The Cauldron of Moans

 

Welcome to The Cauldron of Moans

Are you a Moaner Lisa? Do you find life offers you more moans than grins or smiles even? Well, you're not alone. There are too many things going wrong in the world right now which gives us cause to frown, tut-tut, to groan or moan even.

So feel free to add your moans in the Comments Box and join The Cauldron of Moans.

I am fed up with the number of traffic lights which are cropping up everywhere like wild mushrooms these days. It seems like the Local Authorities have spare money to spend/waste and they've decided that traffic lights are the way to do it. They not only slow the traffic down but they are hardly conducive to saving the planet, are they? You drive a few yards and stop, and drive and stop, and all the time yours and other cars' fumes are chocking the planet, and making the birds cough their hearts out. In a stretch of road about a mile long you can be stopped at least six times if not more. That and with lower speed limits (20mph in some areas) it's taking you longer to get where you want to be and you're using more gas and producing more exhaust fumes as well. 

This morning they put a traffic light in my front garden, another in the lounge, one half-way up the stairs and one outside the bathroom door. 

Another moan. There's a new word in town: shrinkflation. Because prices are going up everywhere, a trick by producers is to sell you less weight/capacity instead. What used to be 500 grams of rice or pasta is now 450 grams. It's the same for other products too. There's a biscuit which advertises the virtue that it is ultra-thin. Why not just sell the packaging and leave us to imagine the taste?

And another moan. Confusing news. You get a headline in a newspaper or on TV and when you get to read the story it is a waste of time on a non-story. Like when they mention a celebrity name involved in an incident/accident; you read the story and you find it is the partner of his/her cousin who got the accident and the involvement is merely one of being related to someone else. 

Another headline: New Male Contraceptive. Apparently it is a pill that a man takes to avoid pregnancy. Well, what's the use? Apart from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film Junior I have not known any other man get pregnant.

What else do I find irritating? Oh yes ... choice. We're trying to save the planet, right? Although I'm not sure what we're saving it from or whether she asked to be saved. Well, if we truly mean this saving thing, then we should reduce waste. And nothing creates waste more than choice. Go to any supermarket to find out. There's at least a million different kinds of toothpaste, and hair shampoo, and washing up liquid, and soap powder ... and even foods like pasta for instance. Why so many different kinds and shapes of pasta? They're all made with the same ingredients, aren't they?

And with choice you get a variety of packaging. Different packets for different kinds of toothpaste and so on. And all those plastic bottles we throw away. They're not all recyclable you know? Let's face it, how can you make a cycle out of a plastic bottle?

Years ago we used to return the lemonade bottles and get a few pence in return. Milk was delivered on our doorstep in glass bottles which we rinsed and left on our doorstep for the milkman to collect and refill. 

Not many tin cans like beer and lemonades in those days. Now they ask us to take them to the recycling centre miles away and waste gas and pollute the planet whilst we drive there.

And also new models ... what a waste. Every few weeks there's a new make or model of cell-phone, or car or electronic gadget. People change their cell-phones every nine months on average. Over here clothes are thrown away after about ten washes. In order to save the planet I now keep my clothes on and wash them every six months or so whether they need it or not. Our clothes are so old that the moths have started a charitable collection to buy us some new ones.

Oh, I'm tired being a Moaner Lisa. Why don't you take over for a while. Place your moans in the Comments Box below.

The Cauldron of Hatred

Looking from the sidelines, it seems to me that there is a big Cauldron of Hatred out there in the world filled with anxiety, bitterness, anger and even hatred amongst its other ingredients of evil.

It seems that in whatever walk of life, be it religion, politics, science or the arts, even dare I say, in one's personal life, there are unhappy people who resent their current situation, regardless of how rich or poor they are, regardless of how healthy or not, and regardless of anything else that can be used as a yardstick to measure their anxiety and angst.

People are generally unhappy and they are dumping their anger and frustrations in this huge Cauldron of Hatred which exists somewhere or other on this earth. It could be in the newspapers, on television and radio, on social media on the Internet, or indeed in their personal lives at work, at play, or even at home when they argue and vent with their spouse, children, neighbours or even the poor cat who gets kicked for no apparent reason.

Have you not noticed the negative tone of some of the stories in your newspaper? Or on TV programs, whether it is the News or even soap programs perpetrating sadness and bitterness as if art imitates real life and or vice versa? Have you not noticed the many postings on social media where individuals pour out their anger and malcontent for all to see and share? And in personal life too; can you not remember the last time the cat has had to hide in a panic to safeguard what is left of his nine lives?

Why all this negativeness? I hear you ask.

I am waiting ... are you asking as I'm expecting?

Why all this vile forever filling the Cauldron of Hatred?

Has it to do with the diets we are all eating? A shortage of good old fashioned roughage such as bran, for instance? Or a good spoonful of cod liver oil before going to bed?

Why are so many of us so upset about this and that and the other thing? Especially the other thing. You know what they say. If it is not this it is always the mother (in-law)!

Is it because we have become greedy and we all want what the other person has and more besides?

Where is the peace we are supposed to have towards each other? Loving one's neighbours and turning the other cheek? (By the way, I mean facial cheek, not your backside!).

Where is the forgiveness time and again and not just seven times seventy?

That's why we are behaving in the despicable way that we do. It has nothing to do with a lack of broccoli or other vile vegetables in our meals.

It is because we have forgotten to "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:35.

It is because people have forgotten to be grateful for what they have and to count their blessings.

Meanwhile, the Cauldron of Hatred keeps filling to overspilling.

The Cauldron of Hatred

Looking from the sidelines, it seems to me that there is a big Cauldron of Hatred out there in the world filled with anxiety, bitterness, anger and even hatred amongst its other ingredients of evil.

It seems that in whatever walk of life, be it religion, politics, science or the arts, even dare I say, in one's personal life, there are unhappy people who resent their current situation, regardless of how rich or poor they are, regardless of how healthy or not, and regardless of anything else that can be used as a yardstick to measure their anxiety and angst.

People are generally unhappy and they are dumping their anger and frustrations in this huge Cauldron of Hatred which exists somewhere or other on this earth. It could be in the newspapers, on television and radio, on social media on the Internet, or indeed in their personal lives at work, at play, or even at home when they argue and vent with their spouse, children, neighbours or even the poor cat who gets kicked for no apparent reason.

Have you not noticed the negative tone of some of the stories in your newspaper? Or on TV programs, whether it is the News or even soap programs perpetrating sadness and bitterness as if art imitates real life and or vice versa? Have you not noticed the many postings on social media where individuals pour out their anger and malcontent for all to see and share? And in personal life too; can you not remember the last time the cat has had to hide in a panic to safeguard what is left of his nine lives?

Why all this negativeness? I hear you ask.

I am waiting ... are you asking as I'm expecting?

Why all this vile forever filling the Cauldron of Hatred?

Has it to do with the diets we are all eating? A shortage of good old fashioned roughage such as bran, for instance? Or a good spoonful of cod liver oil before going to bed?

Why are so many of us so upset about this and that and the other thing? Especially the other thing. You know what they say. If it is not this it is always the mother (in-law)!

Is it because we have become greedy and we all want what the other person has and more besides?

Where is the peace we are supposed to have towards each other? Loving one's neighbours and turning the other cheek? (By the way, I mean facial cheek, not your backside!).

Where is the forgiveness time and again and not just seven times seventy?

That's why we are behaving in the despicable way that we do. It has nothing to do with a lack of broccoli or other vile vegetables in our meals.

It is because we have forgotten to "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:35.

Meanwhile, the Cauldron of Hatred keeps filling to overspilling.