Top Brass

It was a hive of activity at the retail outlet, where I work …..
Mops and buckets, dustpans & brushes, cleaning spray and paper roll – all working overtime!
Staff starting work an hour earlier than normal.
Trolleys and cages of goods flying round the shop floor and warehouse.
Packets and tins being moved from here to there, and sometimes back again.
Shelves being filled to capacity.
No cages of cardboard and plastic coverings standing about
Everything taken off the work tops, never seen them so bare.
Extra staff in, tills fully manned (or should I say personed?!).
Staff room spruced up, no clutter there either.

What was the big occasion?....
An executive visit.
It had been said there would be visit by a couple of the “top brass”, the bosses.
Will they even come??
We`ve heard it all before time and time again and no-one has come.
Or is it just a ploy to get things how they should be?

Are Bosses really so naïve that they think the shop always looks like that?
Do they really not know that special efforts are made to impress?

I always maintain that they should just turn up, without warning, to see how things really are. To see the normal everyday life of the business and the conditions the staff have to work in, and the view the customers have of it daily.

And another thought, if we can get things looking good like this, why can`t we always do it and keep it like it??

Looking at Daffodils

Everywhere one goes at this time of year there seems to be daffodils blooming. We had a ride in the country lanes the other day and saw so many on banks outside peoples houses, farms, cottages, and all those people who planted them there for the benefit of passers by more than for themselves,as they couldn`t see them from their homes I`m sure.
If you are one of those people who plant them for others to see and to give pleasure to us, Thank you.

Watching Daffodils

Daffodils

I bought some daffodils at the weekend, I know there`s some in the garden and in pots, but I`m not going to pick them! I`ve been watching them change from standing straight upright, like pencils, to bent over as crooks and then slowly opening into beautiful bring cheerful flowers. So many stages in their lives, just as there are many stages in our lives, and like us they need nurturing and feeding and being cared for to give of their best.

Why Flowers?

I managed to take the daffodils to put on my Dad`s grave this afternoon, and it set me pondering – why do we put flowers on graves?

I know I do it, and it feels right to do it, but why? Why does it feel right?
I know that if I don`t do it, and especially on special days – birthdays; Christmas; Easter; anniversary of the date he died; before going away on holiday etc., I feel as if something`s missing, that I haven`t done something I should do.

I can always remember Dad saying once, about someone he knew who said “you can put a rice pudding on my grave after I`ve gone because I won`t know anything about it. It`s what you do for me now, while I`m here that matters”. And I guess that is very true.

Or is it?
How do we know whether or not they know what we do now somehow. Perhaps putting flowers on are the way of showing we still care, of trying to make up for things not said or done?

Reflecting on Easter Day

Looking back at today - Easter Day

I`ve attended three services today, each one of them different in atmosphere, but each one of them giving a lot of food for thought.

The first one, early this morning, had a very peaceful ambience about it, but at the same time had a powerful message about Easter.

The second one, later in the morning, was a very busy service with a packed congregation. There were a lot of different parts to the service, from a Baptism, to a choir rendition of an anthem (which I didn`t enjoy), to a very interesting sermon which I did find good and helpful. The most moving part of this service, to me, was the privilege of helping with the distribution of the Communion. [I don`t mean privileged in the sense of pride, I mean not feeling a good enough person to do it but being allowed to.] To actually be sharing the bread and wine with people gave somehow an extra depth to the meaning and significance of Communion. To actually pass someone a glass of wine and say “the blood of Christ shed for you”, and to be so aware of what I was saying, was very moving.
I found too, thinking about it afterwards, that I was so totally absorbed in what I was doing that I became unaware of the sounds, of movement, of children/babies murmerings and noises that I had been conscious of during the rest of the service.

The third one, in the evening, had yet another different feel to it. It was quiet, there were few people there, but the singing of the hymns was strong. It had a sermon based on a well known Bible passage for Easter of the walk to Emmaus, but a different emphasis on it to others I`ve heard on the same reading.

I find it interesting, as well as helpful, the way different bible readings can give so many different ways to interpret and look at them.

The weather`s not been good today, its been foggy and then rainy, I couldn`t take flowers up to Dad`s grave, which was disappointing, it`s the first year I`ve missed.
But, it has been a good Easter day

Easter Day

If you read this Blog today

Happy Easter

to

You

A miserable day

No, the title doesn`t refer to my state of mind.
It`s a comment that someone said to me as we walked passed each other on the pavement today. She, ofcourse, was talking about the weather. It is a drizzly, misty, damp, dull grey day. Yet to me the weather seems to suit the day perfectly - the day after Good Friday and before Easter Day. I imagine the day after Good Friday must have been a very miserable day for all the disciples, mother and followers of Jesus. Wonder what the weather was like there on that day, did it match their mood? We are told the sky went black for about three hours, but, what happened after that?

Thinking about it, we talk a lot about the weather, and it can and does seem to affect how we feel and react to things, yet I don`t remember in the Bible (apart from the flood in Genesis), but especially in the life of Jesus, the writers telling us what the weather was like when events in his life took place. [I guess I`m probably wrong, and if so someone can point me in the right direction on that!].
I wonder why they didn`t, was it not important to them?

Good Friday reflections

After a moving Communion service on Maundy Thursday, today`s Good Friday one was equally as thought provoking. They both made me want to sit longer and think about what I had heard, but this morning was also the time to join with others in walking behind a cross. This silent walk (which this year did actually manage to be silent) also gave time for thought.
Passing through shopping streets of people going about their normal everyday business, it came to me that that must also have been the way things were on the first Good Friday. Some would probably have watched the procession, in the way people did today, but how many I wondered were unaware of what was going on then, as now?
The sound of our feet in a narrow street, made me think of the sound of the soldiers taking Jesus carrying his cross to his death.
Hearing the cross hammered into the ground, seemed to take one back to the actually crucifixion of Jesus, when the crowd there must also have heard such a sound.
So many links, so much to think about today, so much to be thankful for.

Building work and News

Our workmen are making progress slowly and should be finished next week. Seeing how long its taken to do just a couple of rooms in a house, has made my thoughts go back to all those affected by the Tsunami disaster and wonder how they are getting on. It`s only three months ago, but one hears nothing about them now. How quickly these things go out of the news and one is left to wonder about the people and how they are coping with rebuilding their homes, villages, towns, and their lives.

Talking about the News, why is it that it seems that ninety nine percent of all news broadcasts are about the sad and bad things that happen in the world? Why does no-one seem to want to tell good news? There must be so many stories of kindnesses done, generosity shown, of the tremendous amount of Good in the world.

Daffodils

I was looking at two daffodils the other day and it set me thinking - they would both die in a few days, maybe one would live longer than the other, but the flowers would both fade and die. But, yet one of them would continue to live after the other was completely dead. Why? -
Because one was in a vase and the other rooted in the ground.
It came to me that faith could be like that.
That I need to be like that bulb planted in the ground, so that my faith is constantly feeding and growing.
(No, I`m not a preacher! far from it!!, but sometimes looking at an everyday item, something comes to me that seems almost as a
"shaft of light".

Blank sheet

Why is it, when I`m not sitting in front of the computer, or when I haven`t pen and paper handy I can think of plenty to write about. Yet, as soon as I sit here with a blank page in front of me, my mind goes blank?
Is it only me that finds that?

Donkeys

In yesterdays Bible reading, one I`ve heard many times before one verse set me puzzling. It`s strange how I can hear familiar readings time and time again and just accept them but then sometimes something, some phrase or verse will catch my attention and make me wonder a bit more about it.

Yesterdays was Matthew 21: 7 "they brought the donkey and the colt, threw their cloaks over them and Jesus got on"......

My mind said - Why did Jesus need two donkeys? Did he ride them both? - if so why? was it because of the distance? Did someone else ride one? Was the colt big enough to be ridden, or was it that it had to stay with its mother?

Or, in this practical side of the story is the writer also trying to say more? Is there a significance to mentioning both the colt and the donkey?, in the way that many bible passages have a deeper meaning.

Dilemma

Should I give up something I`ve been doing over six years, but enjoy doing?
That’s something I`ve been thinking about over the past weeks, since the suggestion was made to me. I felt very upset when it was suggested, then I started questioning myself as to why I felt as I did, why it was important to me?
I`m not a confident person (although I try to appear so), I get very nervous about different things, and there are so many things I can`t do. But this is something I can do, and I suppose in that way it helps to give me confidence. I so often too feel an `odd one out`, at church - not fitting into the category of Wives, too young for the ladies fellowship; at work, still being single, when others are talking about their children, families. So this gives me a purpose, a sense of belonging, of being useful.
I know that I need to be needed.
But maybe that`s the wrong reason for hanging on to doing it?
Maybe I should give someone else the chance.
Yet, aren`t we supposed to use the gifts we have?
Is that perhaps why people leave the church, because after they`ve done something for a while and are willing to continue, they are asked to hand jobs over? So do I carry on, or do I pack up??

Recycling

Recycling – a new idea? - I think not !
I`m not that ancient (!) but I can remember “make do and mend”, in all kinds of ways –
letting down hems clothes so as not to discard and buy new,
sewing on buttons, replacing zips. etc.
Carefully unwrapping Christmas presents so as to save the good parts of the paper to use another year.
Cutting gift tags from cards, saving paper bags to reuse, saving string.
Almost everything was kept for a second purpose.
Dyeing curtains to match a newly decorated room because they were still good.
Buying refills for pens, instead of a new pen.
Taking a shopping basket or bag for the shopping – never expecting to be given bags, which get thrown away.
What a wasteful society we live in today.
Compost heaps were the common item in gardens.

So, is recycling new???

Cliff Walk

I`ve had a long walk along the cliff this afternoon.
What beauty there is “on our own doorsteps” so to speak, if we only look and take time to appreciate it.
The sun was warm, the sea was gently turning over on the stones making its soothing, swishing sound, making it very peaceful. A good way to unwind. Sitting on a bench, my only company was a crow sitting close by on a fence post, he (or she!) too seemed to be just sitting taking in the warmth of the sun, its wings stretched open as if sun-bathing, and not afraid of my presence. In the quietness with no traffic to drown it out the songs of birds, maybe skylarks, could be heard. Sea gulls flew and drifted past on the currents of air, so graceful in the air.
Daisies grew scattered along the path and the ground to the side, what brave flowers they always seem to be, they grow where people tread, get trodden on, but still they survive and come up bright again. Maybe there`s a lesson for us in that? I saw a buttercup or two as well, golden in the sunlight, and a line of a hymn sung as a child came back to me….. “Daisies are our silver, buttercups our gold…” but I can`t remember the rest….. Does anyone know the rest of it?

The Mystery of Dust

Where does dust come from?
I know its tiny, minute particles of something.
Why is it that as soon as you dust somewhere, and leave it all shining clean, when you go back a short time later there`s a fine layer again?
Or, at least in some of our rooms at present there is!
Even when they`ve finished the work and gone,
for days after it seems to keep settling
and every time you turn round there`s another covering.
Does it stay invisible in the air?
Why does it cling to television screens?
Why is it attracted to computer screens?
And how the sun has a way of showing it up,
even on something you think is dust free.

Not alone with a computer

It struck me the other day (no, not literally!), that one is never alone when connected to the Internet and especially with Blogs. Its a good help at times, when feeling lonely, to switch on the computer and log in.

Just to think that at the same moment as I am typing away at my blog here, probably hundreds of people around the world are doing exactly the same at the same second. It may be a different time of day to them, it may be in a different language, but we are all there. We are linked, we have something in common.

They say “it’s a small world”, - looking at the places different blog writers are from, it certainly seems to bring them closer.

Another wall down!

Our house seems constantly to be falling apart!
Don`t get me wrong, we don`t live in a slum….. its just that after the plaster etc all coming off the kitchen walls when the work was done, the same thing has now happened in the bathroom they`re working on. No, it`s not the workmen making work for themselves, the poor chap was very worried when he tapped the wall and all the plaster fell off all over him.
Still, I suppose with living in a house over 100 years old, these things are to be expected.
I keep saying to myself, it will be nice when it`s completed!
It`s all you can say, isn`t it?
But the question is when?

Holiday over

Where did the last seven days go to?!
Why do holidays seem to go twice as quickly as other days? – or is it just me that finds that?

It was back to work today but I found it so difficult to settle down to get on with things. It was hard to concentrate and get on with the jobs. I found myself aimlessly going to and fro for things instead of just sitting down at the computer to do some work. It wasn`t particularly that I didn`t want to be there, but just a kind of odd restlessness. I suppose it was a curtailing of the freedom of the past few days, of having to watch the clock again instead taking time as it came.
I`m back to Time again – strange isn`t it how that seems to be in so much of what I write.
Wonder why?

Thoughts on Time & Tide

To quote again the saying I mentioned yesterday

“Time and tide wait for no man”.

The more I think about that saying the more it makes me realise that we can never have time back, that we must make the most of every moment.
I ask myself, do I do that – do I make the most of every moment?
And I think the answer has to be - no I don`t.
I must do better.

Time & Tide

Time and tide wait for no man…. so the saying goes.
But “Time and Tide” is also the name of a fascinating museum that I went to today at Great Yarmouth. The museum which tells the history and story of the herring fishing industry in the town, also incorporates within it an actual “Row”, (this being the name of the very, very narrow streets in which people lived), and shows their everyday life from around 1913.

It certainly made me think, and realise how hard people had to work and the long hours they did in those days, compared to how we do today, and about the lack of all the safety equipment and regulations which we have now-a-days. How without all the mechanical aids and machines, people worked and talked together far more, and had more sense of community. Some changes for the better, some perhaps not.

Time and tide wait for no man (or woman!), - yes, that saying is so true isn`t it.

If you want to know more about the museum try going to www.24hourmuseum.org.uk and then type in
Time and tide museum and follow it from there.

Survived!

Well, I didn`t get chased by the spiders yesterday, so I can write again today.
But what a load of old rubbish I found in the shed. From rusty nails and screws, broken flower pots to old cooking tins! Why I wonder do we hang on to so many bits and pieces instead of chucking them straight away when we`ve done with them. Does everyone do the same, or is it only us?
I wonder, now that I`ve turned it all out, will it keep tidy or will it get the same again??

Having this new kitchen and new shower room has somehow has seemed like a “new start” to so much. It`s made me look at things, turn out things.
I now feel that this is my home and not the feeling that I had that its my parents house and I just live there. And, with new working hours when I go back after my holiday, maybe it’s a new, better, way of life.

Creepy Crawlies

I`ve got to be brave today.
Why?
Because I`ve got to turn a shed out and I can`t bear creepy crawlies. I know there`s a lot of cobwebs in there, and if the spider, or worse still spiders, that made them are still there I`ll run, I`ll be gone.

Common sense says, but they`re so small compared to the size of you, so why do they have such an effect on me? I suppose spiders being the sort of round shape I never know which is the head end and which way they`ll run and maybe its the colour black?? But it`s not just spiders, although they`re the worst, but any insects I just feet scared of.

Stupid isn`t it?

I`m not really a poetry person, but this is one that I really find helpful at times. So hope it will also be helpful to a friend and other readers

If you stand very still in the heart of a wood.
You will hear many wonderful things -
The snap of a twig and the wind in the trees
And the whirr of invisible wings.

If you stand very still in the turmoil of life
And you wait for the voice from within:
You will be led down the ways of wisdom and peace,
Through a rough world of chaos and din.

If you stand very still and hold on to your faith,
You will get all the help that you ask;
You will draw from the silence the things that you need -
Hope and courage and strength for your task.

Gadgets

Wandering round the shops in the City yesterday, something I enjoy doing occasionally, I found myself in a large kitchenware store.
A cooks paradise!
There were gadgets for this and gadgets for that and gadgets for the other…
But how many of them I wondered were actually useful or how many just gimmacky ideas.
We`ve got several we`ve bought at different times, but on sorting out our kitchen cupboards, they`re still there in the back…unused…or used once and discarded…..
Strange isn`t it, that although we have many gadgets to do all sorts of things, we normally only use just a few favourites

Present problem

What do you buy for a lady`s 86th. birthday?
By now, they`ve more than enough ornaments in the home.
They don`t need gadgets to use in the kitchen.
There`s no more wall space for pictures.
Flowers, although nice, don`t last long.
Chocolates are fattening, and put on weight!
Make up, is never used.
She`s got plenty of "smellies" (scent, soap etc)
Jewellery, she already has enough of.
You can`t keep buying skirts and blouses, it`s too predictable!
So, what shall it be?

Any ideas??

Mothering Sunday

I`ve never been called Mum, or mummy or mother,
I`ve no one to call me that, and days like today I feel very left out, lonely, alone.
I become aware of life somehow passing me by. Of finding the years going by.
I wonder how many other women feel the same way.

Freedom

I`ve just finished work for a weeks holiday.
What a good feeling that is.
I`ve got a sense of lightness, of freedom, of relief.
I suppose it`s probably because its almost six months since I had a weeks break from work. But maybe its because work lately has become, to me, so uninteresting, so monotonous. Yet, the job hasn`t changed much, so it must be me that changed.
I`m just tired of work.
I feel I want to be doing something more useful, something with more purpose.
Still, for now, I`ll enjoy my seven days, and forget about work!

It`s Snowing!

I got up this morning, another ordinary day.
I looked out of the window, everything looked grey.
I looked half an hour later, and snow was falling,
everywhere was being blanketed in white.
Seeing it on the bare branches of trees and shrubs,
transforming them into a picturesque sight,
I thought - how beautiful it all looks.
Yes, I like snow.

But then, it became time to go out in it,
and I began to have second thoughts!
Beautiful as it still looked, I became nervous of walking on it,
afraid of slipping, of falling.
Aware of all the practical problems it causes.
No, perhaps I don`t like snow after all!

Isn`t it strange how one can have such contrasting feelings on the same thing?

I suppose I must be a romantic deep at heart?

Got it!

Yes, it`s here at last!
Our waiting is over.
We`ve got it.
Its fitted in just perfectly.
It looks really good, standing in its place.
Can`t wait to try it out.

What are we talking about?
Our new cooker, it arrived today.
Now the kitchen looks complete (well apart from a little painting that needs to be done).
What shall we make first?
Cakes, scones, a roast lunch, a pie????
but, got to read the instruction book first it says,
so, as with everything we must
“follow the makers instructions”.

Should it go or stay?

Sorting out all the things we`d taken out of our kitchen cupboards, to put them back in the new cupboards, I found utensils and items that hadn`t "seen the light of day" for years!
But, the question was, should I discard them or should I keep them "just incase"! ? On the other hand, if we`ve not used them in at least the last 5 years, why do I think we`ll use them in the future? So should I part with them or should I hold on to them, maybe for sentimental reasons with some of them. Yet, what`s sentimental about an old saucepan!?
No, if we`re having (or I should say, have got) a new kitchen its really time to have a new start and get rid of those things that we never use isn`t it?

Or is it?

Fair to all?

Reading in the newspaper yesterday about the Government thinking of extending flexible working rights to carers and parents of older children, makes me want to ask, - what about extending better considerations and working rights for people living with an elderly parent. They can be as demanding as young children at times, but nothing seems to be available for them!