Travels of a Fish Nut

Over the last few years I have become increasingly interested in feminism. I have always been a feminist, even if I may not have called myself as such. I finished school in the late 1990s (class of 2000, to be precise) and I believed I could have it all - career and family (not that I ever wanted kids but that's not relevant to this discussion). What is, is that when I left school I slowly began to realise that the story I'd been sold was a pack of lies. Having it all is hard, some might say impossible. There's always compromise and it soon became apparent to me that the bulk of the compromise seemed to fall on women. That's not true, of course, but the compromise falls differently for men and women. Men are supposed to compromise by putting their work first - but working late at the office and being always on call so that their family takes second place. Women, on the other hand are supposed to always put their family first, above and beyond their job or even their ow...

Summary of the Bristol Festival of Ideas/MRC ICU talk by Carol Brayne , Director of the Cambridge Institute for Public Health titled “ Challenging the ‘Dementia Tsunami’ “.  It’s pretty much common knowledge that life expectancy is increasing. This is in large part due to improvements in child health which means that more and more children survive into adulthood. But even for those who reached adulthood, living into dotage was an uncommon occurrence until relatively recently. Unfortunately, by fixing the health problems of the young we are finding that there are a myriad of health problems in the old - you win some, you lose some.

So it's all over. I've delivered over 3,000 leaflets and my feet are still recovering, I've spoken to a lot of people and I've even had people say they'll vote for me! How many, I'll find out tomorrow (well, later today by the time this gets posted). It's been interesting and I've learned a lot. There's a great deal I'd do differently if/when I run again but I'm just really pleased that I've actually done it. I've stood as a candidate for the county council! My name's been on an official ballot paper!!

I restarted this blog just over a year ago with a rant about how the government was failing the country. I can’t remember what was the straw that broke the camel’s back and forced me to putting technological pen to paper. I think it was reading about the phenomenal amount of money wasted on a badger cull that seemed doomed to failure whilst the government was cutting funding to much more needed services. I’ve done quite a bit of complaining since then – about the cuts to the Disabled Students Allowance that was ‘backed up’ by an appalling misuse of irrelevant statistics; about the  demonisation of immigrants ; and about cuts to benefits and the excessive demands made of those on unemployment benefit .

I’m sat in a oak-panelled room. The floor is wooden, the ceiling is decorated with plaster mouldings – ceiling roses, cornices and covings – that show that this is a room where the decoration is restrained not because of matters of cost but because of matters of taste. On the walls paintings of be-robed academics gaze down on the crowd as it filters in and slowly raises the volume from a quiet hush to a vibrant chatter.

It’s often said that the way to really know if you understand something is to try and explain it to someone else. You’ll soon realise the gaps in your knowledge and the areas you thought you understood but really don’t. 

Last Wednesday Nailsea Town Council sat to discus Lidl’s application and vote to recommend either approval or rejection of the application to North Somerset Council. After a summary of the public meeting the previous Friday, comments from the public in attendance and comments from the councillors themselves, a vote was taken on the proposal that, to paraphrase, while the council is not opposed to Lidl coming to Nailsea they are recommending that the application be refused. The proposal was unanimously approved.

It started with The Eichmann Show . It seemed a great opportunity to learn about a period of history I know shamefully little about. Yet as I watched I found myself feeling strangely distant, unengaged. Even with the horrifying footage shot in the concentration camps and the testimony of the survivors inter-spliced with the drama, I found it too easy to withdraw and pretend it was all a fiction. After all, here was Bilbo, and there was Anthony La Paglia, my goodness doesn’t he look old now, and there’s Rebecca Front – her accent seems pretty good to me but I wonder, how does it sound to Israelis? It was all to easy to think that the whole thing was a fiction. After all, it was so horrifying, so beyond belief, could people really exterminate their friends and neighbours just because of a difference in belief? Is seems unreal.

“Welcome to Nailsea, Free Parking” That’s what the signs into town used to read. It always seemed to me to be an odd sort of thing to advertise, as if Nailsea didn’t have anything else going for it. Given that the newer signs proudly announce that a decade ago we were placed in Britain in Bloom, that may well be the case. But free parking was a draw and it still is. Given that Nailsea has almost 1,000 free spaces available maybe that’s no surprise. It’s arguably one reason the town centre is still relatively vibrant, at least in comparison to many in the area.

Since I've moved home my brain has gone to sleep and my practical side has awakened. I've tidied gardens, decorated rooms and done DIY inside and out. I've done most of the stuff on my 'to do' list and my creative side has been looking for other outlets until the spring arrives and I can get out into the garden.  I've had a passing fascination with calligraphy for, well, forever. We've had a book on calligraphy in the family for years and I've often thought of learning but never got round to it. Well, I've run out of excuses and so I've decided that this is the year when I'm going to try my hand at this ancient art-form.