Category: Observation

Find your tribe

Joey JonesLeave a comment

What’s something most people don’t understand?

Maybe there are some people who don’t realise that their voice, their time and energy matters. That alone they may feel inadequate, but joing a group of like minded souls can make a huge difference in the world. By giving they will receive ten-fold and some.

One group with 30 years of campaigning behind them are Surfers Against Sewage. A Cornish based charity who work tirelessly for marine conservation and all other sea related issues. For example they mobilise thousands of UK volunteers to sweep the beaches clean. Their aversion to plastic is legendary. I take off my hat to anyone who supports this amazing charity, in any way they can. It’s like paying rent for the privilege of living on our beautiful planet with an apology for all those who don’t give it a second thought. sas.org

One organisation close to my heart is LACS …League Against Cruel Sports. Their focus are animals, which are constantly abused at the hands of man. They stand side by side with these voiceless persecuted souls. Dog fighting, bullfighting, snaring, shooting, hunting any which way an animal can be harmed these fabulous people are there to put up a fight. For someone who loves animals this maybe the charity they may wish to get involved with. Again there is a wonderful website which explains everything. league.org.uk

As Autumn approaches each year I find myself getting vocal about ‘ Leave the Leaves’. A group who want to discourage folk from raking up all the fallen leaves and instead distribute them to under trees or over flower beds to act as a natural fertilizer as they break down and also a safe haven for insects and invertebrates which need somewhere to go to hibernate. If speaking up changes just one person’s mind it will have been worth it.

And that is why I say I really don’t think people believe their one voice can make a difference. There are endless causes to be fought for, everyone can find somewhere to go to join others in making a noise.

( I don’t mean making a noise and being disruptive like the Say No To Oil lobby…Who in the past have disrupted the lives of so many in their quest to get their message across. But all they have done is be disrespectful and troublesome to those who amongst other things may have missed their only chance that day to attend a Hatches, Matches or Dispatches moments.

Edit. Just Stop Oil have just announced they are disbanding.

So I shout out to anybody who feels that alone they can change nothing. Find your cause, join the group and you will never look back. Your tribe awaits.

Tomorrow’s World

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How has technology changed your job?

Every older generation gets to see the world change before their eyes. An almighty shift away from ‘ the good old days’. Some folk continue to grow and embrace The Now and sadly some will fear and shun it.

The person writing this is still in awe of the landline. I kid you not! I mean, how the hell did someone come up with that idea and put it into practice? The history books will educate me on it, but it’s the original concept that blows my mind. And don’t get me started on 3D printers. How is that possible? Mind blown again!

As a child I remember watching a weekly TV show that would talk about the future of innovation, science and technology There was one particular episode I remember to this day, Raymond Baxter the presenter told us the time may come when we would be able to see the person on the other end of a telephone call. ‘Wow’ we said in unison, sat together in the one room, as families once did in the evenings.

Today my brushes with technology are minimal. As the kettle boils I ask ‘ Alexa, play LBC London’. She obliges and then I check into WordPress/Jetpack ( a few changes gone on there, obvs) and that really is the extent of how technology affects my day. Or is it?

Frog March

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How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals? (A tad off piste)

  ‘ A frog decided to reach the top of a tree.

All the frogs shouted ” it’s impossible, it’s impossible.

Still the frog reached the top of the tree.

How? Because he was deaf and he thought everyone was encouraging him to reach the top.

Be deaf to negative thoughts, if your aim is to reach your goal.

Anon

Pic credit Lisa B-D With thanks JJ

Now you see me

Joey Jones2 Comments

What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?

The ability I would choose would in essence be a superpower, to be able to become invisible.

I would use this gift to infiltrate areas where oxygen thieves congregate and bring them down.

Human Traffickers, paedophiles, and those involved in dog fighting. I would need to start somewhere, so chose these three groups to begin my quest. We share this planet with some truly cruel and horrible people. The scum of the Earth walk amongst us. I believe the world would be a better place without them.

50 million people worldwide are in modern slavery, over half of those in forced labour. I will not disturb you with the statistics for the damage done by paedophiles or those involved in dog fighting…..But rest assured I would never give up!

Dogs and polecats

Joey Jones6 Comments

What is your favorite type of weather?

In the UK there are many ways to describe rain and how it is falling. Colloquially we might say bucketing down, pouring down and chucking it down. All rational examples. This idiom we have all heard said at some stage, but the etymology is unknown.

In a play written in 1652 Richard Brome called City Wit, it was said ‘ It shall rain dogs and polecats’. Brome was known for being heavily influenced by the works of others ( perhaps not quite plagiarism?) So it was no surprise to learn that a year earlier in 1651 Richard Vaughan’s had a collection of poems published in one of which he describes a roof secure against ‘ dogs and cats rained in shower’. But why Vaughan should imagine / use that expression remains a mystery.

Leaving all negative connatations about wet weather to one side. I find a certain beauty in rain. The way it cleanses and refreshes. How it leaves puddles in the streets for the wildlife to access. To see a bird taking a bath at the roadside is an absolute joy to me. But best of all is lying in bed at night, cosy and warm, the dog by my side and rain beginning to pit pat on the window. Steadily the velocity and volume increase and forever I could lie there listening to this magical sound, that conjures up absolute peace….

Crushed

Joey Jones2 Comments

Who was your most influential teacher? Why?

I was about twelve years old when I learnt that’ good energy’ was a Thing.

Mr Grant, my English teacher. The epitome of cool, as I realise now. No, not a school girl crush, but a moment of clarity. It was when for the first time ever I knew that some souls are a bit different. I was all ponies and boaters but sent to a school that clearly wasn’t.

Stepping into his classroom was electrifying. I emphasis again, for you to be sure, this wasn’t a girly heart thing. I knew and know the difference.

Every word he spoke resonated.

Tall, with a slim build, long layered hair sweeping the collar of his corduroy jacket. His moeskin trousers and moccasins. Nah, I was making that up for effect. They were probably desert boots.

I remember he had asked us to bring in a book from home. I took the Politics of Ecstasy which belonged to my eldest brother. I wondered what my English teacher would have to say about that. He said not a word.

After the summer holidays we returned to find he had left ( along with the maths teacher, who was fiercely strict, but I respected a great deal) I was absolutely devastated. His replacement could not hold a candle to him. It changed everything.

Road trippin’ edit

Joey Jones2 Comments

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?

Oh WP DP, I love the moment when I read what it is you have come up with for us to ponder.

A cross country trip in the UK. Lands End to John o’ Groats is the most famous, one end of the UK to the other. 603 miles, 970km as a straight line between two points. By car the shortest distance is calculated as 837 miles. A long way by our standards. Nothing if you come from vast sprawling countries.This isn’t a trip I’ve ever done, or likely to do. I’m not a huge fan of sea travel, but a trip right around the edge of the UK I think would be awesome.

I digress. Back to DP. By bike? Nah, not gonna happen. As far as I recall I’ve had two. Once when I was around 11 years old and at the weekends would cycle miles, alone, uphill, to get to the stables where I could horse ride. I loved it! Midnight, he was called. But that ended when the stepmother decided I would be better off at home bringing her and my dad breakfast in bed followed by cleaning the house. Sad, but true. Thanks dad for that. What happened to my blue and silver bike, I wonder? I also had an old fashioned racing green bike with a basket on the front when I lived in Kew Gardens, a suburb of London. No idea where that ended up, either.

Train? Tis has been a very long time since I took a train journey, and I took many. Travelling for work interviews ( another story) or down to Cornwall to see friends.

Airplane? What fine memories I have of those days! Often lucky enough to turn left on boarding. I thank NA for those days. But its not something I have in my vision at present. I do want to go and visit cherished friends, but now I have this old boy, it’s not going to be possible. His past life has left him far too traumatised to be with anyone else, safely. But the day, his day,  his last day will çome.

That leaves me with my car. I love the freedom it allows us. To stop and start, come and go at will, on a whim. The only way I can get said dog from A – B, without any hassle.

A journey this afternoon was horrible when I hit a dawdling pheasant. I wasn’t going that fast. But sadly he wasn’t fast enough. I looked back through my mirror and could see him floundering on the roadside. I turned round to go and see him. It didn’t look great. In the back of my car I had a soft single Indian print sheet, from the dog’s last adventure. I crossed the road and could ascertain quickly this beautiful bird was breathing, twitching. Had I hoped he was dead? A quick death. I scooped him up. Him? Yes, his magnificent colouring told me so.

Back in the driver’s seat of the car and swaddled in the sheet I held him to me. His breathing laboured. We sat and I waited. I like to think the warmth and the security helped him. I expected his breath to stop. I sat and we waited. Slowly he appeared to regain some strength. His eyes looked clear and alert and his breathing became more regular. When he shuffled about I didn’t want him to feel anxious in captivity so I  got out of the car and carried him deep into the hedgerow. As I put him down he seemed keen to get going but his tail appeared crooked and a wing held low. I felt I had made a mistake letting him go and clamoured through thick hedginging to get him back. When I finely broke through I was amazed to see his tail feathers had straightend and his wings in place. He toddled off, a bit dazed, but seemingly intact. I thanked the gods.

I was shaken up by this and happyI had a bottle of wine in my shopping bag. I couldn’t wait to get home and pour myself a nerve steadier. Which I did.

The last few days have been weird anyway… And then a pal asks how I am. I say ‘ pretty rubbish, actually ‘ or words to that effect. She goes on to tell me my oldest friend has been whisked from a small town to a city hospital with unknown issues. ……..Think he’s ok, for now

And there we are… You wake up. All seems good and then the shit hits the fan.

Down but not out

Joey JonesLeave a comment

I thought I would write for a little while to try and cheer myself up.  I usually put a lot of effort into being upbeat , but it’s just not happening these last few days.

Waking the other morning,  still dark, it felt cold, a kind of gloom hanging around. In the UK after an extremely long winter we were treated to over a week of the most amazing conditions. The British public, bless them, rose to the occasion. There was a wonderful buzz in the air and strangers passing in the street would exchange their personal joy and gratitude. Summer attire, sometimes creased and aged had suddenly seen the light of day, their first outing of the year.

But as quickly as it arrived it left. Leaving us all a little dispirited, I think. We had needed that. We needed more of that.

As usual each morning I listen to LBC and look to the socials for what’s new, what’s happening, what is still happening. With a mug of fresh coffee on my bedside table and tablet in hand I began scrolling. I knew I had about 30 minutes before the dog would be telling me to ‘get up, already!’.

Immediately I read the disturbing news that for COP30 8 miles of Amazon Rainforest had been cut down to build a four-lane highway, for the summit. How ironic is that? My heart sank.

We are all aware the lunatics have been let out of the asylum to rule our world, but really are there no grown ups left in charge? Who signed off on this madness? It can’t be happening, but it is. What is Joe Public supposed to do? They all go off to the Amazon, up to 3000 of them,  for wonderful jollies and we are left asking why.  How about they cancelled COP30 and used the money to provide clean water across the world to the people and animals that don’t have it? The ones who get sick and die in their thousands, every single day. They just want a water pump. Is that really too much to ask. #WaterAid. That would give COP30 meaning.

I carry my frustration, anger and sadness down the stairs and begin to get the dog ready for the first of his three outings of the day. He thinks it’s fun to give chase, but I’m just not feeling it. And then to my absolute horror and disbelief I hear the chain saw, and there he is, a tree surgeon felling right behind my home. ..And what of the squirrels who live and nest there?

The hours passed and more trees came down. Not one solitary soul visited my outdoor space during that time….Then this morning the same. I had to get us in my car and leave the neighborhood. I couldn’t bear it. The noise and destruction just too much.  One squirrel came back, took a quarter of an apple and left. A blackbird his mate and a couple of robust pigeons remain.

On the scale of things I know I am incredibly fortunate and there will be women all over the world who would give everything simply to have the rehoming of squirrels their main concern and  the Amazon Rainforest could not be further from their minds. I get that. But it doesn’t stop me hurting, knowing that those who govern us don’t see the big picture… Or they could if ego, greed and selfishness did not cloud their vision.

Have I cheered myself by putting pen to paper here? No, not really, but if I can get one solitary person to begin voicing their concerns of how the world is governed, all is not lost. I thank you for reading this far. X