Photo of the Day 17

This is a gift from my son for Christmas. It's a painting he created himself of Santa water-skiing. It's actually one of the most precious things I have and I will soon arrange for it to be framed properly and hung on the wall.

I'm still wrestling with the idea of contacting one of my past work colleagues and friends. I see they are now involved in running their own little business and if what I've read is to be believed, they are doing very well. I see that they run a blog and the fact that it's been updated recently tells me they are not affected by the economic downturn. Good for them! I always knew they'd end up doing well for themselves. But the dilemma is to whether or not I should make contact. Do they want to know about all my problems? Probably not. Perhaps I should just be content in the knowledge that no harm has come to them and that they're out there somewhere working hard and enjoying what they do.

I've booked myself an appointment for the 31st January for some CBT. I'm hoping it will help with my anxiety and worry issues. I'm pretty open minded to it all really and if it helps me to get where I want to be, then great. I copied this from Wikipedia to explain a little more about it;
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach: a talking therapy. CBT aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviours and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure in the present. The title is used in diverse ways to designate behaviour therapy, cognitive therapy, and to refer to therapy based upon a combination of basic behavioural and cognitive research.
It does go on to get rather more technical, but I won't do that here. It's all there on wonderful Wikipedia.

 

A delicious little news item today. Parents have reacted strongly to the use of a new narrator for the children's TV programme Waybuloo. Parents have flooded parenting websites and Twitter with comments criticising the move claiming their children have been left confused and bewildered.
Personally I'm convinced that anyone capable of creating such a show must be under the influence of something pretty strong. If you've ever attempted to watch it, you'll know exactly what I mean.

Cold weather is on its way again we're being told. Any excuse for a roaring log fire here!

Friends of the Past

There can be a great deal of merit in looking up old work colleagues and friends on the Internet. It is an odd feeling when you do find a long lost friend. These are people you spent hours of every day with, in some cases more time was spent with them than with members of your own family. For me, I know this to be true. It is sometimes a very bitter-sweet thing finding someone you used to know. Someone you shared special moments with, someone you laughed with and someone you lunched with daily. It is also a blow to find that the person you once knew is no longer that person, changed beyond recognition. The people you knew who were anti-social, insular and quiet now have a wife and family. Those who were very technical and potential leaders of industry are now driving, designing gardens or coastguards. It's a strange feeling... Sometimes I wonder if I am best left with my memories, some strong and others vague. But memories nevertheless and precious recordings of those special times. I am also left with a quandary as to whether or not to contact a long lost friend. Having spent hours searching for someone and to finally track them down, is inevitable to try to contact them? Why haven't they contacted me? Perhaps they are best left alone. After all, if they wanted to find me, they could and quite easily. There are of course those who simply cannot be found. I begin to think of the worst or to imagine them living some foreign life in a far away country, miles from their past and their beginnings.
Some I find have done very well for themselves, MD's of their own companies or doing what they've always done for more money. The company MD's have grand labels, glitzy websites and an impressive portfolio. But strip away the surface and beneath you'll find them slaving away in sheds or tapping away on a laptop at the dining room table. For some it's just a facade.
But for most, the grand titles they once held, the executive toys, the power-lunches and play of authority, have all gone to be replaced with sedentary, mundane humdrum lives and jobs with no status or influence. These are less eager to make themselves available online. They hide their Facebook profiles and don't bother joining Linked-In. But like me, they'll cling to their memories of the past. Of better times when they really did count, when work was fun and our colleagues were our best friends...

Photo of the Day 16

Another of my Christmas gifts and thanks to my sister for this one. Aware of my new found passion for herb gardening, she bought me a rather nice planter with four types of herb - Lemon Basil, Italian Parsley, Sweet Marjoram and Greek Oregano. I'll check back in a couple of weeks or so to see how they're doing.

Time for a 'litle' moan and I may have mentioned before my frustrations with a 'can't care less' attitude spreading like a cancer through our communities. Sadly I see examples of this every day from the reckless way in which people drive to the dumping of rubbish at roadsides and in dykes. I'm actually beginning to get quite incensed by it all. There is simply no excuse and it's so sad to see it in what should be an area of beauty. I shouldn't have to explain to my son why people do such things when he is taught good citizenship and the differences between right and wrong. People have simply lost any respect for their communities, their surrounding and the people around them. This includes the refuse collection teams who just simply drive past with a 'it's not my problem' attitude. How long must it sit there rotting, being blown around by the wind and in some cases risking injury to wildlife...? No one seems to care.
From this weekend, I will endeavour to document all such cases I come across. I will where possible photograph anything I find and I will pass on my evidence to the local newspaper. It's time to shame those who want to ruin our community.

A Tad Breezy

There's an irritrating whistle coming from one of our doors. They are all double glazed and quite new so shouldn't be leaking air. But given the strength of the winds lately I suppose it'll seek out a path of least resistance. I haven't really known wind like this since first moving here in October 2002. Last night was lively to say the least with odd knocks and other less distinguishable noises.
No photo today as my wife had the car, but I could have taken many of fallen trees and other such debris. In fact the road from here to the next village was blocked by a fallen tree early this morning, such has been the ferocity of the wind.

A techie note and I have managed finally to get my Wii fully networked. It now sees every device and share on my home network allowing it to stream video and audio and show photographs from my somewhat growing collection. It's fair to say that I'm really getting the very most from it, which is good.

There's a lot in the news currently regarding racism, particularly following the conviction of two nasty individuals involved in the murder of Stephen Lawrence eighteen years ago. I now see that there is a media furore over comments made by Diane Abbott. Whilst any form of racism is wrong, I can't help feeling that things are beginning to get a little ridiculous, resulting in perfectly innocent comments being taken out of context. I really think it's about time some common sense prevail.

Photo of the Day 15

 

We bought a new shower curtain today, and throwing caution to the wind, we plumped for this. I think it looks good. It's certainly different and a diversion from the usual bland patterns and designs. 

It was the first day back at school for my son and all his friends. He was surprisingly enthusiastic and the ordeal I suspect was softened a little by the fact that he could take in one of his favourite toys. He opted for his new digital camera. No sooner had they arrived at school this morning were they whisked off by coach to another federation school in Sutton Bridge to watch a performance of The Snow Queen. Apparently he enjoyed it very much, but can't remember any of it... typical.

We're waiting (wanting) for someone to call. We splashed out an a set of new cordless phones in Wisbech at one of the electrical stores. Deciding to go for a recognised brand, we were fortunate to secure a set of three phones with answering machine for just £49. A ticked beneath them read 'normal price £139.99'. So it looks as if we got ourselves a bargain, though I suspect it is normal retail practice nowadays to foll customers into thinking they've done so.

So all in all not a bad day. The job hunting continues but as the days tick by, we are forced to face the reality of having to go cap in hand to the bank - certainly within the next couple of weeks. It brings me out in a cold sweat just thinking about it, literally...

A New Year & New Toys

It's a Bank Holiday here and we're making the most of the last day of the holiday season here in the UK. Christmas decorations are still up but we're taking them down tomorrow. Everything will seem so bland once they're down and it will really hit home that we've begun a new year. Celebrations here were pretty muted. For the first time in ages, my wife and I saw in the new year together. Normally she sleeps through it. My son wanted to see the fireworks and celebrations in London so I put it on a DVD for him. He's been watching it on his portable DVD player - one of his Birthday gifts.

There's much speculation in the media about what the new year will hold. We're told that the outlook is grim and that the effects of the recession will be more harsh than in 2011. For us, our biggest worry is what will happen to our home once our insurance stops paying out for the mortgage in February. No matter how hard I try to push it to the back of my mind, the stark reality is always there. I'm once again reliant on my wife to see us through whatever befalls us. We will have to meet with the bank in a couple of weeks to make them aware of our predicament and hope that they will take pity on us. I try not to worry, but it's difficult.

My support group have their first meeting of the year tomorrow and I'll be attending as normal. January is well known for bringing on bouts of depression as people come down from the high of the festive season to the reality of work, mounting debts and worry. I'm wondering how the members of our little group have coped. I'm lucky - I have a wonderful wife who makes everything right and without whom I would have nothing, be nothing. She puts up with a lot and I don't appreciate her enough. I know this. Depression is a very selfish illness. It affects at different levels, at different times and in different ways. It is a complicated illness. No two sufferers are the same. I am lucky to have her.

A bit of techie stuff and a welcome addition to our family is the Wii. It has in the last few days changed from being just a gaming console to a fully networked box of tricks which can now play DVD's, music, surf the Internet and interact with other computers. I was always aware that it was capable of far more than just game play so set about finding out how to apply 'Wii-hacks' to get it to do things it doesn't normally do. And I'm mighty pleased with the results. The games for the Wii are hugely expensive so the ability to download new free games is brilliant. Another function I find immensely useful is the ability to view YouTube content without the need to navigate the site. You simply enter what you're looking for and the Wii displays the videos available. You point to the one you want to watch and the video plays full screen, and in very good quality. It's all out there on the Internet.
I do need to find some software to assist my son with his typing and word skills. We bought him a keyboard for Christmas for hom to use on the Wii. It has chunky coloured keys and is built especially with children in mind. 

My wife's employer is popping round this afternoon. It's a New Year tradition. She'll want to see all the new toys my son received for Christmas and for his Birthday on the 27th. So of course the house is spotless in readiness. Unlike most employers, she is more of a friend to us and treats us all very well. She is always very generous and always buys gifts for our son. We're very fortunate really...