Be different babe

Quote Anon

During my time at university I house shared with four other girls. We were all pretty amicable and we took it in turns to cook and weekly shopped together. It was during this time that I learnt there are a million ways to cook Spaghetti Bolognese that are nothing like my Mum would do. Adding mushrooms was fine and something I’d consider adding now, carrots seemed very amicable and almost Italian until one chick added what can only be described as ‘bendy’ carrots and we had to have a word with her. Ultimately it wasn’t fair on our stomachs lining and the carrots had escaped the pot long enough to be put to rest in a refuse centre somewhere far away. (R.I.P bendy carrots)

What I learnt was the old phrase of ‘there are more ways than one to skin a cat’ or in this case, cook a mid week spag bog. (Way more animal friendly when using Quorn, sorry cat lovers).

At the moment social media is enjoying looking at gender in young children and making comments on the toys they should and shouldn’t have, I think there is also a blogger who has written about her son being denied a princess Disney experience. So, as a blogger I thought I’d give my opinion on the topic – I couldn’t give a crap.

I don’t care if my son, or any child of any gender, non gender or polka dot gender wants to play with a pink sparkly doll or a transformer. I eat Yorkie chocolate bars on principle that they are advertised as ‘not for girls’ and all I actually care about is that my son is happy and healthy, or any other polka dot child previously mentioned. Be different babe, or don’t be different – it doesn’t matter, as long as you are happy. Some people love to be unique and others strive to fit in, some bubble along in the middle. Ultimately, society will judge (me included, especially after a GnT) and thats okay too. Whats not okay if for me to force my opinion on you to a point where you feel you need to change. Freedom of speech / rights are lovely phrases that comes with A LOT of really important small print. Ultimately you can squeeze it down to several sentences:

  • You CAN say what you want BUT you can’t offend someone
  •  Slander can get you in prison (and rightly so)
  • If nobody asked you for your opinion keep it to yourself, oh and the classic parenting quote ‘if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all’

Over the last few weeks millions of children will start new schools, colleges and Universities, over the last month parents have argued with those children as they battle to find ‘the right school shoes’ or the bag that is acceptable. I even heard a child crying in a local supermarket as her Mum was insistent on buying her ‘the wrong’ skirt. She wanted the one with the bow in the middle; don’t tell her Mum but the kid was right, it was way cuter with the bow. Anyway, I digress, the point I’m making is that many of those people will make fake friends as they battle like sardines to find a place to belong, any place – just to feel like they fit in…except they wont belong, the good news is they will form friendships by Christmas that are based on things that matter like shared interests, morals and the ability to make each other laugh, oh and the girl in the supermarkets Mum will be right, the bow will also have dropped off by Christmas and I totally understand why she isn’t paying an extra £3 for it.

I selected this quote for its simplicity and frankly I agree ‘Be different babe’ but if you don’t want to be different thats okay, just don’t feed me bendy carrots.


 

Be a flamingo

 Another ‘Anon’
Growing up on the outskirts of SE London I saw my fair share of pigeons. They breed at a rapid rate and made walking under the bridge to school a tense situation – Mum would literally march me through and then check my coat for any ‘accidents’ once we were on the other side. Usually muttering to one of her Mum friends how disgusting it was…

Now flamingos – they are a whole new level of awesome. They are the yoga gurus of the bird world, they are pink – Like seriously why isn’t there a Disney flamingo princess? They make rainy days at the UK zoo seem like the Carribean and did I mention they are pink?

Living on the south coast we often pop in to Brighton for shopping trips and unique food or quirky places to visit…walking down the high street can sometimes Look like a rainbow just threw up, any colour, any style and any look is acceptable. In Brighton if you want to wear a onesie, that’s ok. If you want to wear a costume or at times nothing (although illegal) it seems to happen. Brighton is a fashion mix match and my little flamingo paradise. A hub of cultural diversity and an expanse of economics it has it all, except parking spaces / it lacks this, and maybe to an extent so does the flamingo when attempting to camouflage…unless it’s near an ice cream van 🙂

I think both birds have their strong points, but perhaps we sometimes are too pigeon and not flamingo enough. What are you going to do today to harness your inner flamingo? (Don’t worry you don’t have to wear pink)