I haven’t been able to do much walking recently. Injury will do that. I used to love running and cycling, but I got a car and that was my biggest mistake. A sedentary job didn’t help either.
I tried to get into walking with a friend, that happened for a year, then I pulled a calf muscle which caused a lot of pain. For months. After that I started again. Only to hurt myself again! I literally feel like I’ve taken one step forward and two back. But I will try again, it’s cheaper than driving and better for the environment. Don’t get a car unless you have to!
I’m sad to hear of yet another mass shooting in America. I won’t say where, because every few weeks or days there are new reports of them. To pin it down to one murderous incident would emphasise it and possibly diminish previous ones.
Clearly thoughts and prayers doesn’t help. Each time something happens these trite words are uttered. As if a sticking plaster could stop a flooding river.
Guns, particularly assault rifles, are weapons of war. They destroy blood, flesh and bone. Bodies are ripped apart or badly injured. They are meant to stop an enemy, not kill a father, mother or child. Innocent people die, are buried or cremated, and often forgotten in the wake of the next mass shooting.
In the UK we have gun laws, there are very few shootings, so much so it makes the headlines for days if a shooting happens. Yes we have them, and stabbings, but you don’t get mass stabbings here either.
In March 1996, in Dunblane in Scotland, there was a mass shooting of children at a primary school there. Following the shooting the Cullen Report looked into gun ownership. Parliament bought in gun control and most guns were taken out of circulation. There have been no mass shootings since then. That’s 27 years. Yes there have been shootings with shotguns and rifles, but not like the madness in the USA.
The American constitution talks about an armed militia, the right to bare arms. Use that to change the law there. Make the guns the population can use muzzle loading flintlocks, the same as we’re used when the constitution was written.
I had cooking lessons at school, the classes were called domestic science. I learnt to make all sorts of things in those lessons. They stood me in good stead. I learnt mainly baking, from rock cakes to Victoria sponges. But also things like Danish open sandwiches.
Then as a student I learnt to throw a meal together from scraps and at a low cost. Beans of many varieties were used together with lots of garlic and herbs and tomatoes. With some oil of course.
Later I learnt to cook a good approximation of things like chicken Kiev and other staples such as spaghetti bolognase. They probably looked messy, I was renowned for using chunky vegetables instead of chopping them finely.
So give me a few ingredients and I can try and rustle something up. The important thing is I can afford to eat, many people can’t, or are in situations where they cannot get food at all. I don’t know how I ended up being so lucky, I hope it lasts.
Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?
I don’t so much have lazy days, more procrastinating ones. So in that case they are unproductive. I’m bound with the strings of fear and anxiety, hard to move. I look on and think about what I could do, but I am blocked somehow. I think I have artistic block?
Lazyness would be nice, to just sit and relax, to stop churning thoughts. Your breath settles, you snuggle in your duvet. No thoughts of ‘I must do’ this that and the other.
I love thinking, I do it a lot, my mind is rarely quiet, but I have learnt to think the word ‘the’ over and over, it breaks the train of thought so you can’t fixate on something that’s distracting you. Not lazy, but it assists me getting to sleep. X
The gap is, there like a broken tooth. Whoever got in the garden broke down the old fence and broke down branches. I’m fed up because a builder cut our hedge severely last year so he could get a digger down our alleyway. Then the local shop said they were going to put a gate across the alley for security but it hasn’t happened yet. I’m trying to get a builder in to put in some fencing, but he hasn’t responded…. Oh well. We hope our efforts work. But we won’t be storing things in the garden again.
When you go through bad times anxiety and nerves can hold you back. These emotions can make you hold your tongue, stop you going out, make you forget to write to, or email, or phone people. You put off till tomorrow and forget to do today… Eventually everything piles up and you don’t do anything, or just the bare minimum.
But I’m learning through counselling to do easy tasks first, then as they get easier and less onerous you can move on to medium difficulty tasks, and finally difficult ones. But if you have a set back, don’t give up. Start again with things you can cope with and gradually move on. Self repair, self acceptance. Be kind to yourself.
Last week I found myself laughing, I hope I can start doing more of the things I have been putting off. Hopefully…. Unless I get too stressed.
If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?
I’ve actually thought this through. I would give some to family and friends, it turns out you can gift someone £3000 without having to pay tax. But I would give more than that and gladly pay it. Then I would think of acquaintances to help. I would try and share a reasonable amount. Having done that I would buy a small house and garden, a bit bigger than mine now, but not huge. Enough to neatly fit paintings and books with a warm studio with plenty of light to paint and draw in. A natural garden with pond. It would not be too far away from family and friends. Obviously the cats come along too.
I would have to ensure I could pay all my bills each year.
Finally I would try and donate to charity… I would have to support local as well as national charities.
Mallaband-Brown 