Hi there!

Thanks for popping in.

Can’t stay long this evening.

I have left dear Mandy Branston in the kitchen, 

cleaning Baby Plates!

She has come down for a couple of days, 

to lend a friendly hand and have a good old chinwag.

It’s so good to catch up. We went to Bills in Lewes for lunch.

#abreakfromwork.

Colourful and bohemian…

When we walked in off the dreary, rainy empty High Street

into the warm, vibrant busy bustle of the place we love called Bills,

her face was a picture.

“WOW”, she said, “Never expected this!”

So we had a big old pot of tea and a lovely lunch –

and did what ladies do that lunch.

It was NICE.

It was PLEASANT.

It was SAFE.

Just like this here daily blog.

When you drop in here, you know you will get a daily dose of creativity, and meet a bunch of lovely, 

gentle, gracious folk, who look out for each other.

We can stay in touch with friends at home, and friends further afield, like Gill and Debby, who are in Texas now. 

The blog and the social networks 

make the world much much smaller.

But the main thing for me is that when you drop in here, 

you NEVER find nastiness

and you NEVER expect it.

That’s important for me and you.

I cannot stand to read the bile that I see on Facebook and Twitter sometimes,

especially when it involves people I know, respect and even love.

When I was at university, I studied Sociolinguistics as part of the curriculum. We learned about something called Social Strokes.

The way people from different nations and walks of life interact with one another. 

Not all nations have a Please and Thank you culture, like the Brits.

 In Japan it is important to enquire, How is your family? 

Another culture might find this an invasion of privacy. And so on.

Do take a seat. Would you like a drink?

etc etc etc

It’s a fascinating subject!

What is important to an English person may not be as crucial 

to a person from another country.

Our great British sarcasm is often construed as offensive by other cultures. We don’t mean to be rude, yet it can be interpreted as such by a person from another country. 

But one thing I know for sure:

the way that some people conduct themselves and interact on the social networks is not acceptable at any level or to any culture. 

The mindless criticism and prattle that people come out with is often very rude, offensive and serves no purpose, except to cause distress to another human being. 

I know that we evolve, and so we must.

We have moved a million miles away from the staunch, stiff etiquette of Victorian England. 

Thank goodness.

But I think it is time to start being mindful around Netiquette.

A combination of Internet and Etiquette.

When people are targeted and bullied online, 

it makes my skin crawl.

When I have stood up and defended those poor people,

 I got it in the neck.

Whatever. It says a lot more about the attacker than the victim, don’t you agree?

Alone, I can’t do much. I can stand my ground, and I do, 

because I despise bullies and keyboard warriors. 

But if everybody reading this blog (that’s about 3,000 of us daily)

made a conscious decision to block negativity and mindless criticism on the Crafty social networks when they saw it, 

that would constitute a positive force to be reckoned with. 

Food for thought.

And don’t be asking me who has got under my skin, 

because nobody has!

This issue runs much deeper than that. 

I have to go now.

Mandy is alone with Romeo in the kitchen!

love & hugs,