Simplifying Life - Mark II

ceridwen

..think we've all been there Mardatha...ie we seem to know better than our doctors. I CERTAINLY have...so I know where you're coming from...

mary43

I agree with you about doctors (needless to say) though our gp this morning was very sympathetic, gave me some antibiotics for water infection, signed me off for 2 weeks no question...........he's also looking into the counselling I asked for.

Had an afternoon messing around with flowers...........lovely bouquet arrived from one of OH's rellies I'd found when doing his family tree.........she's been through similar experiences to me so sent me them to cheer me up..........goes without saying I blubbed so out came the tissues...........lol
Then one of our ex foster girls called with more flowers plus a box of water colours - relax and get painting she said.............lol Been an age since I did that and have to say I did find it theraputic and relaxing so just might have a dabble. Not very good at it but who cares............lol

Tomorrow might see me starting on complaint letter.........have it all noted down........just a case of putting it in order so I don't sound like a 'moaning minnie'...............lol

ceridwen

Oh well...like I said Mary...if you want to "run it past" me you'm welcome to....up to you...you might want to do so with people nearer to "home".

That was thoughtful - those flowers and that painting stuff..

Aril

Hello virtual friends:j
Hugs to everyone but especially to Mary.
No quote tonight as perhaps had a tad too much vino:o:o However, my main news is that having heard from the transition movement from Ceridwen originally on this thread I found out via my local freecycle cafe that our town has signed up:j:j. Went along to my first meeting last night and although at the very embryionic stages it was fabulous to meet a group of like minded souls.
We've all signed up to Earth Hour tomorrow so the small person is very overexcited at the idea of illicit reading under the covers with his wind up torch:rotfl::rotfl:
Arilxx

ceridwen

Could be p...r...e.tt..y QUIET here on MSE tonight between 8.30pm-9.30pm tonight methinks....shhhh!!!! Thinking of lights off tonight for Earth Hour then...reminds me...better give my wind-up lantern a wind-up then. That could be summat to do in unoccupied moments at eco events today...;) . got plenty of candles and my wind-up radio...

For anyone wondering what we're on about (is there anyone?):

http://www.earthhour.org/home/

and

http://www.worldwildlife.org/sites/earthhour/index.html

mardatha

dear god. every burglar on earth will be chortling and ironing his balaclava Cerdiwen !

signed--Cynical Old Bat of Tunbridge Wells.

ceridwen

Well...I'm not planning on going anywheres Mardatha during Earth Hour - other than a quick walkabout round my immediate neighborhood with my wind-up lantern - to have a looksee as to how many people might be taking part - and whether I can actually get the chance to see a night sky full of stars for once:beer: if I'm lucky...

Me - I'm planning to do this the simple way of course - I'll just throw the switch on my fusebox and everything will be off in my home in one fell swoop...

HariboJunkie

ceridwen wrote: »

Well...I'm not planning on going anywheres Mardatha during Earth Hour - other than a quick walkabout round my immediate neighborhood with my wind-up lantern - to have a looksee as to how many people might be taking part - and whether I can actually get the chance to see a night sky full of stars for once:beer: if I'm lucky...

Me - I'm planning to do this the simple way of course - I'll just throw the switch on my fusebox and everything will be off in my home in one fell swoop...

I admire your enthusiasm but what do you hope to achieve with your Wee Willie Winkie impersonation?

Are you going to report the results?

mardatha

It's always pitch dark here at night, we wont notice the difference. But apparently Edinburgh is switching off all the flood lighting on places like the castle.
But I hope you get to see the stars Ceridwen, the night sky is very beautiful.

ceridwen

Hiya cynical old bat aka Mardatha....:D

...but aint that just one of the definitions of friendship - when ya hurl mock insults at each other....:rotfl: Hello me old mucker....:j

Anyways.....one little pickout in particular I've been trudging round town thinking about from the Earth Hour links I gave above:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjWD8pbK5t8

or - to be more precise - "I'm just one person...what can I do?"....and the chorus of voices swells....precisely....and THAT is exactly how all change starts - with just one person/which grows to just a small group of people/which grows to a large group of people/which grows to a whole Society and..bingo! That change has happened. We've seen this time and again throughout history. Think: Elizabeth Fry, William Wilberforce, the women of Greenham Common........

I've been pondering one of the concepts being raised in the Transition Town Movement - the one to the effect that "What tales do we tell ourselves about how our lives are? What tales do we tell ourselves about how Society could be?" and actually that is a very valid point. If one doesnt see a vision of how your own life on the one hand or Society on the other hand could be - then you have nothing to aim for. But when you have that vision - clouded as it definitely is at times - then you aim for it and hopefully reach it (but you know that, even if you dont reach it, you'll get a sight nearer to it than if you had never tried at all). "Aim for the Sun - and you'll at least reach the Moon" or summat...I cant recall the exact phrase - but thats the gist of it.

I'm trying to recall just how long it has been now for me personally - and, give or take a year or two, it must have been for the last 40 years of my life as best I can calculate. So - I guess that when you've heard a lot of "Tales of how things could be improved/have been improved" over that length of time and a lot of the people you meet socially are also pretty "goal-oriented" in that respect (to use the best word I could think of to describe it - but there could well be better ones that escape me at present) - its very easy in some ways to take it for granted that that is the Tale you have about Life and forget just how much work/thought/reading/examples of how things have changed for the better in many ways/etc there has been - because in 40 years there has been one heck of a lot. It is very easy to throw in comments like "100th Monkey Effect" and "paradigm shift" casually into conversation and everyone instantly knows exactly what you mean and why you made that comment. It is very easy to forget that many people arent that bothered about change or, if they are, dont have the confidence levels to believe that it can be achieved by "ordinary people in the street".

So - I guess that is one of the basic Tales to Tell - the one about having the confidence to believe that "ordinary people in the street" can - because they so often have in the past.....

I guess another basic Tale to Tell is that of the Quest - ie not automatically taking on board whatever your family and/or church tell you. What your family tell you is their Tale. What your church tells you is its Tale. But - the Tale that counts is the Tale we tell ourselves - our own particular one. Its just so much easier to take on board a readymade Tale - and not work out our own - but personally I like the Tale of the Quest and I guess its one I am used to sharing with many around me. I tend to like and/or admire "seekers".....so I view the Tale of the Quest highly.

Its not easy - far far from it - Kittie manages this optimism much better than I do. So - even though there are times when one thinks "Just why the heck should I bother?" or feels weary (whether physically or otherwise) at the thought of having to "keep putting one foot in front of the other" or feels angry at things...well....I guess one remembers that everyday phrase about "the light at the end of the tunnel".....and not the cynical comment someone is likely to come straight out with about it being "a train coming towards you":D

So - I'm off to get myself a special meal together - reward for effort - many many years of effort towards one particular personal private little goal of my own (whew...if I'd known JUST how long that one would take - I wonder if I would have persisted....but I didnt know...and I did persist..and yay:beer: ) - so I'm hoping I can literally keep my eyes open tonight for Earth Hour - as I'm thinking that after all I might end up listening to that wind-up radio by the light of that wind-up lantern......and hoping I dont fall asleep from my celebratory glass or two I shall be rewarding myself for effort - so I'd better remember to set an alarm to go off after its over just in case - dont want to forget to switch that electric back on again (not when I've got a whole freezer full of food that would end up defrosting.....).