Happy Friday! It’s the last day of my holiday and while I’m going to enjoy sleeping in my own bed tomorrow, I am going to miss this place…
People have mixed opinions about Jack Monroe and I’m not here to argue about that. This, about the importance of being interested and involved in politics and especially local politics is a bit ranty but it’s a good point well, well made.
The myth of the processed foods are bad for you! Worth a read. If not eating processed food prevented obesity, I’d be thin however, it’s cheaper and I know what’s in it..
This about renters right groups is also worth reading.
Portion control and how not to overeat…
Frankie Boyle on Jeremy Hunt and the NHS strikes
Surrogacy in India. I find the whole idea disturbing, it turns babies into a commodity, which is worrying..
Housing in London. Yes again….
The women behind the men. Men behave badly and are still held up as great..
Mark Steele on Hillsborough. Some people reckon this is a victory for British justice, it’s not. It’s an indictment of the establishment, who seem to know no shame. Before Hillsborough happened, Mum and Dad took us to an England vs. Brazil friendly at Wembley, it was one of the last games I went to when standing was still allowed. We were late and it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever been in. Ben went under and was hauled up by someone in the crowd. Whenever I think about Hillsborough, I remember how football fans were treated back then, like animals, and Hillsborough didn’t surprise me, for years I’ve known that the police lied and the newspapers helped spread those lies and it’s horrific but it doesn’t surprise me.
If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, it would be that. I’m a solitary person and that’s a valid thing to be. It’s in my nature to live a little bit more in my own head than it seems other people are (and as I get to know my mother as an adult, I finally get where that comes from). My brother has all of my father’s charm, he’s effortlessly funny and charming. I am not but that does not mean that I’m without charm.
If I’d learned that earlier, I would have been much happier, much sooner. Because there have been times when I’ve been lonely and felt unloved and unwanted and it was horrible. When I look back at that time, I realise that I felt like that because I was trying to be someone I wasn’t, trying to feel something I didn’t. When about eight or so years ago, I lost a whole bunch of people I thought of as friends, as family, I was still dealing with the repercussions of Stef dying and I thought I was devastated. I should have been devastated. I was devastated about Stef but not by those other people. Now I look back and I think maybe it was self preservation. Perhaps, the grief I was dealing with was also my way of blowing it all apart. When I think of those relationships now, all I feel is a giddy joy that I never have to deal with it or them again. I hope that they’re in a good place, I never want to be there with them. I never felt more alone than when I was with those people, in that group.
I’ve learnt that it’s a good thing to be happy in my own company. I’ve learnt that I’m a solitary person. I’ve learnt that it’s good to let people in but they have to want to be there. I’ve learnt to cut my losses and leave if they don’t because I don’t have time for that nonsense.
There will be a day in Newcastle
and on the way home we’ll stop at 
By Monday night, the sick was gaining ground and I repeated lunch because it was minimal washing up and that way I could go to bed early (7:30pm!)
I didn’t manage dinner on Wednesday or Thursday. I just came home, ate a flapjack and went to bed. Which should demonstrate how not well I was feeling, eating during the day fine but by the time I was home, I was just overcooked and ready for bed.
Nic Dempsey 