Three weeks ago I decided to stop buying a daily newspaper. I was getting fed up of the scare stories, the war stories, the doom and gloom stories, the MP scandal stories and the sex 'n' celebrity stories. I thought, if I want to know what the World has been up to outside the Much Malarkey Manor bubble I can listen to the bulletins on the radio, or catch one of the main news programmes.
All well and good, you might think, except these sources of news have produced exactly the same crop of mental aggravation I'd been seeking to avoid only without the added panacea of multi-level Sudoku and other assorted number and word puzzles to mess with your mind. And I quite missed Garfield, too.
But slowly I have become used to doing without my daily fix of Daily Anger. Experts say it takes three weeks to break a habit. I would question this research when applied to things like cake and watching 'How Clean Is Your House?' 9and whoo-hoo Gok Wah is back on telly tonight telling all us lovely girls how to look even lovelier) but they may be onto something when it comes to cracking potentially destructive or time-wasting habits.
Is it wrong, though, to make a concerted effort to avoid the issues that are affecting our world? Is it socially irresponsible to say 'What concern is this to me?' Is ignoring the news of the day and all its associated politics and social and moral concerns a neglect of our human responsibilities? And am I sounding too much like Gordon Brown?
Of course I care about global warming and the effect it is having on our environment. That is why I recycle and compost, grow my own veg and energy save wherever I can. Of course I care about animal welfare - that is why I keep hens and buy free-range meat from local sources and for half the week I cook vegetarian. Of course I care about people - that is why I became a teacher, and why my friends know I will sit and listen to them for hours on end if it helps them find release from their problems, and that I will be there with practical support to the best of my ability even though I have recently been badly let down by one such friend. And of course I care that half the world seems intent on fighting the other half, hiding behind the name of their God, or their Belief, or their own set of rules and laws and for them I try and find a space in every day for quiet meditation and to send out prayerful thoughts to the innocents caught up in these awful situations.
But sometimes it is good to cushion ourselves from the outside world and take an introspective holiday from war and scandal and immorality. Not for so long that we become disassociated with our environment because that would lead to a sad and lonely isolation which is good for neither body or soul; what I mean is that as long as we know in our hearts that we are doing our best in our own situations, then taking time out is a good thing to do to restore and rebalance ourselves so we can take up the banner of Life with renewed energy and vigour.
I have been waiting all day long for a source of inspiration for today's blog. I'm not sure where this one came from, but it is here now and here I shall let it rest.
I'm glad the inspiration did eventually come, at what is quite late in the blogging day for me. Otherwise you'd have ended up reading some drivel about me wearing my new swimming cap in the pool this morning and looking like a drowning Malteser.
And there but for the Grace of God and a spot of Daily Anger go we all...
Showing posts with label Newspapers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newspapers. Show all posts
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Today's news
Generally I find the daily newspaper very weak blog fodder but today it is a veritable cornucopia of treasures on which I can base my social observations. Front page - picture of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and a horse. Lots of teeth and hair. Unfortunately, the caption does not explain who is who in the photo so I'm a bit confused. Plan to carry pic around with me and ask others which one they think is the horse. (Note to Andy - don't buy a lottery ticket this week. By the laws of karma there is no way we will win after this blog.)
Page 3 - Nancy Dell'Olio wearing what looks like a semi-transparent bin bag dipped in latex and glitter. Someone is quoted as saying 'She was turning heads all night.' Yeah, and stomachs, too, I reckon. She's only 3 years older than me and she's starting to look like a sad old strumpet. Come on Nancy - now's the time to draw the line - but not with that lip pencil. You defintely need to stop that now.
Page 7 - apparently it takes a four mile walk to burn off the calories in one mince pie. Is it worth it? But what cheered me more was that the calculations were based on the 'weight of an average woman' who is only 5lbs lighter than I am now! I'm nearly an average woman, folks! My family and friends will be thrilled!! Last week, my mum and aunt who have both commented on my overweightness over the years, both told me not to lose any more weight because I'd 'look awful.' Good grief, I can't win. A part of me wants to lose another 10lbs just to get my own back.
Page 11 - 2 DJs at Birmingham Uni's station Burn FM have been sacked for making lewd comments about Des O'Connor's grand-daughter a la Brand and Ross. This just proves how lacking in originality some of today's youth are and that you can still recycle old ideas and make the headlines. Later today I shall begin writing my new novel 'Harry Potter and the Darth Vaders of the Jurassic Park.' Should be a money spinning blockbuster if my theory is correct.
Page 21 - Katherine Jenkins in stalker hell. Now look here, Elliot. I am glad you've got over your Britney thing and taken my advice to raise your standards of celebrity adoration, but stalking?? Steady on there. Step back from the Jenkins. I offer this advice in the spirit of someone who has forgiven you for pre-empting one of Heather's Christmas presents with your Secret Santa even though I had to go and get her something else and ended up in a shop where I felt obliged to help the owner defend her goods against a gang of slimy, marauding French teen shoplifters. (Don't ask - let's just say they didn't stand a chance against us two feisty old British birds!)
Pages 22/23 - A fabulous picture of a mummy hippo swimming with her baby hippo. It's a rear view shot and I am going to cut it out, laminate it, hang it in my study and never worry about my bum being too big ever again!
And so I could go on. But I shan't because Andy and I are off to town to get his eyes tested and buy some arnica for his bruises where I whalloped him last night after he tried to push me out of bed.
Oooh, and one final mention - page 66 (how almost ironic!) Tony Blair's Christmas card. Him and Cherie. I was transfixed by his teeth. Brushing with Toilet Duck are we, Tone??
Page 3 - Nancy Dell'Olio wearing what looks like a semi-transparent bin bag dipped in latex and glitter. Someone is quoted as saying 'She was turning heads all night.' Yeah, and stomachs, too, I reckon. She's only 3 years older than me and she's starting to look like a sad old strumpet. Come on Nancy - now's the time to draw the line - but not with that lip pencil. You defintely need to stop that now.
Page 7 - apparently it takes a four mile walk to burn off the calories in one mince pie. Is it worth it? But what cheered me more was that the calculations were based on the 'weight of an average woman' who is only 5lbs lighter than I am now! I'm nearly an average woman, folks! My family and friends will be thrilled!! Last week, my mum and aunt who have both commented on my overweightness over the years, both told me not to lose any more weight because I'd 'look awful.' Good grief, I can't win. A part of me wants to lose another 10lbs just to get my own back.
Page 11 - 2 DJs at Birmingham Uni's station Burn FM have been sacked for making lewd comments about Des O'Connor's grand-daughter a la Brand and Ross. This just proves how lacking in originality some of today's youth are and that you can still recycle old ideas and make the headlines. Later today I shall begin writing my new novel 'Harry Potter and the Darth Vaders of the Jurassic Park.' Should be a money spinning blockbuster if my theory is correct.
Page 21 - Katherine Jenkins in stalker hell. Now look here, Elliot. I am glad you've got over your Britney thing and taken my advice to raise your standards of celebrity adoration, but stalking?? Steady on there. Step back from the Jenkins. I offer this advice in the spirit of someone who has forgiven you for pre-empting one of Heather's Christmas presents with your Secret Santa even though I had to go and get her something else and ended up in a shop where I felt obliged to help the owner defend her goods against a gang of slimy, marauding French teen shoplifters. (Don't ask - let's just say they didn't stand a chance against us two feisty old British birds!)
Pages 22/23 - A fabulous picture of a mummy hippo swimming with her baby hippo. It's a rear view shot and I am going to cut it out, laminate it, hang it in my study and never worry about my bum being too big ever again!
And so I could go on. But I shan't because Andy and I are off to town to get his eyes tested and buy some arnica for his bruises where I whalloped him last night after he tried to push me out of bed.
Oooh, and one final mention - page 66 (how almost ironic!) Tony Blair's Christmas card. Him and Cherie. I was transfixed by his teeth. Brushing with Toilet Duck are we, Tone??
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