LIABILITY BROWN
  • Home
  • Dig It: Blog
  • Pixels and Pixies

Brexit Blues

25/2/2022

3 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Abutilon Vitifolium
After spending some time researching a particular shrub that I would like to add to my ‘blue bed’ I signed up to a plant retail website based in the Netherlands.  Nothing unusual in this but when attempting to add my address to the membership page I was rather disenchanted to be unable to find the UK in the drop-down menu and looked at contacting the Customer Service page for help.  However, this was obviously a common observation as I was then even more disenchanted and very aggravated to read the following:
​
“Unfortunately, it is currently impossible to export our large assortment to the UK under Brexit conditions. We ship over 600 varieties per shipment, for which we would have to send more paperwork than plants. We regret we have to stop supplying the UK after more than 30 years, hope to be back in the near future.
You can still order for destinations in the EU”.

I did not vote for Brexit and this is so frustrating!
3 Comments

February Projects

24/2/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Some Reasons Why

20/2/2022

1 Comment

 
Picture
I’d like to confidently report that I am ‘on it’ and everything is under control, but I have just looked at my ‘To Reply’ folder and there are messages stashed away which date back to September.  Hmmm. If these messages were of the paper variety they would be yellowing and curling up at the edges by now but, hey! I figure that if there was something really urgent then I would have been pestered more and addressed it by now.  Also, I know that many of my friends will be empathetic at least as it has been an interesting few months.
Without boring everyone senseless and realising that we have all been dealing with the fall-out from Covid, Omicron and all the variations and differing impact therein, suffice to say some situations have been more complicated or bureaucratic as a consequence.  For example, a lot of our time has been focused upon ensuring that my mother-in-law has been / is looked after and comfortable.  Over the past year or so she has been unwell and it was agreed that it would be best for her to move from Hampshire to Gloucestershire (Cheltenham).  Naturally there has been a great deal of work involved – selling her house, finding another residence and all the palaver of dealing with medical people, solicitors, estate agents.  Subsequently Paul and I know all the various routes up and down the country back-to-front and inside-out as we have had to travel so much to organise boxing-up and clearing the house.  Invariably there were a great many trips to charity shops and hopefully the ‘new’ stock swelled the Christmas coffers for them. We also had a number of bookings with charities who collect furniture or white goods, such as Emmaus and The Heart Foundation, but that was increasingly frustrating because of the rules and regulations around what they are allowed to accept or – more commonly – cannot.  It was such a shame as we were keen that the good quality furniture might be of benefit to others but invariably we were thwarted at the attempt.  It got me very down to realise that as much as we want to do “the right thing” it was nigh on impossible – especially trying to work logistics from a distance. Good grief, it was bad enough dealing with the official people who were being paid to do a job,  Really, you couldn’t make it up – Paul contacted the estate agent about three weeks ago just to check up on how the house sale was progressing with the buyers only to be informed that they were moving in the next day!?  Seriously! Apparently (pinch of salt to be taken here) one of the solicitors’ offices had neglected to keep the vendor (Paul) in the loop!  Isn’t that shocking?  What is more shocking (in my opinion) is that once the not-inconsiderable amount of money was transferred to the holding account (or whatever it is called) there was no mention of some kind of ‘discount’ on fees for their slipshod work.  Oh no – they just take their fee, pay the estate agent and wander off into the sunset rubbing hands in glee…. call me a cynic but we did more of the paperwork and bureaucratic toing and froing than those particular offices. Personally, not impressed.  However, by that stage, it has just been a relief to draw a line under that busyness.

So, the above might explain some lack of engagement on my part, but I also have to admit that Christmas, New Year and January was also somewhat onerous with the various isolation periods and changing of plans and the differing effects of these on different people.  As I said previously, I didn’t actually feel necessarily ‘put out’ by enforced isolation at the time but, over the past month, I am not sure if I am feeling a bit depressed?  It is very weird.  I don’t feel unhappy as such, but I do feel very tired and weary.  That is both physically and mentally, and probably emotionally too. Oh yes – let’s embrace the whole gamut!!  I have also felt stressed with some aspects of the various job roles that keep me increasingly occupied but think it is probably sensible to review everything at Easter – when at least we should be out of an English winter which can bring even the chirpiest optimistic a bit down in the middle of February!

What do you think?

1 Comment

Valentine's Day

12/2/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture

Picture
From Jon Owen – Pastor at Wayside Chapel (Kings Cross and Bondi, Sydney, NSW)
“Love that comes with an orchestra playing sweetly in the background isn’t the only kind. It would be false to state that love has nothing to do with feelings; that would be ridiculous, but I insist that love is not constituted by them. Feelings change constantly; some are helpful, many are uncomfortable; some bring ecstasy; and none constitute love. At most they provide a musical score; they add colour. Love is something into which we step. It requires a movement of the feet. It is a place to stand and see another for who they are and not for the purpose they might serve. I wish for you the kind of courage and strength to stand where you can see another. Where you can be fully you, by not being the centre of the universe but rather to discover that your centre is not within. The joy of finding your centre between you and others – that’s how love works.

​
I see love come to life in a thousand different ways. Love is everywhere and is always in need of us. If we allow it to flow, it can release us from our need to prove anything. 
I have seen it in parents who give up every life plan to care for a child with a disability, somebody who tenderly supports their partner through mental illness, a friend who gives up their only meal for someone hungrier than them, or a neighbour who takes time out of their hectic life to drop a care package to the person next door.

Rather than a pursuit of a feeling, love is about devoting a life to courageous acts of service that usher more kindness into our world, especially in the darkest of circumstances.

Small acts of love often mean the world. Cups of tea handed out in love, fresh towels after a night in the pouring rain, or a set of clean clothes and undies when someone walks in drenched to the bone.
​
Think about what love means to you. This Valentine’s Day, perhaps you can forgo the flowers and chocolates, in favour of an act of love that will truly make a difference to someone's life. If you can, please make a donation to our "Nothing Says I Love you Like a Clean Pair of Undies" appeal”…


Click the link:  Wayside Chapel | Love Over Hate
0 Comments

"Such a February Face"

1/2/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
​The only Shakespeare play to mention the month of February is in Much Ado About Nothing and one of the main characters, Benedick, is described to have “such a February face, So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness.” 
0 Comments

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Dig It: Blog
  • Pixels and Pixies