Thank you to all who offered their advice and experiences on the Winter Blues entry I wrote on Friday. All were really appreciated and was nice to know I’m not alone in this.

I’ve been feeling a bit better over this weekend, partly because I spent a large chunk of the afternoon outdoors on Saturday while the kids played with their friends, so I got more daylight exposure than I normally would in the week.

I’m still undecided about the light box – £200 is an awful lot of money to spend if it’s not something I’m going to feel comfortable using daily or if other things will help first, so I’ve been doing the following:

• I’ve gone on a News Fast. I’ve removed all the news/politics style podcasts from my ipod and minimizing my trips to news websites. I know it’s important to know what’s going on in the world, but I’ve been feeling a bit bombarded with it all at the moment. I can’t personally change the situation in Burma, or set new carbon emissions restrictions to stop the Earth going into meltdown and I think a few months of not letting the more depressing news items reach my head it may help my mindset. In their place, I’ve subscribed for a whole myriad of fun podcasts including a Spanish course and a comedy show. I intend to keep my brain active but focussed on positive things.
• I’ve spent £40 on replacing all the normal energy saver bulbs downstairs with daylight energy savers that are a bit higher powered. Not as strong as a lightbox, but I think in terms of eye strain and mood, it’ll be better for me having a whiter spectrum light. I already have these on the stairs and in the kitchen and the contrast between walking out of the white light into the yellow darker light is really stark. It’s a colder light, but much much nicer on the eyes. I feel a bit guilty that I’ll be using more electricity for them (I’ve gone for 25W energy saver in the study, and 6x9W energy saver candle bulbs in the lounge) but they’re still much less than a “normal” bulb.
• I’m working through an online CBT course available for free on Living Life to the Full. CBT stands for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy which is all about learning new skills to combat depression. It’s written by a psychologist and any info you provide to them is completely confidential. Seems good so far, although I’ve only just started it.

I’m going to give all those a go for a month. If I’m still struggling, I will look at light therapy as the next step.

Maybe it’s something to do with the dismal summer we had, but I’m feeling the setting in of winter much more keenly this year – the light this week has been particularly weak and I’ve been feeling myself getting grumpier and grumpier.

I can hardly get out of bed in the mornings, even if I do go to sleep in plenty of time. I’ve been shouting more at the kids, and they in turn are reacting by squabbling more and using the phrases I’ve used on them with each other – that’s a short sharp shock if ever there was one. People saying the most innocuous of things end up getting their head bitten off (sorry Dom).

And I’m not just saving my bad temper for other people, but am getting increasingly cross with myself as I become increasingly paranoid and morose for no real reason. Life is actually quite good at the moment, can someone please tell my brain that?

So I find myself wondering if it might be worthwhile investing in a light therapy box. I don’t want to go to the GP as there’s no way I want to be bunged on antidepressants without further discussion and even at my lowest ebb I’m still very much aware that this is temporary – just a couple of sunny days will pick my mood right up. Light therapy may be the way to go.

The problem is dealing with the conflicting information on a quick research expedition – there’s low power, high power, blue light, green light, white light… all claiming to be brighter, quicker, more convenient, safer or just prettier than the last – none of them with very satisfactory scientific evidence of their claims. There’s also scare stories about macular degeneration, with counter claims of how that’s all baloney. And with prices ranging between £100-£200 it’s very hard to know what to do for the best.

Would be grateful for any experiences of dealing with the winter blues and/or recommendations for coping strategies. Preferably before I end up alienating all my family and friends.

I know, I know, it’s far too soon to be thinking of THAT time of year, but sometimes the more crafty types like a little more preparation time for the big C.

There is always that special someone in your life who is just far too tricky to shop for and that’s where the personalised and thoughtful home-made gift comes in.

With that in mind I bring you Tampon Crafts – something for everyone.

Right… off to make the tampon angel for the tree…

I missed it today.

I never get anything very interesting in the post. Bills, junk mail, a load of baby catalogues I never managed to get off the mailing list for, plenty of “To The Householder” letters. If I’m lucky, a parcel containing something I probably shouldn’t have purchased. Even so, when the post hits the mat (later and later in the day, these days…) it’s a welcome sound, a bit of excitement.

Today there is no delivery, however, and deliveries have been suspended for a week while two 48-hour walk outs by postal staff follow in quick succession. In practise, I can’t see things getting back to normal again for at least three weeks.

It’s irritating – an inconvenience. I’m waiting for some yarn from the US to arrive, I had to send my niece’s birthday present by special delivery to get there in time as I heard about the strike too late for proper contingency planning. Annoying, but nothing serious. But I know others, desperately waiting for an important cheque, trying to send stuff to ill relatives, or book something important that this is more than a mere inconvenience for.

I do have sympathy for the workers and I also have sympathy for the employers – from all accounts, Royal Mail just isn’t profitable and they’re struggling. Post Offices all over the country are closing because they’re losing money – a shocking situation when you consider how much of a community lifeline a post office is in many rural and hence unprofitable locations.

The inescapable question is, why was the Royal Mail ever privatised? We’re told that a privatised company is much more efficient than a government owned service, but how can that be true when we used to have an enviable postal system with two deliveries a day, first class used to mean something and buying insurance in case the parcel got lost was actually much less of a necessity?

What I, and many others this week, have discovered is that there is no genuine competition for the Royal Mail. Couriers are much more expensive, inconvenient and don’t deliver as quickly unless you pay silly money. For letter post, sure I could send an email, but there are many things you can’t use email for. The Royal Mail is a monopoly to all intents and purposes. Even if you could get viable competition, how wasteful would it be to have several letter deliveries from different companies throughout the day? And having so many different collection points for different companies dotted around, with (presumably) different stamp systems – because door-to-door collection of letter post would be completely cost-prohibitive as we can already see with courier post now.

So, the solution isn’t to give in to all the workers’ demands, or even to allow the Royal Mail to make the changes and hike up the prices to be more more profitable. I think the only sensible solution is for the government to buy it back.

Any party willing to make that promise?

Imagine a whole day of being a mother. Hear in your mind’s ear everything you would say to your children during to that time. Compress that into less than 3 minutes. Set it to the William Tell Overture.

What do you get? This…

Given that I only have a very basic and cheap sewing machine bought on a whim and I have never ever used a sewing machine before… would I be completely insane to be contemplating making my own curtain?

£160 for a made-to-measure curtain for the front door seems extortionate to me, and after all… how hard can stitching two pieces of material together be?!

I’m going to get in a horrible muddle and end up buying the made-to-measure one anyway, aren’t I?