This is what i have got.

All the websites i’ve checked out don’t seem to be able to explain why i have it, or how i am supposed to get rid of it. Baffled? Don’t be… it’s just a rash. For the very curious, you can read about it here

it’s definitely this breed of rash and no other… there are quite specific things about my rash that match up to the info re this type of rash. It might last up to 6 weeks or a few months! It even says you can get more tired and get headaches with this rash… terrific. I did have a few days of bad headaches last wk, which was odd as i hardly ever get them.

When i read about it yesterday (in my ‘children’s symptoms’ manual!) it said it can itch really badly. And i thought – oh good, at least mine doesn’t itch. But today it seems to be heading that way. Smashing.

It is most common in those aged between 10 and 35. So it’s a sign of youthfulness, if you think about it.

It’s not catching, which is sad. I think i’ll take the next 2 wks off work anyway, just to be on the safe side (and coz it’s the easter hols and there won’t be anyone at school anyway!)

Anyway, we have a friend just diagnosed with terminal cancer, not got long to go. The teacher i work with the most at school, his father-in-law has just died suddenly, aged 63, which is the same age as my Dad. So all in all… it’s only a rash, and is more of an interesting conversation piece than anything (well, semi-interesting).

it’s a funny thing, mothers’ day (is that a well-placed apostrophe or what?!)

i am a mum, to a 7 and 9 year old. i am also a daughter. This means that on the one hand, I expect some kind of luxurious treatment on this special day, and want to relax. On the other hand, I have a duty to make sure that MY mum is catered for… that she gets the same kind of day as I want.

Other years i think we have got cards, etc, to our families earlier in the wk, and then just rang our mum’s on mum’s day to say a quick hello. But this year i was less organised (which is happening quite a bit lately, early menopause no doubt) and we ended up having to both visit our mum’s on mum’s day to hand over the goods. I got to mine a bit late in the day and only had 20 mins before she was off to eve church, so felt a bit guilty.

I organised hubbie and a friend to cook for me and friend’s wife. not really a fab idea…i was too stressed about having other people in my kitchen and not putting things away in their right place, etc. The meal was great, but next year perhaps we’ll splash out and go for a meal or something.

Also, on Fathers’ day, I don’t tell him I’ll do all HIS work (computer maintainence, website design, sorting our finances, doing the DIY, etc etc.) as I can’t. And he can’t cook for toffee, so perhaps I shouldn’t have asked him to. Hmmmm… tricky.

suggestions anyone?!

a couple of days ago i went into our local secondary school and did 4 lessons in one day (year 9). I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO nervous that morning that it was unreal… i couldn’t even stomach the chunk of choccie i always have after breakfast, which has never happened before!

they were RE lessons, and i was talking about my books, and why i wrote them, etc. Fortunately, a friend of mine (minster, late 20s) was doing ‘the tour’ with me, and he’d been before and knew what he was doing. He rapped! (and it was actually good, honest!)

i started the lesson by cutting his tie off, after quite a big build up with him telling them that he’d got it from his wife for xmas. They were so shocked it was fab! I then explained that i’d bought the tie the day before from a charity shop for 50p, and went on to talk about doubt and stuff… hopefully it all made sense to them!

i feel great for having made it thru the day; they were quite a tough audience to say the least, but they did respond quite well at times, and enjoyed the bit where i gave out chocolate!

i don’t think i’d do it again in a hurry tho… year 6, that i currently work with, are one thing… year 9 are on a totally different planet, one that i’d like to frequent only from time to time… like, say, every 20 years or so!

This article of mine was published on ‘thesheepdip’ this month.
I have managed to convert the intro scenario into a short sketch for church during FT fortnight, and also a talk at youth group… nifty!

The Two Shops

You live in a small town. It has only two shops. Both shops stock everything you need, from food and toiletries through to clothing and electrical equipment.

One shop, ‘Cheapstore’ has a reputation for treating its producers, factory and store staff, badly. Very badly. Producers and employees are poorly paid. The working conditions are appalling. Some have witnessed workers being beaten, even children, whom they seem to have no qualms about employing. Whoever complains gets immediate dismissal. Most, if not all, of those employed by Cheapstore, live in poverty, and can’t see any hope for the future. Depression is also rife, as is suicide.

The other shop, ‘People R Us’ attempts to pay its producers and staff a fair wage. The working conditions are as good as they can be. All employees are part of a union which meets together regularly to check that things are as they should be, or, if they’re not, that they get changed. These producers and employees aren’t living in luxury, but they are escaping poverty, because of People R Us. They have a good sense of self-worth, and are thus a reasonably happy bunch.

One town. Two shops. One ridiculously cheap. One whose prices reflect what it cost the shop to have that item grown/made initially, right through to putting it on the shelf.

You’re a Christian – which shop would you support?

This month has seen the annual ‘Fair Trade Fortnight’. No doubt many churches made some mention of it, or perhaps even went the whole hog and had a Fair Trade stall, or similar. It’s a great start, but as Christians, is it enough to feel as though we’ve ticked the right boxes, just because we’ve switched to fairly-traded tea, coffee and bananas?

Granted, few of us are naïve enough to assume that the above ‘two shops’ scenario sums up all the issues or problems involved; it’s not that simple. These two shops don’t exist in our town and we can’t always rely on companies to be accountable to us, whatever the rumours about them, good or bad. That said, it would be sad if we were naïve to the point where we said: There’s too much to think about – I’m just going to shop like I always have, and assume it won’t make a difference to peoples’ lives.
To state: ‘I support Fair Trade’ is a bit like saying ‘I support treating my partner well’. We know that Jesus wants us to treat those we know with love; to respect and honour them rather than hate and abuse them. Maybe it’s harder to take on board that this applies equally to those we don’t know (those in developing countries). Just as we wouldn’t feel happy about acting in a hateful or abusive way to our partner, we shouldn’t feel happy about buying anything from a developing country unless we know it involves fair trade, and not unfair trade (it’s worth noting that such products are not ‘fair trade’ or ‘normal’… if they’re not fairly-traded, they are quite likely to be very unfairly-traded!).

So, what are some positive ways that we can make ‘Fair Trade Fortnight’ last all year round, as a church?

1] Use fair trade tea, coffee and sugar in your kitchen. (If you run a coffee shop, also consider fair trade hot chocolate, snack bars, biscuits and so on).

2] What about other church gatherings or events? If you’re running a housegroup in your house, aim to be a person/household that uses fairly-traded items all the time, so that when you serve your housegroup drinks and snacks, you can lead by example. If you need T-shirts for stewards at your outreach event, kids club or camp… look into buying some made with fairly-traded cotton.

3] Does your church youth group have a tuck shop? See if you can replace a couple of items with some fairly-traded ones. Use this switch in stock to discuss with the children/teens the issues involved, in a way that’s relevant to them.

4] If you have a Church weekend away, see if you can get those in charge of catering to buy fairly-traded products. If people are making cakes or biscuits to take, ask if they can use fairly-traded chocolate, sugar, nuts and dried fruit.

5] Raise awareness – put up a poster on the noticeboard listing the huge variety of fairly-traded products now available, and which shops in your town stock which items (ask the youth group to design it!). Give two minute reminders during the morning service, as often as they’ll allow you! Go crazy – use drama, show a short film, give out chocolate samples… anything to get the message across!

6] Become a Fair Trader for Traidcraft or Tearcraft… or both! Hold a monthly stall after Church on a Sunday morning – encourage people to stock up!

We do live in a small town. Jesus said we should love each other. The town is called planet Earth. Jesus said we should love each other. Earth contains lots of producers and lots of shops. Jesus said we should love each other. When we shop, let’s avoid the ‘Cheapstores’ of this world and switch our support to the ‘People R Us’ chain. It makes sense. A simple alteration in our shopping habits can mean the difference between ’struggling with poverty’ and ‘climbing out of poverty’ for those on other parts of the planet. Why should we bother? Because Jesus said we should love each other.

Useful websites:
www.traidcraftshop.co.uk
www.tearcraft.org
www.fairtrade.org.uk

an interview I did with a ‘Generous’-ite can be found here, published in ‘Breathe’ , which i am a big fan of, and try to give out at church when each new issue comes out!

had this email, via my ‘dearbob’ site, the other day:

can i just say your book is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!i’ve never read a christian book that was as down to earth, funny (had me laughin on the bus when reading, embarrassed my sis lol), inspiring and uncheesyish as yours. jude is truly a SC&O and someone i toally related to, at the beginning of book i was feeling exactly same as she was, kinda freaky lol but hey i dont believe in coincidences but the humour and amazingness of your book and how totally refreshing it was (+god) helped me just like jude was helped at the end. thanks for writin one of the best books i’ve ever read!!!!!!!!!!cannot wait to read the sequel!

from a ‘Becca’, who has given me permission to put it on my blog, btw!

yes, this is me showing off, but also demonstrating how much this sort of thing means to me… i have had plenty of such very similar emails from readers, and it spurs me on to write more… to know that what i’ve written has meant something to someone is surely the best reward ever!

a good job really, seeing as it hasn’t been financially rewarding in any sense whatsoever! (which i never expected it to be, thank goodness).

listening to radio 4 whilst washing up (a daily occurrence for me). Eddie Mayer was saying how a bloke tried to commit suicide (today?) and whilst on the top of a building, the people below actually shouted up that he should jump. Eddy consulted an expert on this, some Dr of psychology, from the university of something. He asked him clever questions about the psychology of the crowd and suchlike. The expert said this, in pretty much these exact words, with these emphases:

It could be that the crowd making those comments actually made the man feel worse about his situation, and made him want to jump even more. I think that what they did was unwise and would not advise people in this situation to do this.