Friday 25 July 2014

And the Monkey In The Corner Wrote the Lesson In His Book....

It was Kirsten’s link that got me thinking;


She’s a social worker so she’s entitled to highlight this particular issue. It’s certainly one I understand, not just from being close to her, but also from working in a social care company for a couple of years and hearing first-hand about the daily difficulties. I had huge respect for the social workers in that company. Most of us, when faced with some of the situations they were almost daily, would react very negatively (perhaps even violently) whereas they showed enormous patience, commitment and care for the young people they looked after. They were exceptional people, true unsung heroes of society, and so often criticised by those with no idea.

I’m divulging no secrets to relate that, some years ago, the owner of that business had taken into his own home several challenging young people because he hated the brutal way they were being treated within the “traditional”system.  His “reward” was for his house to be burnt down by one of them. So he rebuilt it, and took that lad back in, to try and provide him with upbringing, guidance and love that would assist him in the transition into adult life. Such people are often targeted, by the media and the politicians (as he was, with journalists camping out on his doorstep) and yet they are the very foundations without which our society would disintegrate.

And, as I pottered out for a trot up Glen Nevis the other night, it got me thinking, not just about social workers, but about all those positions in society which are either demonised or, perhaps even worse, dismissed as being unimportant.

There were more headlines in the news today about how the economy is booming and back to where it was before “the crash” and yet, at the same time, productivity has fallen and those in power can’t understand why. That says much more about them than about the general workforce.

I’d like to think I’ve always had a grounding and an understanding of the value which anyone and everyone brings to society in the functions that they fulfil. But I was lucky enough, quite a few years ago now, to work in a company where we truly tried to put some of these philosophies into practice.

As one of the “bosses” of the company (ha! I can imagine some people reading this will be more than a little surprised to hear I ever held such a lofty position!), I was very much involved in the setting of pay and conditions, along with two of my fellow directors who were both “working men” who’d started out on the shop floor and worked their way to being part of the board. And yet, unlike so many others, they’d never forgotten their roots and both fought hard for the right conditions and the right incentives for their staff.  And that’s what we did, paying, in the main, decent salaries and offering bonuses, sharing profit etc. And, in the main, what we got back was commitment and productivity.

I had many a run-in, with the Ops Director in particular and I was probably right to do so on a number of occasions. But, in retrospect, I can appreciate what he was trying to do to support those he trusted to do a good job. And, as much as he feathered his own nest, he was also willing to help those under his management do the same. Those are decent principles in the end and those who wonder why productivity has dropped so much these days might do well to look at such examples.

And then, thinking about that company, got me remembering the cleaning lady. She was in her 60s and, truth be told, she wasn’t the best cleaner in the world and we’d quite often have to patch up a few of the areas she hadn’t touched. But, of course, society in general would dismiss cleaners as the lowest of the low and unimportant. Try doing without them!

I used to work late back in those days, and she’d turn up around 6pm every evening to do her rounds. It became routine to stop work and chat to her for 15 minutes, about all sorts of things. And, as I got to know her better, I discovered that this little old lady, dismissed by some as “just” a cleaner (and one who didn’t do her job at that!) had an alcoholic, disabled husband at home, a son in prison for murder, various other family problems, and she was working 2 jobs just to try and hold everything together. And yet here she was, with a smile and the very personification of kindness and friendliness.

I was also reminded of the boss of my very first job in industry. It was only a small company, and Stephen took the time to talk to, and get to know, each and every member of staff (we’re still talking 50+ staff). He’d know about their families, their troubles and their plans. And he wouldn’t forget them. If someone’s daughter had got married at the weekend, he’d have remembered and he’d be down on the shop floor first thing on Monday to ask how it had gone. Likewise, when someone was having troubles outside of work, he’d offer support and he’d make allowances.

Maybe I was just lucky to work for such people, or maybe I was open to learning the ways they managed and looked after staff. Whichever, it has always seemed to me that, if you want people to do a job with commitment and passion, then it’s a two-way process whereby you have to give back to them (and it’s not enough to say “well we pay you don’t we?”). That’s what seems to have gone from business these days – the personal element. People are treated as objects, useful only for their economic contribution and, if that falls below par, get rid. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a social worker, a cleaner, a boss or a banker, first and foremost you’re a human being who should be treated as such and generally, the commitment and understanding you’re shown will be repaid. It’s not a quick process and it requires effort from both sides, but if there really is a desire for a better, more “productive” society for the future, then it’s the only  way forward.

All of which crossed my mind as the sun glared down and I trotted along the rough path up the glen, the striated rocks of Stob Ban towering above me.  It certainly took my mind off the drop down into the gorge on my right, that I couldn’t help but notice. It was good to be out again, despite the heat. The tourists had pretty much gone home now and, apart from one elderly gentleman making his way down after a round of the munros, all was quiet and serene.

It seems a long time ago now, almost a different life, when I was involved in those businesses. I couldn’t return now. I’ve learned those lessons and will keep them with me. But, with a beautiful little girl growing up fast, and a garden that’s starting to take shape as a vegetable production system, there are all sorts of new things to learn, which are just as (if not more) valuable and exciting.


Friday 28 February 2014

It’s Not Who I Am, But Sadly It’s Who I’ve Become……

Human beings are creatures of habit, I think that’s undeniable. That has really positive aspects. Generally, if we get into a “groove”, we maintain it quite easily because it becomes part of our routine. That certainly applies to my running. When I get into a streak, running becomes part of who I am. It’s never a chore to go out, there’s hardly a second thought. It just is.

But, of course, there’s a negative aspect to this human facet as well. We generally have a tendency to lapse into sloppy habits and routines and they also can become the norm. We hardly notice or, if we do, we gloss over it in favour of the status quo.

A few weeks ago, I read a post by Saleby Jogging Centre which got to the very heart of this matter and, as he so often does, he managed to encapsulate my thoughts in his writing. It’s worth a read….http://salebyjoggingcentre.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-other-hundred-hours.html

And it made me think. Think about routines and habits I’d “accidentally” fallen into, about whether I was concentrating on things that I “should” be.

So, in deference to Saleby Jogging Centre, I’ve come up with my own “Five Point Plan”, which is now committed in writing for me to check against.

I’d stress that what this is NOT about is specifying the obvious or listing things I’m already doing which I regard as important. This is about what I ought to be doing/not doing but am;

1)      Limit time on the internet, filter what I look at

The internet. It provides everything we could ever want and everything we could never want. It’s the scourge of modern life and the fount of all knowledge. It’s the source of information and the dumping ground for disinformation.

And it’s easy to get hooked.

Five minutes of searching turns into an hour. A quick comment on facebook becomes a novel. The press of a button, a quick tap on the screen of a phone, even on the TV screen. It’s everywhere.

If we choose it to be.

Saleby posted these quite surprising and, I think, disturbing facts – “A 2013 first direct poll found that 30% of the UK's Facebook users are on the site for at least one hour a day. 13% were on for at least 2 hours. It also revealed that 26% of UK women check their pages at least 10 times a day, whilst 18% of men do the same”.

And then you think…….where do I fall in that?

On top of that, there is “general” browsing. We all do it. We read something we may or may not have meant to, and then we launch off on links into cyberspace and eat up the hours. I’m terrible for reading things I don’t like or by people I don’t like. I think I took the saying “keep your friends close, keep your enemies even closer” to heart and I like to know what “they” are thinking and doing.

But, in the end, what good does that do me? Does it make me feel happier? Does it affect my daily life in a positive way? No, of course not. I will rarely make a difference to what anyone else thinks (which also leads to number 5 in this list) and the negativity, the hatred and the lies spouted only serve to darken the mood and dissatisfaction with modern life.

No, I’d rather be the character who wrote the lyrics to Ian Dury’s “You’ll See Glimpses”, content in my own little world and with high hopes for the future.

So here, for a moment, is Glimpse Number 1 of my plan:

-          I’ll restrict looking at facebook to a maximum half hour each day, as I munch my breakfast
-          I’ll restrict other (personal) internet time to a maximum half hour each day, once I’ve finished work
-          I’ll only read inspiring, exciting sites (about hills, running, Scotland, growing veg, music etc) and forget the dross

2)      Listen to more music, watch less sport

I love music.

I love sport.

I’ve gone through long spells of watching little television and, to be frank, finding little I’d want to watch on television. But sport, now that’s a different matter. I love most sports, anything which has a competitive nature. Of course I like some more than others, but even watching something like the biathlon at the winter Olympics is fascinating to me. I love the intricacies of sport. I love the “unseen” tactics and psychologies of it.

I took a subscription to Eurosport Player last year so I could watch the cycling. The added bonus was plenty of winter sports. And then, when we moved house, we got BT Sport as part of the broadband package and a whole host of sports including college football and baseball as well as football from around Europe.

And I have to admit it. During these dark winter months, it’s become my default position to flop into the chair after tea and watch sport. There’s always something “worth” watching. I’m really not fussed about watching anything else (and Kirsten has been marvellously accommodating in letting me indulge).

But it has been at the expense of other things and, probably most of all, I don’t listen to music as much as I used to. And yet I love music. We set the record player up in the lounge and I don’t think I’ve put one record on yet.

I’ve also ended up putting Radio 5 (with all of its faux concern about contemporary issues) on instead of music in the kitchen, listening in disbelief to the pent-up anger of the Home Counties about issues which only affect those more affluent areas of southern England.

Well no more.

Glimpse Number 2 ino my plan is as follows;

-          I will only watch sport on TV if there is something I specifically want to watch
-          I will turn the radio OFF
-          I will listen to more music

Added to which, is number 3 in my plan.

3)      Play the piano

I’ve loved playing the piano since I was a boy. I had a gap in my teenage years, when it didn’t seem “cool” but once I rediscovered it in my late teens, there’s nothing I like more than to sit down and play a tune.

It’s frustrating at the same time, because I don’t feel naturally gifted in this respect. And that’s strange really. My Dad is and my son is. That would suggest I am and perhaps I just need to “let go” and it will happen.

Even so, there is also no doubt that practice makes perfect and, not having even turned my keyboard on in the last 6 months, I can hardly expect to sit down and play fluently.

I keep promising myself that I’ll get down to it but never seem to find the time. I’m also acutely aware that we want Ishbel to grow up in a musical environment and part of that will be to have instruments around which she can listen to me play and dabble with herself as she gets older.

So now is the time to start. 

Glimpse Number 3 is to make sure I find time every week to play the piano.

4)      Put the news down and read more inspiring things

I don’t buy newspapers. Well I do, I buy the Oban Times some weeks. It’s full of stories about whose shed has been broken into, which road needs repairing, how the local shinty teams are getting on and proper news like that.

But I don’t buy “mainstream” newspapers. They peddle mainstream views which never really depart from the safe norm. They read like little more than press releases from government departments or multinational PR departments.

But I do have an Achilles heel in that I invariably spend time each day reading the BBC news. And I tend to read it with disbelief at the attitudes of the outside world and the general direction we’re headed in. As a population-brainwashing experiment, I feel that successive governments have done a remarkable job.

As with some of the negative things I read on the internet, it doesn’t really do me any good in the end to spend time reading these stories. In my little corner of Lochaber, I’m not going to change things (and I have no desire to move beyond these realms and try and do so) so couldn’t my time be more usefully spent? Why, definitely.

I love reading, I love books. I’ve got a fair few which have either been part-read or not even started. I always used to make time last thing at night to read a chapter or two (or nine or ten if I got hooked!). I’ve stopped doing that, I’ve got out of the habit. Now I’m more likely to check the news and try to sleep with those stories on my mind.

So, Glimpse Number 4 is an easy one, and one which I will happily embrace;

-          I will read my book each evening rather than reading the news.

5)      Stop trying to change the world

Now I know this one will be the hardest to adapt to. It’s deeply ingrained in my soul. I think some people are happy to sit back, kick off the shoes and watch the car crash, in an almost voyeuristic way. I don’t think I’ve ever been like that. If I see something that seems wrong, I have to say, it gets under my skin. I do try to live my life by the motto “if you’re worried about something, decide if you can change it. If you can, do so. If you can’t, why worry about what you can’t influence”. But I lapse.

And, additionally, I still want to say something and change “the world” even when I know I might as well bang my head against a brick wall for all anyone listens. I know I’m out of step with modern life and modern attitudes. I’m comfortable with that but I reckon it’s about time I got comfortable with the idea that others don’t think that way.

Too much time wasted, too much energy wasted on issues both big and small which, as I say, most people don’t care about. More important to know when the next glass of wine is due or who’s winning the reality TV show this week. If other people want to follow their own paths, be they to heaven or hell, then I should let them.

So Glimpse Number 5 in my plan;

-          Quit worrying about other people, just be concerned with the self (although, obviously, I’m not including family and close friends in this, just the wider world!)
-          Use that time to follow more important pursuits

That looks like a plan to me. A plan to put me back on the straight and narrow and maximise my own enjoyment of life. What a strange breed we humans are – I know adopting these five steps would make for a better life for me, and yet it doesn’t come easily. But come it will, since we are creatures of habit.

There is, indeed, a Glimpse Number 6 but it’s one I already practice on a regular basis. And that is – whatever stresses and strains I may feel under, whatever challenges life may bring, take a look around me and appreciate everything I do have.

And I do. A wonderful life here in Lochaber. A beautiful house that looks out across a sea loch and across to the mountains. A big hill in our back garden. A beautiful family of humans and animals here, including an incredible new daughter, who brings me joy every moment. A fantastic son, who’s a credit to me but, more importantly, a credit to himself. A Dad who’s inspired me through every step of my life and given me the appreciation and the vision to want to live in such a beautiful place. And a select band of people who care for me unconditionally.

What more could I ask for really? And I never should (or will) forget that. Glimpse Number 6 in my plan.

All the room in the world……..


“They take me for a mug because I smile.
They think I'm too out of tune to mind being patronised.
All in all, it's been another phase in my chosen career,
And when my secrets are out, they'll bite their silly tongues.
All I want for my birthday is another birthday.
When skies are blue, we all feel the benefit.”

Sunday 12 January 2014

To Uncertain Futures, We Usher Them Into The Light....




I hold your gaze, captivated by your searching, sparkling eyes, which reach deep into my soul, seeking out truths, trying to make some sense of this bright, new world.

I cuddle your tiny body and a bond is formed that will remain forever unbroken. All defences are down, raw emotions unfettered and overwhelming love consumes me.

What will the future hold? How will you change and adapt in this cruel modern world? How can I keep you safe and what can I ever say that will hold true?

She is born and I am reborn, new life flowing through us, each learning new ways to appreciate the wonders of the world with wide, curious eyes.

“Imprint the knowledge, pass the message on
You know I have to let you go
One day I have to say goodbye
You know that I will have to leave and give up to the light”