Seduction by Stacey Clarke

 

I haven't updated this blog in a little while as I am writing another blog about my travels around cornwall at http://www.cornishblog.com but I thought I would just add a recent painting I have done which I am entering into a competition from Artists and Illustrators magazine.  1st prize in the competition is represention by a top London gallery, 2nd place is to have your work shown in Dulwich gallery, either prize would be fantastic therefore I went to extra effort to paint the still life painting above. 
I'm very pleased with the final piece as it made me realise that I am actually quite good at painting when I take my time and put my mind to what I am doing.  I usually spend 10 hours on a painting, but this one took 2 days as I tried very hard to follow the artistic rules of composition when I set the scene and took extra care and attention on the initial drawing before I started to paint.
Fingers crossed that it's a winner.

There's a place, keeps on calling me...

My blog has moved here for the next 6months as I am currently travelling around Cornwall in a motorhome in the hope that my new businesses will take off and I will find my dream home.
Here's wishing.
Click on the picture below to be taken straight there, no messing

Daily Blog - Day 4 - There are no problems, only solutions yet to be found

So I realise that it's incredibly empty to be angry about something and moan about something if you have no solution to it, so here's my ideas on a solution to this rubbish problem.

At the end of the day people need to be taught, it's all well and good picking up after people all of the time and I have a lot of respect for people who do that, but that doesn't solve anything, that just covers up the problem.
In all honesty it's the birds, animals and fish, who have to live on the planet with us that I am concerned for.  They have no voice and they don't know they are swimming in polluted water and how it will affect them, they don't know that it would be a good idea to move and you can't tell them because Dr Dolittle doesn't exist.  Birds, animals and fish have no choice in what goes on.
Humans on the other hand, do, we understand what pollution does to the planet and everything that lives on the planet, but we ignore it, we choose not to listen and do nothing about it.


The canadian geese (which are supposed to be protected!) are currently sat on their eggs.

 When these cute little fellas emerge

shortly followed by these cute little fellas

they will have to swim in this...

I wonder what the death rate will be and if any of them will survive, not only do they have to try to survive against predators, but they also have to try to survive against us and our ignorance and laziness.  I don't rate their chances.

I strongly believe education is the key and I don't mean someone from the Waterways, RSPB or Keep Britain Tidy visiting schools once a year, or once every few years, I mean getting people doing stuff.

Little kids, turn into big kids, who turn into adults and they don't seem to be taught at home, therefore we start with little kids and teach them.  

You could explain it to them, but people don't listen much when you explain things, I know I don't, so it needs to be an active thing.  I say get kids at primary school picking up litter for 30mins everyday in the playground.  

Little kids will be picking up little kids litter, so we don't need to worry about dirty needles, used condoms, broken glass or other vile things like that, it will be perfectly safe.  The teacher or dinner ladies could always go around 1st and get rid of anything that will harm.  I imagine the kids will mostly be picking up empty plastic bottle, sweet wrappers and things like that, I may be naive, but I don't see why there would be any different type of litter in a little kids playground.

Obviously kids aren't going to want to do that, UNLESS, they have their own special decorated protective gloves and aprons to wear.  If they spend a lesson playing with glue and decorating their gloves and aprons with sparkly things and drawing all over them in bright colours then they will want to put their gloves and aprons on and they will want to go outside and pick things up.  If picking up litter isn't seen as a punishment and it is seen as fun and something that you get to do if you are 'special' then kids will want to do it, what kid doesn't want to be special?

It will have to be said, strictly, that they can't pick up litter unless they are wearing their special apron and gloves, which should always be accessible, otherwise they will be picking up things in the streets and that's dangerous.

Picking up litter is currently seen as a punishment in schools, which no doubt adds to the problem of people putting things in bins.  That needs to stop.  We need to change peoples mindset about picking up litter.  It's a good and positive thing that brilliant people get to do, it's not a punishment for naughty bad people.

Then there is secondary school, the 30mins a day picking up litter should continue there.  If big kids have already been taught to pick up litter when they were a little kid, then it's should just continue, that's not a problem.  

If this is a new thing that will be bought in to schools then it will have to be done differently for 5 years, until the little kids become the big kids.  

Big kids at secondary school need to feel cool and trendy, so I doubt the glittery aprons and gloves will work there, so we need to be wiser.  Teachers need to find out who the 'cool' kids are and get them interested in picking up litter.  The 'cool' kids are rarely the 'clever' kids, but the majority of kids will always follow the cool kids.  As these kids are older, they will probably need a better incentive than being able to wear their special apron and gloves, like being able to text and talk on their phones whilst they pick up the litter.  That will only be for 5years, so texting and talking on the phones can be phased out when the little kids who have already been taught to pick up litter get to secondary school.

I am basically talking about manipulating and conditioning children to pick up litter, but that's ok isn't it?

I am going to completely contradict myself now and talk about the prison service and community service, I assume they already do litter pick ups?  If not, why not?  

If we do actually get the little kids picking up litter and then the big kids picking up litter and make it seem like a fantastic thing for incredibly special people to do, then when people are doing community service and picking up litter they wont feel so bad (i'm not really a punishment person) and they may actually 'want' to do it, they may choose to do it.  Also, taking into consideration that the people who are doing community service are the little kids who turned into big kids, they will already be conditioned into picking up litter, so there shouldn't really be much litter around, therefore they could be getting on with other community service things, like helping the waterways.

So that's my idea, how do we get it done?

I assume we need people to join forces, individuals, RSPB, British Waterways, Keep Britain Tidy  and other people, then we need to contact the government to get that put into place. 

Women run for breast cancer, so what about a sponsored litter pick up for a cancer charity?
What about a sponsored litter pick up for Children in Need?
What about a sponsored litter pick up for Red Nose Day?

Basically we need to make a fuss, a HUGE fuss.  Sounds ridiculous, but I could always write to Jamie Oliver, he likes kids and schools and stuff like that.  Who else can I write to?  Who can I get on board with this?

Anyone got any other ideas, thoughts or opinions on how we can get that done?

Pessimistic negativity is not helpful and not welcome.

Daily Blog - Day 3 - Honking mad, this is RUBBISH!

 
I was trying to keep my blogs lighthearted and insignificant, they were supposed to be about nothing in particular, but this has annoyed me, it's just disgusting and there isn't any excuse for it. 
I could sit here and rant about the British Waterways for not dealing with this, but I doubt the British Waterways threw all this crap in the canal, I doubt that very much.  It is there responsibility to pick up the crap, but it is our responsibility to put our crap in the bin and not throw it in the canal int he first place! 
I am pretty sure the British Waterways have much better things to do with their time than pick up the crap we throw in canals.  We aren't 2 years old and they aren't our parents, so why should they pick things up after us?

You know those big rectangle or cylinder things you see all over the place with an opening on all sides and ashtray on the top?  Well, they are called bins.  These bins have an opening on each and every side because some people are so thick that they can't even work out that if there isn't an opening on the bin on the side they are standing they have to move around the bin and go to the other side to put their rubbish inside. 
We have no excuse not to use bins.  Everyone knows thats where rubbish belongs, nobody sees these things in the street and walks up to them as if they are some strange kind of alien spacecraft that we have never seen before.  We ALL know what they are. 
It's not hard to throw things in a bin, it's not even slightly hard.  It's easy, it is beyond easy.  It takes exactly the same amount of thought to throw rubbish in canals as it does to throw it in a bin. 

Caveman one "ugg I don't need this, what shall I do with it?"
Caveman two "ugg throw it away."

Caveman one throws the rubbish on the floor because cavemen didn't have bins!  But we aren't cavemen are we, this is 2011 and we should be able to do something as simple as thinking "ugg, I don't need this, ugg, what shall I do with it? ugg, throw it in a bin."
So why is this happening? 
Why is there litter everywhere?
People are lazy and don't give a flying f*ck about the planet, the future of the planet or anything that lives on the planet.  People are selfish, only care about themselves and the current second their brian is in.
The British Waterways need to sort this out due to our sheer laziness, they need to spend time and money sorting this out because we are too lazy to find a bin, money which they could be spending on other things. 
It's not like rubbish is even heavy, it doesn't break our backs to hold onto it until  we come across a bin, even a disabled person in a wheelchair could put it on their laps until they find a bin.   It's not hard, but if we can't even teach our children this one simple thing - put rubbish in bins - how on earth can we teach them anything else.
And to all of you d1cks out there that say "if I didn't throw it on the floor then bin men wouldn't have a job" you really need to get a grip and take your head out of your arse. 
If people didn't steal the police wouldn't have a job; if people weren't put in prison for rape then the prison wardens wouldn't have a job; if people didn't abuse children then the people at the sexual register wouldn't have a job, but does that make it right? 
If it does then I am well within my rights to go out and steal peoples children, rape them and dump their bodies in a canal, just to keep people in jobs. 
That's how it works, isn't it?
I was angry with the British Waterways yesterday, but today I am angry with everyone on the planet who can't be arsed to care for it.
If you see nothing wrong with the pictures below then you don't deserve to be on the planet and you should be shot into space, which no doubt is what is going to happen to all of our rubbish in the future if we don't sort ourselves out.  We are polluting and destroying our own planet by turning into a gallactic rubbish dump, which will turn into a toxic cesspit when global warming kicks in, and then we will go about polluting the entire universe with our stagnant rubbish! 
Well done us, we were given a wonderful planet to live on where we could flourish as a species, grow wonderful things and admire the beauty of nature, but instead of doing that we are turning the planet into a steaming stellar cesspit, the perfect breeding ground for flies, maggots and disease, well done us! 
Everyone should give themselves a good pat on the back.

This is NOT post apocalyptic england, this is right now, just outside your window.

 

One for sorrow

Would you drink that water?

 

Why should they have to drink that water?

 

Would you swim in that?

Why should he have to swim in that?

I could go on, but I am too annoyed, I hope everyone is suitably ashamed of themselves.

Daily Blog - Day 2 - Films 2cry2

I had a very quiet day yesterday, Steve was out all day, he was supposed to be home by 10pm, but he came home early at 9pm, just in time to watch a film I wanted him to watch.  

That was just a coincedence, he didn't know it was on.

I don't usually cry in films, but just thinking about this film makes tears come to my eyes.  It's such a nice film.  If you ever feel like a good ole cry, here it is whilst you wait for it to come get a bottle of wine, a big box of chocolates, some kingsize tissues, put on your cosy clothes, cuddle up and cry your eyes out.  I think I cried from the beginning, but I had seen it before so I knew what was going to happen.

By sheer coincedence, she played a piece of music in the film that I was looking for a while ago, but I didn't know the name of it.  I've not seen Schindlers List, but I reckon this tune should be in it.

When I was in my early to mid 20's I used to be really into zombie films, but then I watched this scene from this film, and the flood gates opened up.  I even very nearly cried in the film Marley and Me, and I can't stand Jennifer Anniston, but it had a sad ending, I wasn't expecting a sad ending as it was a disney film, but there it was.

Daily Blog - Day 1 - Wicked Wicked Woman

My first day of writing a daily blog and something interesting happened, go figure.  I am a wicked wicked woman, but it's ok, i'm not incredibly bothered.  

My boyfriends divorce came through yesterday!  Yes he was married when I met him and there aren't really any buts or excuses for what happened, I am the other woman, a home wrecker, that's me.  I have no shame, no-one is without flaw.  There were no kids involved if that makes it any better.  Admittidly a week or so after I met him I moved 400 miles away so all we did was talk really, but neither the fact that he was married or the fact that I was so far away stopped the relationship growing, it simply gave us the chance to get to know each other better for 6 month.
So, 2years after meeting, his divorce came through.  It was more meaningful to me than him as he said the relationship was over anyway and getting a piece of paper to prove it didn't really mean much.  Even though I was the home wrecking other woman, I still thought it was a bit crap that a relationship can die after 18years.  They are both happy now, so it's all good, everything came out in the wash.

If you've never been divorced, a divorce is just a crap piece of unimpressive paper that symbolises nothing.  I expected a drum roll, fireworks or something significant to happen when I read it, but it was just a few words written on a piece of headed paper.  It may as well have just said their names and been stamped "done and dusted".  It was such a pathetic symbol of the end of an 18 year relationship.

We decided to go out to celebrate.  

Below: Interesting wall art in the pub...

and a silver buddha sat on a mirror tiled piano.

I have no idea what possessed someone to do this

We actually managed to go out and get all the way home before an alcohol fuelled argument broke out.  We had way too much champagne and cocktails really, and when I drunkenly made my love some stodgy chicken and pesto mayonaise lingunini he wasn't incredibly impressed, I believe he called it 'slop'.

With hindsight the slop was the best decision I made that night as I spent the rest of the night in the bathroom hugging the toilet and throwing my guts up whilst making anagrams out of the words Armitage Shanks.  That should have been a bad experience, but it was fine as everything tasted like pesto and I really like pesto!  It was probably the best 'being sick' experience i've ever had.  

I decided to drink some apple and mango juice after I had been sick, to wash my mouth clean, and I was surprised to see how well it went together with the pesto puke when it came back up later, the orange juice pesto puke mix wasn't that bad either, I wont go so far as to say it was great, but it was much better than what happened even later when I decided to drink some milk and threw up some pesto flavoured curdled milk out my nose, not good.  It's very unusual for me to throw up when I have been drinking, it was the vodka in the cocktails, I should have known better, vodka always makes me sick.

Everything is now sorted out, I don't feel sick, the divorce is through, the argument is sorted, my boyfriend finishes work tomorrow, we are packing over the weekend and off on our travels early next week...

A daily blog...perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

Since realising nobody reads my blog on blogger it's opened up a whole new world of open honesty for me, so I thought I may do a daily blog.  That may all go out the window when my boyfriend finishes work next week, but until then it's definately an option.  I think i've been trying too hard, in a lazy kind of way.