Thursday 4 December 2014

Dark nights

Today it never seemed to get light, wet grey clouds hung low over the dark North East townscapes.

New job this week, with all the pressures and tribulations. The high hopes competing against new systems, procedures and policies. Not bad just hard.

Our good old people carrier died today. Yes, it's a financial and logistical pain and challenge. But I feel sad, to the point of crying because it has been such a blessing, a great price at the right time. It carried the 8 of us round when everyone was little. Puked and pooped in, fought and cried in laughed and shouted and shouted in. RIP purple slug.

Tonight the Xbox died. Nuff said.

It's that time of the year, Christmas isn't here but the summer is a distant memory.
We feel constrained by the dark nights. Through the spring, summer and early autumn normally we'll be busy outside til 7, 8 or 9 but now we're struggling to get home from school before it's dark.
Arriving home from my dark winter commute  I almost inevitably walk into 'something' happening or its aftermath.
My negotiation and conflict resolution skills would make Ban Ki Moon weep with admiration.

Entering the house the steamed up kitchen windows evoke my own childhood, but we are non comparable to the nuclear family I grew up in. We accept conflict, negotiation and challenge as our daily work. Emotions constantly running high linked to events out of our control or jurisdiction.

We all feel caged, restricted and mourn the light.

It's our hardest time of the year, the days are still getting shorter and the hope of spring is a long way off.

We enjoy Christmas,  but for Mrs C it is a mountain of work and it holds no great religious significance for us as a family. Though we classify ourselves as believers religious festivals and associated traditions are not part of our journey to or through faith and have held limited meaning to us.

This week on Twitter I read a seasonal faith comment that I'd heard a 100 times over

"the light draws near in the darkness"

But this time it filled me with hope.

Spring will be here soon.










16 comments:

  1. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!.....mmm no more required...AHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHGGGG!!!!!!!!!!....... Stuff it !!!!!!!!!!! ......put on some funky tunes and dance on the table!!!!!!!...... Humph humph humph!!!!!!!......:-):-):-)

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  2. "Puked and pooped in, fought and cried in laughed and shouted and shouted in." Oh, the tales a car could tell! A microcosm of family life ("caged and restricted" to the extreme!).

    Yep, rubbish time of year. Apart from the twinkly lights. They're good.

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    1. Yes, twinkly lights are coming out as I type.

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  3. Thank you for your blog posts. They help keep us a tiny bit near sanity knowing others are going through similar. This time of year we are fighting darkness, festive anxiety etc.
    Loved your choices post last week - do you have a retort/response for when the AC use Option A - which they do a lot at this time of year.

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  4. Thank you for commenting. It's clear that I'm sometimes being set up, asked a question that can only be answered as a no, because they want a fight. That's hard, whatever you say or do a fight is coming, however that manifests. No answers just knowing that I'm being set up sometimes gives me the grace to roll with it and not react and get drawn emotionally drawn in. Often the issue is not the issue and finding out what is is the trick.
    Hope that made sense.

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  5. I'm not a lover of this time of year either, the darkness forcing us all inside, like caged animals. Once Christmas is over I am always yearning for spring too. Hope you manage to keep your sanity.

    Thanks for sharing on #WASO

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  6. As always tis a privilege to be a part of an amazing link up.

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  7. A great post! I like your style of writing.
    It is hard to get through the dark and cold months... Everything seems hard and difficult when you are tired and sun-deprived. I found that vit D supplement and lots of iron in the diet made a huge difference after only a week. And cutting out meat. We are now lentil lovers (full of iron).
    #brilliantblogposts

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    1. Thank you for your kind comment.
      I'm holding out for a fortnight in the Bahamas, I think that would do me the world of good.

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  8. I don't mind it getting darker earlier in the evening as much as waking up to dark mornings. In the summer I love to get out for an early run as the sun is making its appearance (I won't run on my own in the dark).

    It won't be long before the nights start drawing out again and we can smell spring again....A couple of good things about long, dark nights is enjoying snuggling by the fire with a good book...Something I couldn't enjoy so much when the children were young.

    #BrilliantBlogPosts

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  9. Thank you for your comment.
    I used to love the dark nights as a child, now it feels like wasted time.

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  10. I used to love the dark nights, pretending that monsters lurked outside or that we were hiding from some awful threat that hid in the darkness. Excitement and imagination were my tools as a child but these days I find it hard to find motivation. The dark mornings, wet and cloudy days and then dark nights weigh heavily on my mind. I look forward to the spring, or even the lighter days in winter. I say get outside when the sun shines, take in as much as you can while it's there.
    #BrilliantBlogPosts

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  11. Oh I get this. Getting up in the dark, coming home in the dark.. Yuk. But you're right, it will be spring soon! x x

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  12. I love the promise with your finale...adore the light and renewal spring promises but there's something magical about the evenings and bright lights too. Lovely post! Thanks for linking up to #brilliantblogposts

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  13. Thank you for commenting and hosting #brilliantblogposts.

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