The pincushion and other stories


It started as a throwaway object, tattered and dirty and now it belongs to me. I don’t know where or when the pincushion came into my life, but it holds a strange attraction and I love it now. To mend something and the process of mending feels like a luxurious joy. To be held in the task and also allowed to wander in the mind. Honouring the hands that worked on it before, despite it’s perceived worthlessness, extending its life for a while.

When I moved countries nearly a year ago, along came a garage full of our lives, about half from the flat and half inherited from my parents. Their possessions, safetly stored in a warehouse in central Portugal, now wait patiently. I think of them often, nothing of any great value, but worth enough to ship abroad and all the palava that entailed. I liberated a car-full of boxes about two weeks ago and have since been enjoying the treasure.

As I discused in my last post, we collectively need to be Hummingbirds and doing the best we can. This brilliantly clear article by Ed Gillespie, addresses much of what I have been feeling recently. Net Zero carbon targets (NOT Zero) must be a push towards real zero.

For any organisation, making a plan of action to tackle the range of carbon and pollution reduction measures, and starting those actions must be a priority. Our video resource library is a good starting place. The ideas presented are the minimum that any organisation should be doing.

We also need to be time-travellers and spend some time visioning a future. In the film 2040, written as a letter to his daughter, the director Damon Gameau travels across the world to find inspiring stories of change. In the future I see, we retain a richness of life for my children, still filled with culture and humanities brilliance, importantly valuing more than money. I hold this future in my heart and reach for it when the science seems insurmountable and reality seems bleak.

With new glasses I can see again and also feel old. As Extinction Rebellion once again take to the streets, I write a song for my Rebel friends and activist sisters and brothers globally.