Category: Geen categorie

Cuddle bees! My granddaughter and I have a project. We are soon to be the happy owners of a 5-star hotel for ‘cuddle’ bees. Never heard of them? I hadn’t either. It’s a new initiative to introduce a special species of bees to your garden and works like this …

Online you can order a special hotel (5 star preferably of course) for your bees which you then place on a south/south easterly wall in your garden at a height of above 1.5m. The bees come too in the same package, in their winter cocoon in a special tube. The male bees will probably be awake on arrival and there is no need to be afraid that they may sting you as they don’t have sting in their tail! These bees are a special species known as Red Mason Bees (Osmia bicornis).

As the remainder of the bees awaken from their winter hibernation, they move into your hotel and then spend the next few weeks, paring with the female bees and gathering pollen in your garden to feed the young bees. They are major hard workers in pollinating the flowers and fruit trees in your garden. They fill the corridors (or rooms if you like) with pollen and earth to not only protect the young baby bees, but to feed them and then close of the corridors with earth to stop birds picking and maybe eating their young. We won’t allow that! And they are happy, grateful guests too, usually remaining in a radius of 500 meters of their hotel.

We all know that the bee population worldwide is in serious trouble and that many experts say that when the bees become extinct, life on earth as we know it, will too. That is a pretty daunting prospect, so this is a great way to teach our children and grandchildren to have respect for the bees and not to be afraid of them. Bees and wasps will only sting if you antagonize them by waving your arms about and screaming hysterically. Sit still and they may settle on your plate (wasps especially) and then fly off. 

I have lots of other bees in my garden because of several trees that blossom in the Spring and in the first instance my granddaughter was wary of them. I keep telling her that bees just buzz by, say hello and then move on and that they are hard workers, collecting the pollen in special pockets in their knees and making honey in normal hives. They have always fascinated me from an early age and we had hives in our garden. Honey fresh from the hive and the honeycomb is the very best and so good for you.

It’s interesting that bees have a special significance too. I remember doing research about them for one of my books and I would like to share this with you:

So, for starters …

The Symbolism of bees relates to focus, dedication, hard work, teamwork, fertility, prosperity and generosity. Because bees exist on every continent on Earth, except Antarctica, they have been the subjects of mythology and folklore for many cultures all over the world.

The bee symbolizes community, brightness and personal power. Follow the bee to discover your new destination. The ancient Druids saw the bee as symbolizing the sun, the Goddess, celebration and community.

A bee landing on you represents courage, confidence, independence and determination. It is also a sign of high social energy, charisma and a good omen for attracting friendships and or good relationships.

Bees are a symbol of wealth, good luck and prosperity since ancient times. Charms in the shape of honeybees are good luck for attracting wealth. The same of course goes for coins with the honeybee symbol.

Are you convinced on the importance of bees? Hopefully yes and this is a very cute way to introduce young children to bees and hopefully preserve them for many more years yet to come.

 See the website www.knuffelbijen.nl to order yours!

Images: Google

Please, please please can we abolish the dreaded Instagram Influencers?  They are just so boring! Yes, I admit I have an account myself, but I only use it to share news about new blogs, or photos I sometimes take whilst out walking and never ever anything personal. My account is private, I don’t have a ‘blue tick verification’ (don’t want it), I only follow those I know, and only allow people I know personally to access my posts. But in some or other way, these blasted ‘influencers’ seem to creep in at all times and the majority of them, I am definitely not following at all. We all know that computer system algorithms access absolutely everything. Just look up one simple thing on Google and you will see that all your sites, Instagram, Facebook, and such like are then inundated with advertisements.

The thing that really irritates me about these ‘influencers’ is that maybe they begin in the right way, like a person for instance who is calling themselves a ‘travel blogger’. In the beginning they tell interesting things about where they are traveling and give useful tips and tricks, but then they start to send totally boring messages far too much and far too often. Like ‘Good Morning Friends’ every single day of the week. Within no time you are in their life big time, and did you want to be in the first place? Of course, the easy way to duck out is to delete all people you are following, but as I said some people are posting interesting things.

Here in The Netherlands the biggest Instagram influencer (and by this read earner) is a man called Bas Smit. I started following him as he used to post really funny stories about things, he was testing from the cheap online sites like Ali Express, Wish, Light in the Box etc. It was amusing; ‘was’ being the main word in the sentence, because now it no longer is and he has become so deadly dull, I stopped following. Not out of any malice but it just got boring the same old posts about his enormous collection of ‘Croc’ shoes, walking the dog, down the same pavement, a weekly dance routine with his personal trainer and so on.

The thing most people may or may not realize is that a major Instagram Influencer is paid big time. Either in freebies, or in money. If you are an influencer, say promoting the Boss campaign then this is literally earning you big bucks. However, unknown names who then become big influencers and this usually means that more than a million people are following them end up having so many freebies, it is totally ridiculous and out of all context.  I will use one example but not mention names. It is not my style to use names in my blogs, out of some form of journalistic respect but this is such a good example of how utterly stupid being an Instagram Influencer has become. And basically, it is all our fault.

I just happen to know of a young woman who is a big influencer. She posts every single day and several every day, beginning with the ‘Good Morning Friends’ crap. Then during the day, you are totally subject to every single event, about where she lives, about her child, about her parents, about the free products she is promoting (and therefore offering you a discount if you buy too) and then all the luxury holidays she goes on, supposedly as a travel blogger, but to be honest I have never ever read a proper blog with useful information. On the contrary, it is all stories about upgrades on planes, because no way is she going to travel economy class, only business and then the viewer is subjected to copious stories about how the child was sick on the way to the airport, how he didn’t sleep on the plane, how irritated other passengers were… should I go on, or have you fallen asleep by now?

If I was writing about an all-inclusive, five plus star holiday blog, giving advice to others then that is what it would be about. For instance, about the accommodation, the food, the services, things to do and such like. I would not be posting up stuff of a personal nature and in these times, I wonder why people do? But at the end of the day (or blog in this case) my readers would have had a useful piece of information telling them a lot of facts they could consider if they were thinking of taking the same or similar trip themselves.  Mine would be a piece of written text and not stupid Instagram stories, which by the way disappear after 24 hours.

The person I am writing about does not, sorry she does not. It is all totally boring posts and stories about the glamorous lifestyle, but that wasn’t really the point was it. Being an influencer is not a free ticket to bore your ‘public’ with the same old b.s. again and again and she does that. Since last autumn, never ending series of trips to places that the majority of us have on our dream ‘bucket list’. The top-class accommodation and continual upgrades, and I seriously wonder, do they have a real life at all? Or is life one long posting session, keeping up appearances, making content for us poor sad ‘guys’ (as she says) who are stuck at home, or at work, or can’t afford such luxury. Do we really want this rammed down out throats 24/7? No, I guess not? And as long as there are huge numbers of followers, the story continues and never ends. And as I said it is so totally boring, well I think it is. I don’t want to keep on seeing the same old promos about some food substance they are promoting, like gummy bears for my skin and hair and offering me a discount. In fact, I am capable of thinking for myself, and I don’t need some obscure influencer to tell me. Any fool can find literally anything on the internet these days and wouldn’t actually be more fun to find out for yourself. And to be blatantly honest I am not at all interested in her relationship with yet another boyfriend, lovey-dovey shots with sunsets, hundreds of posts of the child in the pool. Not at all.

And don’t think for one minute I would contemplate ever following this person, because I wouldn’t but it is surprising how much ‘content’ manages to seep through the cracks.

This is not any form whatsoever of ‘sour grapes’ even though you may be thinking that reading my words. Not at all. I am just glad that I have other things to think about and do, and not allow myself to be ‘influenced’ by such rubbish. But there are some very vulnerable young people in the world who really look up to these people and, sorry about this, is that the people they look up are basically very shallow. A lot of people are easily influenced; that is my point.

In this day and age and under the current circumstances in the world today, isn’t it time that we all had a think about these influencers and stopped following? Seriously! The more followers the more space they have to indulge themselves (not you) in totally luxury and spend their days literally lounging around in one luxurious resort to another, just because we follow them. And we all know that advertisement is big business and expensive.

The absolute ‘bloody limit’ I thought was the offer of an all-inclusive 5-star stay in one of the villas in the Maldives (where she is for the umpteenth time, the only change is the man friend who has tagged along too).  She is offering that to her followers. All expenses paid including airfares. What got me about this was the gal to even suggest that she was offering us poor souls a holiday as a thank you! That was the moment when I ensured once and for all, that she is so definitely blocked from my own account that I seriously hope I never ever see another post again (or story for that matter). And, what prompted me to write this blog. And by the way this free giveaway earned her another load of followers too! So read here, even more money!

But Instagram Influencers will continue to make big bucks and get so many freebies because we follow them, or not in my case. The fact that we do, and this earns them, the difficult to obtain ‘blue tick status’ which is based on the number of followers and the only gain is theirs and theirs alone. It is so boring, compared to other Instagram users who have a message or story to tell. Who share interesting things about their life? Or who give us useful information about things. 

The action we need to take, is that we need to be choosier because it is up to us, who do you want to follow (apart from the obvious, like family and friends). One thing that I noticed is that a huge amount of these influencers come from Germany. The comments to such stories and posts are enough to make you reach for a bucket… 

I wonder why this is the case, but it is just a fact I noticed.

There will be copious amounts of information today about this significant date. But significant dates have happened many times over the centuries and we call such an occurrence a ‘palindrome number’, which is a fancy word for a number sequence. I read earlier today that the last time this happened was on 11^th January 2011 (1.1.11). 

I remember I was quite excited when my birthday came up on 20-08-2008 and thought this was pretty special too. Yes, for me, but maybe not for you.

However, number sequences happen all the time. Many say they are signs from angels, or other spiritual guides giving you a message, but I bet many of you reading this blog will say: I often see duplicating numbers on the clock. Someone very famous quoted that: ‘coincidences just don’t occur’. Is this right or wrong? Are they coincidences or special messages for us? 

You can look up loads of information about the meaning of repeating numbers but the thing that struck me this morning is that 2 is a number representing a pair, a couple, two things, two people and if you have a highly developed sense and by this I mean ‘the Claire’s) – Clairvoyance, Clairaudience etc., you will often take a pause to see the significance of an occurrence. Like a moment when you take another road home, for no particular reason and then hear later on the news that the road you normally take was blocked by an accident, which had occurred. Or you miss you train or your flight and suddenly find out later, it was for a good reason.

2 to me is all about the word ‘trust’ and we all need a lot of that at the moment. Trust that eventually things will all come together and we will be back to our ‘normal lives’. This then raises the question what is normal, a lot of us have forgotten that after more than two years with a worldwide pandemic going on.  

Recently I have noticed that a lot of strange things are going on. People who speak out (and this refers to my blog yesterday) are suddenly flagged by the socials – in other words – they are noted under the category as being ‘dangerous’ about what they say. I mean, this is totally ludicrous, since when did we become ‘dangerous’ for speaking our truth? I have always thought that ‘fear’ which is basically a word which represents ‘power’ is a strange thing. Powerful people take advantage of people by conjuring up ‘fear’. That is exactly what happened with this pandemic and I am not trying to be light about it all. On the contrary. But, how much of what we were told was actually true? Who knows? How good was the research on the substances used in vaccinations? Any virologist will tell you that a virus mutates, so how many boosters do you want to give a person to protect them?

One thing that made me laugh this morning on the news was that the man who spoke the most about ’fake news’ is actually going to launch a ‘Truth App’. Seriously? Believe me I will not be downloading that onto my iPhone or such like. Even though I would agree that Trump came for a reason to wake up the stuffy powers in the US Senate and then made a complete ‘balls up’ of being the President. Sorry for those who are supporters and yes, it is your right to have your own opinion, but come on … how seriously are we going to take the idea of him launching a Truth App?

I have diversified from my intention at the beginning of this blog – sorry. This was all going to be about numbers, sequences and their meanings but once I get into the flow, the words just tumble out and before I know it, a blog is written.

I think in these present times, it is very important to pay attention to little signs, sequences, and any other form of messaging that we as humans receive. I am not talking here about getting a message from your boss that the meeting will now be at 10am instead of 11am, I am talking about ‘silent’ almost inexplicable messages that we receive. A sudden gut feeling, that inner voice and those deja-vu moments. That is what the significance is, of days like today.

As I said you can read huge amounts of posts today about the meaning of this day, and tomorrow will be equally important when it comes down to receiving said signs and messages. The universe does not work with days of the week, or dates, they choose the moment to send you a message when you need it the most. When you feel hopelessly lost and unsure of which direction to take. The moments when you feel something is just not right and later get the confirmation that said feeling was exactly right. For you. Not everyone is on the same position on the path and a good thing too, otherwise it would be far too busy. It’s busy enough anyway.

A number or any number will have some sort of meaning to someone. You may often choose numbers, say in lottery tickets that have significance to you, your birthday, your wedding day, the date of birth of your children and that is perfectly fine. We don’t all have to automatically jump onto the bandwagon of thinking that a sequence of numbers is the same for everyone.

By the way the meaning of palindrome is according to the dictionary, a word, phrase, or sequence of numbers that can be read forwards as well as backwards. It gives the example of the word ‘madam’ or the phrase ‘nurses run’. Bit strange but it proves the point. And not to be confused with anagrams. Whilst researching some fact for this blog, I read that the most popular number is a 7 – no idea why?  They say it’s the luckiest number in the world. Is it? 

Examples of palindrome numbers are 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,22,33,44,55,66,77,88,99, 101, 111, 121 and so on.

So many and therefore this confirms my thought that it may make a great sequence today’s date, but in fact, any date or number is special. Agree?

Just take today as a day with a special significance and make it, like any other day, a special day.  And most important, just enjoy it!\

Images: Google

It was several years ago that my path crossed with Amanda Ellis during a Colour Mirrors Conference in Norway. Such a beautiful country and all organized by Marit Tessem, therapist, teacher and distributor of CM products. We all stayed in a school above the Artic Circle and Trondheim. It was midsummer and strange to be there during 24 hours of daylight. One of the other speakers at the conference was Amanda Ellis, also at that time, a Colour Mirrors Therapist. She talked on the final day and unfortunately the time ran out, about her channeling work with Archangel Metatron.

A little while later she decided to branch out on her own and this was the birth of the Archangel Metatron Sprays. Looking back, it’s really lovely to see how she has blossomed over the years and created such a well-followed platform.

Every single day she places a short video on Instagram where she talks about various subjects, but usually things featuring the world’s current affairs. Of course, people who know nothing about channeling and how this works, often have comments… Why? Well simply, they do not understand or have the gift, but believe me it is a gift.

Amanda also has a huge following on her You Tube videos. These are longer insights into a huge variety of subjects and whilst the sprays have grown into a much large collection now, she has also produced her own deck of cards and a new one is coming out next year.

She channels a huge variety of people, not only Archangel Metatron, but other spiritual beings and a lot of well-known people who have passed over into other worlds, dimensions and times. Often some have left this world voluntarily and it is interesting to hear the reasons why they made the choice to go early.

I think we will all agree that this world is in a right mess at the moment. Darkness prevails in many forms and I feel it is wrong that we are often ‘penalized’ by You Tube, or other social media when we speak (or when she speaks) her truth. Often seen as maybe controversial, but this is right, there must be pioneers in the world who dare to stick their necks out and say things, because we all have to believe that in the end the light will win. Light will always conquer dark.

This weekend I listed to a fairly long video supported by a special deck of Tarot cards, which was a sort of ‘question and answer’ session about the state of world in general. It is also a huge confirmation when cards shuffled and picked entirely at random, or even fall out of the deck whilst being shuffled, are totally right and give such amazing insights.

I will confess I don’t watch all the videos but over the past few weeks, as I had more time, I have watched several and I find myself more and more in agreement with what is being said and shared with a large number of followers. This was the reason that I decided to add this story into my own website feed, just to give Amanda some support and also draw more people’s attention to what she is saying.

We could, if we all wanted, take an attitude that we cannot personally do anything about the state of affairs in the world, which would be defeatist and there will never be any change unless people do speak out, talk about their truth, whether we agree with them or not. The point is none of us want to live our lives like headless sheep in a herd. No disrespect to sheep who provide wool to keep us warm, but the simple comparison, that sheep often just do what the rest of the herd do. I know, they wander along the dikes near to where I live here in The Netherlands and believe me it is true. One of them goes off in a certain direction and the rest just follow. Hence the expression: ‘following the herd’. It is the easy option just to do what others do. But come on, we are human beings and much more intelligent and why are we taking on the same behavior? Is it because we are afraid, basically yes…?

And of course, you know that when you express an opinion many people immediately comment and judge because they cannot really digest or even hear the message you are trying to deliver. I know that Amanda often says she receives some awful comments to her posts and will shut off the comment section (rightly so). I have ‘beefed on’ a lot about the power of social media and how it seems to bring out the worst in people. The idea that you must comment whether you agree or not and it sadly often becomes a ‘comment to slag someone off’, which has no use whatsoever and angers others. You end up with a completely almost boring dialogue along the lines of: ‘she said, he said, we said, they said’. But what is the point? We are free spirited humans who have the right to make choices and maybe you won’t make the same choices as me or others, like Amanda, but this is not a free pass to send even more negative energy into the world. It’s bad enough anyway.

This weekend she talked about the situation in Canada, which has caught all our attention and almost disbelief that such a gentle nation is suffering to such an extent. Why? People are allowed to have an opinion and it’s a democratic right to voice that opinion and come on everyone, we are no longer listening to dictators, or making comparisons to narcissists, are we? I sincerely hope not.

But change will and can only come when we speak out, when we are authentic, when we speak out truth and dare to be different. Then and only then will there be more light in the world. We don’t need yet another power war somewhere in the world, global leaders behaving like small children, are throwing their toys (read weapons and power) in and out of the playpen. We have been there and done that and surely learnt something from it all. Not to mention all the innocent bystanders who get swept into the power struggles too through no choice of their own.

HOPE is a very important word here, and we can only have hope as more and more people wake up and realize… we want to do things differently now and we no longer want to be told what we can and cannot do by leaders, politicians, the church etc. etc., because they all come and go. We have had enough of battles about color, creed, beliefs, religion and what is expected of us. We don’t want it anymore! RIGHT?

I hope that this blog will inspire many of you to take the time to listen to Amanda Ellis either on her You tube videos or her daily messages on Instagram. Just remember this, she gives away a lot of free advice and content and it is not fair to then keep sending negative messages. You know if you don’t want to hear what she is saying and I can only then say, more fool you, then you can switch off and not listen. That is a personal choice. You don’t have to comment. Remember that!

But for those of you who are not followers of the herd, have a look at her work, her website, her sprays and listen to what she is saying. I said earlier in this blog that being able to channel is a gift not a vice.

Here are the details for you all:

Instagram: @angeliccelestialcolours
You Tube: Amanda Ellis
Facebook: Angelic Celestial Colours
Website: angeliccelestialcolours.com

And to finish with Amanda’s own words: ‘If you only watch one of my videos this year, this is the one to watch’. ‘Timeline – WHERE are we heading’?
You can find this on You Tube.

I wasn’t sure if I was every going to share this story, but several months have passed by now, a new year has begun and the irritation I felt at the time has now simmered down a lot. But I will share this, because I know that people who write, write with passion. It’s our creativity, the way we write the words, the words we use and how the sentences are formed. Where the story line goes and how we weave it all together, for example, chapters of a book.

As strange as it may seem and believe me, I was extremely surprised, a couple of years ago I got an email in my website inbox from someone really well known. I mean a serious popular person followed by literally millions. I will not mention any names, as this then becomes a spiteful blog, but needless to say I was really pleased and honored. That someone like them just comes across my blog, likes it, and then actually takes the time to say so.

It was the beginning of a friendship as we talked on discovered we had a lot in common, both being Leo star signs and we had a few Zoom sessions. We decided that it might be a nice idea to write together and this resulted in a series of blogs on my website. It was a joint effort so to speak.

I purposely did not again mention names as it was not about attracting literally thousands of new readers, it was about having fun and writing together. In fact, this series did attract a lot of attention, but I was careful every time not to say who it was mainly to ensure that it did not become a ‘dreamy eyes dozy fan thing’.

When you talk to someone regularly you get to know them, or at least you think you do and when the suggestion was made to write something together which would be turned into something else, to say I was flattered would be an understatement. I had never done anything like this before and at first, I thought maybe I have taken on ‘more than I can chew’. But once you start to write and the inspiration flows, then it’s just a story. 

I was well into it and sent the text so far, just by chance to a friend in England who is so excellent about spelling, grammar etc., and was thrilled by her really positive reaction that it was a wonderful tale and carry on. Of course, the next step was to share with my friend as they were going to write too and in the end it would, like all other books be made into a proper story, a beginning, a plot, a middle part, and an ending. Maybe a happy ending, maybe not.

It was about 30-odd thousand words when I emailed it to them and immediately got a reaction about how wonderful it was and that they would now write on… seems all fair and part of the plan I thought.

You can probably imagine that I was flabbergasted several weeks later to receive an email from their management that they were filing for copyright. What? It is in fact my copyright so far and would that not have been something which was discussed further on in the project? That is a norm and the respectful way to do things. I was irritated for sure and of course asked why?

Got a surprising reply accusing me of being ‘selfish and greedy’ (from said friend) which was not very nice (understatement) as the text so far was all my own work.  I suddenly thought I must get in touch with my publishers and ensure that the copyright is registered. It wasn’t, although the title and the so-called identification number was and in fact it turned out that this was sufficient to prove my ownership and of course I also have the backup email to my friend who has corrected the text so far…

End of story you may be thinking? But, just by chance and completely out of the blue I found a page on Facebook from my old primary school in England. I wrote a piece on it and was amazed how many of my classmates replied. And would you believe it one of them, actually the boy who sat next to me in the class, was a lawyer and residing on the other side of the globe. I told him about this in a private chat, as this is not really something to talk about on the FB page and he said: ‘leave it all to me, I will write on your behalf’. He did and successfully too and my friend’s management were backed into a corner and had to agree they had no right to the words.

Of course, as I fully expected, I got some very nasty emails from someone I thought I had developed a friendship with. I often think back to their words ‘I always get what I want’ and thought ‘not this time mate’!

It is very sad when people are well-known in society for whatever genre, it gives them the feeling that they are better than the rest. The answer is – they are not! They just got lucky and yes, maybe from all their hard work and of course this is rewarded big time, if you are genuine. IF is the important word in this paragraph.

That was the conclusion I came to that they were not. Their own ego was so totally out of control and I took some very definite action and totally blocked each and every avenue to stop them getting in touch with me. Revenge, no, I don’t work like that, but I am not a doormat and will not tolerate someone forcing me out of my comfort zone or beyond my boundaries. No way!

It was months later (around Christmas time) that an email slipped through again and I did not even read it. Just binned it. There is nothing more to say. The manuscript was filed into my hard disk and I had no inspiration whatsoever to carry out, even though I knew the story line was good.

The thing I want to emphasize here is some I wrote this weekend on my Instagram page. ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’. It’s a cliché for sure, but it can be so true. I mean how incredible that an old school friend just happened to cross paths with me and was so helpful and offered the solution, as a favor because we went back such a long time ago? It still amazes me to be honest.

If you find yourself, like me, up a creek with no paddle, remember to trust your instincts and always know that a solution will suddenly present itself IF you believe that it will. And remember if you believe in magic it happens!

No names, I won’t reveal who it is. Why? I don’t think they deserve the attention and being a gossip is not my thing. It is a lesson for sure and one I will never repeat. It’s OK working with other journalist, novelists, writers, authors and such like but there is always the golden rule about who’s work it is and who should get the praise. It is a rule of courtesy.

Goodness it feels like closing the book for me, having written this down. It played around in my mind for quite a long time, mainly because it was all so unfair. But here is another saying for you: ‘all is fair in love and war’ but is it? 

This morning, rudely awakened at around 5 am, by a lot of noise! Cars and vans and people shouting in the street, which is normally peaceful and quiet. It was strange to hear this on a ‘no through road’. So, putting on my security camera and another family member going out to see what it was all about.

Turned out that it was some sort of row between a Polish worker and money owed. They had followed him here and were rowing in the street (yes at just after 5am) with no regard whatsoever for people who were still asleep. 

He apparently owed money and the ‘heavy mob’ had arrived, made sure he could not drive off to demand (read force) repayment. Bit like some sort of wild-west story.

But with every story comes food for thought and I thought I would write today about people from Eastern European countries who go to other countries to work and how they are exploited by the so called ‘subcontractors’. By subcontractors I mean the people who hire these people to come and work here for a very low wage I would also add. Set them up with old unreliable cars and accommodation which is expensive and they have to pay for that too, just to do the jobs that Western Europeans don’t want to do.  It is fair I think to say that the economy between west and east Europe is very different and I get the idea that coming to work elsewhere to earn money for your families when you can’t get employment there, is honorable.

However, there is always a problem. The exploitation and the fact that said subcontractors rent houses (usually holiday homes) quite cheaply and then cram pack them full of these people asking exorbitant rent for just a small room with bed. They begin early, get home late and then get drunk all weekend. What a life!  But we all need to remind ourselves that all European citizens have the right to be treated equally, not exploited.

It seems strange to me that people (Dutch) here get a considerable benefit for being unemployed and are basically too lazy to get another job. Not all, but a large number! And then people are brought in from other countries to do the ‘dirty work’. Not literally dirty but the jobs other people think are below their status. Crazy world, isn’t it? I have no problem really with them being here, just as long as they take others into consideration and being drunk and rowdy all weekend is not one of the things. They cause a lot of people problems with their behavior.

Local Governments are trying desperately to ensure that these workers are housed where they work. Some local farmers here have done just that and built either Tiny Houses or containers where they can live and relax after work. It is more respectful I feel taking responsibility for the people who work and basically earn the farmers money by helping, for example, with the harvesting of crops. But for every good farmer or employer there are the baddies too of course. Those who still consider these workers to be less than the rest. So where does the problem lie?

Well as far as the housing and putting them into holiday homes is a disaster. The subcontracts rent the house for a certain amount and then charge the ‘inhabitants’ about three times that amount. But shouldn’t we be looking at the owners of said houses and the reason why they rent them out in the first place? It also has a very negative effect on the people who live in their holiday homes and tourists who visit and trip up over all the empty beer cans and bottles after a weekend session.

It just seems so unfair to me that the subcontractors are the winners all the time. They have work, employ people who are desperate to earn money, whatever the work is, and then exploit them to such lengths. This has nothing more to do with European human rights, does it? Or the basis law either!

I must admit I was irritated being woken up so early, especially on the dark winter mornings, but every cloud always has a silver lining and something positive and being up much earlier than usual enabled me to do all sorts of things and gave me the time to write this blog.

To me the moral of this story is respect. Respect for all human beings, whatever their color, race, creed, or nationality. The contractors are the exploiters, not all but unfortunately a lot. Treat the people who work for you in a more humane way, be glad that they were willing to leave their countries and families to come and work for you. Why? Well simple, just to be able to earn money to support their families.  We are very ready to always point the finger at people we consider to be less than us … but are we actually pointing in the right direction?

In the end, I felt sorry for the Polish man this morning, who hardly speaks the lingo apart from a few words, being treated like that and shouted at by the ‘heavy mob’ this morning. Wouldn’t all be a lot easier to have a normal conversation at the workplace, in a normal tone of voice. Sure, it’s one of life’s rules that you must pay for things you want or use for whatever reason, but this is not the wild west and we don’t need these ‘bandits’ rushing around in our streets behaving in this way. 

Food for thought!

I always think that starting a New Year is a moment to ‘wipe the slate clean’ and start afresh. That was my plan and I think in the main I have, but the world stage has been dominated with one issue after another. Why?

Surely, we have all had more than enough of the lockdowns, restrictions, rules, regulations and curfews and even though the new strain of Covid-19 (Omicron) has affected a huge number of people (including me just before Christmas) and the rest of my family too. But to be honest I would describe my experience as just a normal dose of influenza, quite normal in the winter months and it’s not as if I have been mixing with loads of people as everything has been shut. The Netherlands had a total lockdown which begun on the 14^th December and slowly (yes very slowly!) life is beginning to go back to normal. But what is normal when this pandemic has been affecting the entire world for nearly two years now?

So, just into the New Year and the first thing to hit the headlines was the cancelling of Novak Djokovic’s VISA to enter Australia and he was put into detention. Bit over the top I thought, as basically he had not done anything wrong and of course the gossip ranged from all sorts of topics which left me asking myself what is true and what is not? But the thing is, the decision whether or not to vaccinate, booster or whatever will always remain a personal one and rightly so! The sad fact that we are all QR coded now and entrance to any restaurant, pub, café, cinema, theater, museum etc., all depends on a valid code, albeit that all these places were shut here. Many countries took on restrictions which forced people to have boosters and if I am interpreting the opinions of the experts (worldwide virologists) I again ask myself was it really necessary. Let me just say before I go any further, of course it is absolutely awful when people become really ill or even die with this virus. I am not trying to undersell the importance of care and common sense.

But back to Novak. The world’s number one tennis player, invited to take part in one of the biggest world tournaments, eventually got deported. He behaved so well I thought, not allowing himself to stoop to a lower level and left with dignity. As far as I was concerned the tournament was over and let’s be honest, such a tournament makes literally millions for sponsors and the country holding the event.

What I found strange is that over the holiday period, very well known Australians were here in Europe, here, there and everywhere and not a single person was talking about the other side of the coin. Why not?

Recently I read in the paper, not something I do regularly, but it was a story about an Australian mining company called Rio Tinto, who were desperately trying to get the rights to mine a very important mineral which would you believe it or not, is found in Serbia of all places. So, don’t you begin to wonder like me what this was really all about? The Serbian government have refused Rio Tinto the right to mine and sent them all packing. Hmmm raises a few eyebrows, doesn’t it?

Here in the Netherlands, there has been a huge scandal about inappropriate sexual abuse on one of the most popular TV programs. The Voice of Holland. In its 13^th season now and originally set up by media tycoon, John de Mol and it’s been a success all around the globe. But suddenly everything that had been swept under the carpet for years, came to light. Young girls making official police complaints for indecent behavior, rape and being sent lude (rude) photos via social media. I will be outspoken about this because I seriously ask myself what man wants to take a photo of his dick and send it to someone. And knowing how unsafe social media is and a breeding ground for scammers who lay in wait wanting to steal images? Most people I have heard about this all say – yuck I would not want a photo like that. There is nothing wrong with the male sexual organ and it has a definite function to ‘reproduce’ but is it tantalizing to get a photo? Bucket please!

It also turns out that some of the people accused have connections with the De Mol family and that seems to make it even worse in my opinion. The shame they went through and the fact that a member of their own family was making such inappropriate sexual suggestions and even ‘actions’ to competitors. Yes, seriously!

It all sort of blew up last week with a very good documentary which more than 8 million people watched (of course). Another one of the accused who has run off to the Middle East has the Moroccan nationality. And now this really makes you think. Woman in said countries are very much underdogs to the men there. Not allowed to do things and to be honest would probably be ‘chained into a chastity belt’ by some men with the totally old-fashioned morals. But this guy, a married man, several children and then raping contestants? Under the proviso that he could help them further in their career. If you haven’t thought, how disgusting and been sick at the idea by now feel free to take a moment before reading on.

Here if Moroccan women must visit a doctor for whatever reason, half the male members of their family come too. They don’t want their women touched by a male doctor or probably female for that matter, but its ok for a Moroccan man to sexually abuse minors? I don’t think so.

There can NEVER, ever be a reason to sexually abuse a minor! I noticed that some of the well-known women here was posting on social media that it is time that ‘we educate our sons’. I agree. No is no and always will be.

So maybe we should all rewind the clock and begin again. Not a lot has happened this year on the worldwide stage to be proud of and give you the feeling that we are waking up and becoming more enlightened. Definitely not.

Personally, I took part on January the 1^st in an online event, as I said everything was shut with a total lockdown called the Elements by Janosh. It was almost two hours of fun, doing activations, meditations, dance, breathing and listening to music. It was connecting with the Elements and I really enjoyed it. It gave me a real boost to step into the New Year with renewed vigor.

On the 11^th I started with his 13-week Transmission Training which I am enjoying too. My mind is on other things and I can make the choice to try and ignore all the atrocities going on, literally everywhere. 

It’s never too late to re-evaluate and make new choices or to make change. Always remember your body is your own sacred temple. It belongs to you and you alone and no one should ever be expected to offer it to others with bad intentions just to further yourself. Wake Up. Please!

Come on everyone, wake up, make a stand and show that you are not being part of this headless herd of idiots. Don’t send any suggestive photos over the socials, don’t you know that the ‘dark web’ is out there, exploiting such photos. Be aware, think and trust that little voice in you. If in any doubt don’t do it. And yes, I know the ‘Me Too’ is rife amongst the film stars. Too sad for words, that to get further in your dreams and career, you are expected to do something you don’t want to do.

Recently I received the most amazing present from my dear friend Jeroen Boerkamp of Crystal Totems in Ibiza. He sent me this (see photo) Lemurian Fire Crystal for protection.

On the card he enclosed with it, it says: ‘Frequency is the Cure’ and he told me that this crystal is for the heart, for love, for power, for life energy and for unity. I was thrilled to receive such a wonderful gift and the moment I put it around my neck I felt a warm wave pass through my upper body. This is a powerful crystal for sure and I know his work and his philosophy. His card also said: ‘It’s now time for your truth, the real you’. Powerful words for sure!

Well, I am really beginning to believe that this is a magic crystal because so many almost inexplicable things have happened. I had an issue whilst out in my car. Drove past a parked car and heard a noise and thought our mirrors touched. It was a very narrow street and cars parked right up to the corners. Incidentally this is against the law, remember your Highway Code about always parking at least 5 meters from a corner? I stopped, it was absolutely pouring with rain, walked back to the car and spoke to who I thought was the owner. There appeared to be no visible damage so let it go at that. A few days later got a phone call from my daughter to say that some totally irate person had rung her about the car (not the owner by the way) but someone poking their nose into other peoples’ business that the car was a right off and damaged. Strange I thought. I decided to look at my car again which was muddy from the roads here and the awful weather. My neighbor is a retired Policeman so he must know what he is looking for and we both saw absolutely nothing.

To cut a long story short, I had contact with the real owner of the car and saw photos. To be perfectly honest I am sure that I did not cause this damage, but I am insured of course and thought this is the way to do things properly and filled out the form with her.

Over the next few days, I kept thinking how is this possible? Did I actually cause the damage or is it someone else and the blame is being placed on me? Took the car and had it looked at by the repair shop and we all agreed there is no damage to my car. Huh? Then it suddenly made me realize there was some form of protection around me and was it the crystal. It may sound strange to some of you, that a crystal could and does have that much power. But crystals are living beings too, holding a vast amount of knowledge within and are capable of so much more.

Spoke to Jeroen of course who was delighted that the crystal was being so supportive and as he had chosen it for me personally himself, it is a confirmation to him and I know he can do this easily, that he can tune into someone and know exactly what crystal they need.

The crystal feels warm to my touch, and even though you may be reading and thinking er sure… it is true and I would not exaggerate and say this, just for the sake of saying something or having something to write about. I don’t work like that. I write when I have something to tell and the facts are right.

I wear this crystal every single day putting it on in the mornings and taking it off when I go to bed and place it on the table next to my bed. I have had some very vivid dreams including several people from the past but it all ties into what my horoscope has been saying now for weeks. I am going into a period of chance and new opportunities and this is basically what I wrote myself on the socials… it is time.

If this has got you interested and you want to have a look at these very special crystals then go to www.crystaltotems.com or email Jeroen at info@crystaltotems.com.

I have quite a collection of crystals and other gemstones here in my house and they go in and out regularly to either cleanse under a full Moon or charge in the sun. But this crystal is so special as the warm fire is within. I hope the photo does justice. I tried to take it at two different angles in the sun, yes, it is actually sunny (but cold) today. I mean just look closely at the fire within. A crusted crystal that sparkles on all sides and very special indeed. Well I think so!

So grateful to Jeroen, he is a warm lovely person and hope to meet up in Ibiza this year. We have been talking about it for a long time but now the time is right, so let’s do it !!!

When you are a star sign Leo, like me, then one sure thing is that when your mane (or hair in my case) is awful, you are not a ‘happy chappy’ at all.

This summer I went for a look with curls. Just a one-off thing with a special curling tong, but everyone really liked it, me included and I allowed myself to be talked into having a permanent. Something I have never done before and only have memories of my mother doing her perms in the kitchen, with weird hair rollers, pieces of tissue paper and the most awful smell imaginable.

But hey, things have changed haven’t they over the years and perms of today are much different to those in my mother’s day, so I thought, ok, let’s have a go. The most attractive idea was that this special (new style) perm would only last for 6 weeks.

I definitely made the point on the day of the appointment, that I did not want tight corkscrew curls, just the gentle waves like I had in the summer and got out the photo to show what I wanted.

It was no problem and I trusted the idea.

Big mistake.

After sitting there with the most awful aroma around me, it was then rinsed out for 15 minutes and I began to wonder if I might disappear down the plug hole of the washbasin, headfirst.

After it was dry it looked OK, but it was not the result I really wanted and I asked how do I deal with this at home. It’s all very well, coming out of the hairdressers with a good result (even though this wasn’t) but doing it all at home is a very different story, don’t you agree?

I left it alone for a couple of days, but the thing was, I just could not bear the smell of my own hair. It smelled like burnt, charred toast. Eventually I washed it and thought maybe the best thing is to allow it to dry naturally and not even attempt to blow dry. It looked awful and not at all how I normally look. It was all in all, just frizz. I looked as if I was auditioning for the part of the Straw Man in the Wizard of Oz!

It just got worse and worse and more and more frizzy and of course the November wet weather did not help either, walking the dog 4 times a day in the mist, rain, wind, or such like.

When I saw the image of my mane from the back it was just well, horrid… and I decided I must do something about it before my hair just breaks off. The ends were frizzy and it looked dry and unkempt …

So, I booked an appointment at a well-known salon and set off on a Tuesday afternoon, thinking as I drove along, this has to be the biggest challenge ever for anyone.  Arriving at the salon, with a parking spot right in front of the door, the atmosphere was calm and it just felt right. The hairdresser who helped me was sympathetic and helpful and said, there was no way that she could even contemplate a so called ‘balayage’ treatment (that is tapered low and highlights) which is what I wanted to do as the previous ones had grown out drastically.

What she could do was add some color to the root area of my hair to give it more depth and leave all the rest for the time being. I could also have a special treatment to restore my straw back to hair again. This is called Olaplex and is a special treatment to literally perform some magic on the hair.

The coloring was washed out and the treatment applied, first of all washing with a special shampoo and then allowing the conditioner to soak into the hair and repair the hair follicles.

Then back at my table another delicious cappuccino coffee whilst she blow-dried it with one of those amazing and very expensive Dyson hairdryers.

Suddenly I had soft silk hair once more and to be honest I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the result. The straw has been magically transformed by what she jokingly called ‘liquid gold’ into silky shiny hair once more.

I was so grateful and that is an understatement because when your hair isn’t right, you don’t feel right either.

Thank you, Christa, for the most amazing experience at the hairdressers ever. The most expensive bill I think I have ever paid to have my hair done, but this was not a straightforward appointment, this was a creative genius applying her talents to my hair and me being able to walk out of the door, feeling myself once more.

It is going to take a couple of months to repair the hair and allow it to go back to how it was, before the dreaded perm and I will be really happy to go back in about 3 months, for a trim and another session. Because it was absolutely worth every single cent.

The moral of this story is, if you are feeling out of sorts with your own mane, my advice is don’t be tempted to go for quick (cheaper) solutions, because our hair is so much more than we really realize.

Be careful about your choice of shampoo to as a lot contain harmful chemical ingredients and although it may say ‘volume and shine’ on the bottle, it is only achieved using said ingredients. And the big question is how safe are they actually?

I also came away with shampoo and conditioner from Olaplex which will last me, if I use it properly and only a small amount each wash, until I go back in the early spring. It may have been a large cost but what is a large cost really? The advice was to wash my hair twice a week, at least that is the goal and I managed to wait until day 4 before washing and it looks so much healthier now. It feels soft and shiny and basically, I feel much better.

The straw man is in the past, this lion moves forward with a shiny mane from now on.

With gratitude to Christa at Daisy Top Stylist in Klaaswaal. Top stylists you are for sure.

This is a bit of strange blog, but the words suddenly came into my mind and thought this is a subject which may resonate with many, because I wonder how many of you out there actually have a happy family? I am not talking about the basic unit: mother, father, siblings but more about the family as it grows, with aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws.

It was a childhood dream of mine to be part of a large family, being an only child until the age of 11. My father and mother both came from the north-west of England and were part of fairly large families. Even though they were only children themselves they seemed to have copious amounts of aunts, uncles and cousins and I remember that because all family trips up north involved the rounds of ‘visiting the relatives’. As a child this was boring for me as there were no young members of the family apart from a couple of my parents second cousins. I did not have any aunts, uncles, or cousins myself.

One thing that always happened during these family visits was, even as a child, I noticed that they all gossiped so much about the other family members and their spouses (which is often the biggest problem in families all round). They would all tell stories of someone said this, someone said that and all in all, for me as a child, it was so dull.

When my parents married, they moved down to the southeast of London and all family contact was by letter. My nana would write every week with news to her daughter (my mother) and vice versa. Almost unthinkable in today’s age of internet and smartphones and of course, not forgetting the big foe WhatsApp! All communication these days seems to be through this medium and I can only admit I use it myself, even with my own children.

Letter writing is a thing of the past, even in the business world.  Everything goes through ‘communication channels’ on the net.

When I moved away to Europe and had my own family at first, I was quite pleased with the new family members I had acquired, prior to the birth of my own children. But again, I noticed that same non-stop talking about those who were not present. My new in-laws had the same issues and so much so, that my mother-in-law had no contact whatsoever with her brother who lived only a few miles away. She and her sister were constantly at odds about such trivial things, so this was not only a British issue, but also a European one too. The same applied to cousins and aunts and uncles. So that is my big question is a family a friend or a foe?

Of course, there are families out there who all get along wonderfully, so there must be an exception to the rule somewhere surely?

When the Christmas film season starts, it is all about amazing families who all descend on their relatives and have a wonderful Christmas time, but do they for real? I doubt it.

Recently my horoscope has been inundated with messages about letting go of people from my past and would you believe it, it is actually happening! I have had words with not only a couple of relatives, but also some friends. Is it because we are less tolerant with one another, caused by the worldwide situation or is it just that we get older and wiser and suddenly what was a good friendship say 25 years ago, suddenly goes sour and why?

To my mind the biggest problem is the gossip. You know, ‘he said, she said’ and then the story gets totally filtered. It is a bit like that game we used to play at school called ‘Chinese Whispers’. Someone would start a simple story, one sentence only and they whisper it to the person next to them and so on all around the circle. What was said by the last person had absolutely nothing to do with the original sentence at all.

We all filter every single piece of information we receive, either in the written or spoken word and make our own interpretation of things. It’s a human trait. And we all do it! Whether you think you do or not!

One of the cousins, ‘cold side’ as we say, had a real ‘carp on’ about things with me. I could go on and write a reply but to be honest, can I really be bothered? No, so simple answer is to block any chance that they keep rambling on. Can’t remember the last time I actually saw them in person to be honest and have I really missed them, no is the answer. And of course as tempting as it is to get into an exchange, just remember this: reaction is action!

It is sad that this happens but there seem to be many people who have this experience. They grow up with siblings and all is well, but the moment, they get partners and their own family unit, there seems to be nothing but gossip and troubles. It only takes two wives or two brothers not to get one and off you go, the family starts to split.

I think personally it is a good thing to be honest and speak your mind, but how far do you go? If you are the type who is like this, the answer may be too far in the end, because you cannot tolerate the b.s. anymore. 

Another thing I have noticed is that when people in families have problems, like health, for example, this is the hardest test ever who takes the time to keep in contact. Yes, yes, I know we all lead busy busy lives, but is a phone call occasionally too much? 

The cousin I mentioned above, lives less than an hour from me. His cousin is terminally ill and in the past 20 months he has only called once. Blamed the lack of contact on Corona, and yes this is to a certain extent true, but you can’t catch Corona through the telephone line. Instead, he rambled on, several long app messages about this and that, a load of excuses and genuine rubbish and then the decision was made to sever the cord and let it go. Yes, you can get yourself into a tizzy and want to say this and that but adding fuel to flames which are already on fire, really has no purpose at all.

Brave are those who hold their heads even higher and don’t get tempted to reply.