Buy FitFlops at the best price and save your legs

The great thing about the new must have footwear, FitFlops, is that you're giving yourself great legs and a better behind, the more you wear them. Now that their range includes stylish sandals for summer, comfy indoor clogs, including the coziest shearling lined clog, and fabulous boots, I am planning to wear them year round. Go get a great deal at an amazing price on all of them here now. 

The British makers of the Fit Flop say, that by wearing FitFlop boots, clogs, smeakers or sandals you 'get a workout while you walk'™

FitFlop footwear is biomechanically engineered to help tone and tighten your leg muscles while you walk in them. Studies at the Centre for Human Performance at London's South Bank University show that normal walking in FitFlop sandals* can :

• help increase leg and bottom muscle activity (up to 30%). (so you feel less ache in your hips and knees)
• absorb more shock than a normal shoe (up to 22%)
• help realign ground force reaction closer to your joints.

* When compared to a control shoe. 

Case studies were performed on Microwobbleboard
technology over a forty-eight month period by Dr David Cook, 
Senior Lecturer in Biomechanics, and Darren James 
at the Centre for Human Performance at 
London South Bank University.    

The Happy Bubble in London!

FUN NEWS! On January 17th Actionaid is creating a pop-up "Happy Place" in central London! It'll be full of wonderful, happy things like smoothies, porridge, cupcakes, fresh grass, soothing sounds, comfort food, free massages, etc... all inside giant "Happy Bubbles"! And... they'll be broadcasting Notes from the Universe on giant screens! Why? To help end poverty, together! How? Increased awareness! Made possible by friends in the media spreading the word! When? January 17th, 7am - 7pm Where? City center! Finsbury Avenue Square, Broadgate (Liverpool Street tube station). Cost? FREE! Click here for more information or check it out on Facebook!

The song 'Mamma Africa' was recorded for Actionaid and
your download supports them.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and other charming English gossip

It is a joy to read a book (by Helen Simonson) that reflects some of the realities of English life as she is lived now - full of foibles, bitchiness, racial and religious squabbles - as well as old fashioned courtship. And strangely, class plays a secondary role. In Major Pettigrew's Last Stand neither staunch traditionalist Major Pettigrew nor his new found friend, Mrs Ali, widow and village shopkeeper, are hidebound by the past.

They embody and maintain a dignified respect for history, family and education, without being stuffy, while almost everyone around them resorts to money grubbing tactics and cheap showy strategems in the hope of raising money or pursuing their own ends.

However the book remains ever witty, delightful and charming in the face of modern and tragic challenges to maintaining one's dignity and equanimity. This is a love story in the English tradition, affectionate even to the buffoonery in our midst and gently mocking even of our esteemed and beloved heroes.

 Major Pettigrew's Last Stand:  is in the kindle edition here. For Amazon UK see below.

Rye has been a centre of literary focus for centuries but if this book evokes another particular era and works it is those of the master of gossip, E.F. Benson. The Mapp and Lucia series are wickedly arch, full of delicious snobbery and nosiness. Wonderfully, Helen Simonson has captured that very English wit in her modern tale of Sussex village life, slightly tart with a predilection for the gentle put down. 

E.F Benson's characters were portrayed to perfection in the TV series by Geraldine McEwan and Nigel Hawthorne, in serious one-upmanship competition with Prunella Scales.

Such coverage of village life and goings on has been central to English publishing since Jane Austen. It is extraordinary how we rediscover Jane or her successors and make stars of the actors who portray her heroes. Like other British women my age, I am still a fan of Colin Firth more for his role as Mr Darcy in the BBC classic series of Pride and Prejudice than for anything else he has ventured, Hollywood awards notwithstanding. I was glued to the TV for Pride and Prejudice night over the holidays. Can there be anyone who hasn't seen the series? If so, reserve a couple of evenings at home with the DVD player to watch the whole run or, even better, curl up on a Sunday evening and watch weekly to extend the enjoyment as long as possible.

  


   


          




   

Total beginner or world’s worst knitter? Then make a gorgeous throw

Knitting is relaxing, therapeutic and fun – and you have something to show for your efforts – sometimes very quickly.

I am not a great knitter but I have made lots of small and large scarves, wraps and throws that I am proud to have in my home or wear myself, or give as gifts. People are also happy to pay me for my knitted items, sold for good causes. I have found the satisfaction of making beautiful things with gorgeous wool. 

My secret? I use interesting wool or yarn. I mix it up together so each blended strand has a unique colour, found only in my creation.

If you want to try this out, here is the recipe: First decide how quickly you need to see a result or you’ll give up. How patient are you? If you need a result in five days of evening TV watching, buy some huge knitting needles (pins). If you do have huge needles, you will need thick yarn. I recommend that you buy the loveliest knitting needles that you can afford or find. Enjoy the experience of collecting together your equipment. Perhaps find beautiful wooden knitting pins with coloured ends. Make your creative experience a sensual and visual delight. No-one now is knitting to provide necessary clothing. We knit for the joy of the experience and to exercise our creativity. Make the whole process fun.

Then find your yarn. To make my unique projects I buy two or three colours or types of wool and knit them alongside each other so that each stand is doubled or trebled. It makes for a thick and interesting texture. If one of the strands is yarn that is itself textured with ‘eyelashes’ or bobbles, then the result makes for a fabulous variegated twist on the original approach. The added bonus is that your project grows quickly. I want to see the result of my efforts fast!

Don’t worry if you drop stitches or make extra ones, or your ‘tension’ is inconsistent. All these add to the individual hand made character of your scarf or blanket.

With this technique you can make something for anyone – use the softest baby yarn and you can make a cosy baby or crib blanket. Use the finest cashmere and you can make a throw to cuddle up with on the sofa while you watch a Sunday afternoon movie. You can make a short scarf or shoulder shawl in a few hours or an evening. Have fun and just get started.

The Metamorphic Technique – a tool for transformation

Many of us want to change our lives and the options to do so often seem to involve effort or self revelation. One method which is easy, relaxing and effortless is the Metamorphic Technique.

A practitioner of the Technique works by a gentle stroking touch - first on the feet, then the hands, and finally the head. During a session, which takes about an hour, you can talk, drift into a state of deep relaxation or do whatever feels natural. Without the need to discuss them, old patterns of behaviour and life can drop away.

Created by a British man, Robert St John, in the 1960s, and developed by Gaston St Pierre, the Technique has travelled around the world although most practitioners are still based in the UK. No fancy equipment is needed, only the detached presence of the practitioner. The wonder is only that this almost shy modality is not better known.

The Metamorphic Technique can be taken up by anyone and is a wonderful gift to the recipient. Not only is it healing to adults but it is the perfect simple practice for developmentally challenged children or adults. It tends to bring balance to life, and its teachers describe how everyone is on a spectrum of ‘afferent’ and ‘efferent’. The most afferent individuals might be inward looking, even autistic, and inclined to think without action, whilst the most efferent would be inclined to act first and think later. Use of the Technique can provide a catalyst towards balance.

A simple practice which you can do anytime is derived from the work. It is the ‘conceptual pattern’ or healing circle. Place one hand over the other in the opposite direction, making a space inside the hands. Now, with any finger, touch the outside of the first knuckle of each thumb. 

Visualise or think into the space you have created, a person, name or situation which you wish to allow energy to flow to. Now move your hands to make tiny circles onto those places which your hands touch. Allow the energy to go where it may without trying to influence the outcome. Continue for a minute or two or until you feel a shift.

  

You can find out more about the Metamorphic Technique online or from the Metamorphic Association. In the USA, the practice of Metamorphosis is available, which follows the work of Robert St John more closely.

Image: Cindy Silverlock, Metamorphosis Center 

Vibrate your way to happiness

Haven't we all had days where nothing went right? And other times when everything fell into place? As if the universe is toying with us?
The wonderful and annoying truth is that the world is not random, but the results we see around us are the effects of our own vibrations.
The good news is that we can affect our vibrations, which actually equate to our emotional state of being, by observing our own feelings and consciously moving them.

Everything in our bodies, and indeed in the whole universe, is moving, at an atomic level. Everything is in fact energy in motion. Therefore, vibration is our natural state. Why not make vibration work for you or work with your vibration to feel better and produce better results in life. How does better emotion translate into raising vibrations you may ask?

Why do depressed people feel 'low'? Why is a good mood 'upbeat'?
 
A faster tempo is not always ideal. It can become hyper or manic. The ideal pace is harmonious; resonating with goodwill, appreciation and love. So the vibration we might seek would be in tune with our surroundings; expressing a yes to life and our current reality.
 
So how can we tune ourselves to that note which reverberates with happiness and joy?
 
First, appreciate yourself for the unique being you are.
Secondly, find something in your immediately vicinity, however small, to appreciate.
Thirdly, focus on those things you can genuinely appreciate until you feel yourself resonate with that good feeling place.
Fourth, when things are not going so well, take a moment to focus on what you would like to be doing and feeling.
Fifth, feel free to feel the emotion that you ARE feeling, and recognise that a better feeling place is not always happy. It could still be angry, irritated etc.
Sixth, give yourself a break. Make it easier to feel a good vibration by using music, meditation, a cup of hot chocolate or whatever works for you.
Finally, know that you can change your vibration and feel happier and more harmonious and therefore you always have the power to choose.

Your vibration is your key to life, love and happiness. Choose it wisely and feel an inner smile.
 
With acknowledgement, love and appreciation for Esther and Jerry Hicks.

Visit the second best seaside town in England

Well, why would you want to do that? And why not go to the first best?

Before you ask, the second best seaside town in England is Broadstairs, in the Isle of Thanet, on England’s south east coast, Kent, as voted by Guardian readers. (Number 1 was St Ives, in Cornwall).

Broadstairs has retained its Victorian charm and even, at certain weeks of the year, its Dickensian characters. It has several lovely sandy beaches, a paddling pool, rides for kiddies on the beach and a bandstand where bands play on a Sunday afternoon in the summer.

The town can be reached in a couple of hours by car or train from London or elsewhere in the south and once there, unlike Cornwall, you can probably find a place to park. Although ‘Busy Broadstairs’ is full of families over the summer, it is never unbearably crowded and the railway station is only a 10 minute walk away from the beach.

There are events throughout the spring, summer and autumn in Broadstairs – with frequent firework displays over Viking Bay, Dickens Week in June, when characters parade around and take a dip in the sea in costume, to Folk Week in August when the town is taken over by musicians and dancers, to a grand Food Festival at the end of September and into October.

A gem of a tiny old cinema, the Palace, shows a regular programme of new commercial releases with a weekly art film evening on Tuesdays. Morelli’s huge original ice cream parlour, a preserved 50s classic, still serves knickerbocker glories, and huge specials made for two people.

A wide range of restaurants in the town make it a good choice for grown ups too, with plenty of coastal walks, top golf courses and historic locations in Thanet itself and nearby areas of East Kent.

Whether for a day trip by the sea (and the weather usually is better than inland) or a short break or a family seaside holiday, Broadstairs can’t be beaten.