Saturday 31 December 2016

Best of 2016

Just in case anyone cares, here's my favourites of 2016...

Best Albums
1. David Bowie - ★
2. Jack Garratt - Phase / Michael Kiwanuka - Love & Hate
3. Alicia Keys - Here

Best Films
1. Home
2. Deadpool
3. Doctor Strange

Best TV
1. Making A Murderer
2. Gotham
3. Mr Robot

Best Places
1. Liverpool (as if it could be anywhere else!)
2. London
3. Glasgow

Most Inspiring Person
1. Pam Grout
2. Gurpreet Kaur Cheema
3. Sophie Labelle

Best Politicians
1. Donald Trump
2. Angela Eagle / Owen Smith
3. David Cameron / Boris Johnson / Nigel Farage / Theresa May
...only joking! ;o)

Best Celebrity Deaths (its been that kind of year!)
1. David Cameron's career
2. Donald Trump (well, there's 4 hours yet as I type... one can but hope!)
3. Everybody else (well done, folks! You excelled yourselves!)

Please note that there are lots of things that you may think are much better that I haven't experienced (e.g. Game Of Thrones). So don't moan - tell me what you think's better!

New Year's Eve 2016

1. I am blessed with really good skin that makes me look youthful :)
2. I am blessed that I managed to get my letterbox fixed. My door is too thin, meaning you can pull the letterbox 1 cm each way but at least you can't pull it out completely!
3. I was blessed to meet up, by chance, with Pauline in Southport this afternoon. She was as lovely as ever and was able to advise me about my letterbox. We also ate out at a lovely Italian restaurant we found. :)

Friday 30 December 2016

30th December 2016

1. I am blessed to live so near to B&Q, meaning it was quick n easy to get a replacement letterbox as my other one has broken. Unfortunately, fitting it hasn't been so easy but I have been able to do a temporary job to keep the draft out.
2. I am blessed that my boiler passed its yearly inspection with flying colours and not cause me any expense.
3. I am blessed that Suzy told me today that her NYE party has been cancelled due to illness - it's given me time to think of alternate plans.

Thursday 29 December 2016

29th December 2016

1. We had a hard frost overnight, meaning I was blessed with a lovely wintry scene this morning as I defrosted my car. :)
2. I am blessed with enough patience not to re-enact scenes from Falling Down when irritated by the drivers who seem to think driving a car is an excuse to be a nuisance!
3. I was blessed to hear several Radio 4 comedy programs (including David Sedaris and Count Arthur Strong) this evening. Jollied me up no end it did! :)

Wednesday 28 December 2016

28th December 2016

I'm only on the 4th day of this but already I find my outlook on life changing and my mood becoming more positive :)...
1. I was blessed to be able to watch a documentary called 13th on Netflix today. Whilst I think the problem is more complex than portrayed, it did bring to light problems I (and society at large) are mostly ignoring and, no, I don't believe they are problems confined to the USA!
2. I was blessed to find the train I was gonna take to Neston cancelled, prompting me to drive there instead - meaning I had the spectacular views of the freezing fog on the way there and then of all the Christmas lights in the villages on the way back. :)
3. Considering how lonely I get, I am blessed to share a planet with the rest of humanity. Some of them are a lot nicer than others but they do provide me with the human interaction I need - which can be especially delightful with the nicer ones. :)

Tuesday 27 December 2016

27th December 2016

Still doing my exclamation that the day is gonna be amazing but I doubt I will have anything more to say about it, so, going forward, just take it as read that I've done it.
Blessings:
1. I'm blessed to be able to afford somewhere warm and dry to live.
2. It was a blessing to be able to have a relaxing day when I feel so tired (I didn't sleep very well).
3. I am blessed to be able to hear so many great programs on the BBC. I've found them really informative and sometimes inspiring too. :)

Monday 26 December 2016

Boxing Day 2016

1. Admit something awesome is gonna happen: I started the day by exclaiming "today is gonna be amazing!". It immediately lightened my mood. :)
2. My 3 blessings: having a hot shower was my first blessing of the day. My second blessing was having understanding and accommodating friends who didn't insist I carry on or make me feel bad when I wimped out 2 minutes into our walk to Hilbre Island. My third blessing was the M&S oriental party snacks I had for my tea. Not exactly nutritious but definitely yum! :)

Sunday 25 December 2016

Christmas Day 2016

I'm baaaaaack!
Last night I quit Facebook. I'd felt for some time it wasn't doing me a lot of good being on there. Of late it has been a fuel for jealousy, resentment, and neediness. So I quit. 
I've tried several times before to quit but I always went back, telling myself this time would be different. If it was, it wasn't hugely different. We're talking nuances at best! So the moral I'm taking from that is I really REALLY have to quit this time because I plainly don't have the will power not to fall back into bad habits.
So today I'm suffering the symptoms of cold turkey... but I will be firm... because it's for my own good! In tackling my need to be liked, I force myself to like myself rather than relying on others to meet my need. This will tackle all the symptoms I list above, which all stem from my inability.
Interestingly... and this is why I've decided to start up my blog again... one of my birthday presents was a book - Thank & Grow Rich by Pam Grout - which I started to read today to distract my mind from the Facebook cold turkey. I've read the first 65 pages already! I found such truth in those pages that I already feel it changing my outlook on life!
Since John died, I've become more and more of a grump! Particularly so this year! Like many others, I've found 2016 a greatly difficult year... and not just because of all the celebrity deaths! And I see little joy in the future, with Putin and Trump set to be the 2 most powerful men in the world! What message does that send out exactly?!! 
On a slightly positive note, the shit 2016 has brought has prompted me to become more political than ever before and join The Green Party. Sadly, I find myself unable to become as involved as I would like because of my fear of going out at nights - especially to the bit of Birkenhead where The Green Party hold their meetings! And so this has become yet another excuse to berate myself and be miserable.
And this is partly why Thank & Grow Rich has been so powerful this morning! It speaks of all the feelings I'm going through and matches my beliefs about the world on so many scores but where it differs is that it says the best response is to live a life of gratitude which, in turn, will bring much needed happiness into the world (as well as myself). 
Initially I thought "what the hell is there to be thankful about?!! And how can I be thankful when the world's going to shit?!!". 
Helpfully, the book is designed as a month of lessons after which it promises my life will be changed and happiness shall be mine - a bold claim! So in a spirit of experimentation, I'm going to blog what happens. (There is a website where I can do this and share with others working through the book but I didn't want my findings to be influenced by others, so I shan't be visiting it).
The first lesson is split into 2 parts:
1. Admit something awesome is gonna happen... It already has! I started reading the book and blogging about it.
2. Share 3 blessings of your day each day - which must be different each day! ...I am blessed to share my life with Mia who is blessed with a spirit of love, beauty, and cuddliness; I am blessed to be able to listen to Classic FM which plays music which never fails to lift my spirits and bring me peace; I am blessed with a number of presents today acting as reminders of the generosity and consideration of my friends.
And that's where I'm leaving it today.