Exciting is the best word for it. This Cherry Tree started from a pip dropped by birds and as it starts it’s third year, I have spotted blossom! So am quite chuffed about that.
July 2020
It looked super healthy the first year, and following that one. Last year was a bit touch and go with not watering it enough I think, and a rather slick ant farm operation that installed itself on it. I gave up fighting it in the end, but it struggled through.
And now as the new leaves get going, I spotted two blossom flowers, so am hopeful it will continue well on its growing journey this year.
It’s growing season finally and the window sill is being utilised again. This year I’ve started with spring onions, cress and raspberry from seeds saved last year. The cress is no work at all and goes for it instantly, the onions taking a little longer but a few poking out now. The raspberries I have had to be patient with, not knowing if anything will happen. Fruit is a bit trickier to grow, but it looks as though the first signs of life are happening.
And with some already growing rocket and the little apple tree coming along, it’s a full row. (And orchids on the end so using what space there was).
It seems as though initially, they used women against men, to bring them down a bit and get them to ‘know their place’ just like we had done to us. Women took the bait and went for ‘equality’ despite knowing we are different. Now, in a twist to the tale, it seems that the tables have turned again, and now men are being used against women (and men), with the twist being that it is a handful of men portraying what they perceive to be a representation of what it is to be a woman. Not actually a woman, but an exaggerated commercial parody of one. Quite perverse really. And aside from the comedic way they try to paint it, it’s quite disturbing how so many of the monopoly companies have decided all at the same time to change their branding with who they have chosen, and not many, just one face for it all. These companies don’t do things without a heavy amount of psychological research and marketing beforehand. So, knowing it will make headlines, but damage sales they have gone ahead – strange trade-off for a ‘business’ trying to appeal to an extremely small section of society. And all the other places where they are trying to shoehorn men into is odd too, making sure they win women’s awards, sports, get their jobs and statuses – even now talking of implanting wombs into men (or taking people out the growing process altogether covered in my article Pod Life 2). All the while laughing and joking about it, finding it amusing to downplay women’s concerns. But I believe these concerns should be shared by both, because it’s a weird project they seem to have running with trying to balance it all out by creating one A-gender, sounds awfully like agenda doesn’t it?
And there has been speculation over the years, that the encouragement of letting women go out to work and them being ‘given rights’ was all a ruse and a cover, for a purpose with a few layers to it. Firstly, you can instantly increase the workforce and can gather more taxes and money from people. Secondly, you start to change the family dynamic and draw women away from the household, and thirdly, you change the mindset of individuals and the overall social group. Like I said above, there is a level of difference between men and women that we had mostly accepted as a collective. That women get pregnant and have children, men cannot although are half the equation in being the ones who impregnate women. That there are strength differences between the two and varying levels of hormones which affect day to day function and throughout our lives. I honestly thought we had accepted that and wanted to maintain what we knew, and improve upon it to make it all better and brighter.
But no. It seems we are taking a rather strange path instead, where instead of celebrating our differences and embracing our individual selves within that, they appear to be trying to blur the lines. And to some it seems as simple as someone just trying to ‘be themselves’, which to me seems ironic as it literally involves trying to be someone else, so not your authentic self then? I thought part of life was about trying to work out who you were, and being accepting of that. Warts and all as they say. But if you are constantly changing yourself to fit what you think is acceptable to society (and by society I mean all the angles of it which includes friends, family and media too), then how are you ever going to know who you were meant to be? And it is harsh that the society I speak of, is the one who sets up restrictions, boundaries, ideals and expectations in people’s lives and families, so they weren’t or aren’t able to just be themselves. However, being yourself is now being wielded as a weapon, and to be honest, it kind of always was, just in different ways. Told to be confident, said it comes across as aggressive or as a know it all, encouraged to succeed, oh but don’t gloat about it, otherwise others will think you are rubbing it in their face. It’s a hard line to walk sometimes, social etiquette, standards and rules of engagement are different in amongst the people, and not quite as easy as they would have you think. Online makes it seem so cut and dry, think this or you get accused of thinking that, support something, or you are viewed as against it. Like the saying goes, just because I like apples, does not mean I hate oranges. And just because I might hate something or have a dislike for it, doesn’t mean I want everyone else to stop liking it either. That would seem like an odd validation requirement for something that should be personal and not involve anyone else, and that could be said of a few things in society too.
What people used to refer to as ‘behind closed doors’ is now a grey area for many. Because while things do literally and metaphorically still happen behind closed doors, much of it from certain people is shared online, making it public and in the social arena, whether you are well known or not. People willing to air their dirty laundry, share their opinions, dislikes and what I guess they deem as the information they want people to know at that time. Just an online version of a pub in a small town (but with a much bigger population and ‘audience’ to your life), where there would always be some folk who would love to chat about their drama in the pub, trying to get everyone to listen, or be interested, or involved. Others would just happily come and go about their business, mingling a bit and leaving. Others just being normal, drinking and laughing and utilising the chance to unwind. But people who were the first type, liked to dominate the room, the crowd, the vibe and demanding the attention. With a reaction when not getting what is required, either a tantrum, a lie, an emotional breakdown or whatever it takes to get that validation and boost. Sure, it’s nice when someone likes what you do, but why would you need people to constantly like who you are, when most people can’t possibly know who you are. And many seem to be struggling with knowing themselves, so to then expect others to know you, is just a bit of a reach in my opinion. So, although those closed doors I mentioned are now not so closed, it’s like glimpsing in through a crack in the door, or catching five minutes of someone’s day or feelings, but it isn’t just any five minutes or an accidental moment, it’s deliberate and for purpose mostly. People choose what they share currently on social media, and although they may have a lapse in judgement, or vent something more personal than they wished they had, mostly they share and say what they want you to see and hear, so you will know what they want you to know.
Meandering back to the start of the article, it seems to me that the differences between women and men, are being very much intermingled with feelings of identity, but without discussing some of the real points as to why people have felt so confused. Or misplaced within society. It’s not accidental in my mind, people are meant to be confused and looking for ‘help’ to find themselves. It’s what groomers thrive on and then they can offer to help with that, and when I say groomers, I am referring to government here and the authorities that decide programs and structures of society. We all have our own experiences growing up and of working out who we are meant to be, alongside the construct and stereotypical expectations of society shaping that. Which is why I call them groomers, as I do think we have all been groomed to behave in a certain way, and give them what they need. Men and women used against each other, just as boys and girls are, to keep it all not so harmonious, to keep the flames of greed, jealousy, competition and desire burning brightly. But it seems not enough for them anymore, they have the means and the will to turn people against themselves and will use every trick in the book to exploit people’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Being who you are is now more important than ever, and sometimes we just need a bit of time and space to work out who that is…
I have already done a piece about some strange things underground, and of there being a grisly past time and of dark things that have occurred in One thing leads to another. But I gave more thought to what might be down there, and of mysteries and ideas surrounding the levels of our earth and of what might dwell in the deep. There are a few examples of things being discovered with legends attached to them, or just no explanation at all.
The Well to Hell (Russia) – may not be as the legend says as a good story popped up around it after 1989, but a drilled hole of 12k deep found some geological anomalies, although what they were is not stated. The story was that recording equipment was lowered down and screams from hell could be heard, but upon scrutiny it seems it was a looped tape of recording to make it sound as such.
Mel’s Hole (Washington) – Another legend from our time as it popped up in 1997, with very little to back it up other than the story of a deep hole, which could bring back the dead (specifically a dog of a neighbour who had passed away and they threw it in the hole apparently – then seeing it alive later), of cover-ups and witnesses who can’t quite remember where it is but that it holds supernatural powers. Two films spring to mind for this which incidentally came out in the 80’s – Pet Semetary and The Gate, so seems likely it was just a good earner for someone briefly who perhaps wanted to sell a book, who can say for sure.
Houska Castle (Czech Republic) – this one is a bit weirder, and seems to sort of just be accepted as this is what it is, so I’ll just past the whole bit from Wikipedia as it says it all.
“and most specifically the chapel, was constructed over a large hole in the ground that is a “gateway to Hell”, which is allegedly so deep that no one could see the bottom of it. Animal-human hybrids were reported to have crawled out of it, and dark-winged, otherworldly creatures flew in its vicinity. Legend has it that when construction began in the castle, all of the prisoners that were sentenced to death were offered a pardon if they consented to be lowered by rope into the hole, and report back on what they saw. When the first person was lowered, he began screaming after a few seconds, and when pulled back to the surface, he looked as if he had aged 30 years. He had grown wrinkles and his hair had turned white.”
They say it was used by Nazi’s during WWII for experiments into the occult using the “powers of hell”. But the stories go back much further as it is said that the castle is built where it is in the 13th century, “The pit in the lower levels of the castle is said to be a gateway to hell. Thus, by constructing the Gothic building’s defensive walls facing inward, they were able to keep the demons trapped in the lower level’s thickest walls closest to the hole of the castle”
I mean, they all sound pretty much like urban legends and myths, created or updated to fit the time they find themselves in. And strangely although we move towards a ‘tech rev’ it seems that to have a rather medieval undertone to it. Which then makes me think of other random myths, movies, monsters and ideas that seem to remain in our psyche and collective histories. But of the above examples, the one that made me think further was the person being aged 30 years somewhat instantly. A terrifying concept, and if you applied that to Alice in Wonderland, would have been a different story entirely. Gone for an hour topside, but actually it was 30 years once you fell down the hole, and you experienced all those years and grew and came back to a world that you no longer knew.
Another film comes to mind here, Flight of the Navigator (1986) – where a kid is missing for what he thinks is an hour or two, but turns out it has been 8 years, and he hasn’t aged a day. It’s a great film, but feels really sad mostly and gives a strange view on how confusing something like that could be.
We always portray in movies and books that there are crypts underground for old creatures, hiding in the bowels of the earth, that come topside to feed and rejuvenate. Vampires and other things of a humanoid nature, but not part of nature as we have been taught.
Time rings, the closer you get to the spinning core, time speeds up. There is a theory that a time dilation occurs when you are either closer of further away from the spinning undertones of our realm, so with that in mind, it could easily be that there is a hole going down into the earth that gets closer to that. Ageing a person as they get closer, but without it being a reverse mechanism, only a one-way ticket to the end. But if you started down there, and could make yourself younger by coming up, well, that would be a different story.
Yet tales of things that dwell down there remain, as do remnants of old cities, tunnels and secrets long buried or hidden from everyday view. So many possibly don’t even give thought to what is underfoot, not even realising the history they are stepping over or on. Or or what perhaps is going on underfoot, we hear more talk these days of modern tunnels and hidden systems operating beneath the surface, of a world you don’t see happening within the world you do. Hidden in plain sight as you might say. And it might be the same for other things, darker and more sinister things that you thought were long since dead or forgotten, but that are still there, you just can’t quite see them…
Some of you may remember reading fairy tales growing up, or watching them as movies once they were adapted for the screen. And you may even remember the details of the tale, and the moral (some people don’t retain those things, so even some who may have read or watched them aren’t always familiar). And not everyone gives extra thought to things, ideas, subjects and stories, they can just take things at face value only with no lingering afterthought or extra dissection of the message being conveyed. But some of us do.
Because although some of the settings may have been outrageous, or far-fetched, and the characters exaggerated or overdone, with the good and the evil being very easily distinguished from one another. They had a very real and often dark exposure of human nature running through them. Of greed and selfishness, weakness and moral corruption and more often than not, showing you one of the very worst parts of people and society. Loving parents being forced to abandon their kids, hateful parents not wanting them in the way, deals being struck for fortunes using children as payment, evil stepmothers hiring mercenaries to kill their competition, children being hypnotised and led to their doom, death, poverty and danger, and so on. Highlighting how the perils that a young person may face could be many, and if we were paying attention to those tales, it could come from any area of the adult world. Even from what was supposed to be your own loving kin in some cases.
But they appear to serve as warnings neatly wrapped in a palatable coating, where of course there is also heroism, bravery and courage as well as sometimes wit and skill, to come good in the end and save the day. The meaning given to them being “a story in which improbable events lead to a happy ending“. But even though there is a creepy and often malicious thread running through them, it seems that recently they have been tidied up for public consumption by the masses, once Disney got hold of them. Dumbed down with some of the most sinister themes removed, but not all. And it is said that the originals had such dark themes because they were in fact based on historical events, and weren’t just imagination and those extra pieces of fantasticalism were added to make them acceptable for children it would seem. Or, is it a way to hide those tales and warnings of old, to ‘friendly up’ something which has ulterior motives, just like in Pinocchio. Where you can do what you want, have as much fun as you want, don’t listen to your parents or warnings, until it’s too late and the real price of all that ‘freedom’ starts to hit home. Becoming part of a system that feeds off their naivety, ignorance and lack of experience. Lining the pockets of the fat cats running the show, making money from their energy, excitement and ultimately their misery. And of that strange tale, it’s interesting to me how the whole thread of it was about his desire to be something he wasn’t, to fit in and be what his parent wanted. Thus giving rise to the vulnerability that became his weakness that others could prey upon. Identity, reality and the motives of others being much very behind that story. Or maybe that’s just how I saw it.
There are many things throughout life to help to lead you astray, whether you believe they are placed there on purpose, or find their way to you, many are not always ready to accept their part in the transaction. But mostly you cannot go unwillingly, there is a choice that occurs about which road to take, or who to follow. In all of these tales, there are choices and decisions as well as consequences and outcomes, and while some would prefer to focus on the outcome, it means they may overlook what it was that led to it. Often preferring to believe they are bystanders to circumstance, rather than players in it and sometimes the engineers of it. I wonder what fairy tales we could write of these current times, to try and continue to convey a darkness of which the undertones have been felt for more than a few centuries, and continue to lurk among us. Or maybe that’s why we keep the old stories, to remind the next generation to be wary and watchful, because sometimes behind the bright colours and beyond the witches and unicorns, there is something real and dark watching and waiting…
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