Food glorious food!

"Tim Bisley: Oh my God. Daisy Steiner: What? Tim Bisley: I've got some fucking Jaffa Cakes in my coat pocket." - Spaced 1999

Food truly is glorious, unless it is hot sausage and mustard, because mustard is grim and yellow and clearly not a food. *watches only reader leave*. Whether you are a foodie or a faddie, a gourmet or a junk addict, food plays a pivotal role in our lives and in our world. We spend about 6 years of our life span eating and if you are me the other 64+ years thinking about food. It is estimated that a third of the food produced globally per year goes to waste.

So how come we are seemingly so clueless about how we fuel our bodies. Presumably we didn't develop from being knuckle draggers whilst abusing our digestive systems? We seem incapable of listening to what our bodies tell us. There is too much noise these days, too much choice, to much marketing, to much packaging, to much information, too much stuff that isn't food.

Of course we should be able to stand up for ourselves, but when bad food is made to be as addictive as possible and you can't exactly go cold turkey, it is a hard battle. Never-the-less I strongly feel that people give up too easily, food isn't just about energy it is about so much more. Listen to your body you'll be surprised what you hear.

*feed me jaffa cakes*

Scared of who you are.

“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower

Sometimes being white, middle class, and from the home counties can be scary. Not in a fear for you life way, not as in how am I going to survive tomorrow kind of way, but never-the-less scary. Lets not forget that as with most things of this nature, the essence of fear is relative.

Being who I am and where I am from with my lifestyle and upbringing makes me hated. It makes me a target for a lot of vitriol. In that sense I feel a strange kinship with those who seem are very far removed from me, but who are the target of the vitriol of the flip side of the same coin, so called benefit scrounging scum.

Privately educated, you are clearly up your own arse, with a sense of entitlement the size of Jupiter  Comfortably off, clearly you are tax cheating, thieving, scum who hides white collar, unspecified crimes under a layer of Prada and Channel. From the home counties, clearly you having everything and more and would rather kick a tramp than consider "giving back". Goodness forbid that you try and express and opinion, that you try and share your experiences, no-one can hear you because of the silver spoon in your mouth.

Maybe everyone who is shouting, be it about benefit cheats or toffee nosed rich kids, should just stop for a minute and consider the human beings behind the stereotype. Maybe if instead of relying of caricatures we should be thinking about how to turn people towards one another instead of away. Maybe we should look at the stories, not the generalizations.

But then I am spoilt little rich kid, so I am not entitled to an opinion.

Stirrings in the darkness

"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips it's turn." - Hal Borland

It is that time of year where people think me odder than usual. People sit in there houses seeing only the orange glow of street light or the raindrops running down the panes. They rush from warmth to warmth, hoods and hat pulled low, scarves up to their eyelashes. They shiver as the wind blows and wonder what fright the weather man had in store next. 

Do you know what I saw today? Driving home well after 4pm the trees though stark, were still strikingly silhouetted against a grey, but not yet dark sky. I saw a shade of green that I haven't seen for a good eight months. I saw birds scavenging the garden, the last of the winter berries having been consumed, but new offerings are starting to arrive. I even saw a  tiny splash of yellow, like a scouting party for what is to come. 

If you look closely it is the time of year for seeing tidings of spring. 

It's a miracle!......No it's a figment of your imagination. - 11th January 2013

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ― Albert Einstein

Tut tut tut, late again! I should have guessed the lure of the pub would mean I'd need a miracle to post before the turn of the day, but I haven't been to bed so it still counts.

Miracles have been a theme this week. I have been hoping for a few, the fact I got out of bed most days was one. We also discussed miracles of sorts at college, well we considered the miracle question, the question essentially being, "If you woke up tomorrow and found you had the power to alter the way you live easily so that your biggest concern was dealt with, what would that mean and what would life be like?"

Sounds easy, I'd wake up rich, I'd wake up smarter, I'd wake up healthier. It isn't though, the question wants you to look at what you could change in your life which would make the most difference, to know that we have to really know ourselves and know what we want. I wonder how many of us really know what it is that we could change to make ourselves happier, safer, more comfortable in our own little universes. I wonder how often the answer would surprise us, or be far removed from what we thought or feel we can control.

Sure I would love to wake up tomorrow morning and have won the lottery, but would it have fixed the fact that I don't really know where I want my life to go? Would the security of no financial worries really help me to sit down and write in a disciplined way? I doubt it, it would probably just give me infinitely more possibilities when I am looking for ways to procrastinate.

It is an interesting conundrum and I can't help but wonder whether if we gave more time to consider it, if we wouldn't find that what we are looking for is a lot closer than we might have though.

Radio Ga Ga

"With a bit of a mind flip, you're there in the time slip" - The Rocky Horror Picture Show

I have finally wrenched myself out of the incorrect listening frequency for my demographic and placed myself firmly in another one, where yet again I don't belong. Actually I say that, for the first time in my radio listening life I am now a two station gal. Six Music and Radio Four share my bestowed grace of tuning in. Though Radio Four is my true love. It does't seem to be able to help but appeal to my inner vintage geeky goddess (god I sound cool on paper....when I am writing.... never mind). The simple fact that they stop broadcasting at 1am, this being preceded by the shipping bulletin and proceeded by the national anthem brings me out in goosebumps of joy. It is amazing, it is like being instantly transported back to the 1950's. Bliss.

Who could not love listening to the home of the Infinite Monkey Cage? Where else do you get an eclectic mix of, an expose on the myth of genie's, half hour of a math's bloke and stats making sense, James Naughtie actually calling the ex-Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt what we all call him, but live on national radio, and of course where else could you possible get the deep unfathomable, but strangely gripping Archers? Tum ti tum ti tum ti tum.

Hmm I actually think that might be more nonsensical than last night. It's getting towards the end of the week though and I am seriously sleep deprived. Expect normal service to resume........who am I kidding.

It's about to get weirder

"You're traveling through another dimension........ Your next stop...the Twilight Zone."—Rod Serling

Welcome, it's late and I've had a long day.......consider yourself warned. I am currently sat in bed duel screening and munching wafer biscuits. I have been to the gym and the endorphin's are flowing. Expect nonsense and limited punctuation. 

Sometimes the way I approach thing exasperates even me. I hate waiting, really hate it. I think it is because once I have made a decision I want whatever I have chosen, now. I need to know if I was right, what the next step is, exactly how things are going to work. I am a kinesthetic learner, (yes, I did just do that to use a long word) I learn by doing. Sure I might be able to grasp the concepts by watching or listening, but unless I have got hands on, down and dirty, I can't be sure if I understand. 

I guess that is probably my dyslexia, I often wonder how much of the way I am is just every day weirdness and how much of it is my kinked up brain. My Dad is just as weird as I am, if not more so. I am fairly sure he is a bit spectrumy as well. That's not PC is it,......is it OK if you say it in reference to yourself and others? Bah your are all geeky creatures you know what I mean. 

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation about being clinically thick dyslexic. Someone shared that it is something they keep to themselves, that they worry about, that they think they hide. Which is something I find hugely alien. My darling parentals, dear old Mum and Dad, are as nuts as a welly full of bats, they are truly wonderful, but boy did they land me with some baggage. Not however when it comes to my dyslexia. As far as my parents are concerned the yes dyslexia explains why my brother and I can't spell,and why my brother writes in the most difficult way possible, but also gives us so much that other folk don't have. Sure my brother and I joke about being clinically thick, but really we see ourselves as having something special, something that makes us different from you normos. In our house it really is the gift of dyslexia. 

To be honest most of the time I don't think about it. The only time I do consider it is when I am communicating in writing and then the thought is, I hope they don't get so caught up on my spelling and punctuation that they miss seeing me *waves*. Not that I am anything special, but I am a whole lot more than my inability to work out where the u goes. (color, coulor, colour, cuouluour?) I'm a bit odd, several shades of special, but there a some folks out there who like, or at the least tolerate that sort of thing. 

I guess all of this really begs the question, if dyslexia can be viewed so differently by two people who suffer/enjoy it. What other "disorders" might we need to reconsider. It is the age old question, is it the mad man who is really mad? 

Cat got your tongue?

"Those who speak the loudest often have nothing to say." - Unknown

I'll be honest my lovelies I honestly don't know what to say today. The cat has well and truly got my tongue  My brain on the other hand is buzzing. Busy day at work, meetings, tasks, lunch with friends. Busy evening at college, lots of new information, and lots of self reflection as is the nature of the beast.* To be honest I would love to say I worried about the fact that my offering tonight is terribly sub-standard, but frankly I'm too tired.

On that note I will love you and head to bed. Please feel free to take wagers on whether or not I manage to sleep. Na Night.

*Level 2 Counselling Skills