Where did all the water go?

Omygosh! You will never guess what happened to me today! There was no running water in the flat. Like, the water actually stopped running! The tap was totally on, but there was no water! Nothing. Nada. Zip. No water. 

Did you get that yet? There was no water!

So I couldn't get a drink, even though I was parched.

I couldn't cook my dinner, even though I was hungry.

I couldn't water the herbs in the kitchen, even though they were drier than the plain chicken at Nandos (seriously, why is that even an option?).

I couldn't wash the dirty plates and cutlery, even though flies were hovering menacingly around them. 

I couldn't wash my hands, even though they were covered in Public Transport Filth - I dread to think of what I might have caught if it weren't for my trusty hand sanitizer. 

I'm pretty sure that the washing machine wouldn't have worked either - so no clean clothes y'all.


The tap was totally on, but there was no water. For like, at least half an hour. A full 30 minutes. And then, thank God, it suddenly came back. 


Thank God the toilet was still working.

Thank God I didn't have to make the 30 second trip to the corner shop to buy some bottled water (I mean, I don't think they even stock Isklar Water - my favourite Carbon Neutral Norweigan glacial natural mineral water with exceptionally low mineral content. I might have been reduced to buying Evian or something equally mediocre - just the very thought of it will give me nightmares for a week).

Thank God I then didn't have to carry the mediocre bottled water up two flights of stairs. 

Thank God that even if I had bought some water it would have been clean and wouldn't have made me ill. 

Thank God the water came back on.

Thank God the water came back on and I was able to drink clean water from the tap, cook my dinner, wash up and wash my hands. 

#FirstWorldProblems

From Tearfund

The truth is that not everyone has access to safe drinking water - and by everyone I mean 768 million everyones.  This is roughly one in ten of the world's population. 
(WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Report 2013 update)*


The truth is that unclean drinking water increases your chances of developing water related diseases such as diarrhoea, trachoma and typhoid. Some of these diseases can be fatal, especially in children who are less than 5 years old.

The truth is that women in Africa and Asia often carry 20kg of water on their heads, that's the same weight as the average UK airport luggage allowance (UNDP: Human Development Report, 2006: page 34-35)*. I can usually barely lift my holiday suitcase onto the conveyor at the airport, let alone carry it on my head. Every day. And then walk a few miles. 

The truth is that sickness and having to fetch water everyday is a huge barrier to working and education.

But there is Hope - there are some great organisations such as Water Aid and Tearfund who work with communities to make safe and clean drinking water accessible. See how you can support them.

What else can you do?

Buy Belu Water.

Sponsor the 'I carried a watermelon' team. For real, they're carrying a watermelon. 

Tweet about it, facebook about it, instagram about it. Tell people you know - get them to do something about it too. 

*Info from www.wateraid.org

Adventures in...Indecision

Shout out to fellow STARTer Jess who let me guest post for thistrainisboundforglory. A wonderful collection of posts chronicling 'Adventures in...' everything from health to hope, and indecision to Iraq. 

Adventures in...Indecision 

A wise man once wrote that an undecided mind is like a storm tossed sea – going one way and then the other, never settled. #James1v8

I’m always undecided about something – move here, move there, move back or stay where you are. Apply for this job, apply for that job or don’t change job at all. Go for a drink, have one more drink or diet coke please. Pizza or Pasta. Star Wars or Star Trek.  Beyonce or Bieber. Marmite or Nutella...

To read the rest of this post click here (even if you don't read my post you should check out the rest of the blog. You won't regret it).

How to Survive a Quarter Century Crisis?

Despite being told last weekend that I looked 17 I am, in fact, fast approaching my mid-twenties (#notsurehowtodealwiththis). Any of you fortunate enough to have met High Queen Rachel of Melodrama may remember the not-quite-Quarter-Century-Crisis (read this if you missed out). Well, now that I am more or less recovered I am sufficiently qualified to offer some diamonds of wisdom on how to survive a Quarter Century Crisis (real or imagined)...

It's simple really - Find a friend.

Seriously. Find a friend who gets it. Find a friend to help you plug the leak of your dreams, bail out the sinking boat of your Quarter Century Crisis, fix the oars of your hope and row to the shore of Life As A Grown Up. #cheesybuttrue

Find a friend who not only understands what you’re trying to figure out, but can help you get to wherever it is you want to go – even if you don’t know where that is most of the time.

Not a friend to patronisingly pat your hand, offer you a side tilt look of sympathy and then change the subject to something less..awkward. Not a friend with whom you can become unhealthily dependant – i.e. calling each other to discuss what to have for lunch/what socks to wear because you can no longer face any decision alone is not ok (if this is you, then you need to find another friend to get you some help, and soon).

To survive your Quarter Century Crisis you need to find a friend with whom you can be honest. Find a friend who will help you set goals and ask you why if you haven’t met them. Find a friend to help you keep your sense of humour. Find a friend who will lovingly (and that’s o so very important) tell you what you already knew but where too scared to admit. Find a friend who will bring round the Nutella/beer/comfort food of choice when what you thought was the right track turns out to be a costly dead end. Find a friend who will bring round the Nutella/beer/comfort food of choice when zip-a-dee-doo-dah there’s plenty of sunshine heading your way and a Bluebird singing on your shoulder.

Find a friend like this – and not only will you survive your Quarter Century Crisis, but you’ll have a BFF to boot! #winwin

And everyone knows sharing is caring, so if your friend hasn’t hit their own Quarter Century Crisis then maybe helping you out will induce their own (thereby helping them avoid the ridiculously trendy haircut/sky diving/expensive sports car/excessive plastic surgery of the Mid Life Crisis.) So don’t forget to be there for them too. Bring the Nutella/beer/comfort food of choice. Support them in their laments and champion their celebrations.

Find a friend, survive your Quarter Century Crisis. Simple.

Any way-more-sparkly-than-pearls diamonds of wisdom on Quarter Century Crises you care to share?

Hope

I’ve been thinking a lot about hope lately.

These three things will remain: faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13 v 13 

I don’t think I’ve ever really full-on hoped for something with every fibre of my being. Sure there’s been things that I’ve wanted, but I’ve always known I would be ok if I didn’t get them.

So I've never completely understood why hope was in there.

Until recently.

A youth-worker friend was telling me about the hopelessness of some of the youth she works with: “They don’t know what they want to do in the future, they have no plans, no hope in doing anything other than live off benefits.”

Another friend who works for a small charity said similar things about some of the clients she sees: “Some of our clients have no intention of doing anything to change their circumstances, they have no hope that anything they do will change their situation.”

hope·less

adj \ˈhō-pləs\

Definition of HOPELESS

a : having no expectation of good or success : despairingb : not susceptible to remedy or curec : incapable of redemption or improvement

2

a : giving no ground for hope : desperateb : incapable of solution, management, or accomplishment :impossible

— hope·less·ness noun

There are many people with no hope that their situation will change. No hope that they can change their situation. They are hopeless.

Hope is what keeps us going in the toughest of situations - hope that it can and will get better.

Hope is what motivates us to try and change our situation - hope that we can do it.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life – Proverbs 13 v 12

But hope is what so many people are lacking. 

So in order to serve those who find themselves in need, whether spiritually, emotionally or physically, maybe what we need to do is reinvigorate hope.

How do we do this? Answers on a postcard please.