Well, the official invitation to the Palace Garden Party arrived this morning. This means my ol' mucker and me have passed the official checks and scrutiny!
We shall await the Invitation Proper from the Palace "in 6 - 4 weeks time", according to the letter...
Honestly, the Civil Service Departments have gone down the pan since I left! Sheesh!
What else has happened. Ummm... I seem to be procrastinating about how much work I have to do on my course over the next three weeks... I've conducted or officiated at a number of weddings, and observed a wonderfully sweet Civil Partnership... My kitchen and utility room are more or less finished, but not the flooring, blinds or decor just yet... We've had GJ's successful and intimate 50th Birthday celebration.
...And, Grizzler has turned 20 - Yikes! Where did that time go?!
I haven't heard back from Alnwick Garden yet, which may indicate that my enjoyable assessment day there has not been a fruitful one, work-wise... Tant pis.
In other news, I met up with a wonderful dear friend, Elle, for morning coffee last Sunday. I was trying to persuade her to turn some of the fabulous stories she has told us for years into a blog. She is the funniest woman I think I know, and beautiful to boot. I love her to bits, ever since we first met when I moved back to this northern region from the Highlands of Scotland in the year Grizz was born. That means we've known each other 20 years. Amazing. She hasn't changed a bit.
Through and outside of therapy, I've been reflecting on how our lives take the paths that they do. For without being pushed from my nested job within government by that cuckoo, David Cameron, and his poodle Master Clegg, I would not have my lovely little job in counselling, albeit as yet unpaid.
Without the trauma therein, I would not be witnessing and celebrating weddings which are such joyous occasions for me, albeit stressful; Without having to move with my husband's job back from the Highlands, I would never have met Elle, or possibly even Sara of THIS blog and this wonderful PHOTO...
My life would not be as rich without them and other valuable friends in it, such as Karina, who makes me laugh on FaceSlapBook and whose bags are to die for... Recently, she's been channelling her inner patriot to make some beautiful things in celebration of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Year, using vintage scarves and ephemera. Stunning.
And, not to forget, other bloggy friends here and abroad, that goes without saying...
Elle took her own decision to depart from government a year before I did. She then fell into a number of little jobs to keep her going, but has been sorely let down by a less-than-honest employer. She now finds herself in the place I was in several months ago. Trying to find what it is she wants to do at this stage in her life... I feel for her; It's an odd, and somewhat scary position for anyone to find themselves in...
Finding who you are.
Do we ever stop, do you think? Looking out for that little girl, who wants to hold on to those balloons, but doesn't want to take her feet off the ground?
p.s. I don't deliberately intend to miss things out of my blog which have international reverberations, like developments in world news or the tragic death of WH, with whom I share my birth year. I was personally saddened by her loss, although I did not know her, nor was I a particular fan of her music but I know she did touch hearts with her voice.
Perhaps that's all that any of us need, to love and be loved and to touch hearts?
Returning to a (part-) week at two places of work after so long languishing on the sofa over the holidays, gently grazing over the remnants in the kitchen at will...
I am still finding it hard to get back into certain routines and to 'return to normal' - Hah! Whatever that is?
What does my 'routine' consist of these days, post-Empty Nest?
1. Monday and Friday - Working in my 'proper' job, still within the heart of government. My office is going to close at the end of March, so there's not long to go with that part of my routine;
2. Tuesday to Thursday - Working at my charity voluntary placement which my office is sponsoring, to enable some of us to have some recent work-experience to put on our CVs!
I love it at my placement, where they do wonderful things for and with young people. I'm helping them to gear up for some strategic stuff - I didn't know I would love it before I got there, as I trembled on the doorstep before gingerly pressing the buzzer to go up the steep Victorian stairs, but I'm really hoping that my work will lead to something more permanent for me post-March... Fingers crossed! I'm putting these words out into the Universe now, to this avail. Wish me luck, black cat!
3. Tuesday evening - My Psychotherapy coursework commences - This is going well, although it's still very new and a bit scary, to be honest... There's loads to read and absorb and I'm trying to get to grips with the difference between the practical requirements, the academic expectations, and how much self-reflection is needed... Such a balance to meet...
4. Wednesday evening - Now Group Therapy has begun - Once again, I'm not really certain what to expect, however, it is an essential part of the training programme, to take part in therapy yourself. I'm not sure how much I shall be able to share here... We'll see.
5. By Friday, I'm now feeling a little like the Cat at Midnight, as in this enchanting picture above... My head buzzing from the rigours of the week, I feel like strolling the streets in search of excitement and interest, eager for the weekend, where I squeeze in chores and necessary shopping, an outing to a Farmer's Market or 'antiquing' in slightly better weather than we've got at the moment - What a laugh that is - The reality being that some Sundays I visit something that looks like a motorway cafe for Sunday Lunch with my close family, with a week's worth of vegetables on my groaning plate, then stagger next door to what looks like half an aircraft hangar, corrugated and nightmarishly cold, filled to the rafters with furniture and treasures culled from country homes and house clearances, at home and in France, policed by lovely octogenarian ladies in floor-length vintage fur coats and granny-knits.
How they move any of the heavy furniture around, I'll never know. I suspect they have an army of ancient male help-meets, drilled into service and catering to their every whim.
I wish I did!
I need to build in some time to my routine for more exercise, as previously hinted. There's still time. I found myself toying with trotting in to a Wool Shop this weekend - Anxious as I am to try a return to crochet, heavily inspired by Mrs Jones Home Thoughts From Home and her fabulous achievements - CLICK HERE - Maybe I'm being too ambitious with plans for my routine!
Routine turns out to be essential to the human condition. Some of the practice around Psychotherapy is based in routine - Weekly meetings, therapeutic contracting, games and strokes. Did you know that, mes braves?
I am asking you to consider what your own routine consists of - Which of it is essential, and which is habit that perhaps doesn't do our souls any good really.
Thank you for your lovely New Year's wishes and my best to you, as ever!
2011, and what is different about me?
Nothing, zero, zilch.
I have some good intentions. Not resolutions, no. Intentions.
1. To exercise a bit more. Diane - (Please click on her name to get to her fabulous and wonderful bloglette) - inspired me last year by having set some goals, which served to spur her on to do more and to accomplish a number of runs for very worthwhile charitable causes. I'm very proud of what she has achieved.
I am going to let you in on a secret. I have pledged to run a 5k Race for Life later this year for a cancer charity. Oh yes! The button will appear and the begging bowl will be out, and I am committed (or will be!) to do it. Come hell or high water, fire or flood. -- And if you catch me out there with a box of matches, or pulling that boy's finger out of the dam, you will know I am trying to avoid having to do it!
2. I must lose weight. I talk about it, but then I don't change my lifestyle. Go figure. I wish I had a figure - Ho, ho! I am hoping that the drive towards the run and more exercising to get me into that state where I can at least jog a little, will also get me to lose some of this post-baby weight. (Note: Grizz will be 19 in February!)
3. We're off to Italy this year. 26th July sees our 25th Wedding Anniversary. How we got here (and we're not there yet) I'll never know, but in a mad moment on our wedding day, (I think it was then - Long veils of white shroud my memory), I got GJ to say that he would take me to Venice and Florence, (I've since added Rome for good measure and I like things that come in threes), for our 25th Wedding Anniversary if not before...
For our 25th it is then! And no, GJ, I don't think a day trip to Ventimiglia counts when we holdayed in Nice in 2006 - No, not at all! So, I'll have to mug up on some Italian before then. I shall blog about things I so desire to see later, like the Keats museum by the Spanish Steps, of course, but if any of you have any hints and tips for a less than millionaire-cost trip to Italy, I should be most grateful for them.
4. To have more fun and enjoy life a bit more. Seriously, I bore even myself to death with my low-rent, Olympic-range, whinging; I don't think I have a lot of fun, at least I can't remember loads of it. I laugh quite a bit. Mainly manically, but I worry loads. -- I'm hoping my Group Therapy might help me get to the bottom of that torment. I usually worry about money, and not having very much of it. And so, losing my job later this year will not be good for that, I know, sooooo...
5. Part of my plan to have more fun is to do more things with music, so I have a weekend in Shoreditch, London planned (but nothing booked!) for April, so that we can see our neighbour John Steel with his Animal friends performing at the East by East Festival - The Blockheads are also going to be on stage, so there's something else to look forward to.
We've Richard Thompson at the end of this month at the Sage with his Dream Attic tour, and I want to see the local comedian Sarah Millican, whom I adore, at her gig in Newcastle in April, I hope, but her tickets are selling out fast across the country, and well, I'm worrying about money again, so shoot me!
Above all, I hope to be a better friend and a fair, good enough mother and a decent partner. That is all. And Angels? If you can swing it my way to do even better in the Leek Competition in late summer, that'll be muchly appreciated!
For those of you who missed yesterday's, Thursday's post concerning Geordie Ferrets, please see further down the page - I have been all over the place with the dates for my posts, sorry for any confusion caused!
Today is Friday, so I really don't understand why the blog is now showing Thursday - I have had it with Blogger! Bring on the Luddites!!!
Ever heard of Flash Mob? Here's a very short introductory clip courtesy of Look North - the North East's local TV Station about the phenomenon, including crappily posed piece by the studio staff!
Just shout if you need anything translated - but you can see how people really get into it, and onlookers, even the elderly, aren't unsettled; They are amused, bemused and perhaps pushed a little bit outside their comfort zones, but hey, they seem ultimately cool about what has happened to them. It wouldn't be me without a little bit of WIKI history, would it?
"The first flash mob was created in Manhattan in May 2003, by Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper's Magazine. The origins of the flash mobs were unknown until Wasik published an article about his creation in the March 2006 edition of Harper's. The first attempt was unsuccessful after the targeted retail store was tipped off about the plan for people to gather.
Wasik avoided such problems during the second flash mob, which occurred in June 3, 2003 at Macy's department store, by sending participants to preliminary staging areas—in four prearranged Manhattan bars—where they received further instructions about the ultimate event and location just before the event began.
More than one hundred people converged upon the ninth floor rug department, gathering around an expensive rug. Anyone approached by a sales assistant was asked to say that the gatherers lived together in a warehouse on the outskirts of New York, that they were shopping for a "love rug".
Subsequently, 200 people flooded the lobby and mezzanine of the Hyatt hotel in synchronized applause for about fifteen seconds, and a shoe boutique in SoHo was invaded by participants pretending to be tourists on a bus trip.
Wasik claimed that he created flash mobs as a social experiment designed to poke fun at hipsters and to highlight the cultural atmosphere of conformity and of wanting to be an insider or part of "the next big thing." The Vancouver Sun wrote, "It may have backfired on him... [Wasik] may instead have ended up giving conformity a vehicle that allowed it to appear nonconforming."
And so, flash mobs are a form of performance art and spontaneous social interaction. The phenomenon uses modern communications technologies, (just like us!), including decentralised personal networking, known as smartmobbing, the Internet, email, chat rooms and text messaging, so not actually spontaneous at all, but definitely subversive and 'underground'. Sometimes these get-togethers are used as a means of making charitable donations, such as taking food to the homeless, so they're a good thing, right?!
The first recorded use of the term flash mob was in 2003 in a blog entry posted in the aftermath of Wasik's event. And so we are returned to our world of what you could call Flash Blogging... You know the kind of thing:- Where someone writes a poignant and meaningful piece, or chooses particularly touching images, and it sets you or I off on a chain of thought, that serves to influence our writing or thought patterns in turn...
This short video shows the recent Flashmob Finger Gun Fight at the Tate, London
My own first experience of these flash mob performances, was when I and GJ were two out of only 100,000 people in the UK who tuned in to the newish station BBC Three to watch Flashmob - the Opera, which took over London's Paddington station one evening when people were making their way home from work.
Three professional singers and 65 musicians from the BBC Concert Orchestra belted out popular arias from operas such as Madame Butterfly, Don Giovanni and La Traviata. They were joined by opera lovers and performance buffs, who wanted to play their part in the fun, bringing opera to the commuting masses... Unsuspecting travellers wandering around the concourse were regaled with an aria from a woman, dressed in a red winter coat, who appeared to be going about her normal business, while mourning her lovelorn state. commuters.
Over the years and months since 2003 there have been other kinds of social gatherings, across the world, and these are just a few:
... Pillow Fights across the world, here in Paris.
and here in, I think this is Germany:
Giant Conga Lines, just like the one in Newcastle:
And people just doing something odd - It looks pretty cold for the posers of this piece:
I just recently learned from a colleague about the trend for wedding parties to break out into an impromptu rendition of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' dance - Look for it on Youtube, there are many amateur videos, some obviously more rehearsed than others... Great fun, and seeing the brides taking their dance so seriously in their frou-frou dresses is priceless! This sits slightly outside the world of Flash Mobbing, but is based on the same principles, of course.
Which brings me to another form, and my favourite Flash Mob performance - The Big Freeze in Paris. Please take the 5 minutes to watch it - The music isn't bad either. This is the official video by the way, and it's just amazing to see people's reactions to the freeze, including the Police and the many tourists. And some of the poses being held for 5 mins are incredible...
What moves me in this piece is the stillness, and to be fair, appreciating those still moments in life, in our ever hectic lives, is not the easiest of things to do... How often do any of us just sit, still our minds, and properly reflect for more than five minutes?
Do we allow ourselves the thinking time we deserve, when we are busy with our children, our animals, and our understandable and ever-present cares and our woes? Ought we not to occasionally stop to smell the flowers, and not just photograph them, for example?
Braja recently posted on silence and its strength, so I will not replicate that here, but it is important to note that:
'The benefits of silence and an empty mind are well known: less stress, clearer thinking - Studies have even pointed to a strengthened immune system and better heart health. Silence is something to welcome. It's nurturing and refreshing. It offers a unique feeling of peace'. (Source: allspiritfitness.com)
So, do look out for Flash Mob - There is a website - Google it if you want to take part, and you could be alerted by text message to the one nearest you, and you could be the next Flash Mob Ninja, or Still As A Statue I see!
