My apologies for not writing a blog last week; I’m sure you were all devastated. Last week, the Old Boy, the Wonder Dog and I went to the coast for a little holiday. (May I just say that, unless you have a divine view of the ocean -which we didn’t – going to the coast in the middle of winter can be a bit of a bust. We spent most of the time huddled indoors, trying to keep warm.)

After the last few weeks, watching the tide of popular opinion sweeping over the pages of Face Book, I believe there’s something I need to say and I’m counting on all of my wonderful readers to spread the good word. Here it is: Everyone, lighten the hell up!

For goodness sake, people, what happened to your sense of humour? What happened to the wisdom of: Be slow to anger and be quick to forgive? What happened to: Walking a mile in someone else’s shoes? What happened to: Whatever you do, don’t be a dick?

Someone has a little fun releasing a meme that Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy are getting a divorce. All heck breaks loose. ‘Divorce is no laughing matter.’  ‘This could shove people into the black hole of psychic trauma.’ ‘People’s feelings are involved!’ Can we all take a deep breath, take a step back and remember: They’re puppets! 

Some people have been posting pictures and comments about the killing of Cecil the lion. For them, it’s not just the death of one lion but the issue it represents: hunting for sport. They have every right to say their piece (and on the whole I agree with them), although I think calling for the death of the dentist is going too far. After all, if killing is wrong for a lion, it’s also wrong for a human being. But, some of those people have been inundated with nasty, abusive comments that suggest the fans of Cecil don’t care about the deaths of thousands of babies through abortion, or starvation, or war, or whatever. Listen, one cause doesn’t cancel another. Most people are capable of caring about more than one issue. For goodness sake, lighten the hell up!

I saw a post the other day in which a woman said she didn’t give her dogs Pedigree dog meat because it’s Halal and her dogs aren’t Muslim. I kid you not. This is laughable on so many levels. 1. Pedigree dog meat isn’t Halal. 2. Most Muslims believe dogs are unclean and therefore don’t have them as pets. 3. This is the first time I’d realised that animals have religion! I must ask the Wonder Dog what sort he is. I’d hate it if he was Jewish and I’d been insulting him by slipping him the occasional piece of bacon. (Although, I doubt he is because he has no hesitation gulping the stuff down.)

What the heck is wrong with everyone? Halal is just like Kosher. It means it complies with their dietary laws. I only complained once about Halal and that was in relation to Easter eggs. I have the same issue with Easter eggs being Kosher. Why? Because neither of those religions celebrate Easter, so why does it need such classification? I now wish I’d kept my mouth shut because I keep getting all these nasty, anti-Muslim, anti-Halal messages on my FB page. I should have lightened the hell up.

Please, for the sake of sanity, and for the cause of world peace, could we all think before we share a post that seems witty but, ultimately, is unkind? Could we check our facts before leaping to ridiculous conclusions? Could we all, please, try to be just a little kinder? And, last but not least, could we all just lighten the hell up?

On a sombre note: Mrs Golden Orb has gone to her heavenly reward, through natural causes. She was a good old gal who did her best for her offspring. When, in a rash murderous moment, the Old Boy played Herod with her golden sac of babies, she produced not one replacement, but two. Once you know that these spiders usually only produce one lot of babies, near the end of their short glorious lives, you will realise what an amazing female Mrs Orb was. I don’t think either of the replacement sacs will hatch but we’ll keep watch for a while, just in case. RIP Mrs Orb. It was a delight getting to know you.