Memoirs of a Misfit: Farewell, Terry Pratchett - A Fallen Hero

Memoirs of a Misfit: Farewell, Terry Pratchett - A Fallen Hero: I'm still feeling very emotional about the news of the passing of one of my greatest, if not THE greatest of my literary heroes, Te...

Do You Want the Bad News?

The news.

Is it just me, or does the news presented by television channels and newspapers seem to focus solely on awful, depressing incidents and activities with rarely any positive news? 

How does telling me about natural disasters, wars, violent attacks and accidents improve my life? Is there anything positive that can be gleaned from being made aware of these? Does my knowing about them enable me personally to help prevent them from occurring again or in some other way alleviate these incidents?

I'm not suggesting that I should bury my head in the sand and pretend that nothing bad happens, however all this negativity really wears me down.

I found myself frustrated at my inability to do much to improve the lot of those who are suffering the trials and tribulations of war or natural disasters and became fatigued, even mildly depressed, by the unending onslaught of distressing information.

So, how to move forward?

In the first instance, I have stopped reading mainstream newspapers and watching news programmes as well as avoiding listening to news broadcasts on the radio.

I was concerned that I might end up very out of touch with current affairs, however this has not occurred due to the fact that I choose to research information on topics that I am interested in. I think that I am much better informed now that I am in charge of my own news gathering, though I am all too aware that the only way of being sure of the veracity of information is to actually be present at everything which occurs, which is impossible!

I have also taken out a subscription to Positive News, a quarterly publication, which covers a diverse range of topics from a positive solution approach rather than a negative, sensationalist angle.

positivenews.org.uk

Thoughts from the Shower #4

The upcoming General Election here in the UK has me in a real quandary as to who to vote for.

I'm taking time to read manifesto promises to try and get a feel as to which party I most identify with. Whilst doing this I have discovered that the Conservative Party don't actually appear to have a manifesto available at present, which seems a bit odd to me, given that the election is now less than 2 months away. However, as I'm not planning on voting for them it isn't actually a problem - just I felt I should at least read their offering for completeness of my investigations.

I've already had several conversations with friends who seem to feel equally frustrated that there doesn't really seem to be a party that anyone particularly wants to vote for. We all seem to be trying to find the least worst party, which is a terrible state of affairs. There really does need to be a wider range of political choice - though I don't know how we're going to get it as so many people appear to be apathetic (at best) towards politics and politicians.

Spring Creeps In

The beginning of March found the weather whip up into a mix of squalls and sudden downpours, followed by sunshine, hail and cloud. 

Despite this, during our daily walks over the last couple of weeks we have really become aware of new growth starting to appear. 

As well, I made this discovery of hibernating snails, snuggled into a cleft of a tree. I have never seen this before and the girls were quite fascinated - hopefully the snails will move on before a hungry bird notices them.

Time for a Change? #3

Time for a Change is my way of trying to ensure I put some time aside every week (preferably daily) to extend my knowledge about subjects I enjoy (such as Astronomy), learn a new language (attempting German at present) or do something creative. I haven't posted for nearly a month about my development, so here is a photo of what I have been doing:

The turquoise piece is my first ever knitted simple wrist warmer (I'm currently knitting the matching one!) and the red one is the first half of a pair of wrist warmers that are going to be a gift from me and December to a person we cannot name (so as to not give the surprise away!) - she is knitting the other one.





I was lucky enough to attend a beginner's needle felting session with December a couple of weeks ago and these pictures show what I achieved (hopefully you can tell what the flowers are!)

The drawing on the right was what I used as a rough guide towards what I wanted to achieve. 





This is a craft I will be buying the tools to continue as I really enjoyed it.

Sadly, due to being so busy with other activities, I haven't yet finished the Future Learn course on Orion, however I am working on it where I can (and finding it very interesting).

I have also been to several presentations at the South Downs Planetarium covering subjects such as the Northern Lights and Myths and Legends of the night sky.

Our Great Family Bake Off

June's cupcakes

This weekend, December decided that she would like to run a family version of the Great British Bake Off.

Her plan was that Daddy would film her and June in action and then he and I would judge the final results.

In practice, June needed a certain amount of support (Daddy had to hold her mixing bowl to stop it falling off the side whilst she was mixing the cake batter!) which meant that filming had to be abandoned.

December chose to make oaty chunky cookies and June settled on vanilla cupcakes with pink orange flavoured icing and decorations.

As we have a narrow kitchen the girls couldn't cook at the same time so December worked out how long each recipe would take to complete and it was agreed that they could each have 90 minutes.

When we entered the dining room to begin our deliberations we discovered that December and June had set up the table with a tasting plate, forks, a cutting knife, napkins and a 1st place and a 2nd place slip.

They then each brought a plate in with their best cakes/cookies prettily arranged.

It was very difficult to decide the overall winner as they were so different. In the end, we created a certificate of achievement for each child, focusing on an aspect of their bake that we thought was especially delicious. June's was for the softest cupcakes and December's the most chunky cookies. They were both delighted with their awards which are now hanging in pride of place in our dining room :)

That's Entertainment

I have been very lucky over the last month to experience some fantastic plays (streamed live to a local cinema) and some very entertaining films.

For me, I know that I have enjoyed a production (or film) when I find myself sitting with a broad smile spread across my face as the cast take their bows or the credits roll. In the case of theatrical productions, smarting hands and a throat hoarse from shouting 'Bravo' and 'Encore' are also strong signs of enjoyment!

So, Loves' Labours' Lost in February and Loves' Labours' Won (usually known as Much Ado About Nothing) in March, both performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in their theatre in Stratford upon Avon, are the superb theatrical productions that had me applauding in my cinema seat.

Kingsman : The Secret Service and Jupiter Ascending are the first films I have been to see more than once this year - currently I have seen both 3 times (some showings in IMAX). I think both films appealed so strongly to me because they are perfectly escapist and I have been feeling low.