Stopcocks - A woman's journey

Lucky or What?

OK OK so it's been a while. You're telling me. I have been living and learning.

What for a whole year?! I hear you shriek. Lucky for you, I'm back.

For many years I have believed myself to be extremely lucky. Lucky to be born, lucky to be alive, lucky to be here in the west, lucky to have the family I've got , lucky to live where I live..... You get the picture right?

Luck is a fascinating thing. A few weeks ago I was upset by the news that my mother was rushed to hospital. This was particularly worrying because there had been a few deaths in my life recently and mortality was uppermost in my mind at that time......

I live 160 miles from her so my first thought was about arranging my day around getting down to London as soon as I could. Yes, most certainly I drop everything and run, but do I tell everybody, do I throw the dogs in the car, do I tell no one and leave the dogs at home? It was a crazy half hour at least of headless chicken syndrome. Of course no member of my family was answering their phones either which added to my own construction of what must be happening.

Luckily (there's that word again) for me, I am the sort of person that actually does think twice. I figured that it was going to take me a minimum of three and a half hours to get there, but that would be elongated to four and a half if I left immediately, so I might as well wait the half hour and use it to sort out dogs etc and probably by then I would be able to reach someone on the phone.

Luckily (:)) a friend was able to see to the dogs and I set about preparing for my long drive.

Luckily, I was able to get my sister on the phone. She told me that my mum had woken up that morning unable to move, and unable to get out of bed. Luckily for her, it was half term and my sister who would ordinarily be at work, was at home.

Luckily for them, my brother in law was on the late shift so they were able to get round there and pick my mum up to take her to the hospital and leave a message on my voicemail.

Luckily for my mum, who was terrified at her inability to lift herself out of bed and the crazy dizziness she suffered made her scared to move anyway, didn't have to go down any stairs to let my sister in because my sister has a key.

Luckily, the doctors told her that she had not suffered a stroke, heart attack, angina attack, or any of the other scary things that went through her and all of our minds.

Luckily, she had an inner ear infection which had given her vertigo. A very scary, but very curable illness, which meant she was sent home with some pills and advice.

Luckily, my sister was able to give me this information and I could relax and make sure I spoke to my mum every day until she felt better again.

Lucky or What?

Don't dream it, be it

Have you looked around you recently?

Do you realise how many things you are missing with every sweep of your gaze?
The same is true of everything you hear.

Our eyes and ears are merely the receivers. Up to 80% of what we 'see' or 'hear' is filtered out. This doesn't happen at our eyes or ears though.....

What She Wants

Why is it that every time I drive to a place I know that I will find a parking place just outside the venue?

On a recent trip down to London I decided to drive from my home in Yorkshire into the heart of the West End to hear two very inspirational speakers. The week before I played a scene in my mind of how that evening would pan out.....

Fear is nothing to be afraid of

This may be a strange thing to say. It appears that fear is the thing that holds us back.
Fear of failure
Fear of success
Fear of loss
Fear of gain.
Just think about this for a moment.
Have you ever encountered a large dog? It's walking towards you on the narrow path. It's on a leash and appears to be under control, but what are your feelings as it approaches you?

Long Time No Write

To everyone that's been reading my entries, I'm sorry it's been so long since my last posting. I haven't been idle though. New and exciting knowledge is flying at me from all angles and getting to me via unusual routes too....

New Year, New Year

Hi folks,
I am finally back at the blog site after a Christmas of family and a New Year of friends.
This is the time when people traditionally make promises to themselves for great things.
How many of us have been true to those promises?

Well done! and keep it up.
I have always believed that the right time will always show itself to you,
and when it does, you will know what changes to make........

The Time is Now!

The brain is the most fascinating of organs. The only way we know anything, or feel anything, or believe anything is because our brain tells us to do so.

When we fall over, or are involved in some kind of an accident, we see things in slow motion. Time seems to slow down.

Why is this?

Good

There are some truly wonderful people in the world. I have the pleasure of knowing quite a few of them myself.

I have always believed that if one is good then one will receive good things.
Even when I was growing up (this was not the happiest of times) I had a sense of being 'good'.
'Good' meant never annoying anyone. As a child this is often what being good means.

There is so much more to it than that....

Water is Life

Why is there life on Earth?

Why did this planet grow life and not Mars or Jupiter?

What an amazing thing thing it must've been when Earth moved to the exact spot in the galaxy, in the universe where hydrogen and oxygen were formed and mixed to the exact 2-1 ratio H2O. VOILA! Water was born....

Money, money, money..

Over the last few days I've spoken to four different people about money and finance.

One said I should go down the traditional route and see a bank, and posed the many questions a bank manager would ask. (He advised that I don't put VW to supply fleet of Caddys, in my business plan. I agreed not to, but secretly I'm confident that somebody will).
One suggested possible answers to all the questions.
One said I would get finance from someone who believed in me and the 'vision'
One said money should not be an issue.

Last night a number cruncher wanted to set up a meeting with me in two weeks time.

What will my world look like in two weeks time?

Why women plumbers

It's probably true to say that when it comes to buying new things for the home, it's the woman of the house that takes charge. She decides what's needed, and then she goes out and chooses it. (She may get someone else to pay for it).

When the house 'breaks' it is usually the woman of the house who notices and wants something done about it.  Now I know it's not ALWAYS the case ......

So, what's next?

Isn't it amazing that when you are feeling passionate about something and it is consuming your thoughts and filling your every waking moment, that  things happen to help you along the way?

I guess this is what Kate Bush was talking about in her song "Strange Phenomenon"

We've all experienced that thing when you happen to be thinking about someone and out of the blue they call you up.

This is what has happened to me in the last week.

Global Water Management

70% of the human body is made up of water.
Experience a 0.5% drop and you feel thirsty.
A 5% drop makes you feel slightlty feverish.
8% and the glands stop producing saliva, the skin turns blue.
After a 10% drop you are unable to walk.
A 12% drop takes you near to death.

With a third of our planet covered with water, why are there places that still have no access to clean water?

Step 1

Hello Everybody

This is the story of how I got to this place.

Before I continue on there are people to give credit to.
I must say a big  "Thank You" to Roger Hamilton, Daniel Priestley, Michael Clark, Mandy Doyle, Eileen Cann, Annie Meecham, Mica May.
For ages now I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to do in my older years. The thought of not being able to 'plumb' was not one I wanted to contemplate.

Then gradually it started to come to me....