Christmas Spirit

It will be an odd Christmas this year. There hasn't been quite so much hysteria because of the credit crunch so perhaps looking at Christmas in a new light will benefit us all. We need to slow down and take stock of what is really important in our lives and appreciate all that we do have. I have just finished reading "The Poisonwood Bible" and found it fascinating. We really do need to have a new understanding off Africa and the appalling way the Europeans and the Americans have behaved. Yes, it is in the past and we are not personally responsible but we are by proxy. We are not well-informed enough, we do not ask enough questions, we are concerned about our own little worries and grumbles and gripes which in the larger picture do not count for a lot. We have enough food, we have houses over our heads, and we do not care enough to stop the repossessions and the break-up of families going through the stress of hard times. The effect on the children and the marriage can be devastating. It is not a good time to be losing your job or your home. We could do so much more to help before families get to breaking point and the split starts. Relationships are hard work and we become complacent. We need to work on ourselves all the time or we atrophy and become whining, complaining victims. We can change our reaction to what happens to us and start to take responsibility for our reactions and our lives and this beautiful planet. Have a wonderful Christmas!

A Deep, Crisp Frost.

The pavements are sparkling this evening. It is very, very cold and my heart goes out to anyone trying to sleep on the streets tonight.
There was a young girl sitting out in the rain at 10.30pm about 2 weeks ago as I was on my way home at Ealing Broadway. I asked her if she had tried a hostel and she asked if I had ever tried to get into one. I did follow it up and now have a phone number for young people and there is a duty team at social services 24 hours but presumably she didn't want their help or she didn't know. A very senior police officer did not know if there were any hostels for young women in the borough, in fact he thought there wern't so I am taking it up with the council officer in charge of Housing so we shall see.
The wildlife will be having a hard time of it as well. Today I found my way into the Gunnersbury
Triangle which is off Bollo Lane in between the tube lines and the overground. It is a beautiful small reserve, a real oasis in a busy, polluted, litter-strewn part of Acton. I saw a pair of robins, a wren and a feeding party of long-tailed and great tits were above me in the silver birches and not at all shy. This will be a delight in the summer as it is so little known. Just like a secret garden! The water in the main pond is so clear you can see every leaf on the bottom. It is very well managed with no litter and lots of places for wild-life to hide away.
What a pity we havn't sorted housing for the homeless properly yet.