One Thing After Another

Well, my friends, finally I have time to sit down and write to you as these past weeks have been filled with so many events, it's been almost impossible to keep up! I hope you're all safe and well, that hopefully, your lives have been a little more peaceful. Although with the war in Ukraine, peace seems tragically unlikely for most of the world. As regular readers know, I rarely comment on political events or ideologies for two reasons, firstly,  I believe these are a personal matter, and also I know every part of the world can see things from their own unique perspective, all of which are equally valid. However, I do feel this current situation is beyond personal beliefs as an invasion of one nation by another, is fundamentally wrong. Whether or not the aggressor feels they have a 'right' to do what they're doing, there are infinitely better ways to make a case than sending in troops, armoured vehicles, etc while bombs rain down on innocent citizens. Speaking only for myself, the news images of Ukrainians huddled in the subways were eerily reminiscent of pictures of the British population in air raid shelters during World War Two. We can only hope, somehow a ceasefire comes quickly and diplomatic solutions are preferred over senseless destruction and loss of life.

With all of that said, I feel I can now tell you about my particular corner of the world which in comparison, is undeniably trivial but, if nothing else, will explain the title of this post. So, I guess the UK is known for its weather, from what I understand, the world believes it's either always raining here or we are stumbling through a soup-like fog. Both assumptions are true, to a point, but recently we have been battered by a series of extremely severe storms each given a bizarrely quirky name by our Meteorological Office. It began with Storm Dudley, who was quickly followed by Eunice and Franklin. As I type, it seems Gladys is now on her way, bringing flooding, heavy snowfall, strong winds, etc which one you get really depends on where you live. You will not be surprised to learn, where I am, which is by the coast, the winds were ferocious and a series of trees were brought down in our area. As the windows violently rattled in their frames, our power went out which just added a further dash of excitement to the whole experience. When the worst of the storms had passed, I stupidly believed everything would quickly return to normal - oh how wrong I was! Only last night, when there appeared to be no particular weather system happening, our power went out again only to come back and leave throughout the day and night. It's hard to accurately describe the frustration I felt as, lights flickered on and off, plunging rooms into darkness, and just as I had found the emergency candles, they blazed back on again!

Once safely tucked into bed, I tried to work out why I had started to become quite so irrational after each power cut, and the only conclusion I could accept, was the dreaded COVID lockdown experience. I think having crawled our way through all the restrictions when it was announced we were all soon to be 'free', I had honestly believed life was on the point of restarting. But barely a few days had passed before sombre announcements were being made about the incoming storms and so we were all asked to stay inside again! Naturally, as happens with any kind of weather 'incident', the transport services didn't hesitate to start cancelling services with reckless abandon. For those of you who don't live here, I must explain, it doesn't seem to matter which season might be happening, there are invariably reasons why trains, buses, etc can't run to their timetable. In Autumn, it might be there are alleged 'leaves on the line', Winter brings the possibility of 'frozen points', and even in Summer, there have been 'concerns about buckling.' (As to what might be buckling, I can't say, but obviously, it means there will be delays).

It has felt Life has been dishing out one problem after another, just as the pandemic seemed to have passed, terrifying storms caused havoc alongside all the usual frustrations we all have in our lives. As an example, when you try making a phone call to any utility provider and after listening to countless options, pressing whichever number seems the closest to your enquiry only so you can spend 20 minutes listening to a tinny version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Only the other day when I finally got through to an actual person, I was told I really needed to complete their online form before they could deal with my inquiry. Oh, and when you go to any supermarket and on your way home, your shopping bag breaks and all your groceries make a break for freedom into the oncoming traffic. Life is a challenge, isn't it?

Alongside all of these events, there is also the spiralling cost of just being able to put food on the table, for reasons too numerous to mention here, prices have increased alarmingly and so what were once regular staples of the diet are now a rare treat. Like most of the world, my household budget is limited and so harsh choices have to be made on an almost weekly basis. Although I must confess, I have been known to occasionally splurge on the odd bar of chocolate. The cost of living has started to get so high, I won't be surprised if supermarkets start charging an entry fee just so you can wander around and look at the vegetables, fruit, etc

The harsh reality is, the 'normal' life we all craved while we were in lockdown is not what we are now living through. If you think about it, if someone had told us five years ago, the whole world would be shut down because of a global pandemic and then war would break out which could ultimately threaten us all, would we have believed it? I don't think so. But as I try to look for the positive, it's this very unpredictability that gives me hope, after all, if anything bad is possible, so is everything that's good. I think we all have to hold on and just maybe, things will start to settle down and we can start to make plans again with a degree of certainty.

Before I go, I do want to reiterate the point, I know the problems and frustrations of one person are meaningless when compared to the issues our world is facing. However, having written this blog for some years now, I also know, writing about personal, shared experiences does make some people feel less isolated. Just from the messages I receive, I am often told, it has helped to know I am struggling in similar ways as they are. It's for that reason, I keep writing, we are on this journey together-through highs and lows.

Anyway, that's more than enough for now just please look after yourselves, especially all those in Ukraine, my thoughts are with you...all being well, I'll be back here soon so until the next time...

Take care out there xx