Imbolc is my favourite festival - a real celebration of optimism!

For those of you who don't know, Imbolc is a traditional Celtic festival, marking the beginning of spring. In our village, people celebrate with a fantastic fire show, with fire-swingers and other performers, including singers, drummers and dark Foxes who dance with fire. And at the climax of the spectacle, the Green Man battles Jack Frost - and always wins! - so that spring can arrive.

But since Imbolc is traditionally held at the beginning of February, spring is usually still a long way off. This year, snow began to fall here on the first of February, and by the night of the fire festival, it lay thick on the ground. I love the way everyone carries on and celebrates the arrival of spring, whatever the weather! The fireworks and performance are symbolic: there's light shining bright despite the dark, there's celebration and fun at a time of year that's generally pretty miserable, and there's promise of much better times to come.

Flow x

Hold the front page: I want some good news for a change!

I'm not superstitious, but when I opened my door at midday, I couldn't help feeling that the universe was trying to tell me something ...

Outside, the world was entirely monotone: snow fell last night, and the sun didn't make it out from behind the clouds today, so black trees were silhouetted against the white sky, and the hills were stretched out like a depressive harlequin in a suit of mottled greys. It was not inspiring.

Then - as the clock struck twelve, suddenly, simultaneously - a laggardly cockrel crowed, three dark crows circled the house opposite, and a single magpie hopped onto its roof. Omens, all. So were they warnings of misfortune? Probably.

Sometimes it feels like a bad, mad world out there.

*

I watched the news last night. That's something I try to avoid, because it's generally so miserable, and I believe it's bad for one's mental health to be constantly exposed to so much gloom. As far as I'm concerned, when it comes to the mainstream media, no news is good news.

But I watched, and I read, so now I know all sorts of grim facts about the current conflict in Gaza. The whole Gaza strip is only about 25 miles long and 5-10 miles wide, and its borders are closed and guarded, so that there is nowhere for its 1.5 million inhabitants to run to. They are sitting ducks, and almost every one of them is an innocent victim of Israel's bombardment. As of today, there are 660 dead Palestinians and 10 dead Israelis. It's tragic for everyone.

And there is absolutely nothing I can do to about it.

In the olden days when all news was local and carried by word of mouth, you could respond to bad news by doing something to help. When the only misfortune you heard about was your neighbour's, you could (as a wise friend observed) at least take round a bowl of soup. These days, the news channels tell us about global catastrophes that are entirely beyond our control, and it reinforces our sense of powerlessness. If I were a cynic, I might suggest that they do it deliberately, to create the impression that bad news is universal and unavoidable, and to make us less likely to rise up in protest and try to change the world.

Of course, we do need to know about the bad stuff, at least some of it. Oppressive regimes use reporting black-outs to hide their murderous deeds. It's no co-incidence that the BBC is banned from some countries, including Myanmar and Zimbabwe, whose government has proscribed it as a terrorist organisation. So, no, I'm not advocating that we ignore the bad news - but I would like more positive news in the mainstream, rather than hidden away in the sidelines as it is now. It seems good news is not news.

I'll bet there is more good stuff than bad stuff going on in the world - but how could we ever know?

*

Back in my own little world, I laughed at the Portents of Doom, worried for a moment about my sanity, and then on a whim called two friends whom I thought would understand and enjoy the anecdote. One of these friends has been very ill recently. The other, his partner, answered the 'phone ... and told me - hooray! - that the doctors think his cancer has gone.

The wonderful news made my day, tho' it won't make it to the front pages.

And nya nya ne nya nya to that magpie!

Flow x

There's love and hope - not 'pure evil' - in Shannon Matthews' community

Once upon a time there was a poor little girl who was kidnapped and held prisoner for almost three weeks, tied up and drugged and made to keep quiet. Her mother called for help, and the police launched one of the biggest and most expensive searches in British history, backed by a community that stayed awake for nights on end and combed the streets looking for the missing girl.

But this isn't another fairy tale.

Yesterday, as you probably already know, Shannon Matthews' mother Karen was convicted of kidnapping her own daughter, and of false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice. The police spokesperson Det. Supt. Andy Brennan described her as 'pure evil'.

Now 'evil' is a very tricky thing to define. I'd argue that before you can say what 'evil' is, you probably have to define 'good' and also God. But in everyday usage, when you call someone 'evil' it means something more like "I don't like them 'cos I think they do really bad things". The Urban Dictionary (admittedly more amusing than authoratative) adds: "More specifically, they don't give a shit about anyone but themselves, their money and anyone who might help them get their money".

Personally, I'd say that Karen Matthews seems to have acted nastily, cruelly, dangerously, thoughtlessly, selfishly, stupidly and probably greedily ... but I'd be hard pushed to call her 'evil'. I'm with Bruno Bettleheim on this, who thinks notions of good and evil belong in fairytales, and that in reality - uncomfortably - we are all "good and bad at the same time".

I really wish that police officers would keep opinions like this to themselves. The job of the police force is to ensure safe, strong communities - and spreading hatred is never, ever going to help. Brennan's comment reveals a primative psychology that seems to believe - like a simple fairy-tale or young child - or tabloid reader - that "A person is either good or bad, nothing in between". Grown-ups with responsible positions really should know better.

And thankfully, Shannon Matthews' own neighbours and community do know better.

Several news programmes have interviewed people from Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire - the neighbours and community activists on the Moorside estate who were actively involved in the hunt for Shannon. But although there is a sense of betrayal - after all, local people worked hard and selflessly for weeks - their anger has been restrained. By and large, local people seem to have resisted the urge to demonise Karen Matthews. One - tenants' rep Julie Busby - said on Radio 4 yesterday "Everybody's got views ... But I live on Moorside so I try to keep my views to myself ". I was impressed.

Dewsbury Moor is a strong community that has had a lot of bad press. But I live and work in the same Local Authority area, and have done bits of development work there in the past, and can tell you it doesn't deserve its tabloid reputation. Standing out from the pack, Channel 4 news has tried to paint a fairer picture of this "remarkably resilient and generous community that feels betrayed both by Karen Matthews and much of the media coverage". As one Dewsbury woman put it: "I don't think it's as bad as they make out".

The community is remarkable and inspiring because it is fighting against a tide of negative media coverage - and is so far resisting the temptation to join a tabloid witch-hunt. Good on them, I say!

And best of all, local people are remembering who is really the important person in all of this - the little girl Shannon herself.

I'll give the (almost) last word to local resident Petra Jamieson, speaking on the Channel 4 news broadcast yesterday: "I hope one day she'll come back onto Moorside estate and see the people that went out for 24 days searching for her, knowing that we all care about her, and we still will".

That gives me hope that after all, there's love - not hatred or 'evil' - in the heart of our communities.

Flow x

Wise words and cooking with reckless abandon

I'm not fond of spam email, but I received one this morning that I actually want to pass on!

Its creator tells us "This is what the Dalai Lama has to say for 2008". I checked out the Dalai Lama's website and couldn't find it there, but whether or not the words originally come from him, they are wise and worth sharing.

I tried uploading it - it's a Powerpoint presentation with great pictures, including the one here - but I couldn't manage it. So here is the text, minus the other pictures I'm afraid!

• Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.


• When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.


• Follow the three R’s: Respect for Self, Respect for Others and Responsibility for all your Actions.


• Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.


• Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.


• Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.


• When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.


• Spend some time alone every day.


• Open your arms to change, but don’t give up your values.


• Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.


• Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.


• A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.


• In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.


• Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.


• Be gentle with the Earth.


• Once a year, go some place you’ve never been before.


• Remember the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.


• Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.


• Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
  

I love the idea of 'cooking with reckless abandon'! I'm off to fling a few veg round the kitchen this very moment!

Oh, and if you like these words, pass them on! The spam-mail promises great good khama if you do!




Flow x

The end of flat-packs and pick'n'mix

Bear with me today, folks: this blog starts with misery, and moves on through rant, but it ends with some hope!

So, Woolworths and MFI have gone bust.

It's big news, and it has put the wind up a lot of people. And indeed, it's hard to imagine the high street without Woolies or the retail park without MFI, isn't it? A Britain without flat-packs and pick'n'mix!

These retail giants follow the Banks, as the latest victims of the credit crunch. And it seems likely that they won't be the only ones: PC World and Comet are apparently at risk too. "Weep for Woolies" says the BBC's political editor Robert Peston today, rather too sentimentally for my liking. Personally, I don't give a toss for the corporate casualties. It's the human casualties I'm sorry for: at least 30,000 individuals will lose their jobs as these companies go bust. And they will suffer all the more, no doubt, because almost all of them are already in debt.

Now beware, listen to the sirens blaring: here is a Rant Alert!

The trouble is, for the past decade or more, we've built our whole society on credit. Almost all of us do it: mortgages, loans, overdrafts, hire purchase, credit deals, credit cards, store cards ... we've got into the habit of casually building up debt. We've got so used to it that we don't even think any more about what credit really is. Let me spell it out: credit is money we haven't got.

If that's not shocking enough, here's something worse: the collapse of the banks and big business makes it frighteningly clear that they, too, have too much debt and not enough money. And if we haven't got the money, and they haven't got the money, then there's only one conclusion to draw: the money isn't there!

Yup, this is the bizarre truth behind the credit crunch: we have all been spending non-existent money! No wonder we're in trouble!

But this (at last!) is where I begin to feel the little first flickering flame of hope.

Andrew Lansley wasn't allowed to say it but I can (I am not a Tory politician AND I earn a lot less than the UK average wage, so I can say what I want) ... Recession might be good for us.

Of course, it's going to be Bad for many individuals. It's going to be Bad for those who lose their jobs or their houses. It's going to be Bad for those who suffer with stress and stress-related illnesses. And I'm sorry for all of them.

But maybe, just maybe, there will be some Good side-effects.

You see, I think we've been spending money we haven't got (and that's never a good thing) on things we don't need. So many of us have got into the habit of believing we need that second car, or that conservatory extension, or those designer clothes, or those packaged ready meals, or that wide-screen telly, or that extra games console ... and we don't. Really, we don't.

Now, I'm not a puritan. I'm all for splurging on wine and chocs and holidays and fun and beautiful things. And I wouldn't complain - not for one moment - about all this unnecessary consumption if it was doing any good or making people happy, but it isn't.

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Huge numbers of people - probably the majority - work in jobs they hate to pay for these things that they don't need. Huge numbers of people are perpetually anxious, worrying about whether they can re-pay the credit they have accumulated. Huge numbers of people are miserable, and all their extra possessions do not make them happier.

So maybe, just maybe, as the recession bites and we have less money to spend, some of us will wake up and remember: "Hey: money won't buy me happiness, and money can't buy me love!"

.

And if so (since I'm really a hippy and anarchist at heart) then I say maybe this credit crunch will be the end of the world as we know it... But I'll feel fine! Because a Britain without flat-pack and pick'n'mix is hard to imagine right now, but it might just be a better one!

Flow x

Mushrooms, mists and musings

I don't much like autumn, usually.

It never feels like a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness to me. It's too depressing. All that rain, decay and darkness. When all hope of a late Indian summer has gone, I feel bereft - almost betrayed; and when the clocks go back, I rage, rage against the dying of the light.

But this year something seems to have changed. I am looking at autumn with different eyes.

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Suddenly, the colours seem incredibly beautiful, and the sky seems higher, and the cold seems (what's the word?) brazen - like it is daring us to shake our heads and wake up.

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If you look at my pics, I hope you'll see what I mean.

For the first time, as autumn advances and winter creeps towards us, I feel something like relief as well as sadness. It seems the leaves are letting go, not falling! It feels like the out-breath after the in-breath; the ebb after the flow.

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And for the first time, I actually believe that spring and summer will come again!

I wonder if this means I'm getting old?!

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Flow x

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(© 2008 - All photos)

The sun HAS got its hat on!

Don't you just love it when the doom-mongers are wrong?!

First up is the weather forecaster on Thursday, who told me I could expect heavy rain again today. But as I write, I'm looking out my window at the blue sky and fast-scudding white clouds of a perfect autumn day ... well, HAH!

And just a couple of months ago, plenty of heavy-weight commentators were saying Obama couldn't win the US presidential elections, whether because of his race or because some other dirt could be dished that would spoil his chances ... well, HAH again!

And then there are those famous - or infamous - gloomy brickbats. Like the IBM chairman who, in 1943, so modestly speculated "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers". Or the DECCA music company executive who rejected the Beatles demo in 1962, saying "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out". Or - perhaps the most pessimistic prediction of all time - the World Health report in 1989 that claimed "There will be one million cases of AIDS in Britain by 1991". In fact there were around 8,000.

Why DO we seem to have got into such miserable habits? It's time for some more GOOD news stories! There are a few US sites, of which the best (by which I mean least schmaltzy and/or religious) seems to be http://www.happynews.com/, but I haven't found a British or European equivalent.

So here are my headlines... They're all TRUE, though it's just possible that not all of them made the national news.

• Mortgage rates now lowest since 1965!
  
• Youth rescues trapped dog by jumping in canal!


• Thief sends apology and £100, years after stealing cigs!


• "Tiggers Don't Like Honey" sketch fetches £31K at auction!
  

And if your taste for good news stories stetches as far as a willingness to listen to semi-amateur rock bands, then you might like to check out 'Canary Wolf' http://www.myspace.com/canarywolf . Their new song 'Credit Crunch' is at least as much about carrots as finance. As their lead singer says "It's not the end of the world, is it? There's benefits. We were all — myself included — spending money on things we didn't need".

They certainly know how to go-go with the flow!



Flow x

Remember hope, remember joy?!

We're living in weird times. All sorts of things seem to be teetering on the edge. I was going to say, balancing on some sort of threshold between bad and good, but it's sometimes hard to escape the impression that bad is likely to tip over into badder-than-bad.

Politically, socially, personally - and of course seasonally - it feels like things are sure to change, and as so many people seem to be saying at the moment, "Things will get worse before they get better".

Blimey!

If you've been listening to the UK news recently, you will have been fed a miserable diet of war, economic crisis, bank collapse, BBC presenter scandals, 'yob culture' and the 'youth problem', and you probably have indigestion by now. The chances are, aspects of your own life seem to echo these depressing headlines. My own tally of gloom this week includes a sore throat, a contract I didn't get, my thirteen year old son getting robbed, and hearing that a dear friend has colon cancer. Even the weather seems to be in on the conspiracy: we had a disappointing summer, now we're gripped by a grey, bleak autumn, and we have months of winter still ahead.

Rain or blizzard, trouble or collapse, unhappiness or total misery: these seem to be our doom and gloom options!

And yet ...

And yet, there are some signs of hope. Some of these are relatively small comforts - like the sun coming out this morning so that I saw a patch of blue for the first time in a week. Some are small but important - like the marvellous fact that my son wasn't hurt when his 'phone was taken, and we found him a new, better one on eBay last night for only a tenner!

And yes, some things - YAY! - are big, fat, juicy causes for hope. This week, as you will certainly know (unless you have been on retreat or held hostage somewhere very isolated*), America elected a new president who has inspired millions to vote who had never voted before, and who offers hope and a new positivity. Whatever we want to do or dream, Barack Obama says, "Yes, we CAN". My 8 year old heard his victory speech and said "that sounds like a poem" - and politicians who speak poetry are an excellent reason for hope, if you ask me!

Now, I'm a glass-half-full kinda woman. My occasional episodes of anxiety and depression (yes, I'm one of the one-in-four) have been stress-related and a reaction to horrible things - where anxiety and depression, frankly, were the sanest responses. But, generally speaking, I'm contented and cheerful, and I always prefer to look on the bright side of life.

But sometimes it's hard to be cheerful, amid all this doom and gloom. Sometimes it's hard to remember about the sunshine, and the blue sky, and (bloody hell, I'm beginning to sound like Fotherington-Thomas!) poetry - even the poetry of politicians!

Sometimes I need reminding about the good stuff.

So that's what this blog is all about: it's for silly stuff, stuff that makes me laugh. It's for beautiful images, words and sounds. And it's for serious stuff, ideas and thoughts that give me inspiration. But most of all, it's a record of my day-to-day attempts to remember hope and remember joy!

OK, so I'm not always so good at going with the flow (as kind friends sometimes remind me!) ... but meanwhile - oh yeah! - I'm determined at least to go-go with the flow!

Wanna come dancing with me?!

Flow x

*By sheep, say, in a small village in the Pennines with no digital TV signal and generally appalling telecommunications! ;-)