Dev Card: Yeah, I really think that

 I've pulled a Dev Card tonight because I don't want to write about the following: 

• The stupid hot weather
• Crazy American politics
• The fact that both Men at Work and The Hoodoo Gurus have told right-wing political parties to not use their songs. To paraphrase the words of Greg Hay, Men at Work's lead singer, "Go write your own bloody song, our song is about inclusivity and dignity and joy - you and your mob show none of this." Yay. 
• Or going swimming after work tonight. Did a kilometre of breaststroke in Jay's pool. Loved it. Brilliant way to get in some exercise on a horribly hot day. m

Anyway, my prompt card reads the following: 

If you don't mind me asking...

I don't mean to intrude...

To be honest...

Don't take this the wrong way...

With all due respect...

With prompts like this, I'll probably end up talking about American Politics, swimming, stupid hot weather or 80's music, 

So here we go. 

If you don't mind me asking, what the hell happened to you? 

I'm naturally curious about people and I genuinely want to know what happened to your foot, how did you get that scar, what's that scowl about... and I will ask. I do have a filter, but if I use it, I'm jumping around inside to hear your story. I do get that not everybody wants to tell it though. 

I don't mean to intrude... but are you okay?

I remember the last time I used this phrase, which was a few years ago. My downstairs neighbours were having a huge, verbal fight which sounded like it could be getting physical. I'm not one to start thumping on the door, but I did keep my ear out on the staircase, just in case. 

Once the shouting had stopped, and giving it half an hour or so, I sent a text to my neighbour, gently asking if she was okay. I didn't want to intrude, but I was concerned for her safety. She was embarrassed but said that the fight was over and she was safe and apologised for disturbing the peace. I told her I was just concerned for her and if she needed anything, to get in contact. 

I hadn't thought about that until I got in touch with her the other week. There was some mail I wanted to send on. She said that they'd now separated. She couldn't take the violence. She got custody of the cats. 

I'm just glad she's out of that situation. Never really liked her husband, if I'm honest. 

To be honest.... How the fuck does anybody actually want to vote for Pauline Hanson? Seriously. Why can't she crawl back under the rock from which she came? 

Don't take this the wrong way... but I really don't want to hear about your time at the tennis. I know it makes you happy, and I'm glad about this, but tennis bores the tits off me. Utterly pointless game. I'll go make a cup of tea while you talk about it. 

With all due respect... if you don't get why I believe that we should change the date of Australia Day, whilst shoving your opinion down my throat, we should think about why we are friends. 

Today's song: