The first weekend of the Winter

Winter is here and I've decided I want to get my son a typewriter for Christmas. This may sound odd, but I had a typewriter at a very young age and it was by using it that I learnt how to spell. I don't wish for him to have anything too big or complicated, just a simple portable model that he can learn on. I recall I used to copy large sections from books and as I came across a word I didn't know the meaning of, I would look it up. It was by using a typewriter that I learnt how to type letters and how to arrange them so they looked professional.
I don't want to force my son down this route. He has expressed an interest in having one and learning to use one and maybe he will become as enthusiastic as I did when I was his age. It would be nice if perhaps from this he began to be interested in words and their meanings. It's worth a try. After all, a typewriter isn't expensive - there are literally hundreds of them on eBay for as little as £10 or £20.

Friday last week and I was training again, this time in Lincoln at Involve in Mint Lane. I was with one of my group colleagues who drove us there for a 9.30 start. Although the course was on the subject of mental health, it was difficult (and still is) to understand exactly what the course is about. So far, we have looked at ways in which we can support ourselves personally if we are affected with Anxiety or Depression related mental illness. There are only two others attending the course so it's a jolly good job we turned up! The second part of the course is this coming Friday. So far the course has been unique.
We were invited to join the Renew Group who hold their gatherings at Involve - so we both joined which means we are now able to make use of their facilities as and when we wish. Being a similar type of support group ourselves, it was useful to become affiliated with them and I'm sure good things will come from it.

Earlier today I discovered a rather nice photograph in my parent's kitchen. It had appeared over the last week and it is one I hadn't seen before. It shows my mother, father, my nan and granddad and their daughter in law at Hastings on the East Sussex Coast. It was clearly taken sometime in the 1960's at a spot I'm quite familiar with. The quality of the photograph is excellent so I took a copy straight away.

The hairstyles are quite wonderful and clearly of a different era!

In the news, the Jimmy Savile scandal continues to steal the headlines and this morning, Paul Gadd (aka Gary Glitter) was arrested as part of the police investigation into abuse allegations. I'm pretty sure he won't be the last and it is probably of little surprise that he's been the first.
In the US, the presidential election approaches and with it a huge storm which is bearing down on the East Coast. There is a possibility that Hurricane Sandy will hit New York in the next few days and preparations are being made for the worst should it come.

It is half term and my son has a whole week off school. He had his Harvest Festival on Thursday at our church in Dawsmere. It was very well attended and like last year, we were entertained with a selection of readings and songs performed by the children. This year, the harvest gifts were presented to Agape Food Bank Spalding, a clear indication of the struggle facing many families in the current economic climate.

My mental health has been steady for a couple of weeks now. Today I scored on Moodscope 62% which is my highest recorded so far. The graph clearly shows a steady increase in my mood but it's difficult to know what has caused it. I suspect that my being discharged from CBT has something to do with lowering my anxiety levels. I used to worry constantly about the next session and it really wasn't doing me any good. I'm careful not to over analyse things as this can cause a shift in mood. I'm just making the most of it while it lasts.

Finally, the clocks changed last night and we are now in Greenwich Mean Time. Everything feels a little odd. I've just glanced at my office clock and it says 5.45. Outside, it is getting quite dark but I've realised I haven't put my clock back an hour! Arrrrggghhh!!! Why can't they leave them alone?!

I would like...

A Google Chromebook please...

This time of year...

I have for a long time believed that the weather has a direct effect on a person's mental health. Having said that, I've always doubted to what extent I am affected by it.
This week, the weather has been pretty awful. It has been damp, grey and misty. The roads, especially around here, are covered in mud making any attempt to maintain a clean car utterly futile. Anyone suffering from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) will be finding it particularly difficult. I know people who live in dread of the Winter months. Light boxes go some way to lessen the effects and many insist on keeping lights on day and night. It's how they cope.
For me, the current weather conditions do certainly impact on my mood, though I couldn't say by how much. There is an enormous difference between feeling simply down and missing the sun to feeling the effects of clinical depression and the crippling despair that this brings. There is seldom ever a unique trigger that sets off a bout of depression. I suspect it is normally a combination of things that contribute to creating a chemical imbalance. Once started, the effects of the imbalance are impossible to reverse - one just has to ride it out and hope it doesn't last too long.
People I know suffer this condition. I see when they are on a high and I see them when they are at their lowest. There is nothing I can do to lessen the effects or make them feel better. I can only empathise with them. I understand what they are going through.
There are others I know who find the change from long warm Summer days to shorter colder Winter days difficult to cope with. Often sports and other recreational activities with friends are curtailed until the following season and hours normally occupied in such pursuits are instead spent alone. It is very easy to become low and despondent. Add to this Seasonal Affective Disorder and this can be a tough time for many.

A Day of change & a damned culture

It feels like a day of change today. This morning we welcomed two new members to our support group. Both are unique and bring their own problems and experiences. I am reminded of just how diverse society is.  It is very easy to get used to people, those you see regularly and interact with. New people bring fresh insight and dynamics, and it is interesting to see the new connections being made between the new and old members of the group. Change can be good, but it can feel odd.

Weather today has been pretty miserable. It's still very misty, but quite mild. My drive to Spalding this morning was peppered with countless mindless idiots who don't understand when they should use the bright shiny lights on the front of their cars. Another (blue Vauxhall Cavalier driver) even thought it would be great to overtake anything in front of him, at speed and without indication. In a changing world, one thing seems to remain constant - the driving skills and behaviour of South Holland road users. Rant over.

I see that Ceefax will be switched off tonight at 11.30pm when Northern Ireland's remaining analogue TV signal is powered down for good. It's amazing to read that Ceefax has been around for 38 years and how at its peak in the 1990's, 20 million viewers regularly used the service, relying on it for their news headlines, weather forecasts and and sports results - all in a simple though blocky format.

The Jimmy Savile scandal is still very much in the news and continues to dominate the headlines. George Entwistle appeared before MP's earlier today to explain why the Newsnight report into the original allegations had been dropped. I like many do find his explanation a little difficult to understand and I question why he was not in the least bit curious as to why the report had been cancelled. I find it very hard to believe that a person in his position would not want to know why, or enquire at the very least into what the report was about.
I do feel that although obviously the person at the centre of the allegations and investigations is Jimmy Savile, what we are also investigating and to some extent blaming, is an entire era and its culture. It seems to me that it is not just the actions of an individual, but a culture that allowed for such actions to take place and go unreported for so long. I cannot believe that no one else knew. One only has to watch an edition of 'Top of the Pops' from the 1970's to see young girls literally falling all over the presenters. Other programmes of the era record over-familiarity between presenters and audience members. There is a stark physical element to many - arms around shoulders and waists, embraces and touching - that today simply would not happen. It would be judged as assault, pure and simple. The culture then was totally different to the culture of today, and it is the culture then that played an important part in allowing the abuse to take place. We judge that period by the standards of today. Yes it was wrong, very wrong but the culture and the society of the 1970's allowed it and expected to see it - a few hours of TV from the period is evidence enough.

My Moodscope rating is 33% today, pretty good.

Non-event Monday

It's one of those Monday's when I just can't get motivated. I'm active - I've done the washing-up, cooked breakfast and vacuum cleaned all over. I feel as if I should be doing things and I'm sure there are things waiting to be done, but I just can't get started.
My wife is at home for another week recovering from what is probably a kidney infection. She's on a cocktail of pain killers which are making her very tired. It's a bot odd having her about at the moment, and I must remember not to burst into song, forgetting she is in the other room.
Weather is horrible. It is grey, misty and damp - typical 'leading up to Winter' weather.
I could be doing some work on our group funding bid. I have about a third of the application form to complete, but I really don't feel in the mood. I have to be in the right frame of mind to do things, as I've mentioned before.
I do need to reply to a Psychology student who wishes to gain some experience by joining our support group as a volunteer. I will ask her to come along Tuesday 30th. Perhaps she could do a little talk about her studies  and what has made her interested in mental health.
Yesterday wasn't too bad. If I go down, it's normally on a Sunday. I managed to busy myself fixing a friend's WIFI. She lives in Spalding so it wasn't too far to go. It didn't take me long to get things up and running for her and we sat and talked for a while, which was nice.
In the news, the Jimmy Savile 'scandal' seems to have felled its first TV executive. Peter Rippon has stepped aside whilst the BBC investigation continues. Peter is editor of Newsnight and was responsible for dropping the Jimmy Savile story when its own investigation revealed allegations into his conduct. I doubt very much if Peter will be the last and more revelations are expected following a special Panorama programme tonight on BBC1.
My Moodscope rating is 26% today, not bad at all and a true reflection I think.

50 Years

It was my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary yesterday. I think about what life could have been like 50 years ago. There is much to remind us, most of which can now be found online in various media. It was clearly very different to today. On this day in 1962, the world stood on the brink of nuclear war. The Cuban Missile crisis was being fought out between Kruschev and Kennedy and many must have wondered if they would live to see the next day. I have broached this subject with my parents with a view to discovering how they felt at this time and whether the crisis permeated into normal everyday life. Their recollections seem pretty vague and I wonder if there was much concern at the time amongst the general public. Perhaps it wasn't reported fully until the crisis had passed? We know that news of world events took time to reach the TV and press. There was no instant live news reporting as we know it now. Perhaps the general public were really oblivious to what was going on and just how perilous things were?
I do begin to wonder if the reason my parents were married during one of the most traumatic weeks in our modern history could be down to the fact that people really didn't know what would happen so rushed to have their weddings as soon as they could. I wonder if statistics would bare this out, an increase in ceremonies taking place during this week in 1962?
This period in history really does fascinate me. The fact that two men were deciding the futures of countless millions of people. Was there still a 'stiff upper lip' war years spirit that prevented the panic we would see today should a similar situation occur? As there were many who had lived through WWII, was there a false sense of security that we would somehow 'win' and come out unscathed? Only this would be much much different.
Unlike today, very little was known about how the country would defend itself and I suspect the public were kept in the dark about the workings of the government and the military. They had heard that Britain 'had the bomb' and knew that it was being tested in remote parts of the world, but that was probably the limit of their knowledge. Most remained ignorant to its destructive force and effects.
Just what was society like then and did people really know how high the stakes really were? Would society react in the same way today? Somehow I very much doubt it...

The Two Fingered WIFI salute

I was very amused to read on BBC News Online this afternoon an article about 'aggressive passive WIFI naming'. It turns out people have been naming their WIFI networks to give messages to neighbours and others who stumble across them. Some of the names include 'keep_your_cats_off_my_lawn' and 'stop_moving_furniture_at_night'. Others have referred to neighbours noisy sex sessions.
In addition to thinly veiled rants, some names warn would be WIFI hijackers to steer clear and not to even attempt connecting.
How wonderful it is to read of a very clever modern day equivalent of sticking a sign up outside your house to dissuade any unruly neighbour or would be thief. I do like this :-)

(Moodscope rating today is 24%... getting better)