Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
First let me apologise for the absence of any recent blogs, which was entirely due to a longish stay, over 6 weeks, in hospital. However, I'm back and hopelessly out of date on the majority of things happening around the world; not that I've missed all the despondency, gloom and dreary news during that time.
It goes without saying that I was well cared for by the doctors and nursing staff at the hospital, to which I offer my thanks for all their support and help over a difficult period. I'd also like to thank my friends for their visits, support, help and for being there. they've been instrumental in helping me to get back on my feet and home. Thanks to one and all!
All in all I have to make changes in most areas of my life, which will be interesting for me, although I'll accept it might be very tedious to you. Be that as it may, the one area I've managed to ignore for most of my adult life has been exercise, this now needs to change. Having to exercise, if I'm brutally honest, is a royal pain in the butt. When I was in my teens to early twenties I used to pump iron, or weight training as it's more correctly termed. My insane desire to be the terminator ended in tears, yes grown men do cry, when I slipped a disc in my back.
Anyway, the plan is to become involved in Nordic walking, which ties in with my love of walking. Nope I'm not going to get all competitive, but I will be using a stopwatch to time myself; it'll indicate how fit I'm becoming. Wish me luck!
Of this past few weeks news stories, the one about the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, had me in fits of giggles due to his reliance on a discredited 'happiness' barometer. It seems that he's determined to measure how happy the Brits are. This would normally happen at Christmas time, when the British love of the pantomime season kicks off in all its awful glory. Attending a British pantomime is one of 'those' quintessential British events, whereby eccentricity is governed by the amount of god awful bad jokes that make you laugh, or stare at the ceiling in complete disbelief. Much of this has to do with men dressing as women, and women dressing as men and women. I can't say that I'm any fan of pantomime but it does have its moments.
Now, the American, who came up with this ridiculous idea of a 'happiness barometer', has disowned it. I would suspect due to the impossibility of how you define and measure such a subjective emotion. 'But 'Dave' thinks you can and I've no doubt that will start with the royal wedding between Wills and Kate. O my word, I can see it now, millions of Brits glued to their TVs watching a very public spectacle, enthralled by the 'glamour' of it all. Happily I will miss the event as I much better things to do with my time than watch a load of good for nothings, subserviently bowing to a national institution that has long past its sell by date. Yes the event will bring a smile to millions of Brits; after all they'll have another long weekend off, coming immediately after the four day break for Easter. Polls taken after the wedding will no doubt show that the Brits are a very happy and contented lot!
Of this past few weeks news stories, the one about the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, had me in fits of giggles due to his reliance on a discredited 'happiness' barometer. It seems that he's determined to measure how happy the Brits are. This would normally happen at Christmas time, when the British love of the pantomime season kicks off in all its awful glory. Attending a British pantomime is one of 'those' quintessential British events, whereby eccentricity is governed by the amount of god awful bad jokes that make you laugh, or stare at the ceiling in complete disbelief. Much of this has to do with men dressing as women, and women dressing as men and women. I can't say that I'm any fan of pantomime but it does have its moments.
Now, the American, who came up with this ridiculous idea of a 'happiness barometer', has disowned it. I would suspect due to the impossibility of how you define and measure such a subjective emotion. 'But 'Dave' thinks you can and I've no doubt that will start with the royal wedding between Wills and Kate. O my word, I can see it now, millions of Brits glued to their TVs watching a very public spectacle, enthralled by the 'glamour' of it all. Happily I will miss the event as I much better things to do with my time than watch a load of good for nothings, subserviently bowing to a national institution that has long past its sell by date. Yes the event will bring a smile to millions of Brits; after all they'll have another long weekend off, coming immediately after the four day break for Easter. Polls taken after the wedding will no doubt show that the Brits are a very happy and contented lot!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Monday, December 6, 2010
Now available to watch on YouTube my latest film and the kids will love it! http://ping.fm/QtjbG http://bit.ly/ebVSas
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Toni's non-festive Christmas
I'll be completely upfront from the start and say that I've grown to dislike Christmas immensely, and for good reason. I find it hard to justify a short period of time, that completely ignores what it's there for, the celebration of a child borne into a world full of oppression, poverty and human degradation.
I'm no Christian, and like most of the stories in the Bible fantasy and fiction has come to the fore. Even if you possess a little bit of imagination, it's somewhat hard to swallow three extremely wealthy Kings going on a very long journey in complete harmony to deliver riches beyond the wildest dreams of a poor carpenter and his wife. I've no desire to belittle, or mock, a story that many believe in, but in this day and age the message originally intended has been lost in the ancient mists of time. It's now been replaced by something that's considerably worse, hypocrisy.
Don't misunderstand me, as a child I had some wonderful Christmas times. Through the eyes of a child Christmas is full of magic and unexplained events, fuelled by the preposterous nature of a gaudy celebration that has long promoted equal amounts of joy and disappointment in the mind of a child. And whilst I may have experienced the material wealth of Christmas, I have equally felt the bitterness of a poverty driven Christmas.
Nor have I ever forgotten the guilt laden trips surrounding that traditional absurdity of sending out cards to people we've conveniently forgotten for the entire year, but feel compelled to remember them at Christmas. I've never particular understood for the life of me why we should remember someone once a year, if we can't be bothered to remember them the other 364 days of the year. I've personally asked that no-one sends me a card, simply to ease their conscience. I find it somewhat insulting that I'm so unmemorable for 99.9% of the time. And yes, my particular stand on this has upset many people, but the hypocrisy annoys me far more.
Of course, one of the great joys of a non-Christmas is that it's brutally honest and I don't have to fulfil any unwarranted expectations, that are never fulfilled, or impossible to fulfil on the day. Nor do I feel lonely or in need of company over the Christmas period, I'm far more content with my own space at this time of year, wandering around the house in a pair of old shorts, t-shirt and barefeet; lunch is a perfectly happy sandwich and a cup of coffee. Even though I've happily partaken in, endured for family unity and duped my own children over the marvels of flashing lights, baubles, presents, mountains of food and excess, I've never missed the ridiculous frivolity and absurdity of it all.
But many do, most I suspect due to the mythology that exists around 'Chrimbo'. We have always been led to believe that by celebrating Xmas, we are celebrating the birth of a new beginning, that coupled with New Years Eve the year ahead will bring us both hope and the start of something new. But will it? The answer to that is, extremely sadly, no. The reason that nothing is likely to change is because we are humans, and as humans we are as capable of the great acts of humanity as we are of continuing and appalling behaviour. Yet we persist in celebrating this ridiculous absurdity, largely because we can look each other in the eye and for a very brief moment be 'nice' to each other. In that I find the worst aspects of hypocrisy.
I feel no sadness for having letting another Xmas happily pass me by. I have chosen to ignore it because it is the right and honourable decision to take. And although one should 'never say no' to taking part in such a tradition, I can't find any real justification for doing so in the future ahead of me. If people cannot see beyond the shininess of tinsel, the glittering baubles, the bloated stomach and the lightheaded brain, all sucked in by the miraculous nature of materialism and unremitting vengeful nature of capitalism, that is for them and their conscience. For me, providing the weather is in my favour, a stroll along the empty river bank and complete solitude amongst Mother Nature's more preferable specimens will do quite nicely. At least it's closer to the original story.
I'm no Christian, and like most of the stories in the Bible fantasy and fiction has come to the fore. Even if you possess a little bit of imagination, it's somewhat hard to swallow three extremely wealthy Kings going on a very long journey in complete harmony to deliver riches beyond the wildest dreams of a poor carpenter and his wife. I've no desire to belittle, or mock, a story that many believe in, but in this day and age the message originally intended has been lost in the ancient mists of time. It's now been replaced by something that's considerably worse, hypocrisy.
Don't misunderstand me, as a child I had some wonderful Christmas times. Through the eyes of a child Christmas is full of magic and unexplained events, fuelled by the preposterous nature of a gaudy celebration that has long promoted equal amounts of joy and disappointment in the mind of a child. And whilst I may have experienced the material wealth of Christmas, I have equally felt the bitterness of a poverty driven Christmas.
Nor have I ever forgotten the guilt laden trips surrounding that traditional absurdity of sending out cards to people we've conveniently forgotten for the entire year, but feel compelled to remember them at Christmas. I've never particular understood for the life of me why we should remember someone once a year, if we can't be bothered to remember them the other 364 days of the year. I've personally asked that no-one sends me a card, simply to ease their conscience. I find it somewhat insulting that I'm so unmemorable for 99.9% of the time. And yes, my particular stand on this has upset many people, but the hypocrisy annoys me far more.
Of course, one of the great joys of a non-Christmas is that it's brutally honest and I don't have to fulfil any unwarranted expectations, that are never fulfilled, or impossible to fulfil on the day. Nor do I feel lonely or in need of company over the Christmas period, I'm far more content with my own space at this time of year, wandering around the house in a pair of old shorts, t-shirt and barefeet; lunch is a perfectly happy sandwich and a cup of coffee. Even though I've happily partaken in, endured for family unity and duped my own children over the marvels of flashing lights, baubles, presents, mountains of food and excess, I've never missed the ridiculous frivolity and absurdity of it all.
But many do, most I suspect due to the mythology that exists around 'Chrimbo'. We have always been led to believe that by celebrating Xmas, we are celebrating the birth of a new beginning, that coupled with New Years Eve the year ahead will bring us both hope and the start of something new. But will it? The answer to that is, extremely sadly, no. The reason that nothing is likely to change is because we are humans, and as humans we are as capable of the great acts of humanity as we are of continuing and appalling behaviour. Yet we persist in celebrating this ridiculous absurdity, largely because we can look each other in the eye and for a very brief moment be 'nice' to each other. In that I find the worst aspects of hypocrisy.
I feel no sadness for having letting another Xmas happily pass me by. I have chosen to ignore it because it is the right and honourable decision to take. And although one should 'never say no' to taking part in such a tradition, I can't find any real justification for doing so in the future ahead of me. If people cannot see beyond the shininess of tinsel, the glittering baubles, the bloated stomach and the lightheaded brain, all sucked in by the miraculous nature of materialism and unremitting vengeful nature of capitalism, that is for them and their conscience. For me, providing the weather is in my favour, a stroll along the empty river bank and complete solitude amongst Mother Nature's more preferable specimens will do quite nicely. At least it's closer to the original story.
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