Lovely peopley smiley Ulverston

Try walking down the streets of central Ulverston with a smile on your face and see what you get in response. Try saying "Lovely day" (when the sun is out) and check out your response.

It worth travelling fifty miles just to do this. Then follow this up with a coffee in Home and Finance on New Market street and sit in the window where you can be seen and smile and wave to all the people who walk past and find out what happens next.

No you won't get arrested instead you're in for a real treat.

On the other hand go out with your usual glum face and try to respond and discover that your face doesn't crack in half - yes it will be a strange experience but try it. It's called Ulverston Therapy.

Here's Rupert doing his best :

Wow the body language!

Old Ulverston

Do you remember this - I do! Bill Clark has just given me permission to use his photos;

A great business to buy

I'm convinced that the person who buys Smith and Harrison, will not only earn a reasonable and reliable living, he/she will look forward to coming into work every Monday morning.

The article in the Westmorland Gazette:

Ironmonger to retire after 35 years

Provides the background.

Having lived in the town on and off since 1960 doing DIY the whole time when here, I remember the original Mr Smith and Mr Harrison in Theatre Street - a great experience. Since then I have got to know Graham since he was young. It is hard to believe he is now 50 and I can see his point that he is looking forward to a break. I will of course will miss his service saving me hours not only by providing the exact tools for the job but even more valuable how to do it. Only two weeks ago I learnt how to replace a fork handle (yes, of course we went through the Four Candles , John Cleese routine) but what I hadn't learnt was how to rivet the new handle back in place - Graham explained and provided the right soft iron nail.

Going to Smith and Harrison is always fun - mainly for the chat that goes with the purchase but with the chance to keep up to date with the town gossip and furthermore to receive advice where to go in the town or sometimes even Barrow to find a particular piece of equipment that he doesn't sell.

So there must be hundreds of people like myself who are keeping their fingers crossed that Graham finds a suitable replacement - hoping of course that the new purchaser can add the personality we expect to be able to cope with we demanding customers but more important the wide range of knowledge and stock held by Graham. Some of us favour shopping with him even when we have found suppliers that are cheaper: we prefer the overall service we receive and want to make sure this service continues!

Our Ulverston Police Force is excellent

I continue to have dealings with our local police and find their quiet persuasive dealings with the public who are misbehaving themselves, and their attention to detail, commendable.

I am now using the recommended procedure for calling the local police; and reporting incidents is working well. From a main line phone, one rings 101 which puts you through to Cumbria Police, then choose option 1 to report the an incident that does not require urgent action. If it does then 999 is the number to use.

Two incidents have required my involvement : one where a traffic crime was taking place the other where young people ages approx. 18 to 25 were congregating in a group of about ten on private property and appeared to be potentially 'up to mischief' eg driving dangerously.

In the first the police will be making a low key visit to the person involved to state that a complaint had be register with them. In the second a police van appeared on the scene after about 20 minutes to assert their presence with the result that the group of young people dispersed quietly in their cars.

The reason I do this is so that people  who blatantly break the law are aware that they have been reported and that in other cases they are aware that their unusual behaviour is being monitored by people around them - if their actions are innocent they will be reassured that the police are very reasonable people; if they are not then they are more likely to behave in future.

As I have said here before a gentle assertive presence of our police over small incidents will discourage criminal behaviour to escalate in the future. At the moment the general behaviour in our town is very reasonable and well within the bounds of acceptable behaviour. ( I find swearing acceptable - others differ).

Let's all work together to keep it that way. Our police, I believe, appreciate the low key support they get from the public at a time when it can be hard for effective policing - in larger cities - to take place with the diminishing resources available to police, a result from cutbacks in man hours available.

Ulverston Market indeed

You must admit this performance provides a bit of entertainment on our Market Square on a Market day.

Did they pay SLDC any money - for parking a car with a Tele in the back?

Was anybody interested?

The Bible bashers had a notice up but obviously couldn't cope with the competition.

In reality it was all happening in the Coro's Supper Room. Yes it was a traditional , very smooth running, Coffee Morning for the Fair Trade organisation. This well honed activity is much loved by a section of Ulverston society. The ubiquitous presence of the  wonderful Cllr Pat Jones was at the inside door selling raffle tickets at a strip of five for a pound. In theory you could buy one for 20p but nobody would dare. The morning ended with her husband, fresh from the kitchen doing the washing up, announced all six winners of bottles of wine, boxes of chocolates and potted flowers with great aplomb.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the tradition upheld by every Thursday Coffee morning in true Ulverston Style.

It's happened while we weren't looking

This blog has topped the 500 unique visitors with a present figure of 516 spending an average of 61 secs per during their 887 visits.

Old photos of Ulverston and elsewhere in SouthLakes

I've just stumbled on this great site .

Some great pictures of Ulverston Streets and an impressive one of The Gill - thronging with activity!

My what a friendly site - a great one to explore done apparently by Bill Clark a great service to all those with fond memories of the area in the past.

Thank you

A compliment

Someone tonight thanked me for my kind comments about Lightburn Park on this blog.

I had no idea what she was talking about so I asked her how she had found this site and I've just followed her procedure :Search "Lightburn Park" Ulverston.

This came up with my campaigning back in 2009 to get repairs done in the above park. It worked!

Here I met Peter Clarke, SLDC Parks Engineer for the first time. He was most amused at my photographs of my boot in the puddles. and an upgrade of the park followed.

Yes, this blog has achieved quite a few successes in its time.

Incredible Edible Ulverston

This initiative was launched by Kim Farr of Ford Park this evening with 30 people of widely different backgrounds showing an interest.

In order to get the project moving straight away at least half of these stayed behind - after I left for my scheduled meal - in order to do something immediately.

As well as a Facebook Page it is proposed to have a dedicated web site where people could swap initiatives.

There were some impressive people present: people who have an outstanding quality : quiet determination and persistence rather than emotional supporters that fade away the minute another project appears.

Outstanding amongst these is Cllr Pat Jones, someone I have a lot of respect for. She achieves a lot through her strength of character of support, support, support. Today she's at the Coro Supper Room for the Coffee Morning for Fair Trade.

It will be fascinating finding out what the action people decide to do next.

For my part, I'm an ideas man, the following popped into my head unannouced:

How about covering the whole of the right hand side of Ulverston's Mill Dam Park with runner beans - their bright red flowers will add a touch of colour as well!We just need to improve the condition of the soil to get a good crop!

Free food a solution

Sadly my attempt to get a response from Mark Wilson , Town, District and County Councillor achieved nothing. I suspect that people like this have too many things they are trying to do. How can one person do all these jobs effectively. He is following a long tradition of previous councillors that get their photos on the front page of news papers - this time the free SLDC hand out that has just been described here - but misses many the opportunities to get involved proactively. In the past one well known councillor, who died recently was noted for getting on the frontpage wringing his hands over the loss of some service when he did little to prevent that loss.

However a lesson can be learnt - don't go to a councillor but do it yourself and consult knowledgable friends and you can strike Gold.

Regarding the free bread on Saturdays, a friend alerted me to the food bank in Barrow as the one in Ulverston is closed on Saturdays.

When I contacted Barrow, Ann Mills answered the phone, she was extremely helpful. Even though the centre was closed on the Saturday they would make a point of being there to receive the bread at about 3:30pm and pop it straight into the freezer. Any surplus bread would go tothe Homeless centre on Bath Street. Not only this but she immediately picked up on the suggestion that it might be possible to put other food banks in a number of northern towns with this bread company so as to benefit from it's surplus at a day at the market.

The thought occurs to me : we could bypass the Cllrs by sharing information on this blog to put active people in the area in touch with each other. This could prove a very effective answer to Cllrs that just haven't the energy to do all the jobs that they undertake.

South LAKELAND NEWS arrives through your letter box

At SLDC taxpayers expense which time and time again promotes what is happening in:

KENDAL

Subheadline on Page 2 " Increasing Footfall through Festivals:
  Kendal

Action for Market Towns (AMT) recently held a workshop in:
Kendal Town Hall

And so it goes on and on and on throughout this paper.

And when Ulverston is mentioned we get: page 13 top right:

Free energy saving advice.

Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS) will provide South Lakeland residents with a free energy saving roadshow at Coniston on 27th February 2014 at Ulverston Library between 10am and 12.30pm.

Duh

Many of the meetings in Ulverston have already happened by the time you read this.

Is this whole paper a joke in very bad taste? That we pay for!

On the back we read how to contact YOUR  councillor - I suggest we all do to ask what's going on

see these important Cllrs:

Low Furness : James Airey
Mid Furness : Caroline Airey, James' wife

Ulverston Central: Bharath Rajan
Ulverston East : Mark Wilson
Ulverston North: Helen Irving
Ulverston South: Amanda Rigg
Ulverston Town: John Clough
Ulverston West: Janet Jenkinson

The only one of the above I would trust to speak up load and clear for Ulverston would be Janet Jenkinson. What are the rest doing for us in SLDC. Yes we hear from James Airey but this is in his role as County Councillor and often to hear what he has not done rather than the opposite.

Isn't it time that our Councillors had more clout. To say that Kendal dominates SLDC is a cop out: there are more Cllrs from outside Kendal on the SLDC than inside. The problem is that our Cllrs need to learn to work together with people in say Sedbergh (something Phil Lister claimed could never happen yet when I contacted their Cllrs they were very keen). Furthermore : How is it that Tom Harvey of Grange is able to achieve so much for Grange - he's a real fighter and is now Deputy Leader (Conservative) of the opposition.

I suggest that we all write to the above councillors and demand more action on behalf of Ulverston.

This sane woman is getting a lot of abuse

I fear we don't want to face up to a strong probability that we are in for more severe trouble in years to come. Isn't amazing the people with little scientific background take such a strong position of denial whereas all those that do understand a little about what is going on agree with James Lovelock that it is most likely too late to counteract Global Warming. The only solution of burying carbon which is actually practical so unpopular that no one I know of will do it. For me the real killer is that for there to be a solution - and a drastic one at that - all the major emitters of CO2 have to agree to do it. However we are a global economy in the hands of giant companies that have no interest in curbing these emissions. As Doris Lessing has pointed out we are all vulnerable to brainwashing that has now been developed into a serious art practised by all those that wish to persuade. An art that is exceedingly difficult to resist.

Why for instance does this video refer to The Met Office vs The Green Party when in fact the Green Party is not "vs" at all but supporting the Met Office view - all very subtle indoctrination that tries to make out that everyone disagrees with the scientific view.

For me, as a keen observer of people,  I'm persuaded that of the Senior Met Office Scientist, Julia Slingo, is trustworthy . However the Green Party Spokesman comes across as a . . . . questionable   . . . . politician scoring points.

As I often do, I ask "What do you think?" to this very serious question. One if you take it seriously will influence how you bring up young children who face a very uncertain future. Many of we oldies can cope as we have little future and some of us have learnt how to live with hardship and uncertainty having lived through the last world war and what has happened since.

Wow that must have been some party!

Someone's attempt to work after the office party at Christmas?

This sign on the A590 travelling towards Ulverston approaching Greenodd has one or two 'minor' errors:

Ggrreennoodd is misspelt.
Ulverston has clearly slipped into the sea, as has Barrow in Furness. Dalton survives.

Some party.  ? Who spiked the drinks?

Please note that I suspect it wasn't a Cumbria Highways party but the other lot responsible for major major roads.

Photo courtesy one of our readers.

Sucked in by the Media and Facebook

How many hours a day or a week do we get involved with the above?

How good do we feel at the end of spending that time?

Compare how many hours a day do we spend doing something solely for ourselves?

And how good do we feel at the end of that time?

Spending time with the first choice could mean:

Following the news - at the moment there's the shooting in the Ukraine and Celebrity watch - Rebekah Brooks. Just recently there was refugees from Syria and Nigela Lawson. Further back there was the Philippines a Jonathan Ross. Libya etc etc

Then on Facebook we get dragged into reading a lot of trivia, to which we leave our rather superficial messages and we feel one of the 'in crowd'. People who do it claim that it's addictive.

Doing things solely for ourselves in my book includes cooking from basic ingredients; perhaps even  creating our own dishes, DIY, knitting, reading books of all kinds, making our home/garden more 'friendly', talking face-to-face with local people - over the phone, in the pub, in the street -  playing a musical instrument, working on the allotment, attending/ being part of a group - knit and natter, chess, pool, family history, political party, crafts of all kind, help running a service like a charity shop. Also meeting with others in a religious activity though my fear here is of the brainwashing that often goes on - that's another topic for my blog!). Yes and it includes going out for a meal in different ways going out to a commercial activity - football match, film,theatre,'things' at the Coro. It even includes spending time with our children or grandchildren in such a way that develops their (and your) personality or interests, an alternative to the mind grabbing tele, ipad, ipod, computer games, mobile phone - eg building stuff with Lego, reading books together, doing creative things together such as : cooking, painting, crafts like making popup cards, pottery, or any 'hobby'.

We could even get involved with others to improve our environment : campaigning for change - retaining a bus service, repairs on the road ( it's an accepted fact that those the shout loudest and to the right person get good service(here I've found putting a video on Youtube works wonders), improving our local park, tidying our street.

So we seem to have a choice : passive involvement where we watch others and maybe even moan and gripe or active involvement where we do something ourselves and ignore the media Facebook world.

At the end of the day it's worth asking ourselves which of the many ways that we spend our time do we enjoy most. Then making a decision to do more of it. The saddest outcome is spending a large part of the day feeling fed-up - it's not good for us or for those around us!

More out of touch?

Kendal seems to have a well developed group promoting itself as a Transion Town with all the benefits of the Transition Movement across the country.

As well as Kendal, Lancaster appears to be very active.

Is Ulverston missing out?

Have a look for yourself and explore Kendal's web site.

Note: "A transition initiative (could be a town, village, college, etc) is a community-led project that links into the national ‘Transition Network’."

Now explore within the above link to the Transition Network by going to "Where"and "find transition nearby to find out what is happening with 50 miles of here and you will find that all the activity is within the Lancaster and Kendal area an even further away.

Now have a look at the people and projects that come up below - there are no events listed but - Lots of very interesting and active people and projects.

However what you discover the area of Furness, including Barrow and Ulverston there is nothing, yes NOTHING - rien, zilch. Are we perpetuating the image that we are totally behind the times? ( There are still people in Barrow who have never ever been as far as Levens and the M6)

On the otherhand there is activity here:

• Lancaster 16.25 mi
• Kendal and South Lakes 16.26 mi
• Garstang Transition 24.27 mi
• Bolton 24.77 mi
• Clitheroe 34.97 mi
• PACT: Penrith Action for Community Transition 35.16 mi
• Blackburn 37.53 mi
• South Ribble Transition Towns 38.68 mi
• Formby 44.36 mi
• Wigan 48.03 mi

Would it not be a good idea for Ulverston  to be more involved with this movement?

Should there not be a group in Ulverston that shows a strong interest? What not even the Green Party?

Or am I out of touch?

Out of touch?

Lots seems to happen in Kendal while little happens here in Ulverston.

Is this correct?

Here it states:

POSITIVE RESULT FOR KENDAL BID

Businesses in Kendal have given a resounding yes to creating a Business Improvement District (BID). This positive vote now means Kendal will invest up to £1,000,000 over the next 5 years on a comprehensive marketing campaign, improvements to the appearance of the town centre, new car parking initiatives, group business initiatives and creating a strong business voice for the town.
The proposal ‘Kendal’s better together’ was well supported with 72% of the vote and 68% of the rateable value.  43% of the 696 businesses eligible to take part did vote with 217 of the 301 votes cast supporting the BID proposal.

Martyn Nicholson, chair of the BID steering group, said: “ The future for Kendal is bright. It’s fantastic and very exciting.” See our full response here.

Views from a local resident

“I have been reading about the Kendal BID project with interest. As a local person who wants and try’s to shop locally I would like to see the town centre thrive and welcome any initiative.   I love Kendal but the recession has taken its toll on everyone the action taken now will define its future. Good luck with the initiative and I have my fingers crossed.” Denise Dent – Local Kendal Resident
You can contact Chris Kolek to discuss the BID by telephoning 07900 608085 and by emailing chris@kendal.bid.co.uk

Is the equivalent happening here in Ulverston or are we being left behind?

Theme Night, Fire and Ice, this next Saturday at the Bistro, Ford Park

T

The menu for this theme night can be found here.

Staggered by Johovah's Witnesses

I knew that Jehovah Witnesses where extreme but had no idea it went this far:

Mothers came to my door with their young children age about five to persuade me to accept a tract from their child. I declined.

 In return I tried to pursuade them to accept a children's book for the little girl from me as this is one of my interests at the moment. I offered "Room on the Broom" by Julia Donaldson which I've read aloud and put on Youtube here.

Because the story involves a witch they declined. It seems that witches are taboo: something Jehovah Witnesses associate with Halloween. So I then offerred The Snail and the Whale by the same author. By contast this was accepted with gratitude.

 I am staggered that Jehovah Witnesses have been brainwashed to this extreme and find it worrying that we have people living amongst us with such irrational views. What else do they believe that may lead to more worrying conclusions. Would they be concerned that their children talked to a strange man who thought that Julia Donaldson's witches were actually quite fun. Would he be seen as evil and someone to be treated the the way they see as appropriate for evil people?

Shops: Aren't we in Ulverston lucky

Ulverston is noted to be a 'quirky' place which in my book means we having something people who live some distance away are willing to come and visit because they have nothing like it in their area.

Having been in the tourist business here from 1970 onwards providing holiday accommodation ( at The Falls, Mansriggs which continues to thrive - under new management), I am aware of the places that visitors loved to revisit. These places were totally different to what they had at home and it was the combination of this and the surrounding impressive scenery that kept them returning year by year. Back then it ( and even now) was Smith and Harrison where you could find fascinating things to buy like Dolly Pegs, animal traps, sheep shears, nails by the pound and amusing banter from Graham and the men before him, Smith and Harrison. They had the added benefit back then, of a quirky building in Theatre Street with stairs with many of the floor boards missing yet customers were still allowed to go venture upstairs, behind the counter and view the goods.

More recently we had Rhubarb and Custard selling miniature Dolls Houses, churches, cottages fully furnished in style. This shop packed up a year ago because it was doing well. However this was well on the Internet so that a substantial part of this shops sales where over the Internet to people even as far as Italy.

Other shops who do well in town also have substantial sales over the Internet. Photo Express for binoculars and telescopes. The people buying Cameras are full of praise for Dave and his team being super and unusually helpful:  a reoccurring theme in almost every review.

I was contacted from Italy by email by a bird taking enthusiast who was on the point of spending £1,500 on a special  telescopic attachment for a camera and had spotted me here. At the time - five years ago - I didn't know the shop well so I went down and talked to them and was able to report back favourably through the experiences of my friends here in Ulverston.

Someone else (and there are many) who uses the Internet a lot is the family of David Gardner and family with a web site here at Jane Lane. He runs our ever reliable Thursday and Saturday plant stall here twice a week on the Market. He's done some great interviews that are now on Youtube

There is another relatively new quirky shop here on our main street and this is  Loopy - you know immediately from the name that you're in for a treat!

Free food

Isn't it rediculous that at the same time some people are finding it difficult to feed their families, perfectly good food is being thrown away.

An attempt so solve the waste from one outlet by redistributing it is but a gesture. The problem may be much wider. It could be true at all food outlets in this area. However a store like Booths may be cleverly adjusting their prices so that they end up with nothing to throw away. It' seems to be the modern equivalent of bargaining. Let me know if you'd like to help even with ideas.

The problem in this particular case is finding someone in touch with the people who need it who will accept food after 3pm every Saturday. Several people are working on a solution but so far nothing : so yesterday about six carrier bags crammed full of top quality bread were thrown away and probably twenty carrier bags were again thrown away in Lancaster just from one source. Three bags were in fact rescued and went to people who didn't need it but like me don't like to see food wasted.

You'd have thought that this is a project that a politician would want to help solve if only by coordinating those of us willing to do something.  Mark Wilson  is ideally placed. He is Town, District and County councillor for the South Ulverston area and will know where there are pockets of hardship. On the other side of the coin the people of South Ulverston have a long tradition of being self reliant. Sadly they have little respect for politicians. Some of them refuse to have anything to do with them or with local government. They believe that they have learnt that other people are more willing to help. This may be true in the past but now with Cllr Mark Wilson things are perhaps changing for the better.

Is it time to start taking care of ourselves and those around us? We do have a tendency to mutter "Why haven't THEY done this or that? When we could say "Why haven't WE ?" - picked up the litter/the dog shit: told troublesome adolescents off: visited the older neighbour on their own. Do we need to think back to how small towns managed before the welfare state got involved?

Scams - they get cleverer and cleverer

I guess it's to be expected.

Crooks love being really clever crooks - they remove themselves from the pain they cause and instead feel good about themselves because they manage to hoodwink others into parting with their goods (goods of all kinds)

I'm very careful in responding to requests for information and have made it a general rule not to respond to requests from sources I don't know.

Sometimes I get pretty close to falling for a scam.

It would be sad if I got frightened into not accepting any email request but I'm always wary. In a way it's a battle of wits!

Here's one that nearly got me because I've been having trouble with one of my email addresses - the one I occasionaly use on Yahoo. I thought I might also have trouble with my Apple ID even though I don't even know what this is!

Here's the email and then how I spotted it being a scam:


Dear AppleID,

 The following information for your AppleID was updated on 14/02/2014:

Shipping and/or billing address


We detect unauthorized login attempts to your AppleID from other IP address Location. Please confirm your identity today, otherwise your account will be disabled because of our concern for the safety and integrity of the AppleID community.

To review and update your security settings, sign in to Click here


This is an automated message. Please do not reply to this email. If you need additional help, please visit Apple Support.

Thanks,
Apple Customer Support

  Solution - when I put my mouse over the "here" above I saw www.bullseyephotos.co.nz/msn/

To which I thought  - "yes you nearly got me that time" but as ever I used the mouse over technique which indicates where in fact I'm about to be sent.

This time I've put a link to my other web site as I'm gradually making this more and more interesting- I hope.

Unusual meals at Ford Park Bistro, Ulverston

The next Theme Night meal will be on Saturday 22nd : contact Rufino at 01229 581666 when the Theme will be Fire and Ice and the menu is to be found here http://images.ford-park.org.uk/FordParkUploads/Fire%20and%20Ice%20Themed%20Night%202014.pdf

First Rufino the chef talking about the Ford Park Theme Nights

Second the Fire and Ice Theme Night on Saturday 22nd February - note the night on Friday 21st February is not running at the present time - please check with Rufino.


The menu I read at the moment is as follows - it's very tempting!

Fire and Ice Themed Night

Saturday 22nd February 2014

 

Starters

Kjötsúpa

A Traditional Icelandic lamb and vegetable broth flavoured with fresh herbs

Salmon Gravadlax

Home cured in beetroot juice and molasses , served with a fresh dill and mustard sauce

Mexican Nachos

Nachos topped with a tomato and chilli salsa, melted cheese and served with sour cream

 

Mains

Sticky chilli beef

Flavoured with fresh ginger and soya sauce, served with Jasmine rice

Danish Ribbensteg

Crispy skin roasted loin of pork served with apple mash,

cranberry compote and a wholegrain mustard sauce

Salmon Coulibiac

A classic Russian dish of Salmon on a bed of rice with mushrooms, hardboiled egg and

chopped parsley , wrapped in puff pastry and 

 

served with a lemon butter sauce

Sweet potato and black bean burritos

Spiced with jalapeno chillies in a tomato , lime juice and coriander salsa

 

Desserts

Gogol Mogol

A Russian set custard dessert flavoured with vodka and lemon juice

Danish apple pie with cinnamon

Served with vanilla ice cream and toffee sauce

Chocolate and smoked chilli brownie

Served with chocolate fudge sauce and vanilla ice cream

 

For more information or to book a table call 01229 581666

1 course £13.50    2 courses £16.50     3 Courses  £20.50

Depression

Depression is a bugger.

We read that following on from being flooded, the next killer is depression. This is different to the last war when being attacked (by the Germans) brought us all together and a people close to us came to the rescue. Now we've come to rely on the wrong sources of help - sometimes incompetent and unable to cope - local government and even our neighbours can be evil ( I read of people stealing other people's sand bags - how low can you get. Are we suffering from a Thatcher dog eat dog society?)

When you could be doing something about what depresses you, you don't. Instead the natural reaction is to keep your head under the bed covers when you wake up in the morning and stay there for the day. This is a good thing to do as it helps your psyche to regroup and heal.

I know, I've done it. Fortunately those around me left me to it. It's part of a healing process : our whole being needs a break - life at the time seems unbearable - we are right to switch off. It's what happens next that is crucial. What happens next will depend on how you've dealt with similar situations before.

In my case after three days of depression I woke up with a roar. Enough is enough I felt. I have very good friends whose favourite expression is "Soldiering on" or something similar.

I concluded "Let's Get the Hell out of Here". 

I have.

My recommendations are: face-to-face real people. Preferably your neighbours or any different groups nearby, if possible help others who are good friends. Going through hard times can strengthen friendship bonds. Give others who know you slightly, something to show that you're not the hostile rat they think ! Talking to others who are suffering from depression also helps if the topics discussed leads to sharing ideas of hope to cope.

Secondly doing activities on your own -woodwork, knitting, crafts, walking, photography, cooking for the freezer, learning something new - a language, a musical instrument - (allotment works wonders specially in this weather!) Anything that raises self esteem.

Lastly No Tele- it gives you nothing other than passing the time. No Facebook the contact is so second rate and it's addictive ( and I guess no blogs). Works wonders!

All your observations are most appreciated. 

This is not a simple topic: I suspect the way we can cope now depends on the way we have coped in the past. In my case the knowledge that I'll be out of here in a few days is a great help when I'm down - but what if when you've been really depressed before you've been there for months. That I imagine must feel like Hell. Perhaps reflecting on how you got out of the last depression will help the next time on is hit.

For me the up side of depression is that this proves to yourself that you're an emotional person and that ones emotions are strong and powerful. Thus one learns to take great care of one's emotions and follow whatever way of living that avoids our emotions getting down. I've learnt that bad times can lead to a great deal of learning which makes me aware that I've had some tough lessons to learn. Once learnt I feel good!

Allan Wilson January photograph

Allan's photographs are currently on sale at The Old Bakehouse, The Mad Hatters and The Fisherman's Arms at Baycliff or on line at  www.photoboxgallery.com/Allanwilsonphotography

Here you will find an extensive collection of Allan's photographs some of which have been featured here before.

Amazing

Here is 3 minutes of your life that you'll never forget if you watch - thanks to one of our readers: