Retro or Modern?
Now as many of you know I am a devotee of the 1950's, cars, music, fashion and styling were all just so much better back then. I have spent the weekend submerged in beautiful machinery and glamourous women. I think we can learn much from the 1950's. For example my car built in 1958 is still as beautiful as when it was made, drives better than my modern car and is a mechanics dream as it uses v8 engines and simple principles, no on board computers and most definitely no plastic. My clothes are all lined and have support built in which help me stand up straight and proud, they also make me look and feel like a women, curvy and celebrating the glmaour and sassy nature of women. Compare this to today's plastic car which need scrapping by the time the car has passed 100,000 and to fix then you have no choice but to go to a dealership due to the electronics. Women are wearing shapeless jumpers and Lycra leggings which make us look like rippling tar and show our horrible knickers which don't match our bras. Everyone is encouraged to be the same shade of fake tan which lips smothered in lip gloss so we look like we are dribbling. Women drink till their sick in doorways instead of getting a bit sozzeld on gin and tonics or cocktails. So let's try and bring back some of the fifties we can skip the bad bits like anti communist, xenophobia and racisim, and still make sure women can have great careers. But do I really want that?
Probably not, I relish the fact I am different to most, that people turn and stare when I walk or drive by. I like going to a party and knowing no one will have the same dress as me and the thrill I get knowing men are glancing at my seamed stockings and imagining the corsetry and garters holding it up and wishing their wife would ditch their leggings and fake tan! Being individual and having your own sense of who you are is something I have become more comfortable with as I have grown older and wiser but it is the one gift I would love to give to my girls as they grow up. So just be yourself, wear what you like not what some magazine tells you. When your true to you, you can be true to others......

What words are there?
This is a short one tonight really to reflect on a friends status. A truly lovely lady I know has had to bear the worst news recently as her husband died suddenly after being diagnosed with cancer. To me what make it even more sad was the fact they had only just got married and were looking forward to having a married life in a new place in turkey. Why does this type of pain happen to good people who have worked so hard all their lives. What words can you possibly say to someone in this situation to offer them comfort and support? Sometimes in our lives things happen which make us challenge our faith, beliefs and ideas. For me personally when my son died I experienced these emotions of the unfairness of life and the cruel twists it takes. With time I came to an understanding for myself that for every pain there is joy, for me losing a child made me realise the thing that would help me through the pain was the love my husband and I have for each other, and from such pain came a relationship so strong it can cope with anything life throws at us. For my friend who has lost her soulmate how can anything come from this pain? What I do know is she does have a family who love her and each other so much that they will stand shoulder to shoulder, and one of her daughters I understand is expecting so this baby will provide welcome happiness after the sadness and give everyone a chance to smile again. So when in life you feel your faith has abandoned you remember the people we love may not be with us as long as we want but the joy is we had them, got to love them and have beautiful memories which live forever in our stories, laughter and history.
If my friend or her family read this remember you have been such good friends and supports to so many people in your lives let everyone shower you with their love and kindness, it won't take the pain away but it will help you see how important you are. God bless xxx

Sorry to keep you waiting.....
I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks and there are a few reasons for this. Firstly work has been really busy, getting lots of things ready for key events whilst also trying to produce high volumes of task specific work on top of beavering away on public mutual things is very hectic!
I have also been working flat out on a personal project with my man in renovating my lovely 1964 vintage caravan. It turned out to be quite major work, but we have broken the back of this now so I hope to stick some makeover pics up soon.
Finally my joints have had the flare up from hell, my fingers are like giant hot sore sausages which makes typing very painful.

So there's three excuses I have given you for my shortcomings, which leads me nicely into the subject of my blog, taking responsibility for your actions and not making excuses. You didn't thing I was ot going to jump on the hot topic of the riots did you? It's been a shocking week of news with many iconic images including the store burning, the poor guy getting mugged after being helped and the mindless looting. It's always easy for us oldies to go down the it wouldn't have happened in our day, and bring back the birch type arguments but what I saw was angry teenagers. This is nothing new teenagers are designed to be angry and push against boundaries, that's what helps them become adults. What was different here was the fact mostly they didn't know what they were angry about, Tories, jobs, youth clubs, the rich or just the fact they wanted some new trainers. When we had the G8 riots and the student riots these appeared to be more targeted at certain things such as government building, banks or the police. The riots we saw were targeting local shop owners who were not ultra rich, just scratching out a living like everyone else. I think realistically the kids involved started out with genuine anger towards the justice system and it quickly degenerated as young people who believe they have a right to something got involved. Being off sick for a couple of days I watched jezza Kyle and I saw many such young people, kids who felt they had a right to have a kid, but no job, but benefits were their right. We need to get to the kids much younger than fifteen, from five we need to make sure they have a bright future to aim for. Many of these kids are third generation benefit claimers, so they have never known in their family units what work is. This is such a huge issue to tackle, and cannot be managed with a snappy soundbite and a huge cull in claimants. Perhaps however we saw the solution to some of these problems in the aftermath, communities forming together again and cleaning the streets, supporting each other. This was big society in action, but the trick will be to keep these communities together to help manage the issues young people are facing and to include them and give them reasons not to be angry and to seek education. My final comment is to the parents, kids crave for rules, goals and interactions. Speak to them, ask them how they are. Negotiate where they are going and when they will be back with consequences if they don't and rewards when they do. This will help them become adults who understand society better and help them be better parents themselves, we have got to start somewhere and home is where is all happens.
Phew, after not blogging for two weeks this is a bit of a behemoth, never mind speak soon.