Inspiration's what you need

Kate Bush , Margot Fonteyn , Audrey Hepburn , Debbie Harry , Frida Kahlo , Tracey Emin , Sylvia Plath , Tavi Gevinson ,Nina Simone , Caitlin Moran , Helena Bonham Carter , Kris Hallenga , PJ Harvey ,Josephine Baker , Mary Seacole , Harriet Tubman , Astrid Kircherr , Dusty Springfield , Ronnie Spector , Drew Barrymore, Etta James, Molly Parkin, Malala Yousafzai, Poly Styrene , Viv Albertine , Louise Brooks , Mia Farrow , Amelia Earhart , Grace Jones, Elizabeth Taylor , Ruby Wax and my mum.

A simple flick through the line up above reveals that had you asked me “which female most inspires you most “on international women’s day (8^th March) I would’ve been hard pressed to name you just one alone.

Why, that’s just a small portion of a gargantuan sized list so it would take weeks of work to condense it down to a singular person if needed.

Each has their own special reason for why they inspire me but the overwhelming similarity most of them possess is that they’ve had the gumption to stick two fingers up to those who believe there is a certain way to behave and be and go out and do their own thing and succeed.

They hear the word can’t and endeavour to release themselves from the restraints of that apostrophised T, they hear negative and turn the power of it back on itself to make it positive, they use the thing that takes them down as a stepping stone to lift them back up where they belong and when they are told that’s not right they set out to prove you wrong.

And it’s not just the girls there are plenty of men who fall into my inspirational people category as well.

Wilko Johnson and his amazing lust for life when he was faced with his own death, David Bowie for doing his own thing always regardless of what other people thought of him and one I discovered most recently in a BBC documentary, Brett Nielsen, a man who never let what thalidomide robbed him of having stop him from doing anything he wanted to achieve.

 Seriously, if you ever get a chance to catch “the boy with no arms “on Iplayer please watch it because if anyone is the epitome of there’s no such thing as can’t then Brett is surely it, having learnt to drive, play the piano and built his own recording studio as well as toting quite an impressive C.V including earthmoving contractor, music producer and engineer, recording artist, composer and motivational speaker amongst other things.

So who to name as the most inspirational person on my list is a tough call as you can see and there’s only one way I can resolve it I reckon and there’s a chance it might come across as sounding slightly conceited however hear me out as I think it’s something maybe we could all do with making ourselves believe.

For that reason it is then that I’m proud to announce that the most inspirational person award in my life goes to.....me, because if we could all convince ourselves that the most amazing and influential person in our lives is not the one who has the most hits on YouTube , likes on their latest selfie or four yes’s from a panel of talent show judges but the one who’s reflection they are staring at in the mirror , well that would be absolutely brilliant ,don’t you agree ?

 

Spring , that's my bag , baby

While it might be hard to believe at the moment as you step outside and are either drenched before you reach the end of your drive or swept off your feet by the high winds, spring is just round the corner and so are all the lovely colours that come with it.

Blues , pinks, yellows ,all shades of the pastel spectrum line the lanes and pathways , poking out through bushes , punctuating the grassy fields where animals and children frolic and play and giving the spindly branches of bare naked trees a shot of colour that’s much needed .

It’s just a shame that this rainbow symphony is not the beautiful work of dear old Mother Nature really, rather more down to dog owners who upon having good intentions to start off with fail to see their job through to the end, leaving their gift wrapped deposit discarded on the ground for someone else to deal with.

Come along now you lot finish your job off properly, you’ve bagged it, now bin it and maybe our streets will start looking a little more bright and beautiful.