A Storm in a Teacup ... or a Slippery Slope?

 

Why are so many people on social media in such a bad mood!!

Why are so many people posting negative and just downright rude messages to people who post on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and to a slightly lesser extent on Instagram, YouTube and here in Blogland, is there really any reason to take your own unhappiness, anger or simply bad mood out on other people to try to drag them down to your level. 

 Do people that for one reason or another put their lives out there for others to read about or watch really have to put up with people that actually have no interest in their lives firing off nasty, rude and negative comments just for commenting's sake.

Let me just clarify that I am not accusing any of my lovely regular readers of any nasty intentions or nit-picking but I am suddenly seeing, on many platforms, the reason that so many people are now being labelled as 'snowflakes' 'Karens' and much, much worse.  Oh, who would be called Karen in this day and age ... I really feel for you, a couple of my best friends at school were called Karen. 

Yesterday Thrifty Lesley was called out on Facebook for calling her page 'Thrifty Lesley - For Fabulously Frugal Food' and told that she was part of the problem.  That frugal food wasn't fabulous and she should be out there rallying, writing to her MP or indeed standing for parliament herself not posting recipes that help people make the best out of what they have.

What the actual F*CK !!

Madeleine Olivia was jumped on last week by numerous people for daring to share a recipe for Chickpea Tuna on her TikTok and told how disgustingly awful it and all vegan food was, while over on Instagram ... which is still usually a lot more civilised ... she had nothing but praise and 'yumms' etc.

  When did we stop following our Grannies advice and just keeping our mouths shut  ...and the modern version our fingers off the keyboard ... if we had nothing nice or at the very least constructive to say?

So what's your opinion on this, is it just a storm in a teacup or a more worrying downward trend in a lack of compassion, manners and common decency?

Sue xx

Smiling ... and Helping in Small Ways

 

I smile every time I open the fridge at the moment, so much colour and freshness ... I really am spoilt for choice.  My meals all this week are going to be based around this beautiful splash of colour.

I am also smiling a the good folk who are booking Airbnb rooms in Kyiv and all over Ukraine, with the sole purpose of getting the money to the people who would normally be renting their spare rooms to visitors to their country.  Instead the people left in the city with those spare rooms or hotels are helping their newly homeless neighbours, but the money received from their Airbnb accounts can really help them out in a very direct way.

 Some people are just good, they will basically find anyway possible to help the other the good people no matter where they are in the world.

Edited to add:

 After reading Jayne's comment below, I went over to the Etsy website and made a few purchases (the Challenge was momentarily cancelled).  One actual thing from a lady in the UK raising money for her family back in Ukraine and two pdfs, the one above that I have printed out.

There are ways to help.

Sue xx

A Famous Shed and Dudley

 

Photo Credit - Michael Coleran -  Dudley over Garstang  😉

Storm Dudley got us good and proper last night, it was wild and noisy with gusts going on for hours, although there was a weird lull for an hour in the middle before it built up again just in time for bedtime.  

I gave up trying to wedge the wheelie bins in place when they came knocking at the door numerous times and eventually left them lying on their sides with the lids pressed against the wall to stop the contents flying out.

Our neighbour got home from work and accidently opened her briefcase (just how do you actually do that?) and papers flew out.  Luckily she managed to catch most of them but one important piece of paper blew over the back fence between our gardens.  So her husband phoned Alan ... who was in Berkshire ... who then phoned me to let me know the neighbour was about to knock on the door to ask for his piece of paper back.  What a roundabout way to do it, why not just knock on the door?

Anyway it was all sorted and we got off a lot lighter than some people, although local roads were blocked for a while with fallen trees.  Massive thanks to all of the services workers who go out in atrocious weathers to put these sort of things right and keep our towns and villages safe.

My little shed is famous!!

I am currently catching up on some magazine reading and earlier this week I made a start on the January edition of  The Simple Things subscription I have.  I should have looked much earlier because look what I found ...

... I guess I'll have to cut out and keep this for posterity.

I think we have all our magazine appearances from our former new life in the country in Alan's office somewhere, but I don't think this needs to join them.

*** *** ***

Thank you for all the wonderful comments on yesterdays post.  It would seem we are all of the same mindset and they were wonderful to read while I sat at the breakfast bar that is now my mini office space clutching a massive cup of coffee.  Suky snoring rather loudly in the background made it feel very cosy in here while the wind blew even more loudly outside.

Sue xx

Uninstalling, Unfollowing and Heading Back to Simplicity

 

Last night I went to bed early to read for a while.

Only I didn't pick up my book I picked up my phone.  Two hours later as the hands of the clock passed midnight I looked up.  I had played my word puzzle game, I had caught up with Instagram and I had had 'a quick look at TikTok'  ... I hadn't read my book at all.

This morning as I woke up I pondered this straight away.  

What a waste of time ... it had left me unfulfilled, dissatisfied and with little flashes of light in my eyes rather than a satisfying turning down of a corner and happy putting down of a book.  So before I had even cleaned my teeth or put the kettle on, I sat up in bed and uninstalled most of the time wasters from my phone, I had unfollowed people and companies on Facebook that constantly send me messages and I put my book in a prominent place ready for tonight.

Tonight I will read about the family that sold all their belongings and bought a barge to cruise up and down the canals making jewellery and enriching their children's lives, and I won't turn the light off wondering why somebody would film a little clip for TikTok of 'a brave person' rescuing a little drowning puppy as it's mother ran up and down the side of the deep water panicking ... while they filmed it and did nothing at all to help.

Heading back to simplicity one uninstall at a time.

Sue xx