No Smoke Signals

Today is an anniversary for me.  It is exactly two months since I stopped smoking.

The journey has been much different to what I expected, both easy in parts as well as hard.  For the most part, determination has seen me through the weeks, along with much support from family, friends and Twitter.

Strangely, this past week has been one of the hardest I have had in terms of cravings.  My friend, who used to run smoking cessation classes, told me that this is the time when it can be the hardest.  When complacency creeps in and you believe that you have beaten the cravings.

That much is definately true.  After passing the six/seven week mark with hardly any cravings at all, I let my guard down and as such, the cravings have slipped back to a level that makes it hard once again.

But, now I have realised this, my determination is back in full force and I think it is time to read "The Easy Way to Quit" again, which helped me so much in the first place.  Never surrender!!

A Bad Business Plan

Let’s say you had a product to sell.   You could sell this product, if advertised correctly to potentially 60 million people in your local area.

You are aware that around 70% of the public are known to be interested in your product.  You have had massive sales for a long period of time, but these days, people aren’t buying and your numbers have dropped dramatically.

Your regular buyers are now down to approximately 1 million per week.  A massive advertising campaign is needed to engage with the public again, bring them back to you, and your product.

The trouble is, you still remember the glory days when sales were great, the public hung on your every word and you had influence in every corner. You make a wrong decision,  sales plummet even further and the end may be near.

Sound familiar?  Try the Church of England who have today said that gay marriage is the one of worst threats in 500 years and will “redefine marriage” .  This is the Church of England which was created in order to allow King Henry VIII to be able to divorce one woman and marry another.  Redefining marriage is what they were created for.

England has evolved, as have it’s people.  There are now many races, cultures, religions and beliefs living and co-existing in England.  We have atheists, Christians, Muslims, Jews. We have straight people, gay people, transgender people, bisexuals……The list goes on and on.  We each have our own beliefs and opinions. 

I am a straight Atheist woman.  What the Church of England is saying quite frankly sickens me.  Archaic bigoted thinking has no place in the 21st century.  When members of your own religion, of which I have seen many today, are questioning and disputing what you say, it is time to re-evaluate and change, or suffer the consequences. 

The Balance

I believe in animal rights.  I have done many blogs on the subject, the latest in relation to horse racing. 

I am pretty clear on what lines I will cross, what I believe is acceptable and what isn't.  For example, I won’t wear, and greatly oppose the fur trade.  Anyone wearing fur in my opinion is despicable.   Skinning an animal, in a lot of cases still alive, just for it’s coat and to then just throw away the carcass is something I will never understand.

There is a video on the PETA website, linked here which shows what happens.  I offer caution before you watch the video however, it broke my heart and I could not stop crying.

I an anti blood sports, including trophy hunting (see Trophy Hunting) and I don’t believe that animals belong in circuses or should be used for the entertainment of a crowd.

Because I have these beliefs, some people assume, and indeed think I should be, a vegetarian.  I’m not.  Whilst I am in no way the biggest carnivore in the world, this is purely from a taste point of view and not because I think that it is wrong.

All nature is a balance.  The lion eats the zebra.  The cat eats the mouse.  The spider eats the fly. Humans eat animals.  I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with that.  We aren’t built to live on plants.

I do believe however that we have a responsibility however to ensure that the animals we do eat should have the best life possible before the end.  So no battery chickens, championing local produce and most importantly, finding out where your food comes from and how it was treated. 

The lion may eat the zebra without a thought about it, but it doesn’t gather together it’s prey, ram them all together in a too small enclosure and sell off for a bigger profit.  It eats when it needs too.

Imagine a predator did this, but not to chickens, to us....