EMAIL NOW WORKS felixjasper97@'btinternet.com

Hi all, if you want to email me about anything on this blog please use felixjasper97@btinternet.com  BT has at last got it working. 
Thanks
J

Sammy's Lost Stripe

This is a VERY SPECIAL LITTLE BOOK that has touched my heart so much that I just had to promote it on all my blogs. Please read the following that will explain the story surrounding this wonderful little book, and of course, please buy one that would just be pawsummmmmmmmmmm!!!!

Cat owners, Paul Sullivan and Yuriko Mitsuoki worked together to create this story of Sammy and Flickie to raise money for Keighley Cat Care, an independent charity that works to rescue, foster and re-home cats in the Keighley area of England. Yuriko's is well known on Twitter for her amazing characterful avatars of tweeting cats and her beautiful colourful images add a delightful and charming edge to this sweet story. Paul Sullivan has been parent to many ex-feral and rescued cats and his story is based on two of those, who have now passed away. KCC is a charity run by a small group of volunteers and relies entirely on donations from the public and fund raising - they have no external funding. Everyone who worked on 'Sammy's Lost Stripe' gave their time for free and all royalties from the sale of this book go directly to KCC so they can continue their good work. To find out more about Keighley Cat Care please go to Keighley Cat Care or follow them on Twitter @KeighleyCatCare  

Go to Amazon.co.uk and type in Sammy's Lost Stripe and the book will appear.

A Difficult But Important Article

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS CONTACTED ME WITH REGARD TO THE POST BELOW. AM SO PLEASED AND GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE POSITIVE COMMENTS ON THIS, WHICH IS JUST THE OUTLINE, THE MAIN ARTICLE WILL BE ADDED VERY SOON. 

AGAIN, MANY THANKS TO THOSE WHO CONTACTED ME ON HERE, BY EMAIL, TWITTER OR FB. AM SO TOUCHED BY YOUR KINDNESS.  I WILL DO MY BEST TO PRODUCE SOMETHING, WHICH I HOPE, WILL BE OF HELP TO MANY OF YOU.
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It has been a long time coming but I feel I am now ready to write rather an emotional and personal article. It will not be easy, but I'm determined to tackle this somewhat delicate and sensitive subject. Talking candidly about depression, anxiety and bullying takes a massive amount of courage and strength of mind. Recently many well known names have chosen to speak out on this broad and deep subject of mental health which has made it a little easier for the rest of us to do the same. My experiences over the past few years has revealed to me such diverse attitudes in people, from the cold and contemptible to the warm and compassionate. What finally provoked me into making this decision was one particular incident, amid many others. I had brought up the subject of bullying to somebody who may well be related to me. My memories of being bullied, whether at school or at work is something I have NEVER spoken about to anyone. Why on earth I decided to speak about it at this particular time, I will never know. The reaction I received to my admission shocked me and left me totally appalled and hurt. I wll explain a little more later, all I can say here and now, is that it was trivialised. The inference was, as it happened so long ago it had no bearing on any current situation. This played on my mind for months and months, along with other comments of a similar nature. I really needed to deal with this. Writing all of it down, could that be the answer? I ended up with copious notes on many different incidents both past and present. The whole thing needed rationalising and compiling into some logical format.  

This is not intended to be a chronological list of depressive and bullying experiences. On the other hand, I can speak from my viewpoint having endured some pretty rough times, especially in recent years.

I promise to complete the article as soon as I can. In the meantime, there is just one last thing I want to mention, or really I should say four things, my fab four that have kept me going through all of this.

• my two beautiful cats
• my sense of humour
• some wonderful friends, who are undoubtedly my real family, some are old friends I have known for years, some are new, some are even on social media whom I have never met, you all know who you are and how special you have become. You don't have to have a DNA link to care and be there for someone.
• my work and work colleagues who have unwittingly helped me by being there and being such kind and considerate people. Thank you Arran and the team, both present and past, certainly some of the nicest people I have ever worked with.

With the work environment in mind, I really want my colleagues to gain something from this too. My employer certainly has embraced the concept of mindfulness by recently holding a week of workshops, lectures etc examining different areas of this social practice. Yes, I did gain quite a bit from this, parts of which I can certainly draw upon. But, from another standpoint, there doesn't have to be a massive infrastructure put in place to facilitate people and their well-being. Aspects of this can be a lot simpler. Awareness, understanding and compassion for a start. How do you go about applying these? Well, I will attempt to explain this, certainly from my perspective anyway. People need to learn how to listen, how to observe, how to be more sensitive to others and their situations. As a teacher, I endeavored to practice these qualities and I'm pretty confident I was reasonably successful. There comes a point when you have to stand up and and say "enough, I will not let anyone manipulate, control or put me down again," how you get to that point is one of the hardest things you will ever have to do. Initially, I was writing this article for myself, but I now sincerely hope that others, who maybe in a similar situation will also benefit from this. That would be a fantastic outcome. I look forward to any responses. Now the task begins....

Read Other Articles 
Why The Chiltern 100s and 1000s?
Saints, Priests and Annie Oakley
That Political Stuff



All comments are welcome. If abusive or threatening language is used it will be removed and reported.

That Political Stuff

Please note  All views on here are my own and are in no way connected to my employer.

Well folks seeing as I work for the top political monitoring company in the UK I had better venture into the area of debate, hullabaloo and oops cocked up expenses form again!

What is happening these days on the political front, the whole thing just seems to be turning into one big soap opera. Just why did Theresa May invite Joe Pasquale attired in a dress to have a chat at No 10?  Is panto season coming early? Apart from being a parcel delivery service, who are the DUP? Or maybe it is DUPE, mmm, not sure about that one. Just what was going through Theresa May's mind at that signing?...... 

"Oh bugger! All bloody Junckers fault. When they said Jean-Claude wanted to speak to me on the phone I thought they meant Van Damme, the line was so bad when he said "bring it forward" I thought he was referring to my kick boxing lesson. A disaster! I could have been power walking the HS2 route!"

Now from an insider at No 10.......   
Larry the No 10 cat was observed practicing high kicks in the No 10 garden. When asked about his strange behavour he said, "oh man, its all cat nip and warm prosecco in there, sheeeeeeh! Michael Gove is even drinking it from his new green welly boots! All on expenses of course. He is going on about practicing chucking cowpats. Or at least I think that is what he said."

Oh dear, Michael Gove, the more and more I see him he just seems to be morphing into Elmer Fudd. Hope to god nobody sticks a gun in his hand and he emulate his lookalikey, stomps around fields shooting rabbits (or should I say wabbits!), foxes and any other poor unsuspecting creature that crosses his path in the name of countryside pursuits. One could say he has found his niche in life, tippy toe through the cowpats, through the cowpats he will tippy toe.

What is happening with the Lb Dems?  With Tim Farron becoming Cliff Richard's understudy we now have another leadership election. During the last couple of years UK political parties have undergone so many leadership changes it has been impossible to keep up with just who is running which party. Although the one time significant UKIP party certainly corners the market with the game "Who's Our Leader Today Folks?" Nobody seems to have raised themselves above the parapet for the Lib Dems, apart from Vince Cable, at 74 the oldest Lib Dem MP. Who else is there to be honest, he would be a safe pair of hands but not a long term fix. What about Ed Davey or Norman Lamb? Both had positions in the coalition. Ed Davey might be considered too "posh" as he lives in Surbiton, smacks a bit of The Good Life, memories of Margo and Gerry, happy days, but maybe a tad Toryish!. Norman Lamb and Tom Brake are both in their 50s, possibly the right age for a new leader? The only possible female candidate was, Jo Swinson, who has since ruled herself out. Once the Lib Dems have got themselves sorted could a Tory leadership battle be next on the horizon?  Hold on to your Prosecco and Pringles, the saga is not over yet.

The emphasis on Vince Cable's age has been the butt of many a joke recently. Infact, the same Vince Cable joke was used on both the Graham Norton Show and Mock The Week within a couple days of each other proving that the BBC are even saving money on script writers. With Blue Peter on the skids and EastEnders ratings plummeting could there be more axes falling at the BBC?  I did watch an episode of Blue Peter some time ago and it was awful.  Oh for the days of John, Val, Peter, Petra, Jason, Shep and Patch, sticky back plastic, squeezy bottles and elephant poo on the studio floor.  To hell with BBC 3 internet CBB whatever stuff, the magic has gone, the Blue Peter flag should be taken down in respect of our past heroes.time capsule

Back to politics now and the SNP have found a "get out of jail card" re LOSING A BUCKET FULL OF SEATS AT THE ELECTION. That card says BREXIT!!  Yes folks, the SNP have decided to concentrate on Brexit and put the second indy vote on hold thereby distracting everyone from their disastrous showing at the election. I think it may well be a while before INDY VOTE 2 will be brought back onto the agenda. The sensible heads within the SNP must certainly realise that the majority of lost seats were down to the dislike of the ordered second indy vote. The Tories are now the main opposition in Scotland which at least doesn't make it feel quite such a one party state.  It is certainly on the cards that Ruth Davidson will be a strong candidate for Tory leader in the future. One feels it won't be too long before she is sitting in the Commons. Despite your political leanings in Scotland, it is undoubtedly an amazing fact that all main political parties are lead by women. Glass ceiling smashed one thinks, well almost.


 All comments are welcome. If abusive or threatening language is used it will be removed and reported.