This evening I’ve been mostly watching TV, I thought I might share this experience with you and my thoughts on what I have seen. The first programe (in no particular order) I thought might apply to some of us ticcers. It did to some extent, “Get Your House In Order” channel4.com/programmes/get... basically an antiques and collectables expert and an interior designer visit the home of a hoarder, get them to part with their stuff then give their home a make-over. From our perspective it may have been interesting to get to the root of somebody’s hoarding with the help of a psychologist, but sadly that didn’t happen. The subject of this evenings programme was a fashion addict named Amie, virtually every room in Amie and her fiancé’s home was littered with clothes, shoes, handbags and accessories. I admit myself I have a “thing” for clothes, I haven’t let things get as out of control as Amie, I have a penchant for vintage clothes, I would find it very difficult not to walk by a vintage clothes shop and have a rummage through the treasure within. Charity shops have a similar pull, I have bagged many a bargain, the £2 tux springs to mind but this habit is getting a bit more difficult to curtail since the discovery of EBay, Etsy and Asos, I mean who could resist a HANDMADE dress made to YOUR measurements made by a dressmaker, how cool is that?! etsy.com/listing/80642300/h...
A wander around Portobello Market for me is like being in heaven. Unfortunately ‘in in doors doesn’t have much space for clothes, he’s not really a “clothes” buying kind of man, he just tends to wear whatever I have bought him. However discarding clothes is difficult, whilst watching the programme I could feel poor Amie’s pain as she walked through a shop that had been created for the purpose of selling her stuff, it’s quite a weird emotion, it’s a though somebody was asking her to amputate a limb, that’s what it initially feels like, there’s always a feeling that the blouse that you can no longer button up thanks to the effects of Risperidone may fit you again one day. Sometimes it pays off, those purple Katharine Hamnett jeans I bought a long time ago…well bright coloured jeans are back in, a good buy methinks! Clothes aren’t the only items I acumalate, CDs are also a weakness, I did used to use the excuse that, that is what music students should do (music students do tend to buy a LOT of CDs) Amazon makes that little chore very easy. I’m not one for free downloads as if you’re a musician you’ve trained and put a lot of time into what you produce and obviously you deserve to get paid. If anybody would like a copy of my scores, they can either pay for them or give me a cut (large please) of the proceeds of the live performance, I still have a student loan to pay off thanks. You wouldn’t download a solicitor for free when you need a bit of conveyancing doing would you?
I also watched the Apprentice (whey heh), it always seems to me that they choose the contestants on how irritated they will make you feel when they make really stupid decisions during their task (why did the boys team chose those stupid teddies when every other shop on Oxford St sells similar teddies for about £3 ? – pointless) what would be interesting to see is if rather than the usual bunch of big-headed irritants is somebody who really deserves a chance. A couple of years ago I did see a documentary about a bunch of ex-prisoners who opened a flower shop; it would be worth giving a group of disabled people a similar opportunity. I did put this to Hayley Taylor (bullying, harridan aka The Fairy Job Mother) that she should try and “help” a person with a disability into a sustainable and appropriately supported job. She said it could be something they consider for the next series. The same applies to Mary Portas and her knicker factory, if that factory was closer to me I would have applied for one of those jobs, unlike her apprentices I can actually use a sewing machine, I enjoyed textiles at school, it’s just that as I was the weird twitch kid I wasn’t one of her “favorites” so I didn’t do it for GCSE, art was preferable. I do actually own a sewing machine and creating things or even mending things is quite therapeutic. Did you know I spent less on making fully lined lounge curtains than taking my ex-landlady’s to the drycleaners?
The last thing, before I plonked my fat backside in front of the telly I came across an interesting survey, it’s aimed at people who either already works in caring roles or would like to and have been applying for such jobs. So please take a few minutes and complete it if it applies to you. skillsforcare.org.uk/entry_...