Friday follies

So I had a spurt of inspiration (read insanity) today, and decided that dislocated knee be damned, what I really needed to do was clean my lounge and kitchen. Now you know when you reach your tolerance for mess and you hit the point where your fingers itch because you just can’t stand the clutter anymore? (No only me? Thats sad! Alone here with my neuroses on my sofa. But hey hum, at least my kitchen is now tidy!)

So lets back up. My kitchen is now tidy, yes. But is now 12:30. I started this big plan for tidiness at 8:30 this morning when I got up and saw the mess as I one handedly tried to do something about it whilst making my morning coffee. My crutch skillz have got to the point where I can hobble about on one crutch for limited periods. So picture it. I have one spare hand and a very messy house, so I could only pick up one thing at a time. It took a while. And all I could think was how I needed one of those trays ushers get at cinemas to put the stuff in that had very rudely scattered itself around my house.



Source

I have too add that as I type this it is now 1:30. I got distracted by trying to make myself lunch. Now considering my hobble status we haven’t done any food shopping this week. Thus I have been eating pretty much what ever I can find and today that was 2 eggs, some Italian hard cheese and some sun dried tomatoes. Omelet here I come! I was so pleased with myself, I thought myself so clever for being able to rustle up such a meal! So I heated up the pan, whisked the egg, poured it in, added the stuff and waited for omlettey goodness to happen. Then as my final flourish I folded it in half so I had a nice semi circular omelet and discovered that my frying pan had decided to stop being non-stick and deposit its non-stickiness all over my omelet. It is probably a testament to the fact that I was recently a student, that I simply scraped off the worst of it and ate it anyway. Or to the fact I was really hungry. Take your pick.

So there we go I have been home all morning and have only managed to just about tidy one room and fail at making an omelet.

Hmmmmm.

Lets try again tomorrow!

Happy Friday

Lindy xxx

The view from my Sofa...

When walking becomes painful your world becomes restrained to what you can reach...











As much as I love the imposed rest, I will be so thankful when I can get back to interacting with the rest of the world!

Lindy xxx

(And yes I did spare you the gross photo of my knee!)

7 Good Things Vol 12

Gross knee update warning. According to the fracture specialist at the hospital my knee is still too swollen to tell if I’ve torn or just ‘stretched’ I guess you would say the ligaments which hold my knee cap in place. But they have given me a snazzy new splint which allows me to move my knee in a controlled way to help strengthen these ligaments again. Basically I still can’t walk and I’ve been signed off work for three weeks, although I am hoping to be back before this.

My 7 good things, however, have been surprisingly easy to come by this week all things considered!
1. James, James, James, James, James. He has been so understanding and caring over the last few days, doing practically everything for me!
2. My very kind family and friends who have kept me company over the last few days.
3. The physiotherapist who was very gentle when it came to manipulating my knee today.
4. For a man who doesn’t drink tea, James makes a really good cuppa!
5. My laptop which has been dying, has had a change of heart and had worked for the last couple of days, which considering that I can’t sit at the desktop computer, is certainly an excellent development!
6. Ahhh Youtube.... you have kept me endlessly entertained. And on the subject of entertainment which you can access sitting down on a laptop, this documentary on the 1920s social scene from the BBC was really really good. Although I did just end up coveting the clothes!
7. The NHS. I know there is a lot on the news at the moment about the NHS crumbling, but the service I have received has been truly exemplary. For example today I went to see the fracture clinic, I got seen in five minutes, examined and almost immediately referred to physiotherapy where I got seen very promptly. I just can’t complain!

Oh and just to end the post because I do love these so much, a gratuitous and completely un connected Hubble telescope picture...


(Two galaxies colliding.)

I hope everyone is having a great beginning to their week.

I shall see you probably tomorrow with a book review!

Lindy xxx

Doctor, doctor, I think I've dislocated my knee!

Yesterday I dislocated my knee cap. And yes that is about as painful as it sounds! Thus far I have learned two things from this experience, I am in equal parts impressed and infuriated with the NHS.

When I dislocated my knee, all I did was stand up. Not a particularly dramatic reason for displacing ones knee cap I know, but there you go. I stood up, there was an almighty crack and suddenly I was on the floor. And screaming. I do remember screaming a lot. Unfortunately I was on my own in the flat at this point and quickly realised that screaming was not going to get me anywhere. Luckily considering that I couldn't move I had my mobile on me and managed to call an ambulance, so enter irritation number one. I had to repeat my details about 3 times because I live in a new build flat and the address didn’t seem to be easily found on their system. Secondly, despite telling them that I was on my own and unable to move it took nearly an hour for the ambulance to get to me. As I understand it this was because the first crew on their way to me got diverted to a ‘life threatening’ emergency, reasonable I know, but still an hour seems a little excessive to me. Now in the intervening time I did what any girl does when they are panicking and alone, I called James and my Mum. Mum managed to get to be in about 20mins and James about 40mins later because he was working out of town. Life is a lot less scary when you have people around you that love you.

So when the first ambulance crew arrives it is one ‘first responder’. Now these are paramedics who travel in cars instead of actual ambulances and, who as their job title might imply, try and get to an accident scene first to keep the patient stable until a full crew can arrive. This lady was lovely, she gave me some blessed Entonox (gas and air) for the pain quickly ascertained that she was going to have to radio for an actual ambulance to take me to hospital. To cut a long story short, the other crew got to me and after finding that between the two ambulance crews neither of them had a leg split, jimmied one up, relocated my knee cap (which was more painful than dislocating it in the first place funnily enough) and got me to hospital. With copious more quantities of Entonox. By this point the world was decidedly fuzzy.

Once at the hospital I can’t fault them for finding me a bed in a private room, assessing my knee and sending me for an x-ray which I got with almost no wait time. (Has anyone else ever had an x-ray, I hadn’t before and my my that was one impressive funky machine. It was attached to the ceiling on runner and they could move it and swing it around to take x-rays of different parts of the body without moving the patient. I was very impressed.)


(The funniest part about this photo is the flatline!)

Thankfully I haven’t chipped any of my bones, just torn the ligaments. The hospital gave me this snazzy looking blue split, some crutches and booked me an appointment to see the specialist joint clinic on Monday morning to work out how long my rehabilitation will take. Current estimates are anywhere up to six weeks off my feet.


(Me in hospital looking decidedly un impressed with my knees lack of ability to be a knee)

So here is what I am thankful for, I cannot fault the paramedics and hospital staff for being friendly, caring, professional and knowledgeable. I cannot fault the hospital facilities, they were clean and modern. I got seen quickly and my treatment was effective. I am thankful that I live in a country where universal health care is a right not a privilege. I am thankful that I got all of this treatment, and on going out patients care for free. I am grateful that both of my employers will give me paid sick leave until I am able to return, which could be a considerable period.

I looked up on the internet what this may have cost me if I lived in America and I would have been looking at a bill along the lines of:

$1000 Non-surgical treatment- ie. putting my knee cap back in to place
$200 X-ray of my knee
$200 Doctors fee
$500 Emergency Room fee
$750 Ambulance ride
$100 Forearm crutches
$50 Knee brace

Grand Total: $2800


(My fancy blue splint)

And thats just so far, not counting all the outpatients clinics and physical therapy that I am likely to need and receive. So I guess that most of all I am thankful to live in the UK today. I know some of my readers come from across the pond. What are your experiences of health care? Have you ever been to hospital and been charged for it? The concept of charging the sick for care is unthinkable here so I would be really interested to hear what it is like to live in a country with such a system.


(Me walking out of hospital, no I haven't gotten any better at walking on crutches!)

So this means one of two things for this blog. Either because I am forced off of my feet and will be sitting on my sofa for a considerable period of time I will be posting a lot more, or because i’ll be so doped up on pain meds it won’t be worth me posting much of anything! We will see how it goes.

Stay safe

Lindy xxxx

(And yes I have spared you the pictures James took whilst my knee cap was still out of place!)

Makeup and such like...

So I was thinking whilst I got dressed this morning- yeah I know, a pretty miraculous activity for 6:30 in the morning. I'm right there with you on the insanity of that one. So as I was getting dressed, sorting my hair, finding my make up I was struck by the thought that it is so much more difficult for me to get dressed than it is for James.

Women's clothes are infinitely more uncomfortable and impractical than men’s. You name it, skirts, tights, heels, funny blouses that mean you have to suck your tummy in- all far more hassle and time consuming than their male counterparts. And then one item in that list struck me more than the others- make up. Why do we religiously apply this to our selves? I know that there are some women who cannot go out without it. That see it as so integral to what makes them an attractive woman that they can't even let their significant others see them without it on. In reality I think that a society where women have to wear makeup and traditionally men do not is telling us something quite scary about ourselves. It’s telling us that we do not think women are enough. We look at our faces, and society tells us that they are not good enough. Not beautiful enough, that they need more. In order to be attractive we have to add to ourselves. That a woman, in all her glory, intricacies and yes flaws, is not enough without a mask. That their face is not what we want to see and deal with. Just a side point, I'm not saying that men don't wear makeup I'm just saying that it's not acceptable in out society for a man to turn up at his office suit and mascara.

Then do you know what worried me further? We sell make up to children. On the market at the moment there are a whole variety of different make up products aimed solely at little girls. Designed to show girls that this is what they can aspire to when they grow up. We, as a society are teaching our little girls that they are not enough, and that their brothers are. This is sad.

Margaret Cho (an American comedian) once said that, ‘Ugly. Is irrelevant. It is an immeasurable insult to a woman, and then supposedly the worst crime you can commit as a woman. But ugly, as beautiful, is an illusion.’

Yet convexly I guess makeup can be construed as a tool of feminine empowerment. Allowing us to present ourselves as we see fit, for ourselves. Whilst beauty is undoubtedly ephemeral we are all guilty of wanting to be seen as attractive and desirable.

So I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this subject. Do you think that makeup is a mask or a tool of empowerment? This is something that came to me one morning whilst getting dressed, so feel free to weigh in.

I look forward to hearing your views.

Happy Wednesday,

Lindy xxx

Ahhhh here you are!

Sorry about the lack of presence in the last few days. For the first time in ages I missed 7 Good Things on a Monday, and thats because levels of world suck have increased round here recently. Nothing that is life threatening but definably enough to make me go in to survival mode. Unfortunately this blog is the one thing which I can give up doing and still function in the world; and people like my boss and my mortgage company do rather enjoy me functioning in the world.

(BTW: 'mort': stems from the word death, and gage sounds a lot like cage...) No I joke, I love my house but every time we had a meeting with the mortgage company to get it, that was all I could think!

Anyhoo, I have needed the reminder that this picture give me each morning everyday this week...



Hopefully things are calming down and I will be back later in the week!

Lindy xxx

Grey...

Today has been a grey kind of day, not in a wholly kind of bad terrible this life is no good way, but certainly in an arrrg damn it pah kind of way.

My tumble dryer has broken. It has decided that it will no longer dry clothes. That spreading heat is now a function below it and it is now on strike. Its official, my tumble dryer is an employee of British Airways. Gosh darn it. But now, my tumble dyer is in combination with my washing machine. So if my tumble dryer is on strike, does this mean my washing machine has also gone on strike? I hope not. However, I am currently running it on a washing cycle to see if it will still clean my clothes for me. I am holding out hope on this one because it would be expensive to replace, and y’know lack of funds would be prohibitive.

But on a happier grey theme I made this earlier in the week.



My Mums parter is sick at the moment and I thought hey a gift is called for and bought him a book and made him said book mark up above.... and actually down below as well.



It was incredibly simple to make yet looks quite impressive, the pattern is also below (indeed is you can call its that its so simple!)

CO 15
1st row: k5, p5, k5
2nd row:p5, k5, p5
3rd row: k5, p5, k5
4th row:p5, k5, p5
5th row: k5, p5, k5

Rows 6-10, repeat rows 1-5 in reverse (5 through 1). And then, continue repeating for the length of a book.

There you go. One book mark. Easy peasy.

Oh and because we all know how much I like taking photos of the sunrise, here is yesterdays, it was a good’un!


Have a good Wednesday, and please send washing vibes to my washing machine. I like not smelling!

Lindy xxx

The Sun also Rises

I think I’ve mentioned before how much I love the sunrise; I never thought I’d be in this position- one where I’m up to watch the sunrise more days than I’m not. Yesterday was a particularly spectacular one. It caught me off guard; a beauty so elemental that it touched my soul at its very core.



The pinks and the purples seemed to battle for dominance over the darken grey sky, slowing pushing their way out, like arms of the universe gently caressing the morning, reassuring the day that it was not alone.



That although the sun had risen every day for the last 5 billion years, this day, would not go un announced in to the cosmos. Its dawning would not go un noticed and without fan fare.



By the time I reached work this morning the sky had mellowed, the vibrant pinks and purples had given way to a gentle golden glow, bathing the landscape. It was beautiful. It reminded me in this grey and often difficult world, that there was beauty. Beauty that is free to all, elemental and right.



This feeling stayed with me for the rest of the day. There is a word to describe this kind of feeling- numinous. A feeling of spiritual awe at the incomprehensible. I could look up the scientific explanation for why sunrise causes the sky to take on different colour, and this would explain to the how. But it would not touch on the why.

Yesterday I stopped to worship at the alter of beauty and nature. I complain about getting up early for my job all the time, and yesterday I was reminded to count my blessings. I live in a beautiful albeit sometimes difficult and dangerous cosmos. It is stunning and inexplicable to me in equal measures. Yet that is the attraction. I love the sunrise precisely because I cannot explain it. A daily reminder that somethings do not need to have a purpose, and that some feelings are worthy because of their innate existence.

Happy Thursday my friends.

Lindy xxx

(Of course I didn't have my camera with me yesterday so these pictures are ones I've taken over the last year of various mornings.)

7 Good Things Vol 8

Happy Monday! For the first time in ages I had a weekend off and I enjoyed it immensely. I totally see why people might ‘live for the weekend’, it really is that good! I normally only get every other Sunday off from work, so its a really nice change of pace to have some time for just me and Jim.

So here are my good things, I promise you these weren’t hard to come up with!

1. The weekend. It was just impossibly nice!
2. The vegetarian ‘Shepard’s Pie’ which James made- so so good.
3. ‘The Kings Speech’, we went to see this on Sunday evening with my Dad and it really does live up to all the hype.
4. Chamomile tea, I have memories of my Granny washing my hair in this when I was a child to make sure it stayed blonde and consequently I haven’t drunk much of it since! But I was missing out, because it is seriously relaxing and refreshing.
5. This site. It never fails to inspire me.
6. Sweet I love you notes from Jim to cheer me up
7. These Youtube videos. Immense. (Be warned there is swearing).

What is making you happy this Monday?

Lindy xxx

Picture Winter: Cooling It

These photos were taken whilst visiting my Gran today, it was so nice to see her again, and I got to take some cool shots of her garden. Good family, good conversation and good photos. All in all a good day!

100th Post!

(The photos in this post are snapshots from my day based on the ‘Picture Winter’ prompt- ‘Looking Out’)

Today is my 100th blog post and this feels like a good place to stop and take stock and give thanks. I would like to give thanks to you the reader for sticking with me through 100 bumbling snap shots in to my life. To see that people are reading my writing a sharing my life is a great pleasure and comfort to me.


This is probably also a good place to answer the question, why I write a blog. Why I feel its necessary to share with the world what I had for tea or what I think of a particular book. Mostly I think it comes from my own love of blogs. I read some fantastic ones and I adore finding out how people are living their lives on the other side of the world; what people thousands of miles away from me ate for dinner or did last night. The world and the universe can seem unimaginably vast and intimidating to me, and blogs can make me feel closer to people I have never met, and likely never will.

I also think its about the process of telling a story. I’m a relatively shy person by nature and I find it hard to make new friends. I love that I can include new people in the story of my life, that I can share with people outside of my tight knit world; that I get other perspectives and other opinions that I might not hear.


I also love that it gives me an opportunity to practice my writing skills, indeed since leaving university I treasure this all the more. I enjoy the process of writing, I love thinking about what I’m going to write about during the day and I love sitting down and expressing myself though words in the evening. It is of great comfort to me to set things out, and to share my triumphs and failures with others (did anyone see last nights dinner!)

But to echo what I said at the beginning of this post I mostly love hearing everyone else's stories. To hear of peoples joys and triumphs. but also of their heartbreaks and their sorrow. I laugh, cry and rejoice along with people that I only know though the hollow tap of the keyboard and the eerie glow of the monitor. Blogs have broken my heart and picked me up at the end of a long week. They can be a window in to someone else’s soul and that is a precious thing.



You might not need to know that whilst writing this I drank a cup of camomile tea because I had a cruddy day at work and that particular herb is meant to induce calm. I also ate some left over christmas chocolates and listened to country music on itunes because it was a very bad day and these things made me feel better. But don’t you feel better for knowing it? Because I feel better for telling you. Whilst you sit there this morning or evening and drink tea, you can know that I thought of you whilst I drank mine.

Thank you for listening to me for 100 posts dear reader, heres to the next 100!

Happy Friday

Lindy xxxx

Big Picture... Controlled Chaos

Controlled chaos is probably a good way to describe my cooking. Without the controlled part. Not so much.

This is what I managed to produce for dinner tonight.



It was practically uneatable. Delia I am not. I think the sauce I used was the wrong type, it wasn't a specific stir fry sauce and I don't think I cooked for long enough.


Anyway. What do you do when its relatively late at night and dinner is un edible?

I think you get in the car in the pouring rain...

And give in to capitalism...

The are approximately over 6 billion people in the world today, which i guestimate most of which managed to cook and provide dinner for themselves and their families. I think I need to improve me my cooking skills!

Perfect Day...

Or perhaps I should title this post perfect week, because thus far it has been just that! Today has been particularly amazing as James brought me a body wrap and facial treatment at the Centreparcs Spa for Christmas. I couldn't recommend this more highly. I'm currently all soft and relaxed sitting in our villa with a cup of tea. Perfection.

We're just about to go out of a evening swim before heading home to watch a movie and have some tea. On the subject of movies we've seen some pretty amazing ones this week. My favourite thus far being Scott Pilgrim vs The World. One of the most random film, yet one of the more entertaining I have seen in a long while. Is everying Micheal Cera does that good? And yes I know most people managed to see this in the cinema, but I am just not that organized. Plus the cinema where I live is pretty crappy and very expensive, I just feel cheated!

So the purpose of this post, which I will agree is a little hidden, is just to check in and hope that everyone else is having an amazing start to 2011 too. I promise, back with many photos next week!

Love Lindy xxx

7 Good Things Vol 6

Well once again I am blogging from the iPad so we shall be sans photos for today. Since it's the first Monday in 2011, I am determined to start the year off with the best intensions and be more deliberate in writing these down! So without further ado my 7 good things are....

1. I'm currently on my way to Centerparcs! Love it.
2. It's starting to snow, and what could be better then staying in a villa in a forest in the snow? eh?!
3. At centreparcs they have chalk boards in the kitchens to write messages to each other on. I need one of these for my house!
4. Singing along to Disney tunes in the car at the top of your voice.
5. A whole week off of work within which I get to go to a spa because James brought me a massage for Christmas.
6. Did I mention the week off of work and the spa?
7. James, especially when he is being extra nice to me after I'm grouchy because I did a night shift.

Hope every one has a fantastic week

Love xxx

Ps: did I mention that nightshift was murderous?!

Saturday Steals Vol 20

Ahh the joys of blogging from my iPad? No photos. So you will just have to flex your imagination. My Saturday steal this week comes from the wonders of the January sales.

Now I have a favourite pair of brown boots. Comfortable. Good colour. Fleece lined. Pretty much perfect. Unfortunatly this perfection has recently been marred with the sole starting to disintegrate and the zip breaking. Making my once favourite pair of boots unwearable! Not so good.

Usher in the wonder of the January sales. These boots were originally meant to be £79. For £79 I would want my boots to be able to make me fly or something. For that amount of money I would want them to have magic powers and to stop me getting lost. In my world £79 is an awful lot of money for shoes.

£29 however is more my kind of price. For that I don't feel ripped off and indeed I feel as though I got a deal! £29 for cute brown boots with swanky purple lining that will go with large proportion of my wardrobe? Now that is my kind of saturday steal!

Hope everyone enjoyed their New Years celebrations, me I stayed in with James and watched the fireworks on the TV. Nice quiet night in because I had to be up for my mega crazy day at work today (1000- 1800 and then 2200- 600) yes I know I am mad!

Lindy xxx

2010

I have to say that 2010 has been a bit of an up and down year for me. Obviously there have been some great highs- James and I brought our first home together, I finished my degree, I got a proper job; these are all good and exciting things. Yet amid all of this I have struggled with unemployment for a time, I mostly hated the last semester of my degree and I have over stressed and worried about just about every decision that I’ve made. Grown up life is scary. And after writing that it sounds to me like it was the process of this year that I have struggled with whilst I enjoyed the outcomes, which is possibly a good description.

All over the blog sphere there are plenty of inspirational posts from amazing women who are reveling in the goals which they achieved in 2010 and setting themselves new ones for 2011. This is a laudable process and I truly, truly admire people who have the self discipline and will to make these things happen for themselves on their own. I am not that girl. I struggle with motivation and general all round laziness. I need a good kick up the butt from our old friend motivation to get me doing things.

Thus I have decided to make myself small goals. Achievable goals. But goals which I think will be beneficial to me none the less. Goals where I will have help getting there. A hand to hold on my way. I am guilty of not taking the time to care enough for myself, I get too wrapped up in working, stressing and letting tiredness overcome me, so my goals are designed to help me overcome these traits.

With this in mind my aims for 2011 are centered round the idea of happiness. I want to be happier. Less worried and more accepting of ‘what will be will be’. Not complacent. But to get a greater appreciation of the idea that there are things in this world which I cannot change and that worrying about them will not help. To be generally more at peace with the world.


Photo Credit

So without further ado in 2011....

1. I want to take the time to nurture my artistic side. I love drawing, taking photos and creating things. But this often takes a back seat. I want this to change for me and spend more time making myself happier by letting myself feel free to do this sort of thing.
2. I want to create myself some ‘downtime’ one evening a week. Some time just to relax and not worry about achieving anything.
3. I want to drink more water and exercise more.
4. I want to create myself a regular posting schedule on this blog and be more disciplined in my writing.

There we go. No where near as far reaching as some of the goals I have seen people try to attempt, but these are goals which I really think will help me be happier and more focused in 2011.

I hope everyone has a relaxing and safe New Years Celebration planned. As I am working tomorrow I don’t think James and I will get much further than a bottle of wine and some time on the sofa, but still, sometimes those evenings are the best!

Its been a pleasure to write for you in 2010 and I look forward to continuing this conversation in 2011.

Stay safe, Lindy xxxx

Bath time...

Apologies for my absence over the last few days. Christmas and then going back to work have monopolised my time pretty effectively. Stupidly I have volunteered to do a double shift this Saturday, so I'm working 1000- 1830 during the day and then 2200-600 in the morning over night!

In order to put a buffer up against this particular brand of insanity I'm off to have a nice relaxing bath with some of my new spa bath things (a thoughtful Christmas present), a favourite book and a specially made playlist.

Bliss.

Happy Wednesday my friends

Lindy xxx

7 Good Things Vol 5

Well I seem to be able to write about two posts a weeks at the moment. I'm going to try and aim for three in the new year, but I have so much to do between now and Christmas, that is a bit more of a long term plan!

So without no further ado, here are my 7 Good Things for this, and considering that it's Christmas week I have a little theme going on here.

1. Snow, snow, snow! I can't be the only person fervently hoping for a white Christmas can I? These pictures were taken on my way to work this morning. I quite like the blurry effect, and thus I'm going to pretend that it was a deliberate artistic choice designed to demonstrate movement in the landscape and the seasons. Yup. It takes an art GCSE to teach you how to write that kind of crap!



2. An abundance of Christmas puddings. Both my Mum and James' Nan have made us home made Christmas puddings this year which makes me very happy, as I love the stuff with a passion.



3. Fairy lights. So so pretty.



4. Christmas trees (see above!) And yes I hear you say, but Lindy you are yet to put an angel on the top and what is this, you haven't wrapped any presents to go underneath either? To which I can only reply that I haven't had a day off since the 5th of December so my mottos this Christmas go somewhat along the lines of, 'if it doesn't come from Amazon, you ain't getting it' and 'blerrg I have no time and need some more sleep!'


5. Christmas music playing in my office. Makes my day go a lot lot faster.



6. See this post. My heart has been ripped out by the generousity of people. I think Jenny and the commentators have given away nearly $20000. I could cry. In fact I did.



7. James' volunteering to do all the Christmas dinner cooking. Although this might have something to do with my inability to cook anything with out burning it, ruining it and generally making a once edible food stuff inedible, I am still incredibly grateful. A relaxing Christmas day is in my future (I sincerely hope).

Happy Christmas week!

Love Lindy xxxx

Christmas Spirit

Hi guys.

If you want to be simultaneously heartbroken, gladdened, saddened, angered by the injustice in the world and have your faith in the ultimate goodness of humanity restored please go and read this post and ensuing comments by the incomparable Jenny at The Bloggess.

I think what struck me most when I was done crying my eyes out (on a train no less) was the amount of people who were struggling because of medical bills or lack of medical insurance. Living in a country with universal healthcare has made me complacent when it comes to the great gift which Clement Attlee's government gave me in 1946. Complacency is dangerous, and reading all of those stories in the comments has made me far more grateful for what I do have this Christmas season.

I thought back to what one of my Sixth Form philosophy teachers once told me. We were debating in class about the problem of evil, and one of my clearest memories is him calling me naive for believing that people were inherently good. I thought that the majority of people operated from the belief that they are doing 'good' (whatever it may be that they define as 'good'), and it is this act of striving for goodness which fuels most of what humanity does and aims for. (No matter how obscured these aims can become with other trivial matters such as materialism etc...) My teacher through this was an incredibly naive perspective and lambasted me as such.

I have thought about this difference in perspectives many times since that day. The fundamental difference that there is in thinking that we are born good and strive to fulfil this intrinsic aspect of our nature and believing that we are born with the taint of evil upon us and that we spend a lifetime struggling against this to achieve good against the odds.

Across the years I have been confronted with the unjustness and pain of the world, and the anger which comes from knowing that most of this pain is unnecessary and man made. I have oscillated between what I believed at 16 and what my teacher told me was the true nature of humanity.

But this little corner of the web has made me look at things afresh. Thank you Jenny, today I am returning to me at 16.

Love Lindy xxx

Geekery

I think the words are bad, bad Lindy.

And I had been so good at posting 7 good things on a Monday as well. Then something had to come and ruin it. But kind, generous and understanding reader. This is not my fault. A man. A man has bewitched me with his words. With his anger. With his humour. And with his insight. Yet mostly I also blame my sister. She introduced me to this bewitching site. Made it rule my life for the last week. Made me forgo such things as getting enough sleep, making myself dinner, and even, yes even getting cups of tea. This site made me happy that my trains were delayed and cancelled so that I had more reading time. Made me happy to sit in the cold waiting for replacement bus services. It is this good.

My 7 good things this week all revolve around these two site:

Mark Reads

and

Mark Watches

Mark is an American writer who writes hilarious reviews of all the things I like. Like literally. The geeky fan girl in me has been having a party all week. Harry Potter? Big massive check. Firefly? Epic check. Mocking Twilight? He's there. Making the Hunger Games sound like the books I wanted them to be? He is all over this. Doctor Who? He will be as of next week!

And yes I'm sitting here in my hand knit Slytherin scarf as I write. Why do you ask?



Excuse me I have to go and geek out in the corner...

Lindy xxx