Funky

 "Quakerism is queer and vibrant and colourful" says the lead story in "The Friend" and my first thought was, "By God, that would be good." But I've been reflecting this morning and reviewing the Quakers I know- here and elsewhere along the South Coast- and surprising myself with the number of us who are poets, painters, musicians or practitioners of other crafts. Three of us at Eastbourne used to be Wiccans, M over there in the corner followed the hippy trail to Katmandu, M ran an international talent agency and knew Kubrick and knows Elton John- and the visiting attender from Brighton, whom I met for the first time yesterday, was active on the London folk scene in the late 60s.

We look like a bunch of coffin-dodgers but actually we're pretty funky.

Still we could do with the younger generation showing up.

And actually we had three young(er) women come through the door yesterday and give every indication that they'll be coming again.  Hooray! Quakerism is a sweet idea and it would be nice if it carried on for a little bit longer.

The Work Ethic

 The lead story in the Mail (I don't read the horrid thing- good God No!- but clock the headlines as I go round the Co-op) is about young people dropping out of the work force. I imagine it's a story it's been fed by government sources to justify Keir Starmer's welfare cuts. Being the Mail, it spins it as "The Death of the Work Ethic".

(I understand Elon Musk is big on the work ethic, needs very little sleep and expects the same of his underlings. I wonder if his relentless schedule allows him any time for reflection.....)

As it happens, Ailz finds herself interviewing candidates for a part time job with the Quakers. The applicants are all hugely over-qualified and boast CVs that show they've done all sorts of interesting things but none of them for very long. Most of them aren't actually unemployed but are doing little bits of this and that and looking to supplement their income. The days of the desk jockey who jockeys the same desk for fifty years are over.

But our politicIans don't seem to understand this- or are pretending they don't to their friends in the media.  Jay at Project Unity calls them "dusty". I like that. It's nicely mild. And we don't want to build up bad karma through being unkind.