Questions

We are almost at the end of another year and last night I thought about all the questions I should be asking and maybe you could ask these questions too.

Why are we still building houses on flood plains?

Why are people still paving their driveways and gardens?

Where does the water go then?

Why are we destroying habitats for insects and other wild things?

We have lost something like 68% of our biodiversity, one of the worst countries in the world, why and how have we done this?

Why are councils still allowing the erection of 5G masts in villages and near schools?

I check planning applications for my area. Do you? Do you oppose any if they are not right for your area?

Do you really need the new car, phone, or other gadget?

Do you grow your own vegetables?

I could go on but I think I have said enough. Look at the bigger picture and see how what goes on affects everything around you and others. Happy New Year!

Winter

It really has seemed like winter time this last couple of weeks. I went out with my son on Thursday to a local country park. Both lakes were frozen over, one totally and the other about 3/4s so the poor swans and ducks were stuck to one part of the lake which was not frozen. It was bitterly cold but the sun was shining. I love these kind of days but I do not like the dark mornings and evenings. However the Winter Solstice is almost here.

Once we get to the winter solstice I feel much better. I know the light is returning and it will be lighter in the mornings and evenings. For me it is my new year. But there are many other things to think about. The weather is changing today and going from 1 degree to 11 or more. Climate extremes but why? There are many who say there is no such thing as climate change. There has always been climate change but it seems to have changed for the worse over the last few years. There are things we can do to slow the changes down but no-one seems to want to do anything.

In this country many are struggling to pay bills, to buy food and to stay warm. What sort of country is this? How has it got to this? And what are we going to do about it? I feel lucky that I have enough for me, I am warm, fairly warm at least, and have clothes and food. I am able to help a less well off neighbour and can help in other ways too. But it should not be like this. If we imagine how we want our world to be, how we are all equal and work together in peace and respect, if we can imagine this each day then maybe if enough of us do this, it will actually happen. Be the world you want to be.

Happy holidays to all my readers.

December and more

What a start to this month! I love the crisp, cold and frosty ground with clear blue skies. Maybe the frost will kill off a few nasty bugs that have been going around. I did manage a short walk the other day with my son and it was lovely to just be out and about, something I have not been able to do very much recently because I have had one of those nasty cough type bugs (not the C one though). However our footpaths are not good at the moment and I don’t want to risk falling over and breaking bones so I am staying in apart from going out to fill up the bird feeders.

The bird feeders give me a lot of pleasure. I can focus on them with my camera from my kitchen window and watch the different birds in comfort. Blue tits, sparrows, dunnocks, a robin, coal tits and goldfinches are the main birds who come to feed but I saw a woodpecker the other day. The young squirrel keeps trying to get at the feeders but falls off mainly. Another resident feeds the squirrels.

I am a list maker so each week I make a list of jobs to do, washing, cleaning, baking, working on my web site, writing etc. However I realised one day that I do procrastinate and some jobs just move from one list to the next. But the writing jobs and web site stuff are my own decisions to do. I am retired and I don’t have to write or work on web sites. It is my choice so if I don’t want to do that work one week it doesn’t really matter. But I do like to keep my creative side working, hence writing these blogs.

My virus bug thing has left me quite tired with lots of aches from the coughing. The cold doesn’t help with this and I am wearing so many clothes in an effort to keep warm that I look like a very fat snowman. But I shall enjoy the clear blue sky and the sun shining through my window. After all it is much better than rain! And I have an excuse to rest….