Hello!

Welcome to 'Blue Monday'!

That is, apparently, what today is.

Traditionally, the third Monday in  January has been given this rather gloomy title because of a combination of things.

Post-Christmas blues, dark nights, perhaps the realisation that we've still got quite a few weeks of winter ahead, maybe the arrival of bills, including credit-card bills following an expensive festive period. And let's not forget the added pressure of the coronavirus pandemic this year.

I know, I know - all a load of old nonsense, right? Maybe. Who's to say being down in the dumps is especially pertinent today?

Of course, unfortunately for some people being 'blue' is not just for one day. It's much longer lasting. Some do suffer serious depression and it's not just about feeling 'down' for 24hours. I also know quite a number of people who are really affected by the time of year. Some experts call it 'SAD' - Seasonal Affective Disorder - and it can be really debilitating.

If you are feeling constantly sad and depressed, it's not a bad thing to get some help.

But if it's just today that is making you feel 'blue' then here's a little thought for you which might help you to smile through today, if you can!

It's a poem I came across in recent years. It does mention an 'epidemic' ... sorry about that ... hope no one is offended.

But it might help.

It's apparently attributed to the brilliant, funny, talented Spike Milligan, who himself experienced challenging mental health at times during his life.

A SMILE

Smiling is infectious

You catch it like the flu.

When someone smiled at me today

I started smiling too.

I walked around the corner

     And someone saw me grin.

When he smiled I realised

I'd passed it on to him.

I thought about the smile,

And realised its worth.

A single smile like mine

Could travel round the earth.

If you feel a smile begin

Don't leave it undetected.

Let's start an epidemic quick

And get the world infected!

(Spike Milligan)

So .. this One Day @ a Time blog is my attempt to do a thought for every day of the year. 

So far, I've managed it, but 21 days does not a year make!

As I hope people will enjoy and maybe even be inspired by a daily thought, reading, poem and more, I also want to share some of the readings and people who have inspired me on a day-to-day basis.

As a Christian, I find daily inspiration in reading scripture and prayers, but there are also other publications and people to whom I also turn from time to time. 

Have you ever heard of Marcus Aurelius?  He was a first century Roman Emperor but in his lifetime he also acquired a reputation for being a philosopher, in the Stoic tradition. His renown continued after his death and even some early Christians admired him not just as a philosophic but also as a philanthropic leader. 

Today he is still known, for some 'Meditations' that he authored.

While on a war campaign (between 170 and 180AD), Marcus wrote his Meditations in Greek, firstly as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. Although it's not known how widely these writings were circulated during his own lifetime, they have been handed down the centuries and today they are still very popular. Just check out the internet ... there are loads of sites which include his sayings and epigrams.

Some I find difficult and even challenging, mostly because of the two thousand years or thereabouts between the authoring and my reading of them, and the contexts of the times Marcus and I were/are living through.

But some of his 'Meditations' are surprisingly 'modern' and completely up to date and perfect for the early 21st century. I bet Marcus didn't expect to be so relevant for so long when he scribbled his thoughts all those years ago!

Take this one from Book 8 of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.

This could really have been written for today, couldn't it?

We know there are lots of people who are obsessed with leaving their mark on the world, and spend every living moment thinking about the future, trying to ensure people will remember them.

Being ambitious is not a bad thing, of course, but if it is all consuming and we are always reaching for the 'next thing' and believe that the grass is always greener in the next field, maybe this prevents us from just enjoying the life we have - right now.

Even back in the first century, Marcus Aurelius seems to have recognised this trait of human nature.

And his advice is as sound today as it was all those years ago.

'Give yourself a gift: the present moment'

Today I'm going to try to do that. Moment by moment. To appreciate what I have, not worry about the things I do not have. Not being concerned about what people might think of me, or say about me. 

Just to breathe in the joy of life. Right now! 

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Were you ever a Scout, or a Girl Guide? Or a Cub Scout or a Brownie? Perhaps you are still a member of the Scouting Movement, maybe as a leader?

When I was a little girl, I put on the 'Brownie' uniform, with a yellow scarf and a leather ‘woggle’, and later I also donned the blue Guide uniform, attending ‘meetings’ and camps where we learnt all sort of interesting skills which eventually allowed me to gain the famous 'badges' which I could sew on the sleeves of my uniform.

Some have been useful all my life.  Sewing, which I love to this day. Map-reading/orienteering which I have used very occasionally. I also learned how to make a campfire, although I’ve yet to make use of that. However if I did go camping, I could forage for sticks and build a shelf unit for our plates and pans!

In addition, and most importantly, I also made loads of friends, and had masses of organised fun. And I learned some really important values and lessons which have stood me in good stead over more than five decades.

It was on this day - January 24th - in 1908 that a British soldier called Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell published a manual which was filled with information about self-improvement and what today is called ‘survival training’ – skills to help a person survive in the outdoors.

Baden-Powell had already been working with and inspiring young men in outdoors pursuits and adventure for about a year but his manual -  ‘Scouting for Boys’ - inspired the founding of the Boy Scouts Association just two years later. However, it's interesting to note that when they held their first rally at The Crystal Palace in London in 1909 it wasn’t just boys who donned a Scout uniform. Some girls were determined to become ‘Girl Scouts’, so Baden-Powell and his sister Agnes formed the ‘Girl Guides’.

Today the Scout Association is global, and the World Scout Bureau estimate numbers at around  28 Million, although as some countries don't do accurate counts, it could be as many as 40 million. All of these young people having brilliant experiences, meeting new people, gaining new skills (those infamous 'badges') and creating friendships, becoming part of teams and learning values that will last a lifetime. 

The Scouting Programme has clear objectives to ‘actively engage and support young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society’. All their activities are around three main themes - outdoor and adventure, world and skills. Scouting is something a person can be involved in as a member, and a leader, for their entire life. 

Changes have and are made to suit the times, without moving away from the core values. Although the Girl Guide movement still flourishes, young women have been part of the Scout movement now for decades.

Wherever they are in the world, all Scouts are expected to adhere to the  Scout Promise including the words which commit them to ‘On my honour…   do my duty to God ... ’ These days, the wording may vary in different countries determined by the local culture, but the promises are all based on the original Promise and Law conceived by the founder of their movement. 

In recent years, there have been some question marks over Baden-Powell's legacy and even allegations of racism, but today the Scouting movement spans the globe encouraging not just self-sufficiency but also a life of sacrifice and community.

Robert Baden-Powell was at the helm of his movement until his retirement in 1937. He and his wife then moved permanently to Kenya in East Africa, and when he died in January 1941 he was buried in the church yard of St Peter's Church in a place called Nyeri in the Central Highlands, within sight of Mount Kenya.

His gravestone, which is now a Kenyan national monument, is inscribed with a circle, with a dot in the centre. It’s the trail sign, which so many scouts and adventurers will recognise, for ‘going home’ or ‘I have gone home’.

I have particular memories of that grave, because at one time when I was living in Kenya as a child, I attended a boarding school in Nyeri, and every Sunday we attended that church. And one of our favourite things to do was to visit that grave.  It was a highlight of my week which seems a bit bizarre now, 50 years on.

It’s intriguing what intrigues young people.

So today all I really want to say is this ... let’s give thanks for the men and women who have inspired young people for good in the past, and continue to do so today.

Some are inscribed in history. Others will quietly inspire. But their legacy will live on, if only in the memory of those who they have helped along the way.

Scouts (UK)

'Diamonds are forever', 'Diamonds are a girl's Best Friend'. Who hasn't heard of those songs?

Just two of the most popular tunes and songs with diamonds in the title.

The sparkling gemstones are, of course, much prized and the most popular of jewels. The diamond, being a hard element, also represents steadfast love ... hence all those love songs, I guess! 

And diamonds come in all sizes. But did you know that it was on this day - January 26th in 1905 - that the world's largest diamond was discovered, in South Africa?

The Cullinan Diamond, which was 10.1 centimetres(4inches) long, 6.35cm (2.5in) wide, and 5.9cm (2.3in) deep, was discovered at a mine in Pretoria. It weighed 3,106-carats. With one carat equal to 200 milligrams, I worked out that the Cullinan weighed around 621 grams, which is 1.3lbs. That's big!

The guy who found it was a 'surface manager' at the Premier No.2 mine in Cullinan in the Transvaal Colony, which is now known as South Africa.  Lots of big diamonds had been dug out of the earth before, but this was and remains, the largest.

In those days, before social media and the like, although the news of the find went around the world, the diamond did not immediately get snapped up by a rich person. Instead, it went on display - at the Standard Bank in Johannesburg - until it was sent to London. It was a bit of a security palaver. To avoid attempted robberies, detectives apparently were set sail on a steamboat, believe to be carrying the Cullinan. They were locked in the captain's cabin to keep the diamond safe.

But this was a decoy. The diamond they were protecting was a fake, and the real Cullinan was sent to England via regular standard post, in a box. That's clever!

Yet, on arrival in England, it remained unsold. It was two years before the Transvaal Colony bought the diamond on behalf of the British King, Edward VII, for a price of £150,000 - the Bank of England inflation calculator reckons that's nearly £18,500,000 at the end of 2020. It was presented to the King on his birthday, on the 9th of November 1907.

The Cullinan was then was sent to Amsterdam for cutting. The diamond trade and industry in that city in the Netherlands goes back to the 16th century and so it was there that the experts meticulously cut the Cullinan into nine separate diamonds. Two are part of the British Crown Jewels, and the remainder are still privately owned, by the British monarch.

Yes, diamonds are very special. I don't own any, although I do have a little ring set with a diamond chip or two - it cost substantially less than 18 and a half million pounds. More like £18 I think!

But it's pretty, and I like it!

Yet the interesting thing about diamonds, I'm sure you know, is that they don't start out as precious jewels. Even the Cullinan Diamond had to be cut, and polished, to create the exquisite and very expensive gemstones fit for the Crown Jewels.

And diamond is actually carbon ... the same element as coal. Black, hard, dirty coal which can burn to give us warmth. Not a glittering gem, but made of the same stuff.  The beauty of the diamond is made under the pressure of being created deep within the earth over billions of year. And as the solid form of carbon, diamond is the hardest of any natural material so it is used in industry as well, for cutting and polishing. It seems there's a lot more to a diamond, or even a diamond chip,  than just a sparkling ring on my finger!

The 19th century British historian, writer and polymath Thomas Carlyle is credited with saying 'No pressure, no diamonds.' 

I like that! 

We might like to have life handed to us on a plate, with little work on our behalf, but real life isn't like that. Sometimes we have to go through challenges to fulfil our dreams and reach our goals. Sometimes the pressures of life can bring us down, but often they can make us stronger.

So, today, if you're going through hard times, please believe this - beauty can come out of adversity.

Don't give up. Keep on going!

And have a great day!

World's Largest Diamond Discovered - On This Day

So I've made it ... to the end of the first month of the year!

One Day at a Time!

When I started this blog at the beginning of 2021 I said I hoped it would encourage me to sit down and write most days. It's certainly done that.

And I hoped you might enjoy it ... a few of you have been kind enough to say you have.

I've enjoyed doing some research on different subjects, but it won't always be lots of words. From time to time I'll just post a thought or something inspirational ... or at least something I think is inspirational.

But today, on the final day of January, I'm just going to share with you a little bit of what gives me pleasure.

I live on an island (Jersey, in the Channel Islands) which means we're surrounded by water.

This won't be the last you hear from me about the ocean because when I'm stressed out, when I'm under pressure, I like to walk on the beach, listen to the waves, breath into the wind.  When it's warm (or warmer than it is in the winter) I love to swim in the sea.

The power of water, and the sea, to heal, is something powerful.

The other day I visited Grève de Lecq, on Jersey's north-west coast. It was chilly but sunny and very quiet.

So today, as we turn the page on the first month of 2021, join me on the beach,

Enjoy and breathe...

Do you have a favourite film? 

Or maybe you have a few movies that would be in your Top Ten? If you were making a list.

Are you an action movie fan, or a sci fi fanatic, or perhaps like me you prefer RomComs, a little light  romance and comedy? 

I have to admit, there are some movies that I can watch over and over and over and over and over... and not get bored. And one of those is linked to today.

February 2nd in North America - the USA and Canada - is Groundhog Day and I love the Bill Murray movie of the same name. More of that in a moment.

But first ... what IS a 'groundhog'? 

Well, it's a kind of rodent, and apparently belongs to the marmot or ground squirrel family. It's found in the USA, Canada and into Alaska. Among other characteristics, they have big teeth and they live in burrows. When fully grown a groundhog can be as long as 27inches (about 69cm) and can weigh as much as 14pounds (over 6kg). I've been doing my research and all I can say is, that groundhog is not a small squirrel!

One of the important things to know about the groundhog is that are hibernators. They often dig a separate 'winter burrow', which they build below the frost line, which means even when it's frozen up top, the animals can safely sleep away the winter months without fear of freezing to death. Usually, groundhogs hibernate from October to March or April, or thereabouts. 

And that's relevant to the tradition of Groundhog Day (the actual day) which apparently is an old superstition from the Pennsylvania Dutch community in America, which says that if a groundhog emerges early from it's burrow - on February 2 - then it can tell us if Spring is on its way.

So the legend goes, if the groundhog sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will quickly nip back into its burrow, and winter will go on for six more weeks. If, however, the animal does NOT see its shadow because it's too cloudy, Spring will arrive early!

All this predicting the weather is part of ancient 'weather lore' which is found in lots of cultures, including German speaking areas (and the Pennsylvania Dutch people come from Germanic-speaking areas of Europe) where the animal predicting the weather is usually a badger, but sometimes a bear or a fox.

And these weather lore predictions are also linked to the Christian festival of Candlemas, which we also celebrate today. Tradition has it that if the weather is clear on Candlemas, we're in for a long winter!

Now of course there's no scientific evidence for such weather predictions, but it's fun isn't it? 

In North America, February 2nd has taken on a special significance. Groundhog Day ceremonies happen on this day across the USA and Canada, but it's in a place called Punxsutawney in western Pennsylvania, that the most popular ceremony occurs, where the focus is a groundhog called 'Punxsutawney Phil'.

And that's the link to the 1993 movie that I mentioned at the start.

'Groundhog Day' starring Bill Murray and Andy MacDowell is largely located in Punxsutawney around the iconic ceremony and the film has not only helped to immortalise the seasonal celebration, but the concept of it has also added a new phrase to our dictionary.

If you haven't ever seen the movie then sorry for the spoiler. Bill Murray plays a cynical (and rather obnoxious) TV weatherman called Phil who is sent to cover the Groundhog Day ceremony, and then finds himself in a time loop through which he is forced to re-live February 2nd ... Groundhog Day ... over and over and over, until he becomes a better person. He learns to live each moment at a time, rather than always chasing ambition and celebrity.

As a result of the movie which was conceived, co-written and directed by Harold Ramis,  we now use the phrase 'Groundhog Day' for any situation which is monotonous, repetitive and even unpleasant and boring.

Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, lots of us feel like we've been living Groundhog Day - don't we?

Working from home, staying in and not being able to go out and mingle with others, not being able to see family members - much of our time during 2020 and into 2021 has felt so repetitive and monotonous. I think 'Groundhog Day' is a great way of describing my pandemic experience.

But just as Weatherman Phil in the movie came out of his Groundhog Day a better person, so I believe we can emerge from the COVID19 experience improved and finer examples of humanity.

Early on in the pandemic, especially, we saw so many acts of kindness and caring. The Thursday 8pm 'Clap for Carers' which some are still doing as they Clap for their Heroes. People checking on their neighbours, delivering food and medicines, thinking of others. 

And although Covid fatigue might have stolen a little of that from us as the months have progressed, I believe this time has shown us what a kinder and more compassionate world can look like. 

I'd like to believe that a memory of that kindness might be part of the legacy of our Pandemic Groundhog Day, along with the realisation that life is short and that, no matter how much status and money and position and ambition we chase, perhaps we just need to take more time to breathe, to enjoy our environment and the beauty of the world around us, to appreciate our loved ones more, and maybe even take pleasure in the simple things - like a walk on a Spring morning - no matter when that might be.

For many years my working life was dominated by The Pips!

Any idea what I'm talking about?

Well it's that series of 'pips' ... five short and one long tone ... that are broadcast by many BBC Radio stations at the top of each hour. 

Why am I talking about this today? Well, it was on February 5th 1924 that the BBC Pips ... the Greenwich Time Signal .. was first broadcast.

As a radio presenter, for many years I had to ensure I met the 'Pips' cleanly at the top of the hour. No talking over them, no crashing into them. They were sacrosanct.  It could be a quite a pressure but you got used to it.

Only a few BBC radio stations continue to run the Greenwich Time Signal now to give us the precise start to the hour.

Some might think that's a shame, because those pips were a way we could check that our watches and clocks were spot on. These days digital time pieces are so accurate we perhaps don't need the Greenwich Time Signal to keep us on track of time.

Back in 1924, the idea for the Pips came from the Astronomer Royal of the time, Sir Frank Watson Dyson, and the head of the BBC, John Reith.

I'm not going to to go into the technical details of this because I don't know them and it might be rather boring. If you're so inclined, there are plenty of websites which can give you that information.

But what I've gleaned is that the Pips were originally controlled by two mechanical clocks in the Royal Greenwich Observatory which had electrical contacts attached to their pendula. These sent a signal each second to the BBC, which converted them to generate the distinctive beeps of the pips. By the way, just in case one clock failed, two clocks were always used and years later an electronic clock was deployed.

Until 1972 the pips were of equal length. Confusion reigned. Which was the final pip? How did we know it was actually the top of the hour? That was when the last pip was extended. Five short pips, followed by one long.

In 1990 the BBC started to generate the pips themselves via what I read is an atomic clock. Wow.

The Pips were at one point featured on BBC TV but that was discontinued in the 1960s, yet the Greenwich Time Signal seems to remain synonymous with the nation that is Great Britain. It was the first sound heard in the handover to the London 2012 Olympics during the Beijing 2008 Olympics closing ceremony. To celebrate the 90th birthday of the pips on 5 February 2014, the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 broadcast a sequence that included a re-working of the Happy Birthday melody using the GTS as its base sound.

These days, if you want the reassuring sound of the Greenwich Time Signal, then the best place to go is BBC Radio 4, which uses them at the top of each hour. Sometimes when I can't sleep and I'm listening to the BBC World Service radio I also hear them as well. There are similar time signals used by radio stations in lots of other countries, but I guess the BBC Pips are the most famous.

But what you may not know is that the GTS is available not just on the hour but also on the quarter past, the half past and the quarter to the hour. When you're presenting in a radio studio there's a GTS stream you can fade up on your desk to give you the Pips, and if after the top of the hour you forget to fade that stream down, it'll automatically pop up at those times as well. I have to say, that only happened to me just the once!

The thing about the Greenwich Time Signal, and those Pips, is that they remind us that time is fleeting. Time is passing. Time is short.

Perhaps we don't like being reminded about that. I know I don't. 

But if there's something we need to get done ... maybe we need to be just get on and do it, before we run out of time. And although there may be lots of things that we need to do just because we need to do them, it's also important to use our time wisely.

And on that point ... there are masses of quotes about time on the internet but there's one which I'll leave with you today ...

“Always make time for things that make you feel happy to be alive.”

(Anonymous)

I've done a lot of researching and writing for my blog this week. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed it, but it's meant you've had to read it ... or not, as the case may be.

So today I just have a happy thought for this Saturday from a great American writer, philosopher,  essayist, lecturer and poet called Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Enjoy every day, but especially today.

Happy Saturday Everyone!

If you're as old as I am,  you might remember the 1979 Boomtown Rats hit 'I Don't Like Mondays'.

If not - maybe look it up?

It was the band's second hit and it was Number One in the UK charts for four weeks during that summer.

For me it was an iconic sound of my youth. But it was a song born of tragedy, because it was written by  Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers following a dreadful event on January 29th of  that year - the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego, USA. 

Geldof is quoted as saying he wrote the ballad after he heard that the shooter who fired at children in a playground, killing two adults and injuring eight children and a police officer, explained herself by saying "I don't like Mondays...."

Appalling!

Now, I have to say, many of us might admit that Monday is not our favourite day of the week ... back to work/school after the weekend and all that. 

But I read something recently that helped me put a new spin on Mondays. It's a quote attributed to David Dweck, entrepreneur, investor and speaker ... and I love it.

Just by thinking of Mondays in a different way, putting a more positive spin on the day ... well this says it all really.

SO - Happy Monday!

Oh, and by the way, if you're wondering ... the photograph is one of mine.  It's St Ouen's Bay in Jersey in the Channel Islands.

It's that time of year when life can be a little overwhelming. At least that's my experience.

January is over but Spring is not yet with us. We are still often being battered by the winter weather, wet and windy, cold and dull. Life can feel a bit dark in the first couple of weeks of February. Winter can seem never-ending.

Of course, we know it WILL  come to an end ... after all, this is not Narnia during the reign of the White Witch when it was, in the words of their creator C.S.Lewis,  “Always winter but never Christmas.”

But sometimes it does feel endless.

Although here in Jersey in the Channel Islands we've had the occasional bright winter's day in recent weeks, January was the wettest on record, with only a couple of days of the month rain-free, and right now we're in another dull and cold snap. 

Add to that the fact that we've had nearly a year of pandemic restrictions, working from home and not much getting out, well it's very easy to start to feel sorry for oneself.

But on a day like today I need to remind myself that, even though life is getting me down, actually I have so much to be thankful for.

So many people during this coronavirus pandemic have lost their lives, or loved ones. Many have lost their jobs and life is very insecure. Although the past year for me has not been a bed of roses, I have certainly not had a terribly negative experience. I'm sure I'll talk more about this again from time to time.

But I do need to keep on top of the tendency towards negativity.

A few years back, I realised that sometimes we forget to be grateful for the things we have in our lives. We chase dreams and perhaps things out of reach, rather than just being satisfied with and thankful for what we have - right now!

It was then I created a Facebook page called 'Don't Forget to Say Thanks' . It's not the most followed page in the world but every now and then, when I need to remind myself of the need to feel gratitude, I post a little thought. It's a work in progress. Aren't we all?

So, today, when I am feeling a little worse for wear and mournful of the season, I turn to that inspiration ... and share one encouraging thought with you!