Import complete

Import Complete.

The deed is done, every thing that is going to import from Multiply HAS imported. The text of every post and note copied perfectly, unfortunately the pictures didn’t. Some of the pictures are missing in the edited version, but present in the viewed version. Some pictures are just missing from every thing. All of the pictures that are here link back to Multiply so I guess when they turn out the lights for the very last time over there, all the pictures will disappear. All of the very old posts that were imported to Multiply from 360 refused to import here. I’ve had to do that by hand, hence the oldest posts, the 360 posts, are first in line not last as they should be.

I’m now resigned, it’s not perfect, but I guess what I have here is all I’m getting. I’ve just plain run out of energy……………this is it.

360 no 40

Entry for December 20, 2007, 360 import, Christmas letter to santa
Dec 20, '07 9:30 AM
for loretta's contacts
 
DEAR SANTA
You probably don't get many letters from grown-ups but there are some things I really do need. You must be awful busy with all those kids but I would be so grateful if you could let me have some stuff too.
Just like all those kids, I spend the whole year trying to be good and ...... well to be honest I'm not that successful. But I do try, so I just hope you can overlook the times when I haven't been that good. It's usually stuff like getting mad and yelling at people, I never mean too but I just find people so difficult at times, I'm a grown up so I know there is no real excuse for getting mad and yelling at people, but I do find it all so difficult. And that brings me to the stuff I really do need for Christmas;
Santa I need to find a way of living my life without leaving this enormous Eco-footprint that seems to follow me around.
I need to find a way of surviving and working that does not contribute to the inequalities and injustices of the world.
I need to find a place to live where there are like minded people who understand why constantly buying new things is not good, who can relate buying fashion clothes at rock bottom prices to sweat shops and child labour, who are thoughtful and considerate toward their environment and who instinctively understand the principles of 'reduce, reuse and recycle.
I need to live some place where there are no racists, homophobics xenophobes, misogynists or bigots of any kind (these are the people I yell at most)
I need to be free of people who deliberately gossip, bitch about and deride others at the slightest opportunity (I think I maybe yell at them more).
I need to find a way of contributing that is valued in ways other than monetary.
I am a grown up and I live on my own. I have no one who depends on me so I really could go anywhere you find these things for me.
This is my Christmas list Santa.
PS............ OK....... sometimes I yell just because I'm bad tempered, sorry for that. Can I have my wish list anyway please. If you manage to stop by my hoose on your way around the world I will have hot mince pies and wee dram waiting for you and carrots n' neeps for Rudolph.
Thank you Santa
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
Tags: 360 import, christmas
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360 no 39

Entry for December 19, 2007, 360 import, Friends at christmas,

Dec 19, '07 5:54 PM for loretta's contacts

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hello everyone it’s so nice to be back even if it is for such a short while, and at this point there really is no guarantee this will even make it to my 360 page but I will do my best. I haven’t managed to replace or properly repair my decrepit old computer but, on a whim, I just decided to switch on and see what happens…… so far so good, the response remains sluggish to say the least but for the time being it appears to be humouring me. So……. Strike whilst the iron is hot as they say.
I just can’t believe its only 5 days to Christmas. My house is festooned in red and gold, the tree is small but brightly lit and my red Christmas candles emit this beautiful scent of oranges, cloves and cinnamon. I have presents all wrapped and ready to go, pink and sparkly for the granddaughters, Bob the Builder for the youngest grandson and a collection of transformers for the older grandson. There are the customary ‘smellies’ for the daughters and their partners and something a little special for my two best friends. Both of my friends are an inspiration to me.



They are both registered disabled. One, a lady just two
years older than me has so many health problems I have absolutely no idea how she finds the strength
to get out of bed in the morning never mind any thing else. She has not had a happy life; she had a miserable childhood followed by an abusive marriage followed by chronic ill health. She lives alone with scant support from her grown up family and I live in the next town so I just don’t get to see her as often as I would like. This year she has become increasingly frail, she has no hope of any improvement in her condition, just a steady decline into the inevitable. Yet this lady never fails to ask how I am, to take an interest in my general well being and to offer support and sympathy when I’ve had a bad day. Compared to her, I never have anything that remotely resembles a bad day but that doesn’t stop her being supportive and saying just the right thing. Many, many thanks and a multitude of Christmas wishes to you Agnes for being my very dear friend. My other friend is a chap who is 4 years older than me. He survives with about ½ of a working lung. He has suffered more bereavements in his life than most of us could imagine and now has virtually no relatives left. He cared for terminally ill relatives, he fought in the army, he saw his comrades blown up in front of him, he brought up his child on his own and now, when he should be free to enjoy what is left of his own life, he is incapacitated and severely limited in what he can do. Does he ever complain?? NO! Does he ever let things get him down? NO! He is funny and makes me laugh when I feel down (which is very often). He spends his life joking and laughing, I must admit his jokes are NOT very PC and if anyone else said the things he says I would be greatly offended. But in his case I make an exception, mostly because I know he doesn't really meant it and partly because he has a heart of gold. If ever there is anything he is able to do to help, he is there. What a great guy, and how lucky am I to have two such wonderful friends? So thank you and Merry Christmas to you too.

Now compare these two wonderful people with my not so wonderful work colleagues. My work colleagues bring whole new meanings to superficial, they plummet depths of superficial I could not, in my wildest dreams have imagined. If asked what constitutes an international disaster I’m pretty sure at least a couple of them would say a bad hair day. They see no irony or sadness in their utter devastation caused by red wine stains on a brand new cream carpet when millions will spend this Christmas without a roof over their heads never mind carpets under their feet! They covert designer labels without a thought to the sweat shop where they are made or the children who live in poverty making the damm stuff. They are not only ignorant of what goes on in the world they are adamantly determined to remain ignorant just in case a little knowledge upsets and intrudes into the orgy of consumerism that constitutes their Christmas. These women are shallow, ignorant, racist, homophobic, xenophobic and mean spirited. I walked in on a conversation that went along the lines of its ‘ok’ to call ‘them’ Pakies because they all come from Pakistan and its just an abbreviation so that’s not racist!! If I hadn’t actually heard this conversation I would not have believed people I work with could say such things. They text each other vile, offensive racist jokes on their mobiles and see nothing inappropriate or offensive in this. They seem to believe people are not really ‘British’ unless they and their parents are white and have lived here for generations. The concept of black British or Asian British or Muslim British just seems to remain outside the realms of their understanding. It seems dear old Enoch’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech may be 40 (ish) years old but its essence is alive and well and living on the east coast of Scotland. And what these women think of any gay couple who have the audacity to be seen together in public is not printable!! Oh shame on us!!! I suppose I should be grateful that, of all the men I work with only one springs to mind as an out right misogynist. That I believe, is called being grateful for small mercies!
I have amused and distracted myself from the horrors of my colleagues by getting involved in something called Eco-Schools. In brief; the aim of Eco-Schools is to bring the ideals of sustainability, environmentally sound actions, recycling, energy efficiency etc into schools, to involve pupils and staff alike in making the school more ‘eco-friendly’. Well our efforts seem to have paid off because the School now proudly displays the Eco-Schools Bronze award which will soon be joined by the Silver. The ultimate award, the much sought after Green Flag, may just take me a wee bit longer, but not that long!! I calculate about this time next year we should be flying the Green Flag which is something worth working toward despite what those miserable women think. They relate to Eco-Schools as something that may be useful to them in some way.

Oh how I have missed these pages as a much needed outlet for the frustrations of every day life. Not that I intended this to be some sort of tirade against the wicked, It was meant to be a ‘hello and happy Christmas’. And on that more cheerful note I think I should call it a night. My computer has been kind to me but now I am beginning to feel I shouldn’t push my luck. Time for me to quietly, leave and quit while I’m ahead.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Tags: 360 import, friends, health, mental health, christmas

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360 no 38

    Entry for October 08, 2007, 360 import, Goodbye for a while.
Oct 8, '07 5:24 AM
for loretta's contacts
 Hi everyone, well this is absolutely going to be my last blog entry for a while. Woke up today to a totally non-functioning computer. Nope, not a thing, won't turn on!! And yes ....... it does have power, and yes the battery is fully functional. Maybe this is just mechanical, maybe the on/of button just doesn't work, just do not know. So, guess this is some sort of omen that I should spend more time with my books and less time in front of a monitor. Am using a friends computer right now, just didn't want to go with out saying why. Hope to get the dam machine repaired or replaced asap..................until then, good bye my friends, I have enjoyed this 'blogging' thingy very much and fully intend to resume in the near future. I will be back. And thanks to every one for every thing.
Tags: 360 import, friends, computer, internet
Prev: Entry for October 03, 2007, 360 import, Re-reading Hesse
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360 no 37

Entry for October 03, 2007, 360 import, Re-reading Hesse
Oct 3, '07 3:57 PM
for loretta's contacts
 
A very strange thing happened to me today. I decided to sort out my books and pack some up for the charity shop. I always find sorting through books difficult because no matter how resolute my intention it inevitably ends with me sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by open books, deeply engrossed in at least one of them. This time was slightly different. I was sat, as predicted, in the midst of half open books when one book, with no provocation or encouragement what so ever, quite literally threw itself from the top shelf of the bookcase and landed, face up and open in my lap.
This book was a very old paperback. This book was just about the first 'serious' book I ever read. And there, in my lap, sat the original copy of the book I had bought in the early 70's. I was still young and impressionable with a mind ripe for education. This book changed the way I think, it introduced me to my long term all time favorite author. I have not read his work for so long. But, as I sat reading this, every thing I felt then just came flooding back. And the strange thing is, this particular passage is just so apt.............this is how I feel when I try to write
''However, the more pages I read of my handwriting, the less did I like the manuscript. Even in my former most despondent hours it had never seemed so futile and absurd to me as now. Everything seemed so confused and stupid; the clearest relationships were distorted, the most obvious forgotten, the trivial and the unimportant pushed into the foreground. It must be written again, right from the beginning. As I continued reading the manuscript, I had to cross out sentence after sentence, and as I crossed them out, they crumbled on the paper, and the clear, sloping letters separated into assorted fragments, into strokes and points, into circles, small flowers and stars, and the pages were covered like carpets with graceful, meaningless, ornamental designs. Soon there was nothing more left of my text; on the other hand there was much unused paper left for my work. I pulled myself together. I tried to see things clearly.''
Just a small excerpt from
'The Journey to the East', Herman Hesse, pub Panther Books 1972. (this particular version has an introduction by Timothy Leary which is worth reading too)
I had forgotten the pleasure of reading Hesse. I don't think so many people read his books now. So.... now rather than packing books up for the charity shop I have sorted out all my old Hesse books with the intention of re-reading ASAP.
Tags: 360 import, hesse, literature
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360 no 36

Entry for September 28, 2007, 360 import, 360 FRIENDS
Sep 28, '07 5:48 PM
for loretta's contacts
 
Oh I am such a bad, bad 360 friend, people have contacted me, asked where I am, been worried about me and still I havn't answered. I am soooooo sorry if I didn't get back to you. I have just been kinda busy with work 'n stuff and have found it really diffucult to find the time to get back here long enough to do any writing or catching up. As I've already said to a couple of my friends, I have been feeling rather down lately which doesn't help, it doesn't make for good writing and communication when you just feel down all the time, well, not writing that I want to put here anyway.
Now tonight I had it all planned, I knew exactly what I was going to do. The plan was to do a very brief update on the budgie thingy and then make my excuses and close the page down for a while. I just didn't have the energy or the inclination to carry on while feeling so low in myself. I just didn't feel up to keeping this blog going right now. Mmmmmmmmmm, well plans are wondeful things but they don't always work do they?? The budgie thingy went ok, thats the first thing I have written in a couple of weeks and once that was done it just occured to me that maybe I should update this page on the recent development re the 'needle injury'. So I did that too. Well by this time I had quite gotten back into the swing of things so to speak, then I remembered this letter from my great aunt.
She is a fabulous old lady, can still walk most people off their feet and she is one of the most cheerful and happy people I have ever met. She always has a smile and never has a bad word to say about anyone. Oh if only I could be such a nice person..........yeah I wish!! So then I thought I just had to put in a bit about her request for help with her friends sponsored walk. And there you have it, my conversion in one evening from 'determined to close the page', to 'I'm really getting back into this again'. Now at some point this evening I remembered I still have a half finished entry on Glamis Castle laying around somewhere in one of my compute folders. So, providing I don't get sidetracked for another couple of weeks with work, chores and depression, I hope to actually finish it and post it soon.
Untill then my friends, so sorry to those of you I have ignored, I really really will make the effort to get back to you.
Tags: 360 import, friends
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360 35

ntry for September 28, 2007, 360 import, WALKGB4CLIMB
Sep 28, '07 5:10 PM
for loretta's contacts
 
I have a lovely elderly aunt called Barbara who has to be about 78 by now. She has always enjoyed walking and has recently written to me about a charity she has become involved with. It seems, the leader of the walking group she belongs to is planning on walking around the coast of the UK. His walk will begin from Bognor Pier on New years Day 2008 and is expected to take about 10 months. He is walking to raise money for a charity called 'CLIMB' which stands for 'Children living with Inherited Metabolic Diseases'. Her reason for writing was to ask if I know anyone who could offer overnight accommodation to him and/or offer sponsorship. Obviously he can stay with me for a night, I live on the North/East coast of Scotland, but if anyone else lives by the coast and would like to offer a free nights accommodation to a very worth while cause , please do .
The e-mail address is
info.svcs@climb.org.uk
and the website is
http://www.climb.org.uk
THANKS FOLKS.
 Colin Snook 
Colin has always had the ambition to walk around Great Britain and has plotted a route which will cover in excess of four thousand miles over three hundred days in 2008. All in support of Climb
For those of us untouched by a metabolic disease it is difficult to imagine the impact that the birth of an affected child has on the family and the subsequent lengthy medical and ethical uphill battles that have to be fought on that child’s behalf. However, I did have a brief insight into this dilemma when I visited a teenager in her teens at a respite centre who was in the latter stages of a Metabolic Disease. It turned out to be an traumatic experience, the memory of which I have been unable to shrug off.
My chance meeting has given me even greater purpose to achieve this ambition so with the backing and support of Climb I aim to raise £50,000 for Climb.
Climb Needs Your Help to Help Colin!
Colin aims to use a combination of B & B, backpacking, rough camping, campsites and the YHA hostels for accommodation over a period of ten months, and averaging 15 miles walking per day. For most of his journey Colin will be hugging the coast but on reaching Scotland he will head inland to take on the West Highland Way and then through the central highlands to Cape Wrath. From here he will return to the many coastal paths for the long journey south back to his starting point in West Sussex.
We thought Climb could assist in supplementing these choices and that those of you in our Family Network, living near to the intended route, might like to be involved and 'host' Colin a night’s accommodation (and a shower!) as he passes through to help him reach his £50,000 target at minimum expenditure. Also we are investigating police, fire and coast guard stations that may have a spare bed, together with campsites and holiday camps. For occasional pampering, we would like contacts with hotels along the way at reduced or no cost, so if you have the name of someone we can approach for any of these types of accommodation please do let us know. We can then pass on all our offers to Colin to help him plan his route.
Climb wishes to give Colin the publicity and support he deserves so we look to you to provide us with local media contacts as he travels round and gather friends and relatives to cheer him on his way. Starting date is New Year’s Day 2008 in Bognor Regis, first milestone - Lands End in mid-February!
This venture promises to be an exciting fund raiser for Climb and we hope you would like to be part of it to help Colin reach his target and achieve his ambition to Walk-GB-4-Climb!
For further information contact Climb on 0845 241 2173
Or e-mail frg.svcs@climb.org.uk
Tags: 360 import, environment, walkgb4climb, walking
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