Trying to quit smoking will be easy, I thought.
So far, since Monday, I have only had 5 cigarettes and 2 pieces of nicotine gum.
For me, a 10-a-day smoker, this is good.
What isn’t so good is my inability to want to quit.
I know that smoking is bad for me, my teeth will turn yellow, my breath stinks and my skin ages every time I inhale the venomous vapour, but aside from all that, I actually enjoy having a cheeky puff.
It would appear that help is at hand, however, in the form of a trusty E-cigarette.
Although the little electronic sticks are not entirely safe, they would appear much better for you than a cancer stick and much more successful in actually helping smokers to quit permanently.
I can’t help but wonder why the NHS don’t provide the E-cig as a tool to help the nation go smoke-free, because, let’s be honest, patches and gum just don’t cut it!
This little article published by The Telegraph yesterday is a great read for any wannabe non-smokers out there who just don’t have the will power to go it alone.
Homelessness in Cornwall…
Falmouth is a hotspot for people sleeping rough due to a lack of facilities for the homeless within the town, according to St. Petroc’s Society, a frontline charity that works to combat homelessness and its causes in Cornwall.
With the only night shelter in the county being in Camborne, sourcing emergency accommodation for the homeless becomes an almost impossible task, says Corinna Mitchell, Service Manager for St.Petroc’s.
Mitchell adds, “About 95% of the time we have a waiting list of about 15 people in need of direct access accommodation.”
She believes that the impact of recent figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, showing an increase of 12% in repossessions in the third quarter of 2008, will be felt in six months time.
“From what I understand these things are cyclical. You’ll have some kind of recession and the fallout and the loss of housing is a little bit further on, when the market picks up again, that’s when we’ll see it.”
Public perception of the problem is affected by the invisibility of those without homes in the county. The ‘street homeless’ tend to retreat to the rural areas where they feel safer.
“Out in the countryside, people don’t get moved on and they don’t get disturbed, they’re not subject to vigilante behaviour. This is why people are under the impression that there isn’t a homeless problem in Cornwall,” says Mitchell.
She states that any one of us is only 3 steps away from homelessness. “You lose your job, accommodation and you exhaust your support network, you’re homeless. It could happen to anybody. That’s it; it’s as simple as that.”
Often society is quick to stereotype the homeless which can alienate those most in need from the help available.
Mitchell recalls a client reluctant to tap into the limited resources available because he was not, “…your average homeless person. I don’t have any drug or alcohol issues.”
A spokesperson for Providers of Accommodation with Support (PAS), an organisation whose primary purpose is to enable individuals to turn their lives around, believes it is a catch 22 situation. “People fall on bad times, they’re excluded from society. In cold weather they will look to anything that changes the way that they feel, mainly drugs and alcohol.”
Once people are in the trap of drink and drugs they give up because of the social stigma. Despite common misconceptions surrounding these issues, the spokesperson is keen to point out, “They are sick people trying to become well, not bad people trying to become good.”
PAS is not a quick fix. Reintegration of the service users can take up to 2 years and is based around Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ that identifies key physiological and psychological needs.
Funding to combat homelessness in Cornwall is limited to the point that if you are currently sleeping rough in Falmouth, it is likely that you could be ‘resettled’ by St. Petroc’s as far away as Bodmin, depending on what beds are available.
Disruption to their support network for any homeless person is fundamentally detrimental to their situation. It is vital that they stay close to family and friends at such a vulnerable time.
Outreach workers from St. Petroc’s contacted a total of 1,125 people in need last year and have identified substantial failings in the lack of services within Falmouth. This has led to the latest addition to St. Petroc’s housing stock with the purchase of a mid-terrace Victorian property on Trelawney Road in the town.
Corinna Mitchell describes the project as, “…another 6 bed, direct access space which aims to provide local people with accommodation where they feel valued.”
The society has been looking to purchase a property in Falmouth for a number of years, as it sees the problem of homelessness exacerbated by the high population density. The average house price in Cornwall is 12 times the average wage. There is a severe shortage of affordable accommodation, coupled with a high concentration of students occupying the few affordable houses that are available.
Mitchell states that the under 25’s currently account for 36% of their client group, but indicates that this is on the increase. With this in mind St. Petroc’s are raising awareness in schools to halt this trend. “We see this as one of the key methods for preventing homelessness in the future.”
For some this advice comes too late. A young homeless man in Truro, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “I know that some people are trying to change things, but what good has it been to me?”
Moves to help the homeless in Cornwall might be slow, but they can count on high profile support from projects such as Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen, in Newquay, which has taken a number of the younger service users from St. Petroc’s.
Whilst this gives hope to some of the counties homeless, the harsh reality is that many will be left out in the cold this winter.
Slumdog Millionaire Review
“Love outshines in the city where the streets are paved with gold.”
As ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ enjoys continued success at the box office and award ceremonies, it seems the former underdog has followed the success of its main character and completed the same rags-to- riches flight.
It could be argued that the film is fairly soft-core in comparison to Boyle’s previous acclaims such as ‘Trainspotting’ and ‘Shallow Grave’, but with an excellent cast devoid of any recognisable superstar, the film floats in an evocative, captivating bubble taking you into a world of prodigious hope, love, destiny and beauty.
Filmed in the heart of Mumbai, concentrated mainly around the most notorious slum, Dharavi, we are given an insight into the squalid underbelly of India’s most alluring city through the story of 18- year-old slum kid, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel).
The opening scene establishes that Jamal is a contestant on India’s version of the game show ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ yet whilst he struggles to answer the 20 million rupees question, the horn sounds and the show is out of time, meaning Jamal must return the next day to answer the ultimate question.
However, we are fiercely awoken with images of the Hindi police interrogation methods. It appears that for the Chris Tarrant equivalent, Prem (Anil Kapoor), the thought of a boy from the slums correctly answering so many questions is somewhat impossible and he jealously reports Jamal to the authorities for committing fraud.
It is during the interrogation process that we learn about Jamal and his life living with Salim (Madhur Mittal) his older brother and Latika (Freida Pinto) an orphaned girl he comes to love, on the streets of Mumbai.
The film is compellingly told through Jamal’s explanations to the police of how he arrived at each answer through life as a ‘slum dog’.
We see children being captured by criminals and mutilated so that they attract more money when begging, and others forced into the sex trade. Yet, the harrowing scenes this film portrays, if anything, seem to be understated.
With a fantastic soundtrack composed by Bollywood legend A. R Rahman, featuring songs from M.I.A, and captivating cinematography, it is easy to see why this Danny Boyle film has set a ‘second weekend’ British box office record and been tipped for success at the Oscars.
Something I wrote a little while ago that I lost and recently found, also a matter close to my heart…
Incontinence pads, dementia and loneliness don’t exactly epitomize ones ideal Christmas. With the notion of a family as having your best interests at heart, the inherent qualities of nurturing and care, for most, are at the forefront of integral relationships. But what about when those nearest and dearest to you lose the ability to think for themselves and revert back to a childlike existence; one in which all former knowledge of the world and the affiliations we make within it, are forgotten?
Dementia affects one in 20 people over the age of 65, and this number is set to rocket as we get older. It has been estimated that around 700,000 people within the UK have the brain disease; yet, the worrying factor is that by the year 2025, official figures show there will be well over one million people suffering.
As the granddaughter of an Alzheimer’s sufferer, I was shocked to learn of some of the horrors that go undetected by most of society, inside residential care homes. The conditions faced by elderly people living in these abodes is one of the scandals of our age and, guess what, it’s all down to a lack of funding!
Figures emerged on 2 December 2009 showing that Britain spend as little as 14 pence per person on research into dementia, possibly the lowest amount in the western world. It seems sickening to think that as one of the largest illnesses taking over our population, little is being done to try and prevent, even delay, such an undignified disorder.
The Daily Mail is trying to throw light on the situation with the release of a campaign over the Christmas 2009 period, called ‘Action on Alzheimer’s. Why does this country always feel the need to become do-gooders just because it’s the season of goodwill? It should be making headlines throughout the year, not just at a time when those who feel morally guilty bestow talk of charity and forgiveness upon us.
Whilst the nation prepares for a festive, family Christmas with overindulgent foods, liquor and cheer, many of our elderly are left in a state of bewilderment; not knowing how to perform basic acts such as getting dressed, let alone what time of year it is. The so-called ‘care’ homes for these unfortunate people, like us to believe that they make Christmas as normal as possible, with a traditional meal on the day, theatre trips to see a pantomime and visits from carol singers.
What they don’t advertise is (through no fault of their own) the way in which new guidelines they are governed by, insists that those who are incontinent are only allowed a diminutive number of incontinence pads per day, and that each one must be weighed before being changed, to check it has reached its maximum capacity. Try putting this rule into place where babies are concerned; the outcome would be something near to World War Three.
An ageing population means the problem is inevitably going to get worse. Hope lies in trying to de-stigmatize the disease and learning how to deal with an illness that eats away at the very souls of the people we love.
As everyone hurries around in a dismay of Christmas panic, consumed by the culture in which we live, consider the possibility of once being so fiercely independent that you resent being reliant on anyone. Imagine the agitation you feel within yourself so strong it eats away at you as much as the illness itself, the embarrassment of being treated like a child and the great tragedy in being unable to recognize your own family; your son, daughter, grandchildren, friends. Imagine the feeling of desolation.
The Writing Waitress 