The primulas are blooming despite the temperature being only 5C
About
The life and thoughts of Freda Marshall, a retired Church of Scotland minister living amongst the mountains and glens of Argyll.Pages
Good day for shopping
Him Behind the Wheel wanted to order the third book in a trilogy, so he duly trawled amazon and found it for £3.79. You can get free postage and packing on orders of £15.00 so guess who volunteered to do the order for him and thereby enjoyed choosing books to get beyond the total?
Excellent day.
Gordon Brown
I can’t help but feel sorry for the unfortunate Gordon Brown. And it somehow makes me want to watch tonight’s final Leaders’ Debate. Whether I shall or not remains to be seen.
Have prepared with a gentle day of reading. I finished The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd. An interesting story with enough twists and tales to keep the reader spellbound to the end. A bit like the Election story I suppose.
More politics
I have been involved recently in a series of Local Govt meetings looking at ways of stream-lining services and making the best use of the money available. Quite apart from information overload, it has made me realise how there is an issue here for the election. None of the parties dare to let us know the mess we are in financially. Whoever gets in – and like many, I suspect it will be a hung parliament – will have to squarely face up to clearing up the economic muddle.
Not an easy prospect. And not an easy thought for the day. So I am going to put my feet up and switch off, gladdened by the thought that there are younger and fitter, and abler minds than mine at work.
Refreshing style of politics
I have to admit that I admire Nick Clegg for taking yesterday off to be with his family. It is a lesson in showing how to cope with stress. One of the things that has been concerning me for years is the way that people in work are subjected to more and more pressure. Pressure to achieve and perform, whether it be to meet targets or just through sheer volume of work. A number of years ago in a study leave project, I looked at the whole problem of stress and burnout in clergy. Many of the same issues apply to lay people and one of the most important coping strategies is the concept of taking time out. It always amused me that the whole idea of a sabbath day as a time of rest was one which ministers were rarely able to achieve. In fact, local ministers and local MPs are similar in that each is a kind of known figure in the area, so time off becomes difficult to find.
The strange thing is that stress is necessary to some extent so that potential and effective methods can be reached. It is all about managing the balance between healthy working and potential burnout. I really hope for a world of political balance, where true values are axiomatic. And that is something which has been sadly missing in politics for a long time.
Networking
Him Behind the Wheel has managed to get my computer to talk to his printer. When it came to organising things the other way round (ie his computer to my printer) – he had forgotten how. Ah well, a job for another day.
Loch Tulla
Went for a winter picnic in the campervan yesterday – up into the hills behind Bridge of Orchy. Two short walks in a stiff breeze and two cups of coffee – excellent. The evening’s Leadership Debate seemed very remote. I ended up not being able to watch it and settling instead for recording it and listening to some of the media spin afterwards. It is interesting that this election is heralding a sea-change in UK politics. It is impossible to ignore media hype; I find this very worrying, because it places too much power in the hands of the wrong people. In any case, what of the one person one vote ideal? It won’t do the LibDems much good, other than as a lever to lobby for a fairer voting system in terms of representing the views of the electorate with regard to the numbers of seats held.
As for me…… if it all gets too much, we can always go back to Loch Tulla.
Cat Report
Fox has an over-active thyroid and is being fooled into taking the necessary tablets. Cheese is his weakness – and the vehicle for said pills.
Rest
Sometimes we simply need to rest…..
And that is OK ………..