Living in the present

It’s a novel concept, this living in the present. All about being in the NOW all the time. Not being on auto pilot, and making sure you are aware of what’s happening and who is around you at all times. Seeing the blue skies, listening to the birds, watching the crazy people walk past you on a grey day, and laughing at them as they get cross, irritated, jump in the sky, scream or do any of a million other things I’ve seen these mad Londoners do. And I love it all. I love it.

I have spent the last 3 weeks being in the moment, watching these people and smiling at most of the things they do, but today, for the first time, I found myself ‘zoning out’. Oh NO! What happened?

I consciously have brought myself back to the present, and made sure that I stay awake, but today I found it hard. Maybe it’s the routine getting to me, maybe it’s the lack of ‘new’ things around me.

Maybe the novelty is wearing off, or the heat, or the lack of sleep, I don’t know, but it shocked me , that slipping into the ‘zoning out’ phase. I’ll have to watch it.

Attitude has changed

Have you noticed how my attitude in general has changed over the last few blogs? I no longer rant and rave over the family and the injustice of it all. In fact, the lovely thing is I don’t even care anymore. It’s a very free’ing feeling, and I think it comes from being 6000 miles away from them and truely in a different hemisphere. In mind and body.
It’s wonderful isn’t it?

HR in the office - a good or bad thing?

I recently spoke to a friend of mine who is a psychologist, but does HR work at the same time. She is very interested in helping companies with their HR issues, and boy, do we have one here.
I sit in an office where no-one talks! I mean have you ever? It’s true though, the only people that ever make a noise here are the two polish guys that sit opposite me, talk in Polish, in gruff tones, and stare at me like they might have to put me into concrete boots and fling me into the Thames every time I ask them to do something for me.

It’s unnerving, but I am woman enough to smile sweetly back at them and keep asking.

So as we sat on the tube together, my friend and I tried to unravel the reasons why no-one talks. I have my theories, that go along the lines of a) no sound proofing, b) very few phones in the office, c) the bosses are also in the office d) I have no idea. Maybe it’s cos we don’t socialise together, and make no effort to make friends with each other? I certainly do that a lot, know a lot about a few of the people here. I mean, why not have a bit of fun in the office whilst you work. All work and no play makes this office bloody dull!

Mabe I'll figure it out some stage, but It's quite rough being so quite all day - as many of you who know me will know!

Is it being green, or being a good capitalist?

In my last post, I spoke about online shopping, and saving the environment by buying your groceries online whilst playing online Bingo. This was as a result of us all trying to cut down on the use of plastic here in the UK, and becoming more aware of our shopping habits that affect the world.
Well, I’m now wondering of the new bags being sold are not just a great excuse for people to make money under the guise of going green? Have you seen how many new bags have popped up? Some chains are even commissioning people to design new bags for people to buy in their stores.
So doesn’t this defeat the purpose of not having bags at all? Sue, if they are boring brown hessian bags, no-one would want them, but that’s recyclable at least, good for a year and a few washes, and it doesn’t have some glazed petroleum product on the outside that looks good, but is 4 times the plastic used in a conventional supermarket bag? I dunno, call me skeptical, but I just see people looking to make a buck out of ‘green’ bags. Especially if there is some kind of ‘must have the latest’ trend' following closely behind…..Anyone else see a quick buck here?

No plastic bags please......

There is this debate in England about the ‘green’ shopping bags. As I remember 15 years ago, they tried to get rid of all the plastic bags in the UK in supermarkets, and let people bring their own bags to shop with. This, all in the name of saving the ecology from the death and destruction of drowning in plastic. Well, good intentioned it may well be, but it didn’t seem to work. So now they are trying it again. They have even managed to totally eradicate bags from a borough totally, and people seem to be managing quite well by bringing in their own bags. Fancy that!

“Make money on the web?” I hear you say with that incredulous sound and the end of your sentence ending in a high-pitched sound. What? Use technology to make money instead of flying out the door every day, kids in tow, being dragged behind you as you frantically search for your keys, hold onto your handbag and keep he dog from jumping up. No way, never could be done!
That’s what they said when the Wright brothers said they were gonna make a machine that would fly – and look where we are now! Boeing just sold 15 new Dreamliners yesterday at Farnborough, to prove but one point.
So, it’s possible, and in some cases even easy ( perish the thought)!
Here’s how:1) If you’ re a s great a blogger as I am (ha ha – I know) then look to write blogs or articles on other people’s blogs for money !
Make Money Writing Articles by reading up on these sites, and then signing up...
1. http://payperpost.com
2. http://www.sponsoredreviews.com
3. http://www.loudlaunch.com
4. http://www.reviewme.com
5. http://www.blogsvertise.com
6. http://www.buyblogreviews.com

3)Open an Ebay shop and sell those paintings you’ve been doing for years that are sitting in the shed gathering dust, or sell those necklaces you’ve been making for everyone cos they seem to like them so much, and you make them for birthdays and Christmas, and everyone one asks you to make one for their friend etc…. come on, see the OPPORTUNITY!
More about this in another blog, but honestly, it’s not that hard, and it seems no matter what your skill, you can find a place to sell it on the web, but keep it clean please…….this is a family site.

Balmy evenings on the way home

Once again it was a lovely fine day here in London. It's a gorgeous walk from Covent Garden to Leicester Sq to the tube. The sun shines and virtually everyone is outside enjoying the weather and the balmy evening.
I, on the other hand am busily wending my way home, quite quickly actually, as I'd like to get home to the kids and see how their day has gone. As a working mum ( again) there is that worry that you are neglecting your kids, so i make sure I am not, get home in tome to chat to them and hear all bout their day. Generally after they get into bed, each one will come through to my room, and tell me the troubles from the day - each individually. It may be missing friends, or a nasty boy, or the current crush my daughter has.
"Love is wonderful..." she say sighing in a Vivienne Leigh way, far too old for her age..... I can see drama a-plenty in the years to come, and I can't spare her the pain!

Living in London

So I've moved. Here I am in sunny London. "Pwah" I hear you say, "It's never sunny there! ", but I beg to differ. Although the Mens Final of Wimbledon did get rained off twice ( I think Federer needed the break anyway, although it didn't help him win the final), basically it was the longest men's final EVER, and the whole thing was actually played on one day.

Take yesterday. It was sunny basically all day! I sat by the river and watched the boats go bay, watched the people picnicing on the side, bottles of chilled wine and cheeses, grapes and lovely conversation .." do you know what Katy did this week?" ....and the wild scream of children finally allowed to play outside unrestricted.

I didn't feel concerned about a thing, loved the sun's rays beating down on my face, and the surreal feeling that I had free time on my hand for the first time in I don't know how long. Life is good in London!