The Liking of Patterns

I don't know where it all started from, but I do like patterns, predominantly stripes, rotational symmetry & spirals. It goes from my choice of patterned clothes which are predominantly stripy when patterned or occasionally plaid to the way I arrange beer mats when I'm fidgety which are in rotational symmetry. But then I have noticed other people doing it too. I also have a thing of when I'm serving food either all the crockery & cutlery either have to match or have to be completely mismatching, no half way house allowed & again found people who do exactly the same. I had a friend who works psychiatric care whilst I went to the toilet, moved a book that I was reading which was put down near a set of beer mats which I had arranged earlier to see if I would notice, but because it wasn't part of the pattern I was oblivious to what he had done, so he said it was probably not OCD but just a liking of certain things being just so as the book moving would have bothered me. I suppose it is just one of my quirks which I'll never be able to explain, it wouldn't be the first time I was called eccentric (sometimes weird) by people but I tend to wear it as a badge of honour. Today clothing wise I think it will be another day of wearing plain unpatterned clothes as none of my stripes are current uniform at work, so I'll just rock backwards & forwards in a corner at work until the normal pattern is restored.

Birmingham's Gay Scene Needs A Face Lift

I do have a small group of us who go out guerrilla gardening around the gay scene in Birmingham, we are starting up again to brighten up the place & make the gay scene look a bit better, it had a shiny veneer put on a couple of its main roads, which left the other half of it looking rather bedraggled & sorry for itself & certain things that back onto the area that got spruced up, looking shabby. So the guerrilla gardening group was set up last year, we have ad some successes, some failures & some outright surprises. But with the closure of a couple of the main bars it is starting to look a little derelict, OK the guerrilla gardening group can't fix that but trying to give the area a floral display might go a little way to making the area look good as well as attracting beneficial insects. But it would be nice to get some more people on board, then perhaps we could move onto bigger projects that would make an even bigger impact. I know we are having a shiny new monument putting in with the rhino sculpture in, but we need more than that. I'm trying to rally support but things are going very slowly, which is frustrating to say the least, people are quite happy to moan but are not willing to get their hands dirty. if you know of an area that needs tidying up & renovating start small work your way up & you will be impressed by your little victories, you may drum up help from the local community even if it is a couple of cups of tea. It would be good if more people took pride in their areas so they don't look shabby, but hey ho you can't expect miracles but you can make a difference no matter how small.

Having Your Say

Yesterday I went to the forum on gay marriage in Birmingham, it meant a commute but I couldn't not go seeing as though it was my day off from work. I'm very much in favour of getting your voice heard if you are in a position to, it doesn't matter who you are, what you do for a living if you want to stand up & be counted you have to put the effort in, there were many issues discussed about the roll out of civil gay marriage as it appears to be going ahead anyway, but they need to know how to do it & the pitfalls of it. it was a somewhat useful exercise & it is on the right step towards equality, though not there by a long shot. If you feel passionate about something, let the right people know & you never know, you might start the ball rolling in a different direction with the point you made, it may not make a difference but you will not know unless it was said in the first place. I never thought of myself of being remotely political, but then I look back on what I do & I think who am I trying to kid? Even if politics in a general sense is not for you, do still campaign for what you believe in in a constructive way & if at all possible in the official way. Having been to one forum I think I may have the bug for it. If you do want you say on gay marriage stand up & be counted at
 https://www.homeofficesurveys.homeoffic ... 48356xhlqw as it is not too late even if you have missed the forum as it wasn't well advertised to begin with & be the loud mouth you always wanted to be.

If You're Easily Offended Why Go to All Effort to be Offended More

Over the weekend I went down to London to watch a friend's play, only for the first few days being cancelled due to technical/technician problems, but I did get to see a rehearsal & think that it will be brilliant soon as they iron out the tech problems. It is a performance of Caligula by Camus, which was twisted to begin with, but this adaptation takes it to a whole new graphic level. I can't give too much away as it will spoil the fun, but it is overtly sexual in places. But then again a fair few of the concerts & performances I have been to are not for the easily offended, Rammstein had its nod to BDSM & male sexuality, Sex, Drugs & Vaudeville although not having any of the 2 former parts of its title on stage did have some songs that were controversial to the point downright blasphemy & the tale of Evelyn Evelyn was quite disturbing. So why did I go? It was because I was fan & I'm not easily offended & if I got into an uncomfortable place in watching certain things then it was my fault for going to see them in the first place. Though in fairness it was only when Mr Joe Black at Sex. Drugs & Vaudeville did his final number did I actually feel uncomfortable at the point of any of the shows that I felt any sense of awkwardness. Showmanship is what it is all about, if you don't like their style don't watch/listen/go see such things. If people didn't push the boundaries a fair amount of science would not have been discovered, equal rites would not have existed & the world would not be a great place to be. There is however time & a place for things. Blue waffle is not something you bring out at a W.I meeting & a rendition of Disposable Teens is not appropriate at Mass on Sunday, but in its right place people should let it be. Plus if something has caused offence to someone & you feel it may cause you offence, stop don't go there, it is a waste of your time. The whole thing with Jonathan Ross & Russell Brand is case in point of that. The BBC should have only taken into consideration the complaints that were about the show when it happened not when the media got hold of it as it was totally unfair as it was a case of baiting at its worst. You can complain about something if it is out of place if it is offensive yes, but if you go out searching for it. If you crap in your sandwich don't complain that it tastes like shit.

Tanning, A Burning Question

Yesterday, I spent all day in the garden & by the end of it was a lovely shade of brown. that only a day of gardening could provide, then afterwards I jumped into the shower to wash all the soil off & went back to my pale & interesting self. If I could tan, I seriously wouldn't consider getting one seeing as though I'm almost 32 & yet to even show the merest hint of a wrinkle. If it wan't for the fact of my receding hairline & my salt & chilli beard I could so easily lie about my age & be convincing, perhaps I should go around clean shaven & constantly wearing a hat. It wasn't so long ago in history that being tanned was thought of as being lower class, it has only been from the 50s & 60s did the tan even became remotely fashionable, since then there have been an increase of malignant melanoma in people & an increase of people who are starting to get faces resembling a Braille road map. If tanning looks good, it only stays that way for a short period & the ravages of constantly causing first degree burns takes its toll on you. If you were meant to be bronzed you would have been born that bronzed. The other thing I suppose you could do is fake tan yourself, there are some good ones out there I'm sure, but most of the people I see wearing them look like a slightly chavvy Morph impersonator. A colleague of mine had some of his girlfriend's fake tan rub off on him I told him to say it was the late stages of a bruise, which he actually got away with. the best thing is to be comfortable with your skin tone, your only young once & it is better to look that way for as long as you can or you will be spending a fortune on creams & injecting your face with modified botulism.

Going Gardening

Today I have decided that it is going to be a gardening day, a war on nature to make things look pretty that is more welcoming to other nature paradoxically. My garden is over run with herb robert & although it shares my namesake & is pretty it has sprawled everywhere & all from one tiny plant 4 years ago, it doesn't even attract much in the way of wildlife to it, oh the foolishness of aesthetics, if  I had known about exactly how aggressively it spread I would have never let it stay. I suppose that is how the problems with the likes of buddliea, rhododendron & Japanese knotweed started. I also have problems with ivy, forget me nots, strawberries, mustards & marigolds but all these just need thinning rather than eradicating as they are beneficial to either myself or nature. So when people say they are being at one with nature in the garden they are not being so as nature taking over is always desirable either to us or nature. I am planting with nature in mind, but hoping the outcome will be both as appealing to nature as it is to me. Our garden will under go a major transformation as some of the beds will disappear due to an extension being built on the house, so I shall be recycling the bricks to create a new raised bed in a part of the garden that is sadly neglected & is a wildlife desert, but hoping to grow veg there so that I can nourish myself as well as insects. All I have to do now is by a water pistol for the war on cats.

Ostara, Eostre, Hot Cross Buns

Ostara is a festival I have problems with generally as it is a little unknown & the Pagan links are somewhat thin & tenuous. The only real mention of Eostre, the goddess that Ostara & eventually Easter came from the Venerable Bede in the 8th Century, that the month of April was Eosturmonath to which there were festivals in her honour. But this is the earliest account we have of her. No one actually knows who she is, but theories have been put around that she is a goddess of the dawn, she is a goddess of regeneration, she is the goddess of the East wind, but which if any of the claims are true? Could it be that she is a different goddes entirely, could she be a fertility goddess? Her symbols would suggest that it is possible. Is it echoes from the past of European traders from Greece worshipping Eos? It could be that she is yet another goddess that has disappeared somewhat in to obscurity with all the information that she existed is a name & that we have just speculated the rest as it seems to fit the time of year. We don't know, but it does throw up an interesting question, which came first Easter or Ostara? Plus why if Eosturmonath is April why are we celebrating the festival in March? There are also claims that hot cross buns were Pagan too because of the equal armed cross. If hot cross buns were a Native American thing then yes it could quite easily be argued that was the case but in Europe the equal armed cross was used by early Christians especially in eastern countries, so to claim them as ours is spurious at best. I think it is good that we mark a natural progression of time but to claim it as ancient, I have distinct lack of ease with, but one thing is for certain the name for Easter had to come from somewhere or we would still be calling it Pasque. Hope you enjoy the chocolate eggs though as that I find the real perk to the celebrations. By the way still wired from all the caffeine consumed at the Pagan Moot seeing as though the giving up alcohol for Lent is still going strong. Yours twitchily Pagan Chaplain

Pre Show Nerves

My partner belongs to the BGSO (Birmingham Gay Symphony Orchestra), which is a community orchestra. As with a lot of them music is a hobby not a profession & quite often they all get pre show nerves even though they sound good. Most of the time what holds them back is confidence in themselves & their talent & they are generally relieved when the concert is over & they can reflect on their performance which is generally good, although they will pick it to pieces on occasion. Quite often though pre show nerves are a good thing they get you through where as over confidence can quite often make things go to pot soon as something happens that isn't quite right as you have made no contingency plan. I empathise with them, I do public speaking on occasion, this I find nerve racking too but I find that when I get nervous I talk a lot & that tends to get me through quite well. Though last year it did fail me once & very publicly at Birmingham Pride when I was up on stage trying to welcome on stage acts that were appearing later, in fact I think it was over confidence that nothing was going to wrong mixed with the nerves & a bit of the phew I've conducted my first handfasting & it went well combined together, so more than just one thing created my downfall. But pre show nerves got me a date which had all those nerves running through it & almost 8 years later I'm still with him so good things can come out of it. I also find that it is the same with pre exam nerves to. We get nervous for a reason, to realise we can & do occasionally make mistakes we find the solution to the problem sometimes before it arises or even if it didn't happen at all & everything went perfect. So let your nerves out but don't let them take hold of you treat them with respect & they will serve you well. So good luck to the BGSO I'm sure you will be fabulous as always

Do I Need to come Across More Spiritual?

I'm finding most of my posts are more on the physical, practical or emotional side of things. I'm allowed to have my thoughts on things yes, but do I need to put a slightly more spiritual edge on what I say? Would it make more sense seeing as though I'm a chaplain? Or would it make me sound like a loon? I don't want to end up in the same category as Kevin Carlyon & having you guys think I wander around in a robe made of old curtains spouting any old nonsense just to get in the head lines. I could attach local folklore & world mythology on to ramblings to illustrate a point & its teachings, but would that make sound too pious? I kind of feel like I wouldn't make thought for the day with the posts that I do but is that a good thing. Set, talk evaluate, adapt. Whatever your thoughts please let me know.

Biodiversity in the Garden

In the past my gardening exploits have quite often either lacked the time when the was good or lacked good weather when I've had the time. I have therefore somehow neglected a bit of that biodiversity needed in the garden. There have been some nectar rich plants in the garden but often they got usurped by just what I could get my hands on that would look pretty. This year I plant to differently instead of the most biodiverse part being the bit that was tucked away in the corner so yo couldn't see it from the window unless you craned your neck, it is going to be all over the garden this year. I shouldn't be too hard on myself as I did do some planting that will & have been beneficial last year with a ceanothus, lavenders, foxgloves & bergamots, but this year I want to add to this so I can create a garden which is buzzing with activity, where the cats get terrorised by butterflies & my other half's siblings get freaked out by the hoverflies thinking that they are wasps. With the decline in pollinating insects we should do more to encourage them or it is bye bye to many of our foods. The RHS have started a garden centre labelling scheme which has a bee logo on it to show which plants are beneficial to pollinators & if you are buying plants which aren't from a garden centre follow these simple rules:-

Double flowered flowers though may look pretty but it is the insect equivalent of eating a bar of dark chocolate with a knife & fork whilst wearing boxing gloves & a blindfold.

If you can't see the source of pollen on the flower neither is an insect, so those horrible cheap looking begonias & busy lizzies are a no no

If you can smell them an insect will too, but be careful there are some flowers that smell very strongly of rotting meat or fish which will just get you pestered by flies.

Purples & yellows are much loved by insects, yes they have their own colour tastes too.

Give them some succession of food for the year, it has the bonus of your garden looking more colourful than your neighbours all year round.

They also need waster so a shallow edged pond would also be beneficial too.

So enjoy your garden & lets hope our smaller winged friend will do too

When Communication Goes Out of the Window

I have calmed down somewhat since I was first going to write this, as I daresay I could have inadvertantly put the onus of my rant on the wrong person. To put a long story into a small paragraph that doesn't give too much away I was meant to set a room for an event that happens every week only this time the room had been booked for something else & the room that was ment for the weekly event had moved, but haven't been told of it. After having set up the wrong room i had the booker look at me rather confused as well as the weekly person wondering what was going on. I apologised moved everything around & tried not to make to much of a deal about it, though I have got to admit I was panicking as I had no idea what was going on. If something like this happens to you take a deep breath, don't flap, be honest & apologise for the inconvenience even if it wasn't your fault or knew nothing about the things that are going awry. Next step is to speak with the relevant people in a manner that is not all raaah ranty. Thankfully I had calmed down by the time I started to speak to the necessary people, so therefore was able to get my point across without being talked over & without me talking over other people. Doing this has resulted in a plan so the same kind of thing shouldn't happen again. It can ber incredibly frustrating but flying off on one doesn't help. Take heed of my previous post Keep Calm & Carry On & hopefuly things shall turn out alright in the end. Also make sure you communicate what you need to so you don't cause the same for anyone else.

Fashion Models

Here's the thing when you visit a major fashion chain do the models in the poster look like they could do with feeding even if it isn't a chicken satay with ginger & sesame noodles, a salad might be good, or maybe even a chive if there stomach has shrunk that much, many of them look way to thin, even way to thin to be considered beautiful unless you have a strange skeleton fetish. Working within the company I do I have met plenty of staff who are way better looking than the models & quite often in branches of stores in other companies exactly the same is true. Just because they someone isn't 6 foot tall & a handy replacement if you have lost your toast rack does not make them un poster worthy, in fact if all stores were to picture beautiful men & women of all different shape & sizes it would make consumers a little more sure that they would not look odd in the garments if they weren't a fashion model glamourzon. With some fashion companies it doesn't matter sometimes if the model actually is attractive facially as long as they right shaped body for the to hang lifelessly off, as I have seen poster in some shops where the models look bost in face department. One year I just happened to be flicking through a Metro on the bus (must have forgotten my book that day to have been desperate enough to read it) I saw a picture from New York Fashion Week on the cover it had a picture of the head & shoulders of a model & I thought to myself, they are putting men in weird outfits this year only to see the full photo when I realised it was actually a women albeit one that looked like she had a back as a front. So here is my idea, companies, look to your staff to see who you can have model for you, no matter of height or body type, as long as they are easy on the eye, it gives your staff a confidence boost, it gives the consumers a confidence boost & in the long run actually works out considerably cheaper now that we are in a recession than to employ a professional clotheshorse who needs the money for its crack habit to keep themself unhealthy looking. I myself being slightly overweight & thinning on top may make an unusual role model for fashion but some guys who are of a slightly more relaxed figure have seen how things look on me that wouldn't normally have considered for themselves have gone & bought the item because they have realised that you don't have to be one vomit away from death to look good in it. So even if the shop doesn't advertise your shape on a style try it as it may work.

Keep Calm & Carry On

These posters are appearing everywhere now & although they had a sense of Britishness about them to begin with, they now have a sense of humour with them, from the likes of Keep Calm & Have a Cupcake to Keep Calm & Remove the Arrow from your Knee (geeks & computer game widows will know what the last one is on about). But it does hold a good advice. Today this was very much true, a major technical glitch could have meant everybody's shift got cancelled if it wasn't for the deputy manager thinking on her feet & instituting a very good plan b. Having made all arrangements to cover pretty much most scenarios that could have arisen & explaining them calmly to the rest of us gave us a sense that even though there was a major underlying problem everything should be OK if we keep it together. The shift went by without a hitch, no one took an arrow to the knee & even though if luck had dealt us a different hand & it turned out worse, we would have gotten through because of our mindset at the time. So today's shift didn't seem much different from any other day, even though the underlying issue wasn't fully fixed till 10 minutes before we closed the doors. Well done guys, proud of you all, especially my deputy manager.

There are days though that I am the one who has to deal with a major situation & I tend to do rather well at it, however on times when there is only minor occasions when only little things go wrong I flap. Perhaps I just vent my panic on the insignificant things so I can be calm when it really matters. But when you panic it invariably leads you nowhere, keep calm & carry on does bring us a relatively positive outcome even if things don't quite go according to plan & then when you get home you can treat yourself to nice cold glass of.. oh yeah I nearly forgot I'm doing Lent, bugger, it will have to be a glass of fruit juice, oh well, no need to panic.

Being at a Loss

Today I was not expecting to get online, so have no clear thoughts on what I am going to post, but then on this I shall write. I often feel that I need to be interesting, as most other people do, but what if you don't feel like it for a change, or in those moments where you can't think of anything interesting, are these times for quiet contemplation of all the world's mysteries or sending your thoughts who need them. Do these times provide us with introspective moments or do the just remind us that we can't be interesting all the time however much we want to. Do we underestimate our boredom or blank moments? Should we embrace them? What do we with them when we have embraced them to get out of it? Should we just go with the flow & let ourselves be bored? I may just be writing this as I haven't properly woken up yet despite it being the latest lie in I've had all week & I end up kicking myself for not thinking of a certain subject to write about, whatever the truth is about these times, I think we should use them wisely, do chores you have been putting off, meditate if you have done all of those or perhaps go on a flight of fancy, but what ever it is have fun doing it & maybe you wont be so bored. Hope this hasn't sent you to sleep, yours snoringly, etc etc Pagan Chaplain

Gay Marriage

OK so this is me getting a little on the political side, what is the big deal about same sex marriage? Its 2 people who really love each other making a commitment to each other that is more than just a mere legal document like a civil partnership is. Although I admit a civil partnership is a step in the right direction it is not marriage, it is a piece of paper saying don't you dare take what my partner & myself have worked for after one of our deaths you money grabbing person there was somebody more deserving of my legacy seeing as though they helped build it thank you very much & things of that ilk. It is not marriage its a poor substitute, OK it could be worse but it could be a whole lot better, why should the sanctuary of marriage just be for heterosexuals, LGBT people love just as strong & there love is just as sacred, so let them declare it properly. On the reverse side I also support the notion that heterosexuals should have civil partnerships if they don't want to get married but want legal provision for their partner, equality for all. OK it is a bit weird a Pagan jumping into the fray on this one as gay Pagans have handfastings & they are considered as equal to that of heterosexual ones. Perhaps on this one the world could take a leaf out of the Pagan book & follow its example, or is that just too radical? I am quite looking forward to jumping the broomstick with partner (who would then be husband) in the future, I hope other people get the chance to do that what ever their life path. And no it is not a flying broomstick (if only such thing existed).

Gay marriage isn't going to to destroy religion, bigotry & hatred might, treating people as second class citizens might. People thought the world would end when mixed race marriages started to appear again but it didn't, the world still carried on, no one was hurt except the people who were being discriminated against. The government are trying to create an even playing field, for once the coalition government is doing something I agree with, don't ruin their last redeeming feature. Gay marriage doesn't threaten the institution of marriage as much as those who don't take their vows seriously, who get married only for it to not last any more than a few days, weeks, months or a couple of years. Marriage is a life commitment & LGBT people are capable of that. Give them that chance & they will show you.

She's a Real Witch

So following from that is so gay post I thought I would address the she's a real Witch issue, OK how many of the people who are opposed to the the term that is so gay have called someone a Witch & not meant a Wiccan, Hedgewitch or other form of Witch in the Pagan sense? A Witch is a term often used to describe someone who is not actually a Witch but someone who malicious, scheming & generally unpleasant, but no one batters an eyelid at that phrase. The term Witch meaning someone is unpleasant gets banded about too readily without public uproar, but soon as someone says that is so gay people are up in arms about it. Isn't that double standards? Witches have feelings too & hey we are not evil, well maybe if I haven't had much sleep & I have to be up at the crack of dawn I can be thoroughly unpleasant , but unless you are one of those freaky people who enjoy the early to rise thing I think most can empathise with that. So what to do, lobby the equal rites commission to get the word Witch not to be used as an insult? Witches have been ingrained into the mass public psyche as being wicked creatures & most of the time people think of Witches as being monsters more than humans. How do we get across calling someone a Witch is offensive to Witches as far as insults go, when we can't even get people to stop calling someone gay as an insult. Unfortunately we can't but if you are one of the people who thinks its wrong to call someone a gay but is OK to call someone a Witch, then you have double standard, go & look in your political correctness handbook & come back with a reasonable explanation as to why it is justifiable. Don't come back with we don't mean a Witch in the Pagan term we mean it in the other term, the other is the Pagan term, it is just that we got demonised by religious fanatics centuries ago & the influence of that is only just starting to wear off. I do not recommend calling anyone a Witch as an insult unless we can use other religious titles as an insult without any comeback on us. So long & short of it don't call someone who is not a Witch a Witch, just as much as don't call someone gay who is not gay. Level playing field here we come.

That's So Gay

OK eytomology time again, the word gay gets used a lot, mainly to refer to homosexual men & occasionally homosexual women, but in recent years it has meant that something is stupid as well. People get uppity about the usage of this term & in the way that it is ever more increasingly used. But haven't we purloined a word that was used as an insult at the time anyway? Lets look at the ways in what it has been used it originally meant happy or cheery, nothing wrong with that, but just as the word grotesque ended up being a word for an ornament that is a gargoyle without a function a gay became the opposite an ornament which was desirable & a nosegay is a term still used as bouquet although less so nowadays, I'm not sure if you classed me as an ornament I that wouldn't end up being more like a grotesque personally. Another meaning of the word gay meant carefree, which by modern standards is considered a good thing meaning happy, peaceful & free if somewhat naive, but not back then it didn't the happy & free bit probably stuck but the lack of morality in general was also meant. With that in mind the term changed to incorporate another meaning & for the first time a purely negative one, as a prostitute, meaning that they were nothing more than a pretty object to take pleasure out of without thinking of the morals of what they are doing, thankfully that meaning of the word disappeared into obscurity. But then another less welcome interpretation came into use, gay started to mean garish & flamboyant, which is the term gay came from that eventually meaning a homosexual male, yes they were calling us garish not happy or jolly, but we have subsequently taken it as a badge of honour ignoring the fact that way before it got used for us it was starting to be quite a negative term, eventually we took it on renouncing the garish connotation & putting the happy gleam on it. OK I'm proud to be gay myself & it is a badge I wear openly. So why does it seem that I'm supporting the negative use of the word, most people when they say it, do not mean that is so like a homosexual, it has become habitual & people use it without thinking, they just mean something is stupid, soon language will change & something else will mean stupid, though what I'm not sure. Please take things in context. So one of the fall outs of such phraseology has become the Queer being used by gay people about themselves, those who are not comfortable with the term gay any more, my problem with this is that queer has never been a none pejorative, it means weird or not quite right. OK heterosexual people use queer as their status too because as they don't like the stereotypical connotations of the word straight & is also used by Bi people as it may cut out some of the flack they receive & I have no problem with such a status existing, in fact I quite support it, just don't call it queer, it never has meant anything pleasant, call it other, unspecified or none heteronormative or something that is not an insult. I would prefer to be called gay than queer because at least gay does have some good connotations to it. OK people should be a little more aware of the situation that they may cause by using the term gay meaning something rubbish, but then we also need to realise that it isn't a direct attack on us.

The Value of Relaxing

OK so this is going to be a quick one owing to the fact I will be going food shopping in a bit, so much for the relaxing part. But having worked 14 days of a fifteen day stretch I'm very much looking forward to my my day off on Wednesday & celebrating it with a hot chocolate in the hot tub. It isn't until you work such long stints of work do you realise how important days off are to you, I know a few friends & family members who will most definitely concur. A day that you might actually relish for the amount of activity making your day fly by seems more of a daunting task & you just wish you could say bugger this for a game of soldiers I'm going to bed. But in this day & age we quite often bite off more than we can chew in our work life, just so we can make ends meet, but we do need our downtime otherwise we crash & burn usually in a rather spectacular way that makes us feel worse & less likely to want to/able to get back into the swing of normal life. So at least try & take a little time out in your day to either meditate, relax or snooze, just don't forget to snap out of it when you need to, even though its sooooooo comfy. Anyway food shopping wont do itself & I need to put laundry through so I don't have to wear the dreaded wash day pants.

Takeaway Week (or Not Enough Veg)

Ok this week has been an incredibly hectic one & most nights this week so far have been takeaway meals for dinner because me & my partner have not had the time to go shopping. Now my local Chinese is a good one & we tend to use a good pizza company but my other half is way more carnivorous than me & every time I live his diet I tend to suffer. Thankfully we had Indian last night (also a good takeaway near me) which meant we have separate dishes so I went veggie. If I eat like my other half by the end of the week if I eat like my other half I tend to get trapped wind & I feel like I'm shitting porcupines when I go to the toilet which does make me wonder how do people who are lachanaphobic cope. I could not be without my vegetables, in fact I wish I could be vegetarian but my body just doesn't cope with it as I have tried it. After a week like this I really do appreciate the effects of a balanced diet & the joys of a home cooked meal, even if it is me who does nearly all the cooking in the house. Tonight is home cooked food night & it will be a vegetable lasagne, I'm really looking forward to it, I've missed the kitchen, well mostly, I don't miss the washing up, perhaps I should be a tidier cook. A week of takeaways has reminded me of a saying - too much of a good thing, I've indulged & now things are going to back to normal, thank goodness. I do prefer my meals not to come out of a foil tray, it tends to make look like I'm gathering equipment to make a helmet to stop aliens/major corporations/the government reading my mind, which is not good when you are trying to come across as sane.