Well I ventured out today at 9am to take in the Christmas sales and see what clothing bargains I could get. I took my new and very fetching Tartan Shopper (TS) with extra-wide gusset (a "Granny" special) that my mum had got me for Crimbo, to save me juggling about 12 carrier bags on only 10 fingers.
I also didn't bother to do my hair, since it was already pelting down with snow and wind, so what was the point of a nice coiff? Add to the fact I had another crap nights sleep, had dark shadows under my eyes, and with the addition of my duffle coat I resembled a fully fledged Bag Lady.
On hitting the shops looking like said Bag Lady, I realised the TS was a bad idea - I think every single shop attendant eyed me up as I walked in with duffle coat and Big Bag and scruffy hair, and immediately thought "shoplifter!!!" and as I browsed the racks with an armful of clothes, I felt the Young Trendy Shop Girls closing in, ready to pounce should I make a dash for the door. After I duly tried the clothes on then paid for them, refusing a carrier bag (horrid plastic!) and putting the clothes in my TS, I think they relaxed somewhat. However I still felt like the biggest frump in the cosmiverse and wished I had done my hair and worn a different coat.
As I trailed from shop to shop and bought stuff, the TS got heavier and heavier. Why is it that every single bloody item I touched on a clothes rack promptly fell off the hangar and onto the floor, leaving me with the choice of walking off and leaving it, or struggling with TS, armful of clothes, and said item of clothing?? This while other rude nubile size 8s shoved past me, kneeing my TS and staring at the Funny Bag Lady swearing at a coathanger....
I also have realised that Top Shop trousers will NEVER fit me - they are obviously styled for today's pear-shaped girl who has a beer belly overhang and no waist - every pair I tried on stuck out like a champagne class around my hips and waist, as if waiting for me to suddenly expand into them.
Changing rooms left a lot to be desired, with most having little or no hooks to hang your coat and clothes. Some hooks helpfully pointed downwards and had no ends on them, so your clothes fell straight off onto the floor. Others smelt of niffy feet, and all were manned by sullen teens who looked down their noses at you as if to say "HA that won't suit YOU, Bag Lady!!!" and eyed my bulging TS with suspicion.
In every shop there were helpless-looking men standing around looking utterly fed up, or following their women around the racks and nodding listlessley at their ravings about the sparkly pink top with 40% off, or sitting outside changing rooms with "FFS HURRY UP!" written all over their faces. All these trendy clothes shops need a seating area and copious amounts of Top Gear magazine/Maxim/GQ to keep these poor guys from going insane.
As usual the young girls serving at the counter were as polite as always (see earlier Whinge at http://spaces.msn.com/members/whinges/Blog/cns!1phRy8Dn8LuYsTPHFr5S_KOQ!120.entry), and only Bay Trading got top marks for customer service and the remotest hint of frendliness. Every other shop not a word was spoken as the jumped up little teens took my money and avoided my eye contact. If they were pissed off to be working over Christmas then TOUGH SHIT, don't work in retail! But be the F*CK nice to us Bag Ladies, we may be eccentric millionaires that could change your life ....
I went to Chapelfield, the new shopping centre in Norwich, and bloody hell it was carnage in there - at 1pm I gave up - just too many people...I hobbled along with my heavy TS, and started to not care I was kneecapping people with it as I shoved through the crowds of slowly-walking Chavs and fat girls in hipsters. I caught one (rather nice looking) young man staring at me with an amused smile on his face. I wondered if he'd noticed the trance-like look of "get me out" desperation in my face as I hobbled along, or whether he was laughing at the Funny Ginger Bag Lady. Other young lads walked around in t-shirts outsidfe - WTF? It had started to SNOW heavily and these idiots were in t-shirts?!
I finally got to my car and worked my way out of town. In true Norwich City Council style, none of the roads had been gritted, and a slushy buildup had started. Cars crawled along, and one irritating twat in an Audi put his fog lights on - AS IF THAT WOULD HELP YOU IDIOT. Is it foggy?!? NO! Then f*cking turn off those dazzling lights before I ram you on purpose!
Smug Gits in 4x4s were everywhere, being Smug and thinking "I'm in a 4x4 so I can get through the snow, HA HAAAA I'M KING OF THE ROAD". Er not quite - the sight of one wheelspinning up Rose Lane was hilarious. 4x4s are even more lethal in slippery weather because they are more likely to roll in the event of a skid, and smash into ickle Golf drivers like me. Specially when they don't bother to scrape their side and rear windows and are driving blind - their already limited all-round vision is limited even more by their sheer laziness in window-scraping.
Bought a loads of luvvly Crimbo decorations at 50% off for next year, then went home and unpacked, only to discover that the funky china roll-top bath I'd purchased with requisite bath smellies and a teddy stuffed inside, had got smashed in bloody TS, and was useless - waste of a fiver. I only wanted the little rolltop bath to use in the new bathroom, and all I was left with was a ruddy teddy and some sickly pink bath smellies. Charity Shop!!!!
After cleaning the lounge and doing the ironing and making a sossie casserole for tea (yum) I'm now going to attempt to relax and sew another Snuggle Hammock for my neglected ickle ratties.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Sunday, December 25, 2005
No tat for me this Christmas
Well it seems my rantings against tat and for buying useful presents didn't fall on deaf ears....boyfriend produced a temptingly heavy big parcel on Christmas Eve; oooh I sniffed it I shook it I wondered what it was .... so this morning came and I ripped into it first thing.
Beneath the wrapping paper was a brown box with a software make all over it. Oooh what was it! A GPS car thingie, something cool for my digicam?
No - it was 10 bottles of Fructis shampoo and 2 bottles of bubble bath. Boyfriend smirked at me and said "well, you told me you'd appreciate 6 months worth of shampoo, cos it'd be useful and you'd not charity shop it". He then laughed and produced my real present - a Kylie "Showgirl" DVD.
Smug git .....
Beneath the wrapping paper was a brown box with a software make all over it. Oooh what was it! A GPS car thingie, something cool for my digicam?
No - it was 10 bottles of Fructis shampoo and 2 bottles of bubble bath. Boyfriend smirked at me and said "well, you told me you'd appreciate 6 months worth of shampoo, cos it'd be useful and you'd not charity shop it". He then laughed and produced my real present - a Kylie "Showgirl" DVD.
Smug git .....
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Debt
Reports are saying that over 200,000 people in the UK are still paying off last Christmas, while spending too much money again THIS Christmas. As a results, debts soar and credit cards cash in, as stupid people are pressured to have a huge Christmas every year, to have bigger meals, a bigger tree, more presents, more booze, more parties.
Why can't they just say "NO SORRY we're having a small Christmas this year, we're a bit skint". Are they that scared what other people will think? Who gives a toss what they think, if you're in debt you don't go and bloody spend even more money, no matter how much your kids whinge for the latest expensive piece of tat. They should be told and learn that when mummy and daddy have no money, everybody will have to miss out a bit and just deal with it.
Think small, be thankful for what you HAVE got, and that you are happy, healthy and have a roof over your head. Then think about all the other people out there who have less than nothing, but deal with it and get on with their lives. Or spend shitloads you haven't got on booze and tat .... it probably still won't feel very good ...
Why can't they just say "NO SORRY we're having a small Christmas this year, we're a bit skint". Are they that scared what other people will think? Who gives a toss what they think, if you're in debt you don't go and bloody spend even more money, no matter how much your kids whinge for the latest expensive piece of tat. They should be told and learn that when mummy and daddy have no money, everybody will have to miss out a bit and just deal with it.
Think small, be thankful for what you HAVE got, and that you are happy, healthy and have a roof over your head. Then think about all the other people out there who have less than nothing, but deal with it and get on with their lives. Or spend shitloads you haven't got on booze and tat .... it probably still won't feel very good ...
Monday, December 19, 2005
Happy Birthday Jesus??
The idea of celebrating the Nativity on December 25 was first suggested early in the fourth century CE, a clever move on the part of Church fathers who wished to eclipse the December 25 festivities of a rival pagan religion, Mithraism, which threatened the existence of Christianity.
In ancient times, Dec. 25 was the date of the lavish Roman festival of Saturnalia. It was a time when gifts were exchanged; homes, streets and buildings were decorated; people came home for the holidays and everybody was in a happy, party mood. It has been said that early Christians chose the date of the Saturnalia in order to avoid attention and thus escape persecution.
When the Roman emperor Constantine officially adopted Christianity in the 4th century, the date of Christmas remained Dec. 25.
Christs birth almost certainly did not occur 2,002 years ago. Our present chronology by which the years are numbered as AD or BC was conceived by the Roman abbot Dionysius Exiguus around 523 AD.
Unfortunately, Dionysius made two significant errors in his calculations. The first was his placement of 1 AD immediately following 1 BC, completely disregarding the mathematically required 0 in between. Back then in Europe, zero was not considered a number. So, for instance, the year we now call 3 BC, is actually 2 numerically speaking.
Second, Dionysius accepted the statement of Clement of Alexandria that Jesus was born in the 28th year of the reign of the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus. But Dionysius failed to realize that during the first four years of his reign this Roman ruler was known by his original name Octavianus, until the Roman senate proclaimed him "Augustus." So here alone we have an error of four years, but by the time it was realized our chronology was too well entrenched to be changed.
==============
An interesting article from an astronomy website. So when exactly was Jesus born then, (if he was at all), and have we just celebrated the Millennium too late or too early?
In ancient times, Dec. 25 was the date of the lavish Roman festival of Saturnalia. It was a time when gifts were exchanged; homes, streets and buildings were decorated; people came home for the holidays and everybody was in a happy, party mood. It has been said that early Christians chose the date of the Saturnalia in order to avoid attention and thus escape persecution.
When the Roman emperor Constantine officially adopted Christianity in the 4th century, the date of Christmas remained Dec. 25.
Christs birth almost certainly did not occur 2,002 years ago. Our present chronology by which the years are numbered as AD or BC was conceived by the Roman abbot Dionysius Exiguus around 523 AD.
Unfortunately, Dionysius made two significant errors in his calculations. The first was his placement of 1 AD immediately following 1 BC, completely disregarding the mathematically required 0 in between. Back then in Europe, zero was not considered a number. So, for instance, the year we now call 3 BC, is actually 2 numerically speaking.
Second, Dionysius accepted the statement of Clement of Alexandria that Jesus was born in the 28th year of the reign of the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus. But Dionysius failed to realize that during the first four years of his reign this Roman ruler was known by his original name Octavianus, until the Roman senate proclaimed him "Augustus." So here alone we have an error of four years, but by the time it was realized our chronology was too well entrenched to be changed.
==============
An interesting article from an astronomy website. So when exactly was Jesus born then, (if he was at all), and have we just celebrated the Millennium too late or too early?
Friday, December 16, 2005
What if ....
http://pawofjustice.org/index.php?cat=11
After reading this very upsetting article I got to thinking:
"What if animals could talk?"
If they did, there would have to be a completely new set of rules for EVERYTHING set up, to include animals and their rights, because they would be able to speak for themselves.
Just imagine - Humans would not be able to breed them in conditions like that, because they would speak out - if we wanted to keep one as a pet they'd very likely say "er no thanks, would rather run free thanks!" Or we'd be subject to stringent checks to see if new animal was happy with its surroundings. Reptile owners would be stuffed because animals would refuse to be bred as Feeders.
We'd totally not be able to eat meat anymore, all animals would say "HEY you're not killing us to eat, get lost!" Same for fur, leather etc etc. A whole new clothing system would have to be developed!
If we squashed a bunny or a pheasant on the roads, our number plates would be taken by a vigilant animal and we'd be held responsible.
Pet shops would go out of business or be VERY carefully monitored - all pets would have to be kept in absolute freedom or luxury to their own requirements - they'd have a say in all aspects of their own care, including which TV channel they wanted to watch!
What would happen to animal testing and experimentation???
There would no doubt be a new terrorist underground established that held animals prisoner and used them as feeders/lab fodder etc whether they liked it or not.
What else would happen to our world if animals could speak?
After reading this very upsetting article I got to thinking:
"What if animals could talk?"
If they did, there would have to be a completely new set of rules for EVERYTHING set up, to include animals and their rights, because they would be able to speak for themselves.
Just imagine - Humans would not be able to breed them in conditions like that, because they would speak out - if we wanted to keep one as a pet they'd very likely say "er no thanks, would rather run free thanks!" Or we'd be subject to stringent checks to see if new animal was happy with its surroundings. Reptile owners would be stuffed because animals would refuse to be bred as Feeders.
We'd totally not be able to eat meat anymore, all animals would say "HEY you're not killing us to eat, get lost!" Same for fur, leather etc etc. A whole new clothing system would have to be developed!
If we squashed a bunny or a pheasant on the roads, our number plates would be taken by a vigilant animal and we'd be held responsible.
Pet shops would go out of business or be VERY carefully monitored - all pets would have to be kept in absolute freedom or luxury to their own requirements - they'd have a say in all aspects of their own care, including which TV channel they wanted to watch!
What would happen to animal testing and experimentation???
There would no doubt be a new terrorist underground established that held animals prisoner and used them as feeders/lab fodder etc whether they liked it or not.
What else would happen to our world if animals could speak?
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
THE PURPOSE OF DEFENCE POLICY
These extracts from an article on the Sovereignity website:
Our Armed Forces are for the defence of British national interests, at home and abroad, which includes our people wherever they may be, our territory and borders, and our vital strategic interests worldwide.
Our Forces are not for the promotion of foreign interests. If we commit our precious and brave servicemen and women to conflict, then we need to be sure, firstly, that it is in our national interest so to do.
Consider the arguments being used to justify the War:
"Saddam is in Breach of UN Resolutions"
UN resolutions? So what! Other countries are in breach of UN resolutions. Anyway, UN resolutions do not have the force of law, and there is nothing in our constitution which requires a British government to seek to enforce them as if they did. Most especially, it is not our job to run about the world imposing UN resolutions. It is not our job to strengthen globalist institutions like the UN.
"We Should Oppose Brutal States Like Iraq"
Every state can be brutal, and every state can be accused of being brutal by someone else.
It is not our business to oppose a state simply because it is "brutal", by someone's definition. If we decide to oppose all "brutal" regimes then we will either have a lot of opposing to do, or we will need to become highly selective and, consequently, hypocritical. We should only get involved when it is our business, and when it is in the best interests of our own country and people.
"Saddam is an Evil Tyrant"
Again, so what! The premise from which to argue is: It is for the Iraqi people to deal with Saddam, if they choose so to do. It is not for us to get involved. It is frankly, none of our business. Even if he eats babies for breakfast, it is none of our business, unless he is threatening British people or our interests. If he eats babies for breakfast then it is for the Iraqi people to bother about it, and deal with him, and organise so to do, if and when they see fit. If he's a bad leader then it is up to the Iraqis to decide when to depose him. This they may have done eventually if Iraq had been treated like a normal nation, and the punitive sanctions it suffered under for 12 years had been dropped.
For us to get involved is for us to interfere in other people's business, to impose our "morality" on them, and to be full of hypocrisy because whoever replaces him will likely be just as bad, and the people now calling for Saddam's head will look the other way when the new regime tortures and murders its old opponents.
It is also absurd to measure Iraq by our Western "democratic" standards.
"We Must Not Appease Dictators"
The "appeasement" issue only arises if he's a direct threat to our country and people. Otherwise, it's not our business.
"Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destruction"
Self-defence for self-determination is a principle of sovereignty. Iraq has a fundamental right to be a self-determining sovereign nation. Every self-determining nation is entitled to defend itself. Every self-determining nation has a perfect right to possess whatever weapons it wants.
Even if Iraq did have "weapons of mass destruction" there would be no reason for us to attack it. Such weapons would be of no direct threat to Britain, or even threaten our interests in the region.
Who, and for whose foreign interests, will our soldiers be required to fight and die for next?
From a patriotic point of view, there's nothing good in this war for Britain. We get zero benefit. We get nothing positive out of it. We've nothing to gain. It is absurd to talk about "winning", when there is nothing for us to "win".
Sovereignty recommends that the best way to support our troops is to ensure they do not ever again serve foreign interests, and that they should only be deployed where they are needed to defend our own British interests.
Our Armed Forces are for the defence of British national interests, at home and abroad, which includes our people wherever they may be, our territory and borders, and our vital strategic interests worldwide.
Our Forces are not for the promotion of foreign interests. If we commit our precious and brave servicemen and women to conflict, then we need to be sure, firstly, that it is in our national interest so to do.
Consider the arguments being used to justify the War:
"Saddam is in Breach of UN Resolutions"
UN resolutions? So what! Other countries are in breach of UN resolutions. Anyway, UN resolutions do not have the force of law, and there is nothing in our constitution which requires a British government to seek to enforce them as if they did. Most especially, it is not our job to run about the world imposing UN resolutions. It is not our job to strengthen globalist institutions like the UN.
"We Should Oppose Brutal States Like Iraq"
Every state can be brutal, and every state can be accused of being brutal by someone else.
It is not our business to oppose a state simply because it is "brutal", by someone's definition. If we decide to oppose all "brutal" regimes then we will either have a lot of opposing to do, or we will need to become highly selective and, consequently, hypocritical. We should only get involved when it is our business, and when it is in the best interests of our own country and people.
"Saddam is an Evil Tyrant"
Again, so what! The premise from which to argue is: It is for the Iraqi people to deal with Saddam, if they choose so to do. It is not for us to get involved. It is frankly, none of our business. Even if he eats babies for breakfast, it is none of our business, unless he is threatening British people or our interests. If he eats babies for breakfast then it is for the Iraqi people to bother about it, and deal with him, and organise so to do, if and when they see fit. If he's a bad leader then it is up to the Iraqis to decide when to depose him. This they may have done eventually if Iraq had been treated like a normal nation, and the punitive sanctions it suffered under for 12 years had been dropped.
For us to get involved is for us to interfere in other people's business, to impose our "morality" on them, and to be full of hypocrisy because whoever replaces him will likely be just as bad, and the people now calling for Saddam's head will look the other way when the new regime tortures and murders its old opponents.
It is also absurd to measure Iraq by our Western "democratic" standards.
"We Must Not Appease Dictators"
The "appeasement" issue only arises if he's a direct threat to our country and people. Otherwise, it's not our business.
"Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destruction"
Self-defence for self-determination is a principle of sovereignty. Iraq has a fundamental right to be a self-determining sovereign nation. Every self-determining nation is entitled to defend itself. Every self-determining nation has a perfect right to possess whatever weapons it wants.
Even if Iraq did have "weapons of mass destruction" there would be no reason for us to attack it. Such weapons would be of no direct threat to Britain, or even threaten our interests in the region.
Who, and for whose foreign interests, will our soldiers be required to fight and die for next?
From a patriotic point of view, there's nothing good in this war for Britain. We get zero benefit. We get nothing positive out of it. We've nothing to gain. It is absurd to talk about "winning", when there is nothing for us to "win".
Sovereignty recommends that the best way to support our troops is to ensure they do not ever again serve foreign interests, and that they should only be deployed where they are needed to defend our own British interests.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Nutty Woman with Green Box
Amusing happenings this morning as I chased a binman around our cul-de-sac in my Ugg boots and dressing gown. I've just got a Green Box for recycling stuff, and the last collection missed my box, so it was full to bursting for this collection. I knew they came early but I'd not put the box out on the doorstep (where they don't bloody see it), so I was listening for their dump truck. Then I spotted a guy in a fluorescent vest taking the boxes by hand out of the cul-de-sac. Argh! I dashed downstairs, grabbed the box and ran outside, following him lugging my green box and calling after him. I didn't realise but he was plugged into some music so didn't hear me.
Then has he put the box down and turned to empty it, he saw me in the morning darkness flapping along in my Ugg boots with dressing gown all wonky, hair a mess and mascara smudges under my eyes, going "Scuse me, can you take this from no. 28 please". The look on his face was a picture, but he took the box without a word and duly returned it to my doorstep.
I wonder if he'll be scared to return for the next collection ....
On a different note, ratties were put into their palatial new home last night. At first they were like but then they gingerly started to explore and climb tentatively onto the upper levels, whilst sniffing everything warily. Within 15 minutes they were doing banzai rattie-leaps up to the other levels, and scrapping with eachother for who gets to snuggle into the fluffy hat-nest first. I put a mini roll-top bath in there for their water dish, which they stand on and dip their paws delicately into the water to drink and wash themselves, it looks soooo sweet. It's amazing how they have such huge personalities, specially for animals so young, and I've only had them for a week! Winston seems to be the mummies boy who always wants my attention and is first to get out of the cage when I open the door. He also looks all pissed off if I get Franklin out to fuss over him, at one point even starting to gnaw at the bars to try to get out to me! He's the smaller of the two rats but the most dominant at the moment, it's strange to see him flip Franklin onto his back and do some rattie-dominance intensive preening, as if to say "Oi, I'm in charge here".
Franklin happily lies back and allows himself to be tickled, as he does whenever my hand flips him over for a tickle. He enjoys sitting on my shoulder for a doze, while Winston won't sit still and insists on crawling all over my clothes and trying to dive onto the floor from my shoulder.
Sad rattie-geek that I am, I have loads of digicam movies of their japes, that I upload onto rattie web forums for other like-minded owners to "oooh" and "aaah" over. Normal people swoon over baby movies, not me - only furry baby movies for me!!!
Then has he put the box down and turned to empty it, he saw me in the morning darkness flapping along in my Ugg boots with dressing gown all wonky, hair a mess and mascara smudges under my eyes, going "Scuse me, can you take this from no. 28 please". The look on his face was a picture, but he took the box without a word and duly returned it to my doorstep.
I wonder if he'll be scared to return for the next collection ....
On a different note, ratties were put into their palatial new home last night. At first they were like but then they gingerly started to explore and climb tentatively onto the upper levels, whilst sniffing everything warily. Within 15 minutes they were doing banzai rattie-leaps up to the other levels, and scrapping with eachother for who gets to snuggle into the fluffy hat-nest first. I put a mini roll-top bath in there for their water dish, which they stand on and dip their paws delicately into the water to drink and wash themselves, it looks soooo sweet. It's amazing how they have such huge personalities, specially for animals so young, and I've only had them for a week! Winston seems to be the mummies boy who always wants my attention and is first to get out of the cage when I open the door. He also looks all pissed off if I get Franklin out to fuss over him, at one point even starting to gnaw at the bars to try to get out to me! He's the smaller of the two rats but the most dominant at the moment, it's strange to see him flip Franklin onto his back and do some rattie-dominance intensive preening, as if to say "Oi, I'm in charge here".
Franklin happily lies back and allows himself to be tickled, as he does whenever my hand flips him over for a tickle. He enjoys sitting on my shoulder for a doze, while Winston won't sit still and insists on crawling all over my clothes and trying to dive onto the floor from my shoulder.
Sad rattie-geek that I am, I have loads of digicam movies of their japes, that I upload onto rattie web forums for other like-minded owners to "oooh" and "aaah" over. Normal people swoon over baby movies, not me - only furry baby movies for me!!!
Monday, December 12, 2005
Imagine this Christmas
This great entry on Jamie's Big Voice blog ...
I think John Lennon had it right when he wrote the words imagine all those people. It's easy if you try. So what I want you to do is close your eyes and imagine it's Christmas eve at 11 58 in the evening and Christmas day is just moments away and there is a stillness in the air. No cars are driving by as usual. No one chattering. No couples kissing in shop doorways on their way home. Just silence. Then you hear the clocks strike midnight. Its Christmas day and yet your still alone, cold, feeling sad and maybe your hungry too, but you know you have to save what you have because the shops that are open are expensive and you know you'll have to wait for the cheaper ones to open. So all there is, is you and your memories of how it was and how you wish it could be. Imagine how lonely that must feel.
It doesn't matter whether you're ill, a drug addict or an alcoholic or just homeless. No one should be alone at Christmas it's a time for family and friends. It's not a time to be on your own thinking of the could have beens and the maybe's. It's the same all over the world for the homeless and the lost at Christmas but just imagine what could be achieved with a little bit of hope and compassion? Not just here in the UK but all over the world. What a sight it would be if everyone just went out and handed a blanket or a sandwich and hot drink. What a few days this Christmas would be and say if you spoke to someone say at that hostel or place you don't really know to much about. You know about it because of its reputation. I think you'd be surprised how normal people are.
I think it would be an outstanding Christmas if it happened because it doesn't have to be gifts at Christmas. It just has to be a bit of humanity. Anyway that's my wish list for Christmas as stupid as it may sound.
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Amen to that Jamie ....
I think John Lennon had it right when he wrote the words imagine all those people. It's easy if you try. So what I want you to do is close your eyes and imagine it's Christmas eve at 11 58 in the evening and Christmas day is just moments away and there is a stillness in the air. No cars are driving by as usual. No one chattering. No couples kissing in shop doorways on their way home. Just silence. Then you hear the clocks strike midnight. Its Christmas day and yet your still alone, cold, feeling sad and maybe your hungry too, but you know you have to save what you have because the shops that are open are expensive and you know you'll have to wait for the cheaper ones to open. So all there is, is you and your memories of how it was and how you wish it could be. Imagine how lonely that must feel.
It doesn't matter whether you're ill, a drug addict or an alcoholic or just homeless. No one should be alone at Christmas it's a time for family and friends. It's not a time to be on your own thinking of the could have beens and the maybe's. It's the same all over the world for the homeless and the lost at Christmas but just imagine what could be achieved with a little bit of hope and compassion? Not just here in the UK but all over the world. What a sight it would be if everyone just went out and handed a blanket or a sandwich and hot drink. What a few days this Christmas would be and say if you spoke to someone say at that hostel or place you don't really know to much about. You know about it because of its reputation. I think you'd be surprised how normal people are.
I think it would be an outstanding Christmas if it happened because it doesn't have to be gifts at Christmas. It just has to be a bit of humanity. Anyway that's my wish list for Christmas as stupid as it may sound.
==================
Amen to that Jamie ....
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Merry Bullshitmas
An excellent post on this blog I found, summing up my feelings exactly:
http://www.ihatebullshit.com/2005/11/merry-bullshitmas.html
TV adverts have increasingly pissed me off this last week, with schmaltzy commercial taglines such as "Christmas is for families" and "Because giving feels so good .... give more!" and "Feel the Magic of Christmas". WHAT MAGIC? The magic of running up credit card debts because little Timmy wants a £200 XBox and won't be happy until he gets it? The magic of feeling pressured to cook huge meals "just because it's Christmas dinner" then throwing away 50% of the food? The magic of ramming yourself through crowds of po-faced shoppers who push past you and drag the bags out of your hands with their impatience to get past?
Why is Christmas for families? What about every other day of the year? Why should you only GIVE at Christmas? All these things should count ever day of the year, not just some commercially-dictated spending frenzy. Think of your family every day, be generous every day to everbody .... visit Grandma Bessie or old Arthur down the road more often, don't just think about relatives and loved ones at Christmas. They are there 365 days of the year not just during Crimbo week.
On Sun morning I was listening to the radio (at bloody 5.30am when I woke up) and listening to this preacher dude talking about Christmas. He recited the usual Crimbo story of the Shepherds and the stable and the angels, and he *really believed it*. I thought "how can anyone believe something that has absolutely no foundations or evidence, apart from what's written in an old book" - a book that has been rewritten and twisted to suit various powerful people's aims throughout the centuries.....
No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?
Christmas has pagan and roman origins, I'm not going to go into it here, just Google it. Even the red-faced fat jolly Santa we know and love is bullsh*t - The Civil War cartoonist Thomas Nast drew Santa Claus for Harper's Weekly in 1862; Santa was shown as a small elf-like figure who supported the Union. Nast continued to draw Santa for 30 years and along the way changed the color of his coat from tan to the now traditional red.
He then made an appearance in Coca-Cola advertising in 1930. Artist Fred Mizen painted a department store Santa in a crowd drinking a bottle of Coke. The ad featured the world's largest soda fountain, which was located in the department store of Famous Barr Co. in St. Louis, Mo. Mizen's painting was used in print ads that Christmas season, appearing in the Saturday Evening Post on December 27, 1930. And so it continued, the image was cemented. For the real Saint Nick, click here (http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38).
So what exactly are we celebrating apart from a hodgepodge of fabrications? And the demise of our bank accounts?
I've felt strangely separated from Christmas this year and I'm glad. The house is still too full of DIY stuff to warrant a tree and decorations, a lot of my friends aren't sending cards because they are as disillusioned as I am; we're also not buying needless tat but instead stuff we will USE and appreciate, or we just get together and have a few drinks instead. I gave two charity shoeboxes to Romanians, and this week I've applied for some vountary work for various organisations. It helps me to feel less pissed off by what I see around me. I'd rather spend Christmas making other people smile and feel less alone than indluging in an orgy of overeating, overspending and overcommercialisation.
http://www.ihatebullshit.com/2005/11/merry-bullshitmas.html
TV adverts have increasingly pissed me off this last week, with schmaltzy commercial taglines such as "Christmas is for families" and "Because giving feels so good .... give more!" and "Feel the Magic of Christmas". WHAT MAGIC? The magic of running up credit card debts because little Timmy wants a £200 XBox and won't be happy until he gets it? The magic of feeling pressured to cook huge meals "just because it's Christmas dinner" then throwing away 50% of the food? The magic of ramming yourself through crowds of po-faced shoppers who push past you and drag the bags out of your hands with their impatience to get past?
Why is Christmas for families? What about every other day of the year? Why should you only GIVE at Christmas? All these things should count ever day of the year, not just some commercially-dictated spending frenzy. Think of your family every day, be generous every day to everbody .... visit Grandma Bessie or old Arthur down the road more often, don't just think about relatives and loved ones at Christmas. They are there 365 days of the year not just during Crimbo week.
On Sun morning I was listening to the radio (at bloody 5.30am when I woke up) and listening to this preacher dude talking about Christmas. He recited the usual Crimbo story of the Shepherds and the stable and the angels, and he *really believed it*. I thought "how can anyone believe something that has absolutely no foundations or evidence, apart from what's written in an old book" - a book that has been rewritten and twisted to suit various powerful people's aims throughout the centuries.....
No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?
Christmas has pagan and roman origins, I'm not going to go into it here, just Google it. Even the red-faced fat jolly Santa we know and love is bullsh*t - The Civil War cartoonist Thomas Nast drew Santa Claus for Harper's Weekly in 1862; Santa was shown as a small elf-like figure who supported the Union. Nast continued to draw Santa for 30 years and along the way changed the color of his coat from tan to the now traditional red.
He then made an appearance in Coca-Cola advertising in 1930. Artist Fred Mizen painted a department store Santa in a crowd drinking a bottle of Coke. The ad featured the world's largest soda fountain, which was located in the department store of Famous Barr Co. in St. Louis, Mo. Mizen's painting was used in print ads that Christmas season, appearing in the Saturday Evening Post on December 27, 1930. And so it continued, the image was cemented. For the real Saint Nick, click here (http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38).
So what exactly are we celebrating apart from a hodgepodge of fabrications? And the demise of our bank accounts?
I've felt strangely separated from Christmas this year and I'm glad. The house is still too full of DIY stuff to warrant a tree and decorations, a lot of my friends aren't sending cards because they are as disillusioned as I am; we're also not buying needless tat but instead stuff we will USE and appreciate, or we just get together and have a few drinks instead. I gave two charity shoeboxes to Romanians, and this week I've applied for some vountary work for various organisations. It helps me to feel less pissed off by what I see around me. I'd rather spend Christmas making other people smile and feel less alone than indluging in an orgy of overeating, overspending and overcommercialisation.
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