​Quick facts about Roald Dahl, my favourite childrens' writer...

     - He was born in Cardiff to Norweign parents. 

     - Dahl wasn't just a story writer - he was also a fighter pilot in World War 2. 

     - He would have been 104 years old if he was alive today. 

     - And my favourite book? The BFG!

I believe in magic, but there was certainly none of the Dahl magic here on Mermaid Quay.

​The quick trip to Roald Dahl Plass may have been a let-down, but I did however enjoy a tasty cookies and cream cereal bar from Lidl that happily I found in my handbag, and I did find (an appropriate memorial of) Ivor Novello. All was not lost. And then the heavens opened and I got soaked! What a random, curious, disappointing and wet 20 mins! Back to the car I went!

Lou x

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I've sat on this drafted blog for a few years now, for reasons that will become apparent. I'm trying to blog more often again, so here's a re-write. I know some of my loyal readers love a good rant! 

This is an actual email I received from a former colleague a few years back. 

--------

Hi,

In view of the cold weather, XXXX County Council are making  one off emergency cash payments from 14 libraries to those in need of fuel on a one off emergency basis:

(Here they list the libraries allegedly taking part)

All libraries are open Saturdays and Sundays as well as during the week. (Hoorah for libraries!)

Customers will need to come with

Proof of identity
Proof of accommodation
A fuel bill or details of your energy supplier

They will receive £20 in cash. This is a one off payment.

………………This hasn’t been advertised but it is legit. There are no criteria only that people are in need of fuel (as in saying you do!). 

(I’m going to my local library for my £20!)

Your Benefit Scrounging Acquaintance 

(Ok, it wasn't signed like that, but I have to make the point - again!)

-------

We do all love libraries and the services they provide, but this is taking the biscuit!

The person who emailed me has a full-time job, lives with her family rent-free and doesn't pay bills. She doesn't even drive to count 'fuel' as petrol. She's just after a quick £20 bonus ("my" £20) at the Council tax payers expense (of which she is not one due to her living arrangements.  

My light-hearted seemingly library-loving reply to my colleague was as follows:

At least borrow a book while you're visiting the library! ;)

Note the wink I added to soften the blow - never mind it's sarcastic! 
Her reply:

Why?! 

I replied:

'Cos that that's what libraries are for and I could recommend a couple of books if you wanted...

...But it didn't go down too well! I think that was the end of our semi-friendly office relationship!

The fact that these emergency fuel payments are for those people in serious financial need, for people who cannot afford to heat their homes, completely escaped her moral compass. She was off to the library to claim the money 'just because' she could.

Obviously, I think the libraries in question needed to ensure they see something that proves the people claiming are struggling to pay their bills (e.g. a final demand). I should have gone along to see what they were asking for as proof, there must have been something. The fact that £20 won't cover half of a utility bill in this day and age is another issue - makes me wonder how legit this scheme was back in 2014... 

And certain people need to get a grip and realise the bigger picture and not take advantage of a benefit they're not entitled because they reckon they can cash-in. The welfare safety net we're lucky enough to have in this country is there to support those who cannot support themselves in their hour(s) of need, for whatever reason. 

This is part of what is wrong with today's "Benefit Britain". Anyone dare to disagree?!

Rant over.

Lou x

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Image courtesy of Women Health Info

To say ‘so shoot me’ seems a little inappropriate, but that’s how I felt this weekend when a friend of mine (let’s call her ‘L’) told me she’d been told by a ‘mate’ that her inaction on changing her Facebook profile picture to a French flag was ‘offensive’.
 
I too haven’t changed my Facebook profile picture to the watermarked French flag. 
 
The reasons I haven’t changed my picture to the red, white and blue in support of Paris and the French after the atrocities, sadness and horror over the last few days is because I refuse to be a part of a minute symbol going viral over social media. Of course I feel angry, scared, horrified, sad following the events of the Paris attack, but I refuse to jump on the band wagon here. Many won’t know Beirut (Yemen) and Baghdad (Iraq) also suffered Isis attacks in the same 24 hours. Where are those two flags on Facebook?
 
There’s been 289 terror attacks so far in 2015. Given 16th November is the 320th day in the year, that’s pretty astounding.Sure, some of them happen on the same day, but that’s still not far off one a day in the world.
 
Where are the Facebook flags for the other countries hit by similar horrors?
 
My point is, as you can hopefully gather, that similar events of terror happen around the world almost every day, yet why do we give special attention to the Paris attack? Yes, France is our next door neighbour. Yes, the attacks are creeping into western nations, not just restricted to ‘dangerous lands’, but this has been happening for decades now, I think it’s fair to say. My awareness of terrorism started on September 11th 2001, news coming in from New York city and Washington.
 
But why the media storm and public support for this one? Perhaps it’s because of the British links. We’re more than just neighbours, with 0.8% of the Parisen population being British (17,500 people). There’s been no census taken in Lebanon (capital being Beirut) since 1932, so this kind of data is just not available, but my assumption would be there’s far fewer British people living there. Same goes for Baghdad – I can only find stats for British Iraqis living here, or troops in Baghdad, but no population numbers of British people living there.
 
Maybe that’s the secret: France features strongly on our radar for jobs, second homes, holidays, politics.... From an early age we’re aware of France. History education when I was at school focused strongly on the Allies in the two world wars and the royal family tree, with French ancestry. My school also taught French to all students from the age of 11-16. And how many British people haven’t visited France? Myself, I’ve been to Nantes (French exchange at school), skirted in and around Calais and the surrounding villages (booze cruise), I’ve spent at least three family holidays in and around Frejus, I’ve driven through it on a road trip to Rome, and spent a weekend in Paris with a friend. There’s probably more occasions, but memory fails.
 
Should the fact France is our close neighbour be the reason why we bowed our heads this morning, and leave other nations, like Iraq and Yemen, ignored? The close relationship link does make sense why we may be more supportive to the French, but then why would USA-owned and Latin America dominated Facebook choose France to support so openly over all the nations under the force of terror? No one created a widget for the Yemen flag this week.
 
The two minutes silence today held across Europe was, of course, respectful and supportive. After all, why shouldn’t we show our respect for those who died and support for those who live on? We did the same for the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in Paris in January.  
 
Perhaps it’s the sheer numbers of casualties involved that we feel so connected and shocked? It’s obvious the attacks with bigger impacts will make more of a global media impact.
 
Here are the terror attacked in 2015 (so far) which, as in Paris, killed over 100 people each time:
 
137 people were killed in Yemen’s Sana’a mosque on 7th March
25th June: 148 people died in Syria in a massacre involving car bombs on the Turkish border
In July, 145 people died in a shooting in a Nigerian market place
It’s estimated that 100-180 people were killed in July’s car bombs in Iraq
In Turkey itself, 102 people were killed in Ankara in October, 508 injured, when suicide bombers decided to destroy a peace rally.
 
There’s similar numbers of dead involved in all cases, and it makes it no less horrifying when the attacks happen somewhere most Europeans probably won’t ever set foot in (with the exception of Egypt), and most know nothing about the atrocities.
 
Perhaps terror is accepted as inevitable in these countries? How awful. Just because France is deemed safer than many parts of Asia or Africa or compared to the Arab nations… but those innocents affected by the violence won’t care about that. That’s their town, their country, their family. The one glimmer of hope is that the Egyptian plane bombed last month, killing 224 people, was in the news for weeks, and there were no British people on board for national morbid interest. However, although Egypt is not seen as a particularly ‘safe, western area’, we as a nation have been happy to holiday there. The incident being a bombed flight was also bound to produce more media attention than a terrestrial attack. So that’s why. Horrendous. Still no Egyptian flags on Facebook.
 
I wonder if Syrian, Yemen, Turkish, Nigerian, Iraqi nationals posted their flag on Facebook in solidarity? I don’t have any Facebook friends from these countries, but it sure didn’t make the viral waves the French flag did. (PS. Wonder what Syrians are posting and searching for on Facebook?)
 
It’s all politics. That’s what sucks. Often devoid of human traits, politics is a powerful thing. Egalite, fraternite et liberte, indeed. However, I am no politician. I am a member of no political organisation, but I try to keep up with world events. I don’t watch the news, preferring to get snippets when I choose instead of being bombarded constantly with negative stories.

So, what was ‘L’s’ response to her offended friend on Facebook? “If you’re offended, that’s your problem”, she argued, and pointed out that L’s profile picture is too small to host all the flags of terrorist tormented nations and peoples. Well said. I, like ‘L’, would rather reflect in private, and pray on a wider scale. Pray for the world. 

​I’m a caring, thoughtful, sympathetic person and I don’t need to colour my photo to prove it. I choose to pray for the world and I don't believe it's all French. No offense.

Lou x

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P.S. What's worse that posting the flag as a watermark on your face - and I won't go on about this for long, I promise - is when people have posted pictures of them on holiday in Paris, perhaps under the Eiffel Tower. So what, you've been? Show off. 

Love this. Everyone knows it's better going downhill, wind in your hair.

However, I would argue Tuesdays are tougher to feel motivated about than Mondays. Monday has an element of novelty to it, and sometimes it's good to get away from domestic life and into a familiar routine. Tuesday, on the other hand, is Monday without the novelty. It sucks!

And also, Wednesday, as anyone knows, is Hump Day. Not pre-Hump Day as this cartoon from WIRED (I think) suggests.

Really, I just wanted to share this cool cartoon.

How about this for a redraft?

I'm sure you can fill in the day name blanks!

For more life inspiring blogs, tune in again soon!

And no, I didn't take art at GCSE.

Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist