Obligations

The little orange 'Blogger' icon winks at me from my Favourites bar. Come on it says, haven't you got anything to say, just a teeny weeny bit of something you'd like to share? 

I'm too busy, I'm at work, I've only got five minutes, I can't think of anything interesting. I DID think of something but now I've forgotten it.  Hmmm.

I'm not going to apologise, because this is my page.  I can write on it or not, as I wish. I was going to say that one should never apologise for not doing something unless one is contractually obligated to do it, but then I realised that there are few things that we are contractually obligated to do.  Employment, paying the mortgage, all sorts of financial things, marriage perhaps (especially if you are the sort of person who likes a Pre-Nup) - but probably nothing you couldn't buy your way out of.

That then made me think that argument was weak, but is it?  Do we have to apologise for things that we haven't done, when nobody asked us to do it (or said we must) in the first place?  Surely we should only need to apologise for things we HAVE done, which we shouldn't have.  Or is there a moral obligation to do things, an unspoken code of society and when we break it by not doing something we are not obligated to do, we feel guilty and have to apologise. Especially if we are British.

Last night Mr H and I watched a video on Facebook which was a montage of clips of 'the general public' doing Good Deeds such as holding doors open for a blind person, picking up a toy that a child has thrown out of a pram, preventing someone stepping front of a car, or helping a bully victim up from the floor. In each clip there was a 3rd party wordlessly watching the Good Deed be done, we assumed that they were supposed to be thinking 'I could do that'.  I complained that it was depressing that people made such a big thing (ie. making a film and spreading it around the internet) about what to me seem basic courteous actions and attitudes.  Mr H, on the other hand said that it acted as a reminder to people just how easy it is to do simple things to help others out, things that are done on impulse in an instant and take no time or trouble out of your day.  I can see his point but I still mourn the fact that those actions are an exception rather than a rule, allegedly.

I say allegedly carefully, because we can be told that society is now rude, unsociable, unfriendly and uncaring, but is that actually the case?  or is actually the norm to not slam a door in someone's face, or to help someone push their broken down car off the road, but the internet and the media think it is better to paint a grim picture of near Armageddon where no-one cares about anyone else, and we're all going to hell in a hand-cart?

Are people actually regularly complying with their moral obligations more than we are led to believe?

Breathe in peace...

My resolution of 'don't let people wind me up' is being tested now I'm back at work.

Not with customers but with the reminder that it is like living in a student house. Sink perpetually full of cold water with a teaspoon or two at the bottom. Coffee spills on the workstop. Half eaten packets of food that seem to spread. All little things that don't really matter but still irritate.

A friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook recently that said

"Breathe in Peace

Breathe out Love"

Normally I take those sort of phrases with a pinch of salt, but that one seemed to stick in my head. Reminding myself of it helped me get through a few moments over Christmas when I was worrying about things, feeling stressed or thinking uncharitable thoughts about people! 

Try it next time you are feeling wound up, and combine it with a deep breath in and a deep breath out, it works for me...

Beating demons

Happy New Year to you all!   Today the sun came out, it has been raining seemingly constantly for the last couple of months so it was lovely to see the big yellow sky thing.

Mr H, Django and I went off for a walk on the Forest, which is still very wet underfoot but with blue skies everything was feeling spring like.   I decided that today would be a good day to drive That Bit of Road, which I haven't been on since June 2010; it coincided with the place we had chosen to walk and was one option for the starting point. 

I felt a bit nervous going up there, but when we came to go home so were going the same direction as when the crash happened, it was actually fine. Neither of us mentioned it although we were both aware of it and I had said about going that route.  The main thing I noticed was that I couldn't work out where exactly the spot was that we had ended up between the trees - nowhere looked as though there was enough space without hitting a tree. Something else (part of a LONG list) to be grateful for, perhaps. 

So, I have started the New Year by beating that particular demon.  I don't know if there will come a day when I don't think of it at least once, but at least this is a good start.

I wish you all a happy, peaceful and fulfilling 2013!

Juniper x

Humans v. Nature

For my next assignment we have to come up with our own essay title, further questions that come out of it, sources we will use to answer the questions, and evaluate those sources.

On the one hand it's a bit scary, but more than that I find it rather exciting!  We can choose from the many different crime subjects we have covered, from corporate crime to state terror; people trafficking to cybercrime.  I have decided to concentrate on eco-crime because it has grabbed me as a subject.

I've never seen myself as a tree-hugger, but reading about it both in my course book and other articles has a) got my blood boiling and b) made me see how things link up between 'the West's' demands and the damage caused to developing countries and the natural environment.

At the moment (it will probably all change!) my working title is "To what extent do transnational relations and global trade affect levels of eco-crime?"

Today the sight in the 2012 "Wildlife photographer of the Year" portfolio of a rhino with its horn having been sawn off with a chainsaw almost reduced me to tears.  The things that humans are capable of and responsible for in a quest for money can be heart-breaking.

I'm off to see if Amazon sell tree-hugger t-shirts.

Unwinding

I will (try to) no longer:

- get wound up by people outside this office ignoring my requests in matters of consistency and admin. Things that make life easier but don't affect the important stuff.  Things I have been asking for at least five years and it's not happening. It's time to stop minding.

- get wound up by other people's problems which they try to involve me in.

- get wound up by other people's stupidity, where it does not directly affect my own or loved-ones' well-being.

- get wound up by apostrophe's.

- get wound up by people who think that because they are rich they are more important.

- get wound up by people trying to wind me up.

Wish me luck!

Sports Personality of the Year

When one works in a sport, there are assumptions about who one will vote for in BBC's Sports Personality of the Year.

I doubt whether many of my sailing friends and acquaintances will vote for anyone other than Ben Ainslie; but not me.  The ones that would get my vote would be either Jessica Ennis, Katherine Grainger or Nicola Adams and yes I suppose I am unconsciously biased toward the women.  All of the shortlisted nominees are of course inspiring, but I think some are more inspiring than others.  

Those who breezed through a heptathlon, or who have persevered and finally made gold; or become a first British champion say more to me than those who have been winning golds for years.

If that doesn't fit with the 'But you have to vote for Ben!' brigade, then so be it. 

Spot's Spot

Not written by Spot because he has a bit of a hangover.. well actually no, he has apparently probably had a kind of stroke on Saturday during the night. It seems a more likely reason than the possibility of him drinking the bourbon.  We were both pretty upset seeing him not being able balance and falling over, and apart from the obvious reasons of seeing a loved pet not being 'normal' it is a stark reminder that he's not getting any younger, he'll be 13 in January.

He has remained pretty cheerful though, the tail still wagging and certainly no reduction in appetite!  Just an odd look behind the eyes, and a lot of "whoa boy, take it easy with the turning around" from us. On Sunday he spent the day watching us cutting wood and then retired to his bed for the afternoon, we left the door open so he could come and go. He has some odd, short episodes before but very short lived ie. 5-10 minutes, so we didn't panic but planned to take him to the vet this morning.

The vet sent him home with a variety of tablets and another appointment on Wednesday, and he seems to be a bit better this evening, more sturdy on his legs. The vet says he should either recover completely, or at least almost completely, we'll just have to wait and see.

He was certainly pretty happy that we gave him homemade stew gravy to eat his tablets with this evening, although he still managed to avoid one last bit of pink one which then had to be held in his mouth until he gave in and swallowed...!

A little monkey even when the brain's not working quite properly ;)

Winter hobby

To save me writing it all twice.... ;)   here is our new winter hobby:

http://impish-adventures.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/12-car-nav.html

J.