Lottsathoughts

What a fantastic job I have. If you've ever thought about singing but been too scared - be reassured. Anyone can benefit and truly I can say that I have never yet met someone who is tone-deaf. Many would-be pupils have promised they are that person, but in the real world they simply get better. And the therapy aspect is definitely true - I serve a reasonable cup of tea when needed, or even cold beers. Secret life of a singing teacher

I can't stop going on about Calais. Today there are over 1500 unaccompanied children who have been cut off from all they know. They are denied access to lawyers. They have no information on what is going to happen now. ALL the officials have gone. Literally the only adults left are policemen - doesn't that sound like a recipe for disaster? They have had their water cut off. There is no food or warmth. The toilet facilities are not cleaned and are beyond disgusting – ankle deep in festering pools of raw human sewage. Thank God for volunteers like Help Refugees. After the media circus has moved on, these amazing volunteers continue as they have done for months. Now providing 1500 meals 3 times a day. Plus drinking water. And emergency help such as ferrying a child to hospital earlier. The volunteers are not allowed access to the containers where the children are housed. What on EARTH is this about? I've messaged the Home Secretary Amber Rudd twice in 3 days but along...

Montaigne again (writing over 400 years ago) : "Truth for us nowadays is not what is, but what others can be brought to accept."  So there you are. ....nothing changes after all. The only thing that baffles me is why so many are so happy to believe any old rubbish. Why don't people do their own thinking to expose the lies? Is it as simple as laziness? I'm not sure. Certainly today there is as much publicity for reasoned arguments as for spin yet people actively get on board with the "we don't want experts" idea. Why?  Why deliberately choose to be ignorant?

Today, The Jungle in Calais burns. I have been aware of the inadequacy of BBC news service for some time but today has laid it utterly bare. The BBC reports throughout the day have toed what is presumably the official line - all gone to plan, nobody left, all peaceful etc. The truth is heartbreakingly different. Entirely predicted by volunteers, the issue of the unaccompanied children was disastrously mismanaged. Increasingly panicky messages were coming out about children being ordered back into the raging fires and the only safe-havens were closed by lunchtime. At 9pm tonight volunteers were driving these children to the aid-warehouse for safety because authorities failed to act. I no longer have confidence in our government and our BBC to act and report truthfully and with integrity. I, for one, have wept today following the plight of these children for whom I can do nothing.

My daily reading of Montaigne (doesn't everyone?) "We parrot whatever opinions are commonly held, accepting them as truths, with all the paraphernalia of supporting arguments and proofs, as though they were something firm and solid....everybody vies with each other to plaster over the cracks and prop up received beliefs with all the powers of reason - a supple instrument which can be turned on the lathe into any shape at all. Thus the world is pickled in stupidity and brimming over with lies." This was written approx 450 years ago. How pertinent! And yes, I do include myself in the people who may be mistaken. I particularly like the last sentence and will try to remember this and quote it more often.

Back in the UK and reflecting on Calais and the 10,000 people there dependent on our help. Jim and I ended up with very different experiences and yet ultimately very similar. I spent all my time outdoors in the woodyard whereas Jim was in the warehouse. We therefore met and talked with entirely different people. Every volunteer has a different story. Many (possibly most) are there on their own, answering some inner voice that compels them to get involved. They are all ages, all nationalities, all backgrounds. Self-employed musicians and actors, corporate employees using their precious annual leave, the unemployed and the retired. Some very physically fit, many not so. The jobs are many and varied. Needless to say the woodyard is physically punishing but even there we had a lady yesterday with a bad back who found she could help by standing at the saw-station removing nails from planks. Some came with money, some with donations, some came with just their time and enthusiasm. The oper...

A new first for me - foraging at the tip! Came away with a truckload of wood and then spent the rest of the day helping break and saw it up for firewood. The mood around the impending eviction is wary. Many believe that the demolition of the camp will achieve little beyond destroying the homes and few possessions of desperate people. New refugees are expected to continue to arrive. Maybe more and more smaller camps will continue to spring up along the coast - there are several already. The trouble with this is that it becomes much harder to provide aid if everyone is spread out. Oh what a mess. Jim and I saw a small group of refugees appear to make a half-hearted run at a lorry. No answers. Only continued concern for these humans in distress.