moving on up...

...I was surprisingly disappointed not to get into Shaggy Blog Stories. I'll start by saying I didn't really expect I would. But it did make me realise that I'm not as good a writer as I would like to be. Unlike other bloggers, I don't blog purely for my benefit - perhaps if I did it would make me a better writer - but really I blog as a way of interacting with people and hoped that my posts would stimulate discussion.

I haven't devoted as much time and energy to the blog as I should have done. I've been moving; working on a masters; and generally getting my life in order. Blogging is more fun, but life gets in the way.

Plus there seems to be a limit to what can be said about living an ethical life. I feel like I'm repeating myself and it feels like its been done. Not done living an ethical life, but perhaps done writing about it. I want to write better funny posts but its hard to be funny while maintaining this level of anonymity. And the anonymity is important.

So I'm off to the sunny southwest for a couple of weeks so its time for a break. The first draft of this post ended with me bidding a fond and more permanent adieu and thanks to all the recent kind comments and emails I am determined to be back. I am however having a think about how to proceed.

In the mean time - buy the book, the blog is staying put, this is not me taking umbrage. I am so grateful to anyone who's read or commented and I will still stick around. I have other projects in mind and I will be back in one form or another. Please keep in touch - I do answer email.

Eventually.

gee thanks...

..for that 2pence from income tax. What with cutting the bottom rate of income tax, for people like me, part timers, and for people working many hours on poor pay scales that at best will make bugger all difference.

And why tax cuts anyway? Possibly public money is not being spent on the right things (I could certainly make a few suggestions) but if there is indeed too much public money lets start with the tax that dare not speak its name and take away charging for personal care. Lets accept that if - rightly - wealthy people still get their rubbish collected and still have their kids go to state schools that charging people with modest savings for having their arses wiped and their needs met in a minimal way is due to change.

Now.

tis done!

Shaggy Blog Stories is finished - go buy it for goodness sake! Clare's in it, Zinnia's in it, Rachies in it - what more do you want people?

one step forward...

..two steps back perhaps isn't quite the right terminology to describe this report about attitudes towards disabled people and how "over 70 per cent of people would not feel very comfortable were a person with schizophrenia to move in next door and over 50 per cent would not be very comfortable were a person with depression to become a neighbour"

Well 100% of me doesn't want to live next door to people who have these attitudes. Perhaps some kind of branding is required? The majority of people living with mental health difficulties have their difficulties well under control and if they become ill they need help and support - perhaps this should be evidence of a need for this?

Or are we saying that people with mental health difficulties are the only problems in society? I'd love to know exactly what they were scared of - because we know that you are more likely to be murdered by someone without a mental health difficulty?

a thing of beauty....

...while many of us are trying to limit our flights these pictures on the Guardian website are a nice reminder of what is out there in the UK.

Assuming the weather is good, of course....

indeed funny ha ha

So its Red Nose Day next Friday, which can generally be regarded as a Good Thing. Lots of money, given to generally empowering organisations, raised without reducing the beneficiaries to pitiful heaps of humanity. Lovely.

And the Mighty Mike over at Troubled Diva is after having a good idea about fundraising by composing a book of funny posts. So help him out people; spread the word and if you're feeling funny, send in your posts.

And I'm not all that funny, but am going to try to get one in under the wire, as it were. I'm considering vegetarian stovies or surviving moving house. Any thoughts?

BSL in schools...

..if you didn't sign the petition on sign language in schools, you won't have seen this response. While on the surface, that's fine, the schools have control over curriculum and the government don't need to be prescriptive, the evidence suggests that disability related activities are not a priority in schools and that without encouragement from above, such lessons are less likely to happen, which means that deaf children will miss out on one of many ways they could communicate, which means it may be harder to get a job....

I guess I just have to focus on the fact that this was given a high profile - maybe next time action will be taken.

Happy International Women's Day...

... everyone. Time to celebrate being a woman, or to at least celebrate the women you know. I chose to celebrate via the medium of doughnuts.

And while we're talking about it - which we need to do while we are incarcerating mentally ill women, and discriminating against parents (who are producing children, which are, you know, handy) why hasn't Google changed its icon for this, when it does for so many other things?