nightmare landscape with a ruined windmill and a tank on the horizon. I wake from these dreams, panting, bathed in sweat, panic coursing through my veins in the belief that in the night my children have been snatched from me and are even now drifting across the lake in a Moses basket.

But the worst, the worst is the ticker-tape of incomprehensible syllables that runs over and over, over and over through my throbbing skull every second of the waking day. Every second. I struggle to make sense of the words, if words they are. My failure leaves me teetering on the brink of insanity: Ay-bra-ham dee-laycey, gee-ooseppi-cay-see, tom-ass-oma-lee, oma-lee-the-a-lee-cat!





Will the person who gave my children The Aristocats for Christmas please raise your hand? Let me tell you, it's the most addictive Disney cartoon ever made and you owe me for the Prozac!

7 comments:

Catching the Magic said...

I saw your post in my Google Reader and was genuinely concerned for a moment! I haven't seen that movie - do I dare?!!!

Louise | Italy said...

Its addictive properties seem to have an effect on children more than adults, but even hearing the soundtrack in the background as you do the washing up can be dangerous to your mental health...

Karin said...

Thanks for the heads-up, lol!

chrysalis said...

Fantastic bit of descriptive writing - it carried me along with you!

Vanessa said...

Now let me see if I can interpret your dreams...Phil Harris voiced Baloo, Thomas O'malley, and Little John in Disney's Robin Hood. It was Eva Gabor, not Zsa-Zsa, who did the voice for Duchess. The guy who did the mouse in the deer-stalker also did Winnie-the-Poo. Oh, yes, and the music was by the Sherman brothers...10/10?

Colleen said...

We are soulmates! Oh my goodness, I seriously never thought anyone else would understand. My 18 month old son HAS to watch Aristocats and ONLY Aristocats every day. At first I thought "how cute" but ow I almost cry. And I also sing that song...terrible, terrible, terrible. But such a relief to know I'm not the only one.:)

Christmas-etc... said...

One of our nicknames for Edward is , "Mr. Thomas O'Malley cat!" Love this movie!
Ann

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Cry for help

One degree at 10am in Cannobio today. Overcast.


Help me, someone, please oh please help me! 

I think I'm descending into madness. It's the voices.. The voices going round and round in my head... Voices from my past. Sometimes I think I recognise them... Baloo the Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, Zsa-Zsa Gabor - no wait - it sounds like Zsa-Zsa, but in some Twilight Zone reality shift it's not... 

Sometimes I can almost see them in my mind, but as soon as they take shape they disintegrate into something else. Winnie becomes a talking mouse and the mouse becomes Sherlock Holmes. The black bear turns brown and sprouts a green surcoat and weird feathered cap then morphs into a big marmalade cat. And they prattle not only in English, but in German, Italian and French too.

When I'm sleeping, I dream insane dreams. Nightmares of a foreign country. I'm lost in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background. I'm terrified - incarcerated in a narrow, trunk-like space. I'm surrounded by cats. Cats in the attic. Cats in the basement. Cats everywhere. And there are the dogs, always the barking, snarling, biting dogs chasing me across a nightmare landscape with a ruined windmill and a tank on the horizon. I wake from these dreams, panting, bathed in sweat, panic coursing through my veins in the belief that in the night my children have been snatched from me and are even now drifting across the lake in a Moses basket.

But the worst, the worst is the ticker-tape of incomprehensible syllables that runs over and over, over and over through my throbbing skull every second of the waking day. Every second. I struggle to make sense of the words, if words they are. My failure leaves me teetering on the brink of insanity: Ay-bra-ham dee-laycey, gee-ooseppi-cay-see, tom-ass-oma-lee, oma-lee-the-a-lee-cat!





Will the person who gave my children The Aristocats for Christmas please raise your hand? Let me tell you, it's the most addictive Disney cartoon ever made and you owe me for the Prozac!

7 comments:

Catching the Magic said...

I saw your post in my Google Reader and was genuinely concerned for a moment! I haven't seen that movie - do I dare?!!!

Louise | Italy said...

Its addictive properties seem to have an effect on children more than adults, but even hearing the soundtrack in the background as you do the washing up can be dangerous to your mental health...

Karin said...

Thanks for the heads-up, lol!

chrysalis said...

Fantastic bit of descriptive writing - it carried me along with you!

Vanessa said...

Now let me see if I can interpret your dreams...Phil Harris voiced Baloo, Thomas O'malley, and Little John in Disney's Robin Hood. It was Eva Gabor, not Zsa-Zsa, who did the voice for Duchess. The guy who did the mouse in the deer-stalker also did Winnie-the-Poo. Oh, yes, and the music was by the Sherman brothers...10/10?

Colleen said...

We are soulmates! Oh my goodness, I seriously never thought anyone else would understand. My 18 month old son HAS to watch Aristocats and ONLY Aristocats every day. At first I thought "how cute" but ow I almost cry. And I also sing that song...terrible, terrible, terrible. But such a relief to know I'm not the only one.:)

Christmas-etc... said...

One of our nicknames for Edward is , "Mr. Thomas O'Malley cat!" Love this movie!
Ann