Welcome to my blog – Sorry I'm late!
Laughter. Smiles. Happiness. Entertainment. Every weekend, one or two short blogs. Each one around a 2 minute read of thoughts, musings , comments on life in general. If it brings a smile to your face, informs, educates or does all three then I will be happy! Why this blog name? Well, I am very late to the world of blogging. Hope I was worth the wait! Please do like it (if you like it!) , comment, and share via social media. Thanks
This might sound like a cryptic crossword clue but it’s not.
Waiting at London’s Kings Cross Station station for a homebound train to Yorkshire earlier in week I decided to buy some lunch for the train journey.
By chance I picked up a fruit drink sweetened with honey from a start up ethical company who are focussed on saving bees.
In fact so much so that for every bottle sold they plant bee friendly wildflowers and will also send you some seeds to plant them yourself.
How cool an idea is that!
The city of Bristol in the south west corner of the UK has got a lot going for it.
Lots of waterways and restored industrial buildings, elegant Georgian squares,
and more rejuvenation of old buildings into new residences and places for leisure than you would ever think sustainable for what is only the UK’s 10th largest city
Throw in some trendy pubs, innovative workspaces
and a lot of new building and you have the complete package.
But success is a magnet for both those who can benefit from a fast paced economy and those who just aspire to it.
There is a worryingly large homeless population on the streets who by fate, misfortune or poor judgement are on the wrong side of the success story.
I was in the city briefly this week and was struck by how there are people who will have (albeit to varying degrees) skills and talents that could play a part in this city, but are unused and not developed.
Why, well inevitably the homeless who are drawn here are caught in the trap of poverty, sometimes alcohol and substance abuse and are therefore marginalised. As we inevitably move towards a post Brexit Britain with a diminished workforce, we need our young people as contributors and when I see these people I don’t just see a scruffy, maybe unkempt individual but an unused talent and someone with something to give.
Bristol is trying to help..there are schemes where you can donate small sums of money to assist people getting back on board.
I commend these schemes as they are far more effective than direct donations of money to individuals.
The £3 less in my bank account won’t impact my life, but I hope how it is used will play a small but important part in someone else’s.
But personal contact is important too… my daughter will often give a free coffee that she gets awarded by her mobile phone company to a homeless person. A small gesture, but human touch also goes a long way.
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As a child growing up in the 60’s and 70’s we really didn’t know much about recycling or indeed any kind of care for the planet.
Thanks to the Fab Four, we were told all you need is love, but they forgot to mention that we needed to love the planet as well as each other.
Back then, for anybody not already wearing a kaftan and burning incense, any hint of being too focused on the environment immediately cast you as a future hippy!
To put things a bit in perspective though consumerism was not at the pace of today partly because of the cost of things and just an attitude of mind. Britain then still had a ‘make do and mend’ culture even. It should be noted that Brit’s still had food rationing until 1954! so for my parents generation this was strongly etched in their memory and there really was not the sheer volume of consumer goods, clothing and food & drink purchasing that goes through the front doors of the average house on a daily basis today.
But even so, when things were no longer required the end was simple…they were put in the dustbin.
So now for me as an adult of the 2000’s or a Baby Boomer we see today’s environmentally focused life style for a chance to try to put right the mistakes of our generation.
Monday was a UK public holiday with uncharacteristiclly good weather resulting in numerous garden projects, clearing of garages etc. ready for a symbolic restart of the academic and work year now that summer is nearly over.
The following day, I went to the tip (….now called the household waste recycling centre)….there were 26 cars in the queue ahead of me!
Back home, in addition to what had gone to the tip, as declutter frenzy further consumed our house, we had a box full of goods for the local food bank, bags of clothes for the charity shop and some items that we knew family and friends would use.
But are we really getting the point? …if we bought less, wasted less and shared more, we really could change the world.
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Welcome to my blog - Sorry I'm late! 