Making Sense of It All

To be honest, I'm not sure I can.  You got any ideas?  The land over the water has been taken over by a fascist tangerine. Purple meanies are running amok here.  It's like the 70's has turned up, bringing its casual -isms with it and signs saying, "No blacks, no dogs and no Irish" and declared them acceptable forms of expression again.   (They're not.  Never were.  Never shall be).  

Read and Talk About Stuff

Not just the headlines, but the text of the article to see who is saying and doing what.  Read from a variety of sources to get different opinions.  Talk about things with others.  To quote Dumbledore, which I'll be doing quite a bit today as the annual Harry Potter-a-thon has just finished: "Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts open".  Try not to end up in a bubble of like minded people.  It makes for lazy discussions, flabby arguments and horrible surprises when people you like disagree with you.

Being charming and likeable and having reactionary opinions aren't incompatible. I know lovely people who are thrilled by the current turn of events.  It would be great if everyone with diferent views was a complete arse-biscuit and everyone who agreed with us was utterly delightful, but that's not the case.  The Lord decided to mess with our heads with that one.  Probably for our own good. Being able to disagree whilst remaining on good terms with someone is an important life skill.  As is knowing when to keep quiet because it's just not worth it.

Act

Find something you can do - write to your MP, sign and circulate a petition, wave a placard at a rally, volunteer to help at a food bank etc.  Even small things like smiling at people or giving up your seat to someone who needs it make a difference.  Doing something practical or kind makes you feel more powerful.  I hesitate to write, take back control, but ... Thanks for ruining that expression for ever Vote Leave.   Support and encourage others in what they're doing.

John's gospel says:  "The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out."  

Dumbledore says similar:  "The important is to fight and fight again, for only can evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated".  And:  "Dark times lie ahead of us and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right". Ouch!

Laugh

In Harry Potter, a boggart manifests as your worst fear. The only way to defeat it was to laugh at it. Fight back with love and laughter.  Dumbledore:  "Happiness can be found in the darkest times, if only one remembers to turn on the light". 

Switch Off

When it gets too much, switch off, change the subject and do whatever it takes to make yourself and others feel better.  This enables you to fight the good fight another day.

Fingers crossed for a few days of calm, hey?!

My Day In Numbers

In Discworld, Terry Pratchett gave the Trolls a numeral system of their own, based on powers of 4.  The base numerals are one (1), two (2), three (3), many (4) and lots (16).  These can be combined to form higher numbers. When combined, each numeral's value is added to those of the others, with higher-valued numerals taking priority over lower-valued ones, so 20 is written "lots many" rather than "many many many many many".

Here is my day in numbers.  Using troll counting ...

1 day at work

2 cups of coffee.  1 in the morning and the other in the afternoon with my coffee buddy, S.

3 chapters of my book.  (Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier).

Many projects and too many meetings.

Lots of love and joy at finally getting home to be with the Tubblet and the Rev T.

Many, many pieces of ironing.

I ran out of numbers counting the times I looked at the news and thought, "Flipping heck ..." *  Already!  And it's only February ... 

What has your day looked like?  Let me know in the comments

* Or words to that effect ...

The Cruelty-Free Beauty Stash. Saying No to Animal Testing One Lipstick at a Time

I love animals and always believed they shouldn't suffer for my vanity.  When cosmetic testing on animals was outlawed, I rejoiced and mentally added a few more companies onto my "okay to buy from list". Then I didn't give the issue any more thought.  With hindsight, this was naivete of me. Turns out there's cruelty-free and "cruelty-free".  

Properly Cruelty-Free

Anything with a logo from an accreditation scheme, like Leaping Bunny.  Other brands aren't accredited, but state bluntly:  "At Soap & Glory, we absolutely do not test our formulations on animals, however we can’t say that each and every ingredient that goes into them has not, at some point historically, been cleared for human use, by animal testing".

Even then it's complicated.  Companies with impeccable cruelty-free credentials have parent companies with less impressive ones.  Some people won't buy from these companies, but I do. Buying only from the cruelty-free subsidiary, but not others in the same group, tells the parent that consumers value cruelty-free.  Helping ensure the subsidiary stays cruelty-free.

Not Really Cruelty-Free

Other companies have more ambiguous statements: "We do not test our products on animals nor do we permit others to do so except where it is required by law".  The statement in bold italics shows animal testing is going on somewhere.  For some, animal testing is "business as usual" and part of their research and development processes.  For others, the desire to access the lucrative Chinese market has turned previously proudly cruelty-free companies into animal testers.  All imported cosmetics sold from a physical storefront must be tested on animals. Paula's Choice has information on Chinese animal testing laws. Cruelty Free Kitty adds additional details.  Both have brand lists.  It was the selling into China that caught me out.  

What Am I Going To Do About It?

In the future, I'm only buying cruelty-free.  It's a good excuse for a tidy, a refresh and using things up - Project Pan!  

There are excellent cruelty-free alternatives for most things.  Apart from perfume.  That's been a bit of a challenge.  My favourite perfumes are now off limits, but the only high end perfume that's cruelty free is Stella. Which I don't like.  Fortunately Gorilla Perfumes at Lush filled the gap with Sikkim Girls.  Good to see they've moved on from the Cosmetics to Go days when you could have whatever you liked provided you liked patchouli.

What Do I Expect You To Do About It?

Whatever you feel is best.  Everyone chooses their issues and this may not be one of yours.  But worth a thought maybe?  Mentioning it on the blog will help keep me honest and avoid temptation.

Hope you all had a great half-term.  We saw family and I'll post about the Moomin's at the Southbank when I've picked through the photos.

Wolf

The Tubblet is now a published poet.  A poem she wrote for a school competition won a prize and was included in a book alongside other winners.  In a shameless, proud mother moment, I'm sharing:

Michael LaRosa

Wolf

Wonderful creatures
Over they leap and through the snow
Long sharp teeth cut through their pray
From the hands of God these creatures were made

Hope you enjoyed the poem.  What have you or your loved ones done to make you feel proud?

Good luck with half term everyone!  See you on the other side ...We're spending time with family as we've got relatives over from America.  The Tubblet and I are sneaking off to the Moomin exhibtion at the South Bank Centre.  Hopefully they'll let us take some photos I can share.  Whatever you're doing, have fun.

Thin Places

Some locations are what Celtic Christians described as "Thin Places".  Somewhere we get a sense of something else.  Wonderful but bigger, more powerful and completely outside ourselves. It could be God, it could just be a sense of how amazing, marvellous and beautiful the universe is.  An opportunity to step outside yourself and just be.  Celtic Christians believed that Heaven and Earth are only three feet apart, but in thin places, the distance between the two is even closer.  Or nonexistent.

Anywhere can be someone's thin place.  For Rev T's cousin, L, it's South Africa.  She loves the culture, the people, the landscapes.  A trip there makes her feel more like herself and at one with the world.

For me, it's Cape Cod ... The scenery is beautiful and there's something about light on a lake or the sea ... 

And churches.  Particularly old ones.  Knowing that people have prayed and worshiped in these spaces reminds me that God's there.

Then there's not so thin places where you can grab some precious moments of peace and quiet.

A coffee shop ... Independents rather than the big chains.  Drinking a decent coffee whilst either setting the world to rights with a friend or watching the world go by in between reading my book.  A little piece of quiet in a very busy world ...

For many parents, it may be the toilet.  It has a lockable door to keep people out.  At work, it's the one place where my manager cannot go.  

What are your thin or not so thin places places?  Let me know in the comments.

A Coffee for Galentine's Day

According to Metro, Rob Lowe recently advertised for a PA.  The successful applicant would have, among other things, a talent for making coffee.  And provide that good coffee to Lowe throughout his day.  The star's spokesman played down the ad, but confirmed, "... that coffee is his number one priority in life".  (I'm sure his family must have been delighted by that!)

Coffee isn't my number one priority in life but it does enable me to wash, dress myself and get through the day using my adult manners.  But not rule the world sadly.  It's an opportunity to slow down and recharge.  

I love watching coffee made.  Either the waiting for the water to boil, then pouring it over the coffee in the cafetiere and waiting for coffee to infuse before pouring it into a cup and adding milk and sugar.  Or watching the barista forth the milk, bang the jug and then pour it into the cup and make a pattern with the milk and coffee.  

I don't go a single day without a cup of coffee. It's even better, like most things, shared with others.

Galentines day, aka the day before Valentine's day, was popularised by the TV show Parks and Recreation.  It's a day to appreciate all your best friends, tell them why you love them and perhaps go and do something nice together.  Not everyone has a Valentine, but (hopefully) everyone has a close friend.  Whilst I'm not sure what I'll do on the actual day yet, you're welcome to join me for a for a virtual coffee ... Or a tea ... Or a hot chocolate ... And a cake.  With chocolate and sprinkles.  Enjoy!

Are you celebrating Galetine's Day this year?  Let me know in the comments.

[This is a collaborative post with Eventbrite, but all the views are my own and Rev T bought me the coffee and cake.  If you're holding a Galetine's Day event with lots of friends and want to be super organised, you can use this tool to post. promote and track your event].

Smallfilms

Readers of a certain age may remember when children's TV consisted of Watch With Mother on the BBC after the lunchtime news or Rainbow etc on the other side.  Then there would be an afternoon film or two that lasted until school finished.  When the TV was ours again!  Until 5:40pm when the evening news started.  

Five minutes before the news, there was a short cartoon  There was Ludwig, a magical gemstone that lived in a forest.  Willo the Wisp, a blue floating creature.  The Magic Roundabout  and The Wombles ...  (I'll stop now)

Smallfilms was the name given to the partnership of Oliver Postgate (writer, animator and narrator) and Peter Firmin (modelmaker and illustrator).  They made television programmes for children from 1959 to the 1980s.  

The Clangers, the adventures of a family of mice-like creatures who lived on a small, blue planet with their friends the Soup Dragon and the Froglets.  

Bagpuss, "A saggy, old cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams" belonging to Emily.  

They were shared with the Tubblet when she was small.  There's something special about passing a piece of your childhood onto the next generation.  But not without risk.  They may hate it.  Fortunately, the Tubblet didn't.  (I'm not big on parenting advice, but if you think them not liking it will really upset you, it might be better to leave well alone).

The V&A Museum of Childhood had a tiny exhibition of props from Smallfilms a few months ago so off we went.  

The Museum is absolutely fascinating.  It has children's toys and clothes from all centuries.  You're bound to recognise something you played with or wore.  It's a great conversation starter.  Yes, I did wear a purple cord dresses with a floral pattern purchased from Tammy Girl. With blue plastic shoes and lacy tights.  I thought I looked marvellous.  It was the 70's.  (Enough said).  

Hope you enjoy the photos:

What were your favourite TV programmes when you were growing up?  What childhood things have you passed along?