A new Mug and Red 212

It's odd how I become attached to the piece of pot I have my tea or coffee in,  recently I broke my regular one and I've been struggling to fill the gap in my life since.

A new mug for an old one

I can (rather oddly) recall some of my favourites from years gone by (I had a very  nice blue striped one made in Japan).

We live in an age where you can find a tremendous selection of mugs from £1.00 but the material and craft  do affect the drink and if you can find one you like the design on that's a plus - please wish me luck with the new one.

Time use it wisely

A few years (quite a few) back my cousin Tom used to play a track called Time by David Bowie and turn down the volume on the lyrically controversial segment and so time comes to mind ...

Has it ever been truer that as Jean-Jacques (Rousseau)  said

Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains - 

and similarly it is I still think true that Karl (Marx) offered the perfect  response 

 you have nothing to lose but your chains

Grace Dent wrote a nice article in the i  recently talking about how work and our own lives have blurred (and not in a good way) so it feels like updating your Facebook  at work is fine but equally having a 'work' call at 10:00 pm on a Friday night at home is pretty standard - and saying you'd rather not is tantamount to mutiny.

Time - Note hands in classic line up

I realised a few years back at a work 'training session ' (I'm not able to recall what the goal/outcome of the workshop was) that I had become a square hole in a round peg - talking about what I relished (planting trees) and what I was proud of (having a cooker that was over 30 years old) while my colleagues celebrated launching a new TV channel or improving their file delivery system helped me realise that I should  take personal stock.

A book that could help others

There's a phrase around  investing in land - you know they're not making it anymore but far more important is our time - not only is it finite  but we really don't know how much we've got  so in some ways that makes what we choose to do with it even more of a challenge.

I suppose as you get older time becomes more precious - the idea of spending 40 hours a week at a desk sending e-mails, going to meetings, leaving voice messages and generally being required to be at a certain place - sounds like some appalling torture now.

My advice there are alternatives out there and  perhaps when you're ready or if you see a gap in the fence go for it - if it doesn't feel like work, doesn't harm anyone  and it pays for what you really need .

{Notes

And a great book

As I said yesterday I've got a few books and things I'm more than happy to pass on -the second is another book I've got two copies of - it really is good and readable drop me an e-mail and I'll stick it in the post (UK only I'm afraid).

A good article by Caitlin Moran summed up how I feel about the upcoming EU referendum - listening to a speech by Tristan Hunt on Harold Wilson I was reminded that this is familiar territory and not just a Tory weakness - truth is this time it feels more consequential for the UK as Scotland and Wales (and Northern Ireland) are now constitutionally different - we'll see ...}

Red 212

I don't know if there are takers for this but the other day it was about Red

About the red top you might be wearing