Sometimes my children play a game where they repeat the same word over and over again unti we all think it sounds really strange. Say ‘box’, or ‘unusual’ too many times and both sound and look wierd. Wierd is also a wierd word.

When I was putting make up on the other day it suddenly seemed strange to be painting my face. I think it was because I was watching a home decorating programme at the time. Suddenly it seemed very odd to have to colour my face in every day.

Ironing my clothes this morning, I found myself straightening my hair half an hour later, and realised that despite the wording, I had also ironed my hair (or straightened my clothes.)

We wash cars, floors and selves, put oil in cars, add omega 3 or olive oil to our diets. We cut our hair and file our nails, cut our grass and trim hedges.

We repot plants and move to larger homes.

Plants, animals and humans all guzzle water.

We all know all these things but it seems wierd when you really think of all the parallels there are between humans/animals and plants and the process of life.

Why is it that frequent car adverts state ‘one lady owner’ as an inducement to purchase a car? Adverts stating ‘one male owner’ just don’t exist.

What is it that ‘one lady owner’ means a car is a good purchase? Do one lady owners really only poddle around town rather than burning up the motorway to go to the Edinburgh Festival , Glastonbury, Totnes, and a drive through the tunnel for a long French weekend.

Rubbish. One lady owner has often had all kinds of adventures in her car but those that put these ads in are usually traditional (boring old fart chauvanists) with traditional meal serving, husband knows best, wives who have never dared drive further than the post office or the local school.

This means that the car is good, but if you are a woman buying it you sooooo want to meet the wife and somehow help her escape and see a life beyond the confines of her macho prison.

Trouble is some women are happy that way – no major bills to pay, no huge decisions to take, and all the long journeys in life navigated by somebody else.

At least many more of us steer our own course, and if we do own a poddly little car it takes us on so many adventures that it usually dies and gets scrapped rather than ending up (shamefully) as a ‘one lady owner’ ad.

The first cuddly toy is given to newborn babies and I know a lady in her eighties who still has her teddy bear (balding, tatty and missing an ear,) received on the day she arrived in the world.

Children usually have far too many cluttering up their beds, shelves and floorspace,and when you have a prune once in a while, will happily ditch those that aren’t absolute favourites, only to deliberately choose more when they peruse boot fairs or school fetes.

There is always a favourite though, and nobody in the family needs to ask as we all know the key cuddlies in each others lives.

To a child a cuddly toy becomes a friend, a hug, a recipient for anger, a sponge to soak up emotions, a guard and a comforter.

Older children still enjoy hugging the cuddly toy (in private at times of stress or misery) and like the comfort and familiarity of feeling there is a faithful unjudgmental friend (like a pet.)

For adults the toy has the comfort and familiarity of a childhood buddy and this becomes more valuable as the decades past.

Choosing a cuddly toy for a baby is a great privilege. Read more here.

Hit songs playing in cafe’s and pubs in television soaps and dramas., actors eating or drinking brand name products on films or television, sports shirts, ads on websites and blogs, stars endorsing perfume or make up… the list goes on. How can anyone bring children up to be free from consumerism when it is almost in the air we are breathing?

How is it that a burger company were ever allowed to get away with bribing kids to stay loyal by offering gifts, and calling unhealthy, fatty meals, happy?

How is it that fizzy drinks machines, emblazoned with the Coca cola logo ended up in schools?

Why is it that children end up wearing football shirts emblazoned with their product names, and because everyone thinks ‘football,’ few think why are we letting our kids walk around as glorified billboards?

What is it about snow that is so magical It puts everyone in a good mood and the entire country seems to cheer up.

While children run around throwing snowballs or making snowmen, adults join in or smile and chat to each other far more than usual. Those who aren’t elderly or disabled find excuses to stride through it while it is actually snowing.

Maybe its because it is fairly rare.

The downside is the slush, wet footprints, the cold and travelling but the positives are this merry childlike side of adults that seems to resurface, like magic when it arrives. Both melt away together and we all trudge back to adulthood.

With all this snow, I suddenly want to go out and buy an advent calendar…

I had the most wonderful carrot cake yesterday. Moist, fresh, with the most delectable creamy yoghurty topping. As I munched I felt a sense of childlike cheerfulness colour in my mood.

It wasn’t cheap sweet, fatty or breadcrumb coated rubbish, but a really delicious treat and it got me thinking about foods that lift our mood; not because health books tell us they will, but because they really do.

Carrot Cake
Home made, well made, oozing naughty health and sweetness.

Chocolate
Dark and as pure cocoa as possible. A beautifully presented box of Belgian or Swiss chocolates are also wonderful.

Honey
Drizzled on things, stirred into warm milk, eaten off the spoon. There are so many types to try, herb, heather, flowers…

Ice Cream
Home made, or the best manufactured from pure ingredients without additives.

Chicken Soup
Why a portion of roast chicken doesn’t have the same mood lifting affect I don’t know.

Home Made Flapjacks
It’s like eating a hug. Bought ones may taste great (though few do) but they just don’t work.

An apple fresh from the tree
The smell as well as the taste is mood enhancing.

Organic strawberries and clotted Devon cream
Try to spot someone eating without a smile.

Hot buttered crumpets
With honey…mmmmmmmm!

Treacle Toffee
Ishloverlyanshtickybuddushyerteeffin.

There is so much writing on healthy foods that food itself is becoming a worry rather than a pleasure. Mass produced cheap foods have made us see ‘treat’ where there is none, and guzzle them with what may seem to be pleasure but does not come anywhere near real enjoyment of food.

The focus on healthy eating has educated us about what these are and the glut of cookery programmes mean we have plenty of ideas. If most of us were organised enough to take down the recipe or log on to find it, rush out for the ingredients and then somehow find time to cook it as well, it would be great. Unfortunately we just watch for the entertainment and maybe sprinkle a few freshly chopped herbs onto our beans on toast.

Wondering how healthy our food is while trying to get vegetables into children’s meals by elaborate disguises (children are rarely fooled if a sprout dresses up as a pea,) or feeling vaguely guilty every time we munch chips, pies or anything in batter has made the whole process utterly depressing. A very clever master plan to put us all off food and cure the national obesity problem, maybe?