the eye of the storm

Eye of a Hurricane


If you are still strapped in in the roller coaster, my opinion is that we are about to strike the eye of the storm and need to stay calmer than ever. The pictures that loom currently are likely to take hold of our financial anxieties and could lead us to make decisions in a panic to save whatever is worth saving. If we can stay calm, we may notice that we have all we need.

As we celebrated harvest festival in our village, there was a toning down of the usual feast. Instead of a full village feast we had nibbles and drinks after the service. The main theme was using the words in Harvest and highlighting that we are a country that HAVE and that some others STARVE and that in order to have enough we need to learn to SHARE. It reminds me of what we learnt in kindergarten ; play nice, share and we all will have enough.

At the same time, Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food highlighted that for many families, the basics of cooking and providing fresh, seasonal food is a skill that is sorely lacking and his efforts to cascade cooking lessons amongst the people in Rotherham is meeting with some resistance to say the least.

So far, the banks have been found lacking in the way they have dealt with ‘ virtual money’, our County Councils have invested surplus funds in Icelandic Banks and anyone with shares is selling them as fast as they can to save what can be saved. Next will be reverberations on pension and insurance funds, then small businesses will likely see their overdrafts being recalled adding to the chaos. It looks like a downward spiral but that too has its tipping point.

Historically a response would be to cut everything by 10% as 10% is an achievable measure. At the same time as the country will have more people unemployed in a variety of sectors, there is likely to be a cut too in benefits and welfare payments and an increase in taxation to redress the balance.

Instead of wasting the produce that is available to harvest, lets harvest what we can in the natural world and look to preserve the three basic needs we need to cover : food, shelter and warmth.

Shelter is the one most in danger if you have high borrowing on it and may need some tough rethinking.
Food : we can try and eat foods that are local , that produce a steady source of energy and essential elements for health.
Warmth : instead of warming the air around us, we could concentrate on warming ourselves to conserve energy around the house.

Life is a circle, when you harvest you also find time to sow. An alignment can take place when we look at different things to sow and reap in the future.