Hansard

I feel really proud when I see chunks of Hansard quoted around the internet. I have seen 2 today; one for home education and one for Bahrain.

Rebooting process

I find I need to reboot my thinking every day: what am I working towards, what is the point, will it work, etc? Is there a way to bypass this recreation of a whole way of thinking each day and start each day at the point I left off the day before?

Famous Last Words

...but my 2 boys like being in the same house as each other. Home is not a dirty word. We mill around and eat stuff. We all get loads of free time on our own to read/play/watch what we want. We go into the rooms where the others are every so often and chat, but apart from that we are a social free zone.

Seriously, when was there last a humdinger of an argument, with slammed doors and all that???

We do have very late nights and very late mornings, which helps!

Gosh, what planning!

Here is how to menu plan, complete with photos. I want to move in with her right away and hang around in the kitchen waiting to be given tasks like chopping onions, stirring or changing the channel on the radio.

Have fun trying to read her writing in the pictures...

Early alarm beeps

Between now and the 15th June there are only 2 days when T and I will have to get up really early.....wonderful.....Then I'm not sure what happens between then and the end of term. After that there are weeks of summer holidays....which means more late mornings = bliss.

Housewife and mother

It means I have a library of books close at hand, the whirr of the washing machine coming through the doorway and the opportunity to eat my favourite foods every single day.

If the children are ill I just settle in for the duration until they are well again and snatch sleep when I can.

The cat from next door stops me from doing useful tasks by wanting to fall asleep on my lap, so eventually I give in and let her sleep, sprawled and peaceful.

It was not a peaceful existence when the children were little, it was the absolute opposite, I don't know how I survived, or how they did, I was so aggressive and pushy, getting to places on time and making things happen. I went to meetings and made them come shopping with me. We went on tiring trips to visit relatives and I was trying so hard to do what other people thought was correct.

I was so easily upset by others' comments and criticisms. Now I try to judge people by what they say and do, rather than let myself be judged by them.....The next step will be to just watch it and let it go like each day's weather or like people who comment underneath YouTube videos, some I agree with and some I really don't.

Now we chat when we want to and our house is peaceful. There are frictions of course, but they are our own frictions, which makes all the difference.

The jangling of keys

It meant 'time to go' and was used in the Czechoslovak 'Velvet Revolution' uprising back in 1989. It seems such a long time ago now.  

Yossarian's logic

'They're trying to kill me,' Yossarian told him calmly.
'No one's trying to kill you,' Clevinger cried.
'Then why are they shooting at me?' Yossarian asked.
'They are shooting at everyone,' Clevinger answered. 'They're trying to kill everyone.'
'And what difference does that make?'...

'...but Yossarian had proof, because strangers he didn't know shot at him with cannons every time he flew up into the air to drop bombs on them, and it wasn't funny at all.'

chapter 3, Catch-22
Joseph Heller

Almost overnight the Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade was in full flower

"Without realising how it had come about, the combat men in the squadron discovered themselves dominated by the administrators appointed to serve them. They were bullied, insulted, harassed and shoved about all day long by one after the other. When they voiced objection, Captain Black replied that people who were loyal would not mind signing all the loyalty oaths they had to. To anyone who questioned the effectiveness of the loyalty oaths, he replied that people who really did owe allegiance to their country would be proud to pledge it as often as he forced them to. And to anyone who questioned the morality, he replied that 'The Star-Spangled Banner' was the greatest piece of music ever composed. The more loyalty oaths a person signed, the more loyal he was, and he had Corporal Kolodny sign hundreds with his name each day so that he could always prove he was more loyal than anyone else.

'The important thing is to keep them pledging,' he explained to his cohorts. It doesn't matter whether they mean it or not. That's why they make little kids pledge allegiance even before they know what 'pledge' and 'allegiance' mean."

chapter 11, Catch-22
Joseph Heller

Gold, resin and onyx...land, rivers, a garden...

"A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates."

Genesis chapter 2, verses 10-14
The Old Testament

1 Min - Fire

Every few years my big focus changes. Just now I'm all fired up over Bahrain in particular and human rights in general. First it was breastfeeding, then I moved on to home education and autism. I haven't yet acquired the heap of books which have come along with each passion. This firing up is all internet based.

Ian Henderson and Adel Flaifel

Google both names to find out more. Not good.

Saudi women protesting

This American interview speaks of the great importance of the women in the Middle East who are marching and speaking up for their rights.

Quaker Meeting

I haven't been for several months now, but last Sunday I was in the mood. It is so simple, sitting (somewhat uncomfortably) and being with others who are also just sitting in silence. Sometimes I keep my eyes shut, sometimes I look right out of the window ahead of me.

There has been a change since last time I went, a loud cockerel was crowing every 3 minutes of so. No one spoke, but we never know that until the whole of the hour has passed, so at every shift I go on alert wondering what that person will say, then they just change their sitting position. When I recross my legs or move my cushion I guess that others are waiting for my wonderful words!!

Afterwards we have notices, which is more fun than it sounds, then get up and chat over tea or coffee. It is special because I don't have to believe anything at all, or verbalise agreement to anything, I'm free to just sit in the company of others.

1 Min - Early, late or on time?

I used to be late for everything, even once I was at work. I wanted to be welcomed into the office if I came in before 9am, but there was no chat or friendliness as far as I could perceive if I did.

I decided to get to places before the set time when my children were roughly mid/late primary school age. I worked out that in order to chat to other parents and also give my full attention to my children when they came out of the building I would have to be there early. It works really well and I still enjoy pre-event chat times now.

What does it say about me? That I don't pick up on these things intuitively, I have to work it out intellectually or find it out by reading an explanation by someone kind enough to put it clearly.

Oslo Freedom Forum

Live stream and video clips here. I am very lucky to be an English speaker and that this forum is being conducted in English, so I can follow it easily.