Handcrafted cards by Robin's Myth

My wife has been making cards for many years, long before I met her, in fact and she has had some small success selling them to family and friends. I like what she does very much so I suggested that we could make a proper business out of this if we pulled together and worked hard at it. So for the last year we have been slowly creating our little empire, still only selling to those closest to us but always with a view to something more. We have a Twitter account and a Facebook page, using the name Robin's Myth, which are both steadily attracting followers and likers, respectively and even have a verbal contract of sorts with a well known card retailer but for some reason just couldn't get our act together to make it work. Until now.

Later this morning I'm going to take nearly 100 handcrafted cards, etc to a table sale at our 4 year olds preschool. We don't expect it to be a massive event but it will be the first time we've put them on display for people to buy. Normally my wife receives an order from someone we know for a particular occasion such as a birthday or Christmas and then she creates whatever is desired, usually for very little money. This time is very different for us as we've had to create a large quantity of cards for stock, we're both happily exhausted with the result and the only downside of the event is that my wife cannot attend herself as she works on a Saturday.
 

I wish she could be there too, to interact with our customers and have a little banter with them because I think she'd be great at it. If you're in the Harrow area between 10:00 and noon pay a visit to Trinity church on Hindes Road and I'll flirt as much money out of you as decently possible. You won't be disappointed with your purchases (or my flirting) because you can't get cards like these anywhere else. If you can't make it then follow these links to Twitter & Facebook and put in an order or just say hello, we don't bite and we're always happy to spend a few minutes being sociable.
 

Le Mans 2013

I have never watched the Le Mans 24 hour race before today but about an hour ago I was flicking through the channels and there it was. Ok, I thought, lets take a look at this and see what's what. Having raced on the track within the Gran Turismo Playstation game I thought I knew what to expect. How wrong could I be? It looks absolutely terrifying at those speeds in the dark! Those drivers have to be incredibly courageous in order to compete at this level of motorsport.


Unfortunately, accidents still happen. While searching twitter for whatever information I could glean about the race I discovered that the leading driver, Allan Simonsen, crashed his Aston Martin on lap 4 and lost his life. According to the commentators, his family urged the teams to continue racing as that's what they thought he would have wanted. Much respect.


Having next to no knowledge about the sport, except that it's held in France over a 24 hour period, I'm finding the commentary to be very informative. It feels like when I started watching Formula 1 over a decade ago, desperate to learn as much as I could about the on track action. I'm pleasantly surprised that I even recognise a few names of ex-F1 drivers in the race, such as Alan McNish, Lucas Di Grasi, Kamui Kobayashi and Giancarlo Fisichella.

If my wife lets me, I may even watch an hour or two in the morning.

F1 by the numbers

Last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix threw up some interesting statistics that I'd like to share with you, some being more positive than others, starting with the number 100. That's the number of GPs that Force India have competed in since their entering the Formula 1 world championship in 2008.
They've had their ups and downs, the most notable up being the 2009 Belgian GP where they very nearly won their first race with, then driver, Giancarlo Fisichella, who eventually finished 2nd behind Kimi Raikkonen. This season Force India are currently sitting above F1 veterans Williams and, surprisingly, McLaren in the championship.




This leads me nicely onto my next stat. McLaren's run of 64 consecutive points finishes came to an end in Canada. Regular readers will know I'm a huge fan of the team but I've felt disappointment more often than not this year. I've been used to seeing McLaren fighting, if not for the win, then at least for the podium. They've always been at the sharp end of the grid, racing hard, always focused on winning the championship but something is wrong with the car and both drivers, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, have been struggling to qualify in the top 10 at far too many races to have a hope in hell of coming anywhere close to being the 2013 world champions.




In contrast to McLaren's woes, Kimi Raikkonen has equaled 7 times world champion Michael Schumacher's record of 24 consecutive points finishes which is pretty impressive, given that he took two years out of Formula 1 to try his hand at rallying. If I'm not mistaken, I'll put my hands up if I am, he was the only driver to have completed 100% of the laps in 2012. Kimi has always been one of my favourite drivers, nearly winning the drivers title in 2003 and 2005 before stealing it out from under the noses of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in 2007. So there's a fair chance, as long as Lotus continue to push the development of their car, that Raikkonen could be fighting for the title again by end of the year.




Finally, and this brings me no pleasure to repeat this awful news, the first fatality in 12 years occurred in Canada when a track marshal was struck by a recovery vehicle during the Grand Prix. The last fatality took place at the Australian GP in 2001 when a wheel detached from Jacque Villeneuve's BAR during a high speed collision and struck a marshal, Graham Beveridge, critically wounding him. On this occasion it was a less dramatic accident that caused the marshal's death. While removing Esteban Gutierrez' Sauber from beside the track Mark Robinson dropped his radio and while attempting to retrieve it was crushed by the wheels of the recovery vehicle. He was taken to hospital but eventually succumbed to his injuries. Accidents happen and, although I am saddened by his death, take small comfort that every precaution is taken to ensure the safety of all involved. Just a few decades ago it was common to lose a great many drivers each year. Now, after any on track accident I fully expect to see the driver walking away from their car, no matter how bad the wreckage, nursing only their pride. With just a handful of exceptions, most notably Robert Kubica's horrific crash in 2007 and Felipe Massa's freak head injury in 2009, that's exactly what happens.

There is no pain, you are receding

I've been going through some changes over the last couple of years and reaching the grand old age of 40 has only served to highlight my situation.




Last month I had to donate some jeans and trousers to a local charity shop because (shock, horror) they didn't fit me anymore. I've always been slim, some would even say skinny, and I've always had trouble finding jeans, etc, that wouldn't slide off my hips without the aid of a belt, so you can imagine my surprise when I couldn't even button them up.
And don't mention my T-shirts. For most of my twenties I wore a medium because that's what I thought I was. Medium. Average. But no. I eventually accepted the truth and started buying small, slim T-shirts and I actually started to feel that I looked good in what I was wearing. Now I tend to look like a snake that's swallowed a watermelon.




In my late teens to early twenties my hair was my crowning glory, starting with an almost Brian May kind of style that was, now I think about it, quite awful (I got a lot of stick for it at school). Over time I let the curls straighten out as it grew longer and let it flow past my shoulders on it's way down my back. How proud I was, I considered it to be akin to Samson's locks, a source of strength, etc.
Securing employment meant that I was forced to have a more public friendly image, hence a shorter style but in the back of my mind I always intended to grow it again when the opportunity presented itself.
Ha!
Ever wondered why I always wear a hat? My hair is receding and not in a respectable widow's peak kind of way. It has formed two desolate islands of hair above my forehead that makes me look like I have horns. And not in a cool Hellboy kind of way, either!
Now you know why I wear a hat. It'll be reading glasses next!

Rosberg rulez ok

In the handful of races so far this season Mercedes have been seen to qualify well only for their race pace to drop off during the Grand Prix. Monaco, with it's tight, twisty circuit that's notoriously difficult to overtake on, provided the team with a chance to score their first win of 2013. At least, this was my prediction. Just call me Nostradamus.




Pole sitter, Nico Rosberg, controlled the race perfectly from start to finish and it was only the intervention of a safety car period, one of two, that ruined team mate, Lewis Hamilton's, chances of a 1-2 finish. In the end, the remaining podium positions were claimed by the Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.




The chances of Mercedes winning another Grand Prix this season is fairly slim. With the exception of the Singapore GP, the rest of the races will be held on traditional circuits with plenty of overtaking opportunities and run off areas thereby negating Mercedes' advantage from qualifying. That said, however, I would personally like to see either Nico or Lewis on the top step on the podium again. Next stop... Canada.




Footnote: Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikonen turned up for the race with inappropriate helmets. One driver was allowed to wear his. Can you guess which one?

Day 201: Conversations and role play

It has been a couple of months since a last posted anything about my trips to the psychologist. Mostly because I felt that there wasn't any real progress and partly because I was feeling a little guilty for not doing my homework. By homework, I mean the mood chart. I was to choose an emotion (anxiety, stress, etc) and for each hour of the day, mark out of ten, how I felt, 1 being not depressed, 10 bordering on suicidal. For some reason I just couldn't bring myself to complete even one day of the chart, let alone one week.

The lack of progress centred around the fact that all our conversations appeared very one way, with my psychologist asking relatively short questions followed by me giving long, detailed answers. Quite often I would reach what I thought was the end of my answer only to find my psychologist looking at me expectantly, waiting to see what else I have to say.




It's quite an unusual position to find myself in considering that most people I talk to have always got something to say. Having someone actually listen to me without them thinking about what they're going to say next isn't something that happens every day. For me it occurs for one hour, once a week, excluding bank holidays, sickness and acts of God.

Speaking of acting, the point of this post was to reveal how something different had happened during our most recent session together. We did some role play. The purpose of this was to put me in a situation where I might find myself getting angry. It worked quite well in that even though I didn't lose my temper, I did begin to feel uncomfortable. My psychologist had asked me to let her know if I started getting worked up during the exercise. I guess she didn't want me losing my rag and trashing her office. Can't say I blame her, I wouldn't be too keen either.

Towel day

Have you got your own towel? That's all your going to need on the 25th of May because it's Towel Day! You may not have heard of it, I only learned about it earlier this year but have decided to get actively involved.




What is Towel Day, you may ask yourself? Well, allow me to explain as best I can. Many years ago the late, great Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. It started as a radio play before going to print, then it became a popular TV series and recently made it onto the silver screen. In essence, the story follows Arthur Dent's misadventures around the galaxy after the Earth is demolished (for reasons that would take too long to explain here).




One of the supporting characters, while being quite unsupportive and insensitive to poor Arthur's plight, is Ford Prefect, a writer for The Guide, and it is he that introduces Arthur to the requirement of the intergalactic Hitchhiker; always carry a towel (again, the reasons are many so you'll have to read it for yourself, something I suggest all free thinking sentient lifeforms do at least once in their lifetimes).




Anyway, at some point somebody or somebodies decided to honour Mr Adams by starting Towel Day and since then many of his fans have carried a towel around with them for one day of the year. If you're a fan of the radio/book/TV series or film then please join me on the 25th of May and carry your towel with pride.

http://www.towelday.org/

I'd like to report a murder

I've always thought this was an odd turn of phrase. I'm sure nobody really "likes" to report a murder, or any crime, come to think if it. But anyway, I'm already getting off the subject and I haven't even begun yet.

What I'd like to talk about is venery. You may not have heard the word* but I'm sure you've heard its use. I am referring to collective nouns. For example, a "flock" of birds or a "pride" of lions. These are fairly common so we don't really think about them very much but I was searching online for confirmation of a term I'd heard many years ago, a "murder" of crows.




I was pleased to find it was correct. However, I came across a number of other terms I'd never heard before, some of which had me laughing at the mental image that accompanied them. For your pleasure, I'd like to share a number of them here. Enjoy.

A parcel of birds
A blush of boys
A rabble of butterflies
A drunkenship of cobblers
A hastiness of cooks
A kettle of hawks
A siege of herons
An observance of hermits
A smack of jellyfish
A cartload of monkeys
A scourge of mosquitoes
A superfluity of nuns
A parliament of owls
A bouquet of pheasants
A poverty of pipers
An unkindness of ravens
A rout of snails
A clutter of spiders
An ambush of tigers
A gang of turkeys


*Bird is the word.

Good deeds

I have something to say that I find hard to put into words but it's important so I'm going to try. And I'm deliberately leaving it vague because it's not my place to name names, etc.

As I'm currently suffering from depression I know the value of an arm around the shoulder, a comforting word or a friendly smile. The other day it was my turn to offer those same things to someone that looked like s/he needed it. We were at a toddler group and during the singing/dancing part of the session s/he came and sat at the back, away from the noise. A few minutes later s/he was approached by a helper regarding his/her child's unruly behaviour but s/he remained where s/he sat until the music was over.
Then came time for the children and their parents/carers to have some refreshments and play with the toys provided by the group. It was here that I witnessed for myself his/her child misbehaving and his/her own reluctance to intervene, instead relying on other parents/carers to step in and take action when necessary.

By this time just about every parent/carer was making the same judgement about him/her that you yourself must be coming to as s/he was on the receiving end of many disapproving looks. Which is a shame because they didn't have all the facts. They took the situation at face value as most of us do, myself included. However, on this occasion I had one piece of information that explained, in part at least, his/her reluctance to enter the fray.

When s/he had first removed him/herself from the first part of the session s/he had told another helper and myself the reason for doing so. S/he has Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. What caused this, I didn't ask. So when I saw him/her sitting away from the noise (and let's be honest here, children make a lot of noise) I took the time to see if s/he was ok. And when I could see that his/her child was becoming boisterous again I gave him/her a nudge and offered to go with him/her into the thick of it. S/he was able to cope a little better with someone beside him/her, someone who had reached out a helping hand when she to needed it. True, his/her child still acted up a little but with both of us there to step in, at least the other parents/carers didn't have to worry about their own children being hurt or upset by his/her child's actions. I didn't see them leave or get a chance to say goodbye but I hope the experience hasn't put him/her off from coming again.

If there's a moral to the tale I'm sure you can work it out for yourself.

Actually, if there's a moral to this tale then you have my mother to thank for teaching me that it's up to those that can to stand/speak up for those that can't.

The wrong signals

I was letting my mind wander recently and it occurred to me how easily people misunderstand each other. For example, many words in the English language have more than one meaning, or simply mishearing what has been said can cause confusion. Mispronouncing a word or phrase in a foreign language is easily done because it isn't the speakers mother tongue. This can create situations where two people have real difficulty understanding one another.

Now imagine being unable to hear anything at all. Deaf people use sign language to communicate but how often do they misread what everyone else is saying as we gesticulate with our hands. Some signs speak for themselves, such as hello and book.

 

But what happens when someone makes a sign without realising what they're doing, such as wiping something from the side of their mouth?

Or rubbing their nose?

This got me thinking, how often do we make signs that can be read in an entirely different way by deaf people? And what are we unintentionally saying? Personally, I have fun imagining that hundreds of metal fans, all making the horned fist, are mistakenly signing the word for reindeer or something equally inappropriate to the situation.

Well, it makes me laugh. Ho ho ho.